Max Thaler was tilted back in a chair on Willssonâs left. The little gamblerâs carefully pressed pants legs were carelessly crossed. A cigarette hung from one corner of his tight-lipped mouth.
I sat next to Thaler. Noonan sat on my other side.
Elihu Willsson opened the meeting.
He said things couldnât go on the way they were going. We were all sensible men, reasonable men, grown men who had seen enough of the world to know that a man couldnât have everything his own way, no matter who he was. Compromises were things everybody had to make sometimes. To get what he wanted, a man had to give other people what they wanted. He said he was sure that what we all most wanted now was to stop this insane killing. He said he was sure that everything could be frankly discussed and settled in an hour without turning Personville into a slaughterhouse.
It wasnât a bad oration.