‘I’m doing a lot of waiting and a lot of running around, Peter,’ said Bill, in a harsh, barely courteous tone. ‘I’ve been trying to get the facts on this blight of yours, and I’m beginning to feel like a Cherokee Indian riding round and around a circle of wagons. I know there are scalps in there, Peter, but I can’t get at them.’

‘Have you talked to the press office at the Department?’

‘Oh, sure. Yesterday, and this morning, and early this afternoon. It’s always the same story. “Yes, Mr Brinsky, there is a serious blight. Yes, Mr Brinsky, it is still spreading. Yes, Mr Brinsky, there have been outbreaks in other states apart from Kansas. No, Mr Brinsky, we do have the whole situation completely under control. And, no, Mr Brinsky, we don’t expect a national shortfall of more than ten per cent.”’

That sounds fair enough to me,’ said Peter. ‘They’re the facts as we know them.’

They’re not facts,’ growled Bill. ‘They’re Department of Agriculture bullshit. I’ve been calling stringers in Oregon and Washington and North Dakota and Wisconsin and California and all over. Sure, we’ve got ourselves a serious wheat blight in Kansas. But what about the sweet potato crop in North Carolina? What about the oranges and the tomatoes in Florida? What about the sugar-cane in the Mississippi delta, and the Louisiana rice? What about the grasses, too? Alfalfa, and timothy, and lespedeza?’

‘Bill—’ interrupted Peter, ‘before you give me a whole agricultural geography of the United States – let me tell you one thing. Every year, every single year, every crop in America suffers from losses through drought or blight or insect activity. A couple of years ago, we had an unusually high number of typhoons and storms. Orange groves in Florida lost thirteen point five per cent of their anticipated output. Wheat farms in North Dakota fell short by nearly twenty per cent. Far more than we’re talking about today! But, all of a sudden, just because we have this very serious grain blight in Kansas, you and every other agricultural correspondent who’s out looking for some page one limelight – all of a sudden, you look around and try to read a scare story into something that happens every single year!’

Bill Brinsky was silent for a second or two. Then he said, ‘How much has Senator Jones’s Blight Crisis Appeal Fund raised so far?’

‘Three million, maybe a little more.’

‘Only three million? I heard nearer ten.’

‘Well, you know how people like to exaggerate.’