Chapter 10

If the first story set the town on its rear, the second one sent it reeling over backwards.

Horndecker couldn’t believe what was happening after he published the second story. Neither could Rothenburg. The Press was always stacked in the front of Riley’s store and a few other choice locations so anybody looking for weekend bargains could grab a free copy. After all, advertising was its main purpose, which meant most of the time the paper moved so slowly, copies left over from the previous week had to be picked up and returned to the office. However, thanks to Winston Conlee’s first story, there wasn’t a copy of that paper left anywhere in the town within hours after the second one hit the streets.

I guess my gamble paid off, Horndecker mused. He was thankful he had the foresight to increase this week’s circulation by several hundred copies, but even that wasn’t enough.

The stores had opened at 9 am and by 10 am their owners were sending staff over to The Press offices to see if they could get more copies.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. Some people are coming into the store just to get the paper, and customers that never used to read the old rag are demanding a copy of it,’ a breathless stock boy gushed. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“Who is this Winston Conlee fellow anyway?” He posed the question everybody in town was beginning to ask as Horndecker handed him a small bundle of papers.

“This all you got? I don’t know, we may need more,” the stock boy exclaimed.

“Sorry that’s all we got,” Horndecker apologized with a big bright smile on his face as he watched the stock boy rush out the door.

Horndecker was still watching the boy race down the street with his prized possessions when he got another surprise.

Usually hardly anybody graced the River Bend Press’s office except to drop off an ad or a social announcement they wanted printed in the paper. Now several residents were in the doorway asking Horndecker for copies of The Press. Just as Rothenburg arrived he handed out the last copies of the week’s edition to several people who walked away with their faces already glued to its page.

“So what do you think? It looks like we were right on the money by printing those Winston Conlee stories,” Horndecker beamed at his editor.

“Yes, we certainly were. It’s certainly got the whole town abuzz. I’ve never seen such excitement in River Bend. Unfortunately its rather racy and graphic elements have stirred up the pot among our more straight laced readers who claim it’s nothing but trash. The good news is that they are far outnumbered by a much larger cross section of readers who are thirsty for more Winston Conlee stories,” Rothenburg explained.

Horndecker, rubbing his hands in glee, laughed loudly. “So who cares? From what I hear that upstart paper that was trying to horn in on my advertising revenue has already pulled in its horns. On the other hand, selling ads for my paper has become child’s play. While it used to be extremely difficult convincing local businessmen to buy even a small ad, they are now practically lining up at my door. Instead of avoiding me like the plague, a couple of store owners actually stopped me on the street today and suggested I drop around to pick up an ad.”

“Yeah, that’s great. I guess it means you’re finally going to give me a little more space for a news story, but I just wish we could find out a little bit more about this Winston Conlee fellow before we get into too deep with him,” a nervous Rothenburg expressed his view.