They Break the Laws We Must Obey

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>When workers get legal authority to stop industrial hazards and successfully sue a factory owner panicked millionaires sabotage community meetings hire armed spies harass their kids and raise their real estate taxes four times over. </strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Teenage Friends Paul son of a truck mechanic and Karen daughter of a railroad engineer have just begun to organize their blue-collar community in Shingle Creek. Despite a blizzard of death threats the Creekers start a daily newspaper and a radio station. Form alliances with other working-class communities. Win their lawsuit which makes the bug spray factory owner return stolen community development funds.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>When the bosses force railroad track maintainers' pay below minimum wage the whole Shingle Creek community votes to support a strike. And they manage to get a charter for an industrial safety commission which will permit them to legally repair or remove unsafe factory equipment and railroad tracks.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>All of which provokes the bosses' fear and anger. A slander campaign against the Creekers gets more vicious. The county raises Shingle Creek real estate taxes by 450%. Thugs at the community meetings shift from threats to violence which shuts down the Creekers' gatherings. Assault charges are filed against a Creeker who defended herself from a thug attack. And the police assassinate a powerful longtime Creekers' ally.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>While all this happens Paul and Karen become closer. They kiss for the first time. They're sleeping together but not having sex. She asks him to make love. He says he can't and he doesn't know why. When she tells him she loves him he wants to respond but his anxiety attack prevents him and keeps him from talking about his problem.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>He builds a wall around himself so nobody will know he's a weakling fighting a losing battle. Karen finally confronts him about not letting her turn him on and not telling her he loves her. He says he can't.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Karen who has a powerful need for emotional and sexual validation has an affair with a guy she met at the university. Paul is devastated. But he doesn't blame her. He talks with his therapist about what he has to do to win Karen back and starts taking steps to do that.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Despite their problems Karen and Paul stand together in their commitment to lead the Creekers to victory in their fight for workers' rights.</span></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Midwest Book Review</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> calls </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>They Break the Laws We Must Obey</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> an </span>... outstanding ... bittersweet depiction of love loss growth and social and political involvement ...</p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>My Mommy Questions</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>My Bonnie Answers</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> poetry excerpted from Chapter 16</span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>was first published as </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Two-Poem Dialogue</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> in </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Pangolin Review</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>They Break the Laws </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>We</span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Must Obey</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span>was first published as <em>The Real Paul Makinen?</em> Part 2.</p>