CHAPTER 36 – TOM
CHICAGOWhen he’d first arrived in America, that long-awaited land of promise, Tom was amazed at the novelty of accumulating wealth. As a young man living under a very different regime, he had toiled long hours, but always for the same pitiful money – just enough to live on but nothing more. On occasion, if he put in days of overtime as a favour to his boss, he might have been given a couple more clothing tokens than his usual allowance – but even that had to be arranged in secret so that nobody would be accused of any underhand, capitalist leanings.
But in his new home, the rules were overwhelmingly different. It turned out that the harder Tom worked and the more hours he put in, the more money he was given. Sometimes it wasn’t even a linear equation, because apparently
