Chapter 1
Fess Higgins remembered.
When he stood up to his father for the first time - he remembered. When his father died and he became Magistrate - he remembered. As he slowly started to loosen the rules making the mudders’ lives hell - he remembered. When the first Mudders’ Unions were set up, and the decrees for fair pay were passed, and the harsh punishments were lifted -
He remembered.
Whenever he let his conscience win over his obedience to his father, he remembered how she’d nurtured him. Whenever one of the workers thanked him, tears in their eyes, for the improvements he had made to their lives, he remembered that it was her who had made him what he was today.
He looked with his mind’s eye at how the town had been before, and he remembered.
He looked at how the town was now - thriving and happy - with the mudders producing more clay now than ever, and he never forgot.
Whenever he walked past the statue of Jayne Cobb in the town square, he remembered who the real hero of Canton was. He remembered how her words had changed him; how she’d shown him that he was his own person. How she’d taught him to make his own choices.
The real hero of Canton.
The woman who had taught him to be a man.
