that your father was a criminal; the most we can assume is that he was a witness, and that that puts him in danger.”
“That still leaves us with our own facts—that he shows up in our lives, establishes himself irrefutably, thanks to modern science, as my father, while leaving us to guess what his motive was.”
“For showing up? For leaving the program?”
“All of that. But why is connecting himself to me the advisable action for him to take at this time? How does it serve his, if not criminal, at least hardly legal or conventionally upright purposes?”
“My dear, I hardly know what to say. We can’t demand that he appear and explain himself. We certainly can’t demand to be told about him by the Witness Protection Program; I doubt even Laurence’s influence could accomplish that. I realize it’s no use asking you not to brood about it, because of course you can hardly help brooding about it.”
“Are you sure Laurence couldn’t find out more from the Witness Protection people?” Kate asked. “If there’s one thing we all know about the government and Washington bureaus and so forth, it’s that money and power—which are probably the same thing—can buy you any information or influence you want. After all, Nixon could get the FBI to go after people who openly opposed the Vietnam War.”
“I don’t know how far Laurence’s arm reaches. I could ask him; you could do your best to persuade him at least to set queries into motion. He has to feel some responsibility to you in all this, quite apart from his own fears and angers. But think, Kate. Do you really want to do that?”
“I don’t know what I really want to do. I hate the thought of encouraging Laurence against Jay, if you want to know the truth; at least I think I hate the thought. On the other hand, whatever nefarious practices Laurence had indulged in, they are, so to speak, accepted nefarious practices.”
“Kate, I’m not sure . . .”
“Remember when George W. Bush was elected president, or anyway, when he achieved the presidency? He had taken a lot of campaign money from the oil and the mining industries, and the first thing he did upon taking office was to reject his campaign promise to lower emissions standards, and to revoke Clinton’s attempt to reduce the amount of arsenic in our water. Don’t you think Laurence had a part in all that, or something very like it?”
“Do I take that to mean you don’t want to encourage Laurence in his pursuit of Jay or that you do? I don’t say I am entirely in accord with your judgments of Laurence; you are rather being carried away, if you’ll forgive my mentioning it. On the other hand, I do concur in your taking no action, at least for now, if that’s what you’ve decided. As you know, I’ll back you in whatever you decide to do, as long as it is not criminal. I’ve no desire to be swept off with you into the Witness Protection Program; our life here is certainly worth preserving, as I hope you agree.”
“Well,” Kate said, getting up to head for the kitchen and decisions about dinner, “at least I, unlike the woman in your article, would not mind being forced never to see any of my family again. On the other hand, I don’t think I’d care to settle down somewhere in the South or the Midwest. I’m a Northeasterner at heart; and after all, would any southerner or midwesterner want to be plunked down in New York to start life all over again? Of course not.”
“A bit dramatically put, but I’m glad of the conclusion.”
“I don’t condone Jay’s actions whatever they were; if they landed him in the Witness Protection Program, they are no doubt beyond approbation. But I do feel I owe him something for demonstrating that I am not, and have never been, a Fansler. I don’t know how I feel about this discovery of my paternal heritage, but I do know I can at last understand why nothing my family stood for seemed to me desirable. I’m also proud to learn that I went a
“That still leaves us with our own facts—that he shows up in our lives, establishes himself irrefutably, thanks to modern science, as my father, while leaving us to guess what his motive was.”
“For showing up? For leaving the program?”
“All of that. But why is connecting himself to me the advisable action for him to take at this time? How does it serve his, if not criminal, at least hardly legal or conventionally upright purposes?”
“My dear, I hardly know what to say. We can’t demand that he appear and explain himself. We certainly can’t demand to be told about him by the Witness Protection Program; I doubt even Laurence’s influence could accomplish that. I realize it’s no use asking you not to brood about it, because of course you can hardly help brooding about it.”
“Are you sure Laurence couldn’t find out more from the Witness Protection people?” Kate asked. “If there’s one thing we all know about the government and Washington bureaus and so forth, it’s that money and power—which are probably the same thing—can buy you any information or influence you want. After all, Nixon could get the FBI to go after people who openly opposed the Vietnam War.”
“I don’t know how far Laurence’s arm reaches. I could ask him; you could do your best to persuade him at least to set queries into motion. He has to feel some responsibility to you in all this, quite apart from his own fears and angers. But think, Kate. Do you really want to do that?”
“I don’t know what I really want to do. I hate the thought of encouraging Laurence against Jay, if you want to know the truth; at least I think I hate the thought. On the other hand, whatever nefarious practices Laurence had indulged in, they are, so to speak, accepted nefarious practices.”
“Kate, I’m not sure . . .”
“Remember when George W. Bush was elected president, or anyway, when he achieved the presidency? He had taken a lot of campaign money from the oil and the mining industries, and the first thing he did upon taking office was to reject his campaign promise to lower emissions standards, and to revoke Clinton’s attempt to reduce the amount of arsenic in our water. Don’t you think Laurence had a part in all that, or something very like it?”
“Do I take that to mean you don’t want to encourage Laurence in his pursuit of Jay or that you do? I don’t say I am entirely in accord with your judgments of Laurence; you are rather being carried away, if you’ll forgive my mentioning it. On the other hand, I do concur in your taking no action, at least for now, if that’s what you’ve decided. As you know, I’ll back you in whatever you decide to do, as long as it is not criminal. I’ve no desire to be swept off with you into the Witness Protection Program; our life here is certainly worth preserving, as I hope you agree.”
“Well,” Kate said, getting up to head for the kitchen and decisions about dinner, “at least I, unlike the woman in your article, would not mind being forced never to see any of my family again. On the other hand, I don’t think I’d care to settle down somewhere in the South or the Midwest. I’m a Northeasterner at heart; and after all, would any southerner or midwesterner want to be plunked down in New York to start life all over again? Of course not.”
“A bit dramatically put, but I’m glad of the conclusion.”
“I don’t condone Jay’s actions whatever they were; if they landed him in the Witness Protection Program, they are no doubt beyond approbation. But I do feel I owe him something for demonstrating that I am not, and have never been, a Fansler. I don’t know how I feel about this discovery of my paternal heritage, but I do know I can at last understand why nothing my family stood for seemed to me desirable. I’m also proud to learn that I went a
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