Interface. Part 35

From the raised platform of the Metro station she looked across the public housing toward National Airport, the 727s plunging in at forty-second intervals, and across the Potomac to D.C. The pleasant, scented spring air was still cool, and as she looked through the haze, she could see the monumental structures that were now part of her world. The Metro glided into the station, eerily clean and high-tech compared to The Ride. She boarded, found a place to stand where she could look out the window, and watched the progression through Crystal City, Pentagon City, Pentagon, and then out into daylight across the Potomac.

She saw the National Cathedral drawing the light of the sun, peeked in at Thomas Jefferson, and got to L'Enfant Plaza, where she transferred to the Orange Line for two stops over to the Capitol. Since she was a few minutes early, she chose to be a tourist, and strolled through the Capitol on her way over to the Russell Senate Office Building.

She was greeted at the gate of the Russell Building by a handsome, very young-looking black man from Senate Security. "If you'll follow me, Mrs. Richmond, we'll get your credentials in order."

Eleanor was still new enough at this that she was surprised when people recognized her. "Thank you," she said. "I didn't expect someone to meet me at the door. I thought I'd be standing in lines all day."

"When Senator Marshall speaks, we move," the man said. "We're taught that all senators are equal, but we love Senator Marshall. He's not one of your blow-dry wonders, if you get my drift."

They took an elevator down two levels and entered an office where Eleanor was photographed, finger- printed, asked to sign her official signature, and then take the oath as an employee of the United States. A pet.i.te, perhaps sixty-year-old woman read the oath.

She proceeded into the next office and was given her holographic badge, complete with innumerable codes implanted in the strips on the back of the badge. She wondered what she was going to do with a Top- Secret Alpha clearance.

"That's it," her guide said. "Now you have one very cranky senator waiting to put you to work."

The Russell was the oldest and most prestigious of the three senate office buildings. It had the aura of fine old wood, penetrated by decades of good tobacco smoke. It was the building of choice and Marshall had the office of choice, with a commanding view of the Capitol out one window and down the Mall and Const.i.tution Avenue down the other. Entering the office, Eleanor was struck by the profusion of Native American art, mission decor, and numerous watercolors painted by Marshall before his arthritis had made it impossible for him to hold a brush. His secretary of thirty years, Patty McCormick, turned and said, "h.e.l.lo darlin', welcome to the last frontier."

From around the corner, the familiar husky voice shouted, "G.o.dd.a.m.n it Patty, don't scare her away.

Come on in, Eleanor."

Eleanor edged into the Senator's office and found him working his way through a breakfast sent up from the cafeteria. "Have a seat," he said, waving at one of the heavy leather chairs.

"Good morning, Senator, how are you feeling?""s.h.i.tty, as usual, but that's nothing new. I'll be G.o.d-d.a.m.ned if I'll take pain medication. I haven't got an awful lot of brain cells left and I want them to work."

They made a little small talk about her move to Alexandria. Caleb seemed surprisingly unhurried, for a senator. Eleanor kept wondering when he was going to tell her why she'd been hired. Finally she came out and asked.

"Should we talk about what you want me to do?'

"Sure, why not. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, I'm still slightly overwhelmed to be here."

"How'd you like to be my spokesperson?"

Eleanor couldn't help laughing. At first she chuckled politely because she a.s.sumed it was a joke. Then she laughed out loud in shock, realizing he was serious. "Senator, you are one crazy fool."

"You ever see one of those stupid old Westerns where the bad guys come riding into town and they just start shooting at everything? They shoot out all the windows, they shoot holes in the water barrels, they pick off people on the balconies. I always thought that looked like fun. Well, I'm out of here soon and I have a lot to say and I want to have somebody to say it who will make an impression, not one of these generic press mavens who keep ma.s.saging messages and doing sound bites. You and I, young lady, are going to shoot a few holes in this G.o.dd.a.m.n town before I end this ride."

As he talked, Marshall was unable to hide his extreme pain. He became so angry about the pain and so intense in his conversation that he accidentally knocked over his coffee, spilling the contents all over the top of the desk. "G.o.d-d.a.m.ned son of a b.i.t.c.h," he screamed.

Patty poked her head around the corner and said, "Did it again, Your Grace?"

"b.i.t.c.h," he said, throwing the coffee drenched Washington Times at her. Then he grimaced, doubled over in his chair, and rested his forehead against the desktop for a moment, his shoulders heaving.

Eleanor, horrified, looked at Patty for a cue. Patty didn't seem to notice. She winked at Eleanor and said, "We have a very formal office."

While Patty cleaned up the mess, Eleanor helped Caleb to a small conference room next door and let him collapse in a chair. Then she sat down across the table from him.

Marshall, slumped down low in his chair, said, "In all seriousness, Eleanor, I thought long and hard about this appointment. I have very little time left. My problem is not arthritis. It's galloping bone cancer. I have, maximum, three months of useful activity left."

"Oh, G.o.d, Senator, I'm so sorry-'

"Spare me. And call me Caleb."

"Is there anything-"

"Yes. Shut up and listen for a second."

"Okay," Eleanor said.

"I'm stuck in a party that was once for the individual, and now it's dedicated to controlling the individual. The Bible thumpers and the single-issue people and all of those other control freaks have no idea of what the United States is all about. And they are going to win. But I will make my contribution. And here it is."

Resting on the table was a book, bound in leather, Western-style. Imprinted on the cover in gold leaf was: POLITICAL WILL AND TESTAMENT.

SEN. CALEB ROOSEVELT MARSHALL.

Marshall put his hand on the book and shoved it across the table at Eleanor. She caught it before it tumbled into her lap. "I have a press secretary, of course," Marshall said. "And he has a whole G.o.dd.a.m.n staff of flacks. I'll continue to use them for the run-of-the-mill announcements and contacts with local bubble heads. I want you to work on this and wait for the phone to ring."

"Senator, I thought you were going to bury me in a corner of your staff somewhere."

"Well, I'm not.""But your const.i.tuents are going to hate you."

"Eleanor, I don't give a good f.u.c.k. Get to work."

Eleanor carried the book into an adjoining office, a small but nice one with a view of the Capitol. Patty was already in there, straightening a few things up. Eleanor's stuff had been moved in and unpacked. Her personal things all looked humble and shabby in the magnificent building.

Patty was sniffling. "I love that man, Eleanor," she said. "He's the most decent person in this town, and he's dying."

"How many people know?"

"Most of the Hill."

Eleanor settled into her leather chair behind the immense wooden desk and looked at the walls, decorated with Hopi and Navajo art. On one corner of the desk was a recent photo of both their kids, and on the other corner, from Ray del Valle, a dozen roses with the note, "Knock 'em dead, tiger."

Before she could open the Senator's book, the phone rang. It was Patty.

"Dr. Hunter P. Lawrence on the line for you, Eleanor."

"Okay, put him through."

Eleanor heartily disliked the professor. He was one of the new breed of talking heads who had turned civilized shows like Meet the Press into the intellectual equivalent of the World Wrestling Federation. The format of Lawrence's show was simple: a victim would be invited to sit in the center chair and then two commentators from the alleged left wing and two from the alleged right wing would abuse them. If they weren't abusive enough, the Professor would step in and stir them up. It got great ratings.

"h.e.l.lo?" she said.

"Ms. Richmond, this is Dr. Lawrence of Washington Hot Seat. Welcome to town."

It was strange to hear that famous voice coming out of her telephone. She felt as if she knew the man, even though she didn't. "Thank you Dr. Lawrence. How may I be of service to you?"

"We'd like you to appear on our show next week," he said cheerily.

"Oh, that's very flattering, but I'm sure that I wouldn't be of much interest."

"Oh, on the contrary. You gained great visibility when you took the neo-n.a.z.i apart. Your advocacy for the Hispanics also was impressive. Your relationship with that troglodyte Marshall is a subject of conversation. And let's be blunt, there aren't that many highly visible black women. We're so tired of the usual suspects."

Eleanor had come to work in a state of new-job euphoria. If Dr. Lawrence had reached her a few minutes earlier, she might not have taken offense. But hearing about the bone cancer had changed her mood. She hadn't even had time to process the bad news yet; she felt edgy and deranged.

"What's the matter, Dr. Lawrence? Did Aunt Jemima cancel at the last minute?"

A long silence. "Uh-"

"If all you want is a black female, why don't you just go east of Rock Creek Park for once in your life, and just pick one off the street? Some of those girls clean up real nice."

"We don't really want just anyone."

"I could recommend a few nuns from my old school who might be able to give you some pointers on treating other people with common courtesy. Once you've learned all about that, why don't you call my token black female a.s.s back up and talk to me again." Eleanor hung up so hard that the telephone bounced.

Marshall, in the conference room next door, howled and wheezed with agonized laughter.

"You have a problem, Caleb?" Eleanor shouted.

"You're some P.R. whiz," he shouted. "He even called you personally - he usually has one of his munchkins do the scheduling."

"You got me in a bad mood."

"It was perfect. This story will spread all over town and you'll be even more in demand than you are now. You couldn't have done better."

"Whom should I be nice to?"

Marshall hooted, "Not one of those cold-blooded, c.o.c.k-sucking sons a b.i.t.c.hes. They crank out these talking-heads programs like bad sausage. They have to fill air time every night. Their Rolodexes are full of white men and everyone nags them about it. If they put you on TV, then they can point to you and prove how radically diverse they are."

"Oh. I thought it was because of my cogent a.n.a.lysis."

"That too," Senator Marshall said.

The phone rang again a few minutes later. This time it was Anita Ross of the Style section of the Post. "Ms.

Richmond, we've heard how you stiffed Dr. Lawrence. We'd like to do a feature on you for the Style section."

Marshall was still sitting within earshot, apparently having nothing better to do with his time, so Eleanor hit the mute b.u.t.ton and shouted, "It's the Post."

"f.u.c.k 'em."

"Ms. Ross," Eleanor said, "why not call me in a couple of weeks, when I've had the chance to get settled in.

Why, the ink on my badge is hardly dry."

"You'd better know that by taking on the Professor, you could become an instant culture hero. But only if the story gets published."

"A culture hero in five minutes? Not bad."

"Some have come and gone here in fifteen minutes," Ms. Ross said pointedly.

"Well, its been nice talking to you," Eleanor said. "Call back in twenty minutes and see if I'm still around."

"Nicely done," Marshall said. "What do you think of my thoughts?"

Eleanor realized that Marshall was waiting for her to look into the book. "I really can't say. I haven't had a chance to open it up yet."

Marshall tottered into her office, audibly grinding his teeth from pain. "Go ahead, have a look, I'll just stretch out here on this couch."

Eleanor picked up the book and opened it. The first page was blank, and the second, and the third. She riffled through the pages. They were all blank.

"Senator, what is this?"

"It is my tabula rasa. A work in progress. You're going to ghostwrite it for me. Just like the old song says, 'Ghost writers in the sky.'"

"What do you want me to write?"

"Don't trouble me with details, woman. I don't have much time left."

"But I can't just go out and write it."

"Listen to me. When you made the 'Colorado is a welfare queen state' speech you set me to thinking. I am as much a part of the problems as Jesse is or Ted Kennedy or for that matter that poor little Shad Harper son of a b.i.t.c.h you nailed in Denver. You know, I love this country. I never had much trouble with money because my dad left me a lot of property and I had the privilege of being a maverick. The one thing I noticed in forty-eight years of public service, forty-four up here, is that the rarest thing in life is a person who speaks the truth. The most dangerous thing in life is a person who constantly refers to 'values.' If I was going to write down my testament, that is it. None of us has the right to tell anyone else how to live. None of us has the right to hold back anybody else for any reason - race, religion, income, or what have you. The rest of life is an open field, a c.r.a.p shoot. The role of government is to make it an equal c.r.a.p shoot for everybody. Not real profound, but real effective."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"If you feel able to adhere to the general message I just laid out-"

"I do."

"Feel your way through this P.R. maze, go out and represent me on TV, and keep writing your best thoughts down in this G.o.dd.a.m.n book. Represent freedom and honesty - whoops, there I go talking about values again."

"You really think that someone like me is the person to represent a card-carrying member of the power structure, like you."

"You're G.o.dd.a.m.ned right. I never get co-opted by n.o.body. n.o.body is ever going to co-opt you. And in this auto-erotic, skill to stay in the Beltway town, that's a huge advantage.""When I go public, how do I identify myself?"

"Why, as Eleanor Richmond."

"If you want to. Lady, you're my last gift to the country."

By the end of the day, Eleanor's calendar had been filled for the summer. One major interview show a week, and two print journalists a week. Her first interview would be with the Alexandria Gazette on Friday.

Even Dr. Lawrence called up, full of contrition about his lack of sensitivity, and tried to take Eleanor out on a date to the Maison Blanche. Eleanor was a hot topic for the rest of May and June.

It didn't take her long to figure out why: she was close to Senator Marshall, and everyone in town had heard rumors that Senator Marshall was dying. They would pump her for information about the Senator, in more or less subtle ways. She would ward off their questions and then talk about whatever she wanted - which is what Washington people always did with the press anyway.