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"Should I have heard of her?"
"Not as a household name, no. She doesn't want to be heard of the way you're thinking. Right now she
works behind the scenes as consultant to anyone wanting political advice. She's so sharp that everyone
from the president right down to shoestring lobbyists grubbing around like bottom feeders would give
their first born child just to have a few words of advice from her."
"How do you happen to know someone like that, Uncle Jack? I've never heard you talk abut her."
"Because I don't choose to. This is one of those 'small world' things, Wilma. We went to high school
together, even dated awhile and always got along good. I kept in touch over the years. We think alike,
even now. She found she couldn't play the Washington games, once she got there, so she--"
"Games? You mean rules?"
"Games, like besieging every damn person who walked into her office for a campaign contribution, then
voting the way they asked her to. Like letting minorities and pressure groups walk all over her for fear of
offending and losing votes. She said it was beneath the dignity of anyone with the brains of a doorknob,
and a damn stupid way to run a country. She's still in town there because she likes making money the
honest way, and she earns every penny of it. She never sugarcoats advice for a chance at return business.
With her clients it's straight from the shoulder, and caveat emptor. She tells someone the way she sees
things, and if they don't like it they go somewhere else next time. That's my kind of honesty. Too bad she
can't teach a few politicos how that approach can really pay off in the long run."
"Honesty doesn't win elections, Jack. That's the problem. Too damn many people with their hands out,
or already benefiting from one program or another, or scared their race or group or union or whatever'll
get lost in the shuffle if they don't hear a candidate specifically come out in favor of what they want. The
honest politician is an oxymoron, as well as a figment of someone's dreams."
"It's a broken system all right. Wilma wonders why they can't just all be straight shooters, right Wilma?
The answer is not one of them knows how. Throw one honest man in the middle of the mess, and he's
dead before he hits. You diagnosed it perfectly, pal, and your solution hit the bull's eye. Revolution's
pretty radical, but then look what we're dealing with. Sometimes you do have to throw the baby out with
the bathwater."
"So what makes you think this Mary Henderson would go along with us?"
"Don't know she will. I don't even know if I will yet, and for that matter we still don't know whether it's
even feasible, it meaning revolution. I can tell you, though, it's going to have to have fairly good odds of
success to get me to go along with it, and that means loads of planning and thinking. I could get shot if it
failed."
"Life, fortune and sacred honor, Colonel Williams."
Jack nodded solemnly. "Those guys who launched our first revolution put it all on the line, didn't they?
And damned near bought the farm in the process. If it hadn't been for incompetent British generals and
George Washington in charge of our army, it would have failed. And even as it was, Congress came
damn near to killing the revolution from politicians not having the guts to tell their constituents they had to
come up with money to run the army after it was formed." He came across with one of his direct,
command type looks. "Sorry for the history review, but it took a lot of guts for our founding fathers to go
against the British crown and the largest empire on earth. Those soldiers who stuck it out through all the
hard years deserve tremendous credit, too. They were the real heroes."
Murray got to his feet and stretched. "Today it's all gimmegimmegimme, everywhere you look. Reminds
me of some out-of-control kid in a toy store, grabbing everything he can reach no matter what his
mother's told him, except they're all adults doing it. I do know it doesn't take many stout hearts to foment
a revolution when it's the only answer. All it really takes is leadership ... the people do the rest. Look, it's
getting time to feed the critters. I'd better take care of that and then we can think of something to eat. Are
you staying, Jack?"
"Yeah, and I think I'd better make my phone calls from out here rather than my place. We never know
when the spooks are listening. In fact, I can call Mary now. If she's not putting out a fire at the moment,
she'll talk to me."
"Okay, you do that and I'll take care of the animals. I don't think any of us want to fool with cooking
tonight, so what kind of pizza do you like?"
"Hot."
Chapter Seven
"Nothing personal, Senator, but I couldn't care less about you, your liaisons with redheads or your
speeding ticket yesterday on the beltway or--more to the point--whether you take my advice or not."
Mary Henderson uncrossed her legs for the fifth time, then stood, deliberately showing a flash of thighs in
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