How many pairs of glasses do you suppose that man possesses?” The Zookeeper leaned close to Reggie’s ear.
Reggie shooed her away. She could think of very few scenarios where she’d want someone whispering in her ear, and none of them involved the Zookeeper. She had noticed Bert’s glasses as soon as she’d walked in, though. They were orange today with green polka dots. The man had a flair all his own.
Frankie sat down and nodded toward Bert. “Bert, where do you get your fabulous glasses?”
Bert adjusted his glasses and smiled shyly. “My wife makes them for me. She’s an artist, but we both like bold colors.”
“Tell your wife she’s brilliant.” One of the other group members gave a soft round of applause.
Bert blushed. “I certainly will. Are we ready to get started? We have a lot to do today, but first, we need to select cochairs for the group. Before you nominate yourself or someone else, be mindful of the fact that it’s an extra time commitment and the cochairs will work closely together outside of the regular group meetings. I’ll be relying on both individuals to move our agenda forward as we continue down the road together.”
The Zookeeper raised her hand. “I’d like to nominate Sophia and Reggie.”
Reggie turned and stared at the Zookeeper. What was she thinking? Of all the qualified people in the room, why would the Zookeeper pick her? Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sophia looked nearly as shocked. Was it because Sophia was put forward or because Reggie was?
“Seconded.”
Reggie didn’t catch who was going along with the Zookeeper’s crazy idea.
“You beat me to it.”
“That’s who I would have chosen.”
“Feels like a no-brainer to me.”
Was there a group text she’d been left off of? Bert looked a little stunned too.
“Okay, well to ensure any shy members of the group have a chance to weigh in, I’m going to pass out the ballots I created. Please write down the names of the two individuals you’d like to see as cochairs.”
After ten minutes, Bert announced the results. “With overwhelming support, Sophia and Reggie, congratulations, you’ve been elected cochairs should you choose to accept.”
Reggie looked at Sophia who held her hands out to the sides as if to say “why not.” That was enough for Reggie. She was already in this and she’d be lying if she said being forced to spend more time with Sophia didn’t hold some appeal.
“I accept, although for the record, I think you all are nuts.” Reggie looked around the room at her PAC teammates.
“I’m in too, but I agree with Reggie, any one of you would have made a wonderful cochair.”
“Maybe we just want more opportunity to watch you two go after each other. It’s kinda hot.” Rhonda, a Latinx, self-described butch dyke who’d just turned ninety, winked at Reggie.
Laughter and chatter erupted and filled the room.
“It appears, Bert, that once again you are on the precipice of losing control of the ship you’re captaining.” The Zookeeper leaned back in her chair and linked her fingers behind her head.
Bert rapped his knuckles on the table. When that didn’t work he took off his glasses and waved them above his head. “All right, we have our cochairs, it’s time to get to work.”
Reggie offered to man the marker as they recapped the ideas generated at the last meeting. She zipped between two large pads of paper hung on the wall. One was for new policy proposals and the other for current policies in need of change.
Once she had captured their lists, everyone was given a marker and they all went up and added their initials to their top three priorities. Reggie could feel the energy and excitement in the room when everyone returned to their seats and surveyed the results. It was hard not to be swept up in the feeling.
Bert clapped his hands. “Wonderful. Look at the progress we’ve already made.”
The top vote getters were ambitious. Decriminalization, expanded treatment and improved access, criminal justice and sentencing reforms, racial equity initiatives. Some of the items on the list were so broad Reggie wasn’t sure how they were supposed to operationalize them, but that was probably what the rest of the meetings were for. This meeting was for the big picture. They could narrow their focus and come up with specifics as they moved forward.
She saw Sophia frowning as she looked over the group’s new list of priorities. Reggie didn’t see Sophia’s initials next to the broad, ambitious, and likely controversial items on the list. If this was the direction the group was headed it was probably going to be hard for Sophia. What would their cochair meetings be like if Sophia disagreed with the fundamental direction of the group?
“For the rest of the time today, we’re going to break into small groups. You’re going to be in these groups for much of the rest of our time together working on one of these topic areas. So please look them over now and choose your top two. Indicate your first and second choice on the paper in front of you and hand them in to me. After lunch I’ll split you out into your groups.” Bert stood at the head of the table with his hands resting on the back of his chair looking like the coolest kid at a model airplane collector’s convention.
After lunch, Reggie held the door as everyone shuffled back in the room.
As Sophia passed through she put her hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “Are you free after the meeting today to talk about cochair business?”
Reggie swallowed hard. That couldn’t possibly be as suggestive as it sounded, right?
“Sure. I have some time.”
Sophia smiled widely, making her whole face light up. “Great. Bert said we’ll need to meet outside these team meetings pretty regularly. Maybe we can set up a regular meeting time.”
Reggie nodded. What was she getting herself into?
“You all right?” Frankie poked Reggie as they retook their seats. “You look like you ate something funky.”
Unbidden, an image of Sophia eating a hotdog surrounded by the soft light of a streetlamp popped into Reggie’s mind. She looked at Sophia across the table, who smiled shyly back. Could she possibly know Reggie was thinking about their chance meeting a little over a week ago?
Frankie poked her again, harder this time. “Stop staring at pretty ladies like you’ve got no game. What group did you put first?”
Reggie grumbled and thought about not answering Frankie for her cheek, but the earnest look on Frankie’s face broke Reggie of those thoughts.
“Treatment.” Reggie adjusted her sleeve. “I know everyone will probably expect me to go with criminal justice reform.”
The Zookeeper made a “pfft” sound, joining the conversation. “Who better to advocate for expanded treatment than one who sees where those unable to access treatment too often find themselves? I believe Frankie and I, in our own way, could speak to your expertise in this arena.”
Reggie was having a hard time with the fact that she sort of liked the Zookeeper, one of her former inmates and a notorious drug dealer. She had an “it’s complicated” relationship with a well loved and respected politician and a budding friendship with a criminal. This design team was turning out to be quite strange.
Bert announced the groups and Reggie was assigned her first choice. Her group consisted of herself, Frankie, the Zookeeper, and Sophia. They gathered in the corner of the room Bert assigned to them. There were three other groups, each with four members working on racial equity, criminal justice and sentencing, and decriminalization.
“I wouldn’t have thought you’d put treatment at the top of your list.” Reggie leaned toward Sophia as they sat down.
“I’d have said the same thing about you. To answer your unspoken question, there is room for legislating in all the categories on the board, but I think perhaps this area of focus has the most room for compromise. With a title like ‘decriminalization’ the horse is already out of the barn on the direction everyone is moving, don’t you think?” Sophia was leaning close to Reggie as she spoke quietly.
“Are you two ready to share with the rest of the group?” The Zookeeper crossed her legs and looked back and forth between them.
Frankie scowled at the Zookeeper, but Reggie could see there wasn’t any bite behind it.
“Oh leave them alone, old lady. Just because you and Parrot Master have been together since the ice age doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t like to flirt sometimes.” Frankie nudged the Zookeeper lovingly.
“We’re not flirting.”
All four of them laughed at Reggie and Sophia’s simultaneous denial.
“Shall we commence?” The Zookeeper flipped to a new page in her notebook and balanced it on her knee. “I’m open to counterarguments, but it would seem we have two streams of inquiry at our disposal, access and treatment itself.”
“I agree. The question is, do we tackle both or focus our attention on one or the other?” Sophia tapped the end of her pen on her chin.
“Both.”
Everyone looked at Frankie and waited for her to continue, but she stared back like she’d said all that needed to be said.
“I agree with Frankie.” Reggie looked around for a pen and paper she knew she didn’t have. “What good are expanded treatment options without improved access? And enhancing access is great, but there isn’t enough high quality treatment for everyone who wants it now, never mind if it becomes an option for more people down the line.”
“Both it is.” The Zookeeper jotted something in her notebook. “Our young friend Frankie has already been working to expand access to treatment in my neighborhood, over by the library. You’ve also been working with Star Recovery the last few years, right?”
Frankie’s cheeks turned red at the Zookeeper’s praise. “This is something that means a lot to me. Thea, at the library, and Kit, at Star, have been great to give me so many opportunities. If we’re going to split into two and two, I think I’d like to work on the treatment arm.”
Reggie wasn’t aware of Frankie’s work in the community, but she could see the passion for it in Frankie’s eyes. She tried to think whether she’d ever felt that way about her work, or anything in her life. If she had it was long gone now. Melancholy nipped at the heels of that realization.
“Do either of you feel a strong desire to join Frankie on the treatment arm of our endeavor?”
Sophia shook her head. “I’m fine with either.”
“If you want to work with Frankie, that’s fine with me.” Reggie glanced at Sophia.
The Zookeeper took another note and nodded. “That’s settled then. On to the next order of business. How shall we structure our time together during these formal gatherings?”
They spent the rest of the time figuring out the best way to divide up work and make use of the time they met as a group. At the end of the meeting Reggie had a better understanding of exactly how much work the design team would entail and that over the next few months she was going to be spending an inordinate amount of time with Sophia. Whether that was an enjoyable experience, for either of them, remained to be seen.
“It seems like we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other. Perhaps we can call a truce and agree to give each other a chance?”
Sophia seemed to read Reggie’s mind.
“I’ll agree to those terms.” Reggie extended her hand.
Sophia laughed but took her hand. Sophia’s hand was smaller than Reggie’s and felt much too nice as it slid into hers. At the risk of giving a weird limp handshake, Reggie gripped gently. Sophia’s hand was soft and didn’t deserve a rough squeeze.
The shake was over too quickly and Reggie wanted to pull Sophia’s hand back and hold it longer. What was wrong with her? Those kinds of thoughts certainly weren’t going to help their long hours working together go smoothly.
“Can we start with dinner?”
“Excuse me?” Reggie rubbed the back of her head.
“To celebrate our truce and talk about any of the fifty things that are now on our to-do list. The Zookeeper runs an efficient meeting. She should have my job. Or our job as cochairs.”
Reggie put her hand to her forehead.
“Forgot about that, huh?”
“Completely. Maybe we should kick off our truce in a bar.”
Sophia grabbed her bag, grabbed Reggie’s hand, and pulled her toward the door. “Now you’re talking. What are you waiting for?”
Reggie looked down at their joined hands. My sanity, to start with. Not for the first time, she wondered what the hell she was thinking. But she wasn’t thinking, which was a problem. This was how she felt when she was around her dad as a teenager, swept up, enamored by the fun and excitement of his political career and connected friends, blind to the reality. She couldn’t let that happen again. She looked down at their joined hands again and then up at Sophia, who was smiling at her and looking more beautiful than ever.
She couldn’t let herself get swept up and swept away, but here she was, being led to a night out by a beautiful politician. It was just drinks, right? What was the harm in that? She wanted to facepalm, but there was no way in hell she was going to pull her hand out of Sophia’s grasp so she did it mentally. Once again, what the hell was she thinking?