More fame, Vermont, Saturday, May 30
The phone woke him. It just kept ringing. He fumbled for his watch on the window side end table. His eyes focused and he saw that it was eight fifteen. The phone stopped ringing. Jeff lifted himself up in bed reached over, picked up the TV remote from where he had left it on the other side of the bed and switched on the morning news. The phone started ringing again.
“Hello, this is Jeff.”
“Jeff, it’s Mary. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I’ve been calling you for the last half hour. I was about to have the hotel security people come up and open your door. I thought Carmen might have damaged you in some way.”
Jeff laughed. “No, nothing like that. I think all this press stuff and the tension of trying to answer questions and have people believe me just pooped me out. I’m up now. I am going to crawl in the shower and get dressed. I don’t have any press meetings today, do I?”
“No, but I am downstairs. I thought we could meet for breakfast and go over your schedule for Washington.”
“Sure. Give me about twenty minutes. Order me some coffee, eggs up, bacon, grits, and a sesame seed bagel, untoasted, with cream cheese. And, of course, whatever you want. It’s my treat.”
“I’m your press consultant. It’s always your treat.”
When Jeff walked into the dining room, he saw Mary sitting there. There was a waiter just setting down the plates with his breakfast on them. He came over, leaned down and kissed Mary on the cheek and said, “Good morning.”
“Mary smiled and responded, “Good morning to you. I’ll bet Carmen got a better kiss than that.”
“No. She didn’t. Carmen let me know at dinner that I was just sex and that there could be no future for us. For some reason, that was all it took to turn me off. I walked her home, dropped her off at the front door, and came back to the hotel. To be honest, Mary, I feel really upset that she just wanted to “do” me. I guess I am not as sophisticated about this stuff as I thought I was.”
“Oh, that is bad news. I was already beginning to fall in love with you. Now that I know you are a sensitive male, I am going to have trouble being around you. I am going to leave this meeting and go to confession for what I am thinking.”
Jeff didn’t laugh. “Mary, Mary. I don’t need another beautiful woman falling all over me right now, especially one that is working with me. Besides, you are really young. The last thing you need is a beat-up, old soldier and realty salesman from North Carolina in your life.”
“I may be young, but I have just separated from my husband of two years. I thought he was the love of my life my senior year at Boston College. I would take three of you old soldiers over some young idiot any day. At any rate, you needn’t worry. I am off of men for a while. I just think it is great that I have a client that is good looking and isn’t just looking for easy sex.”
Jeff started digging into his breakfast. He felt like he had never eaten. He couldn’t believe it. Here he was in the middle of New York City and his eggs were the freshest he had ever tasted. Everything was good. He looked up at Mary and said, “Okay, what do you have for me?”
Mary passed him three stapled sheets for Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday, and up until four in the afternoon on Wednesday. From the minute he landed at National on Monday morning, until he left there at five-thirty on Wednesday, he was booked solid. He noticed that all of his appointments ended at five in the afternoon. “Why do my days end so early? Here in New York, you had me going until almost nine.”
“NYC and DC are two different cities. I could arrange some dinners for you, if you like. But the majority of the press activities will stop at the end of the work day.”
Jeff held up his hand. “No, No. I can line up my own dinners. Thank you.”
“You will notice that Tuesday, at eleven, I have Tate down for a meeting and lunch. I will not be at that event with you. I will drop you off and pick you up when you are finished.”
“You are welcome to join us. I have learned to trust you in the one day we have spent together.”
“I’m sorry, but Tate likes to do his strategy sessions by himself. I will meet with him after you go back to North Carolina and he will give me my marching orders. But, thank you for the invitation.”
“I notice that you have me booked for two in the afternoon on Steve Matheson’s program on that cable news channel. Isn’t he on at seven in the evening?”
“Yes. But he likes to record his interviews ahead of time. That way, if something comes up on the national political scene, he can cut your interview or move you around.”
“Doesn’t he usually focus just on politics? Why would he be interested in my story?”
“I don’t know. He is a very interesting person. There are times when he treats his guests wonderfully and times when he decides you are a phony during the first few seconds of the interview and he browbeats you into submission.”
“What should I do if he thinks I’m a phony?”
“I don’t know. Put your head down on the desk?”
“Some consultant you are. Aren’t you supposed to prepare me for this kind of thing?”
“Yes. You, Jeff, are not a phony. I don’t think you are going to have any trouble with Steve Matheson. Just continue to tell the truth as you always have and everything should be fine.”
They finished breakfast, chatted about each other’s lives, and spent a few moments at the end talking about the future. Mary wanted someday to own her own press consulting firm. The experience she was getting with Tate and Ungerford was priceless. She had been with the company for a little over a year and she was already getting offers from other larger firms. She thought that she could work as hard as possible and learn so much in the next two years that she could eventually carry her own clients. Jeff volunteered to let her know what Clevan Tate was going to do to help him figure out a future. She declined. “I don’t want to be unethical in any way.”
Over coffee, Jeff asked, “When do you think this whole thing is going to die down? When will my fifteen minutes of fame come to an end?”
Mary looked at Jeff for a moment and said, “I don’t know if it will come to an end. The subject is fascinating. You are good as the face of it; a handsome, combat veteran. There are many people who will wonder what would happen if there were letters. I can’t see that interest dying down soon.”
Jeff shook his head, stood, kissed Mary on the cheek and said, “I’ll see you Monday in D.C.”
He rented a car at Bradley and drove up to Brattleboro. At least this way, he could control when he left and headed home. He had double checked his morning flight to National and upgraded to first class.
When he pulled into his driveway, his mother was waiting on the front porch. She waved at him and walked quickly to the car. When he opened the car door, she leaned in and said, “Your brother is drunk upstairs and I can’t get him to go to work.”
Jeff left his things in the car, bounded up the stairs to his brother’s old room and knocked on the door. He heard his brother’s slurred voice say, “Go Away. I’m busy talking to my girlfriend.”
Jeff had broken into Jack’s room many times in his youth and knew just how to maneuver the door to make the lock superfluous. He lifted, twisted and opened the door. His brother was sitting in front of his computer, stark naked, with a Budweiser bottle in his hand. “Wha’thefuuk are you do’in in here?”
Jeff took two steps and hit his brother right on the tip of his chin. The naked man went down like a bag of stones. Jeff grabbed him under his arms and dragged him out of the room, down the hall, and into the bathroom where he put him into the tub. He turned on the water, adjusted the temperature and pulled the little plunger at the head of the faucet until the shower came on. His brother felt the first drops of the cold water and began to wriggle about. Jeff pulled the shower curtain closed, turned around, looked at his mother and said, “Why don’t you go downstairs and make some good strong coffee for Jack and yourself. I will bring him down in a few minutes.”
An hour later, a groggy Jack was sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee and rubbing his chin. “You know if you had done that when we were younger, I would have beat the shit out of you?”
Jeff laughed. “Jack, I would only fear you if you were sober and since you were eighteen, you haven’t really spent that many days sober. Sorry I had to tap that pretty chin of yours, but when you get loaded, that is the only way to handle you. There are a few times when I tried to do it gently and you damn near killed me.”
Jack nodded. “I never got a chance to get out of this place like you did. Maybe if I had moved away early, I would have made something of myself.”
“Maybe.”
“What could I do now if I moved away?”
“You’d just get drunk somewhere else.”
“You’re probably right. You think I should go to AA?”
“Jack, you have to be the one to decide that. When you realize that you have hit bottom and that the football star you were is no more, then you will do something about your situation. But sitting in this town with nothing to challenge you and curing your boredom with beer is stupid.”
“I’m not going to work today.”
After the coffee and some food, Jack went back upstairs to catch a little sleep. Jeff was used to this and had already taken all the hidden beer out of the room. He knew he would hear Jack yelling in about ten minutes so he asked his mother to go out to lunch with him. She agreed. He asked if she thought Betty would be interested in going and his mom said she was already at church. They wouldn’t be seeing her until about five that afternoon.
They were at the Flat. They had ordered and were finished with small talk about the kids, Sandy, Bob and what was it like being on TV. As they sat, several people came by the table and said hello to Jeff’s mother. She looked bewildered each time this happened. Jeff told her, “Don’t worry about it, Ma, they have seen me on TV and don’t want to be obvious so they are coming over to talk to you.”
Finally, Jeff looked at his mother and asked, “How much money do you have?”
“Enough.”
“No, I mean, do you need any money?”
“I’m fine.”
“Look, Mom, you have Betty and Jack living with you. I know Dad’s Social Security can’t cover it all. I have some extra. I have had a few closings in my real estate business, so if you need any money, now is the time to tell me.”
His mother looked at him for a moment and asked, “Did they give you money to hide what your uncle found?”
“No. They did pay me for my time and all the expenses. But, there was never any agreement that I would find or not find something, or, for that matter, that I would find something and hide it. I have some extra money. You are my mother. Do you need any of it?”
“I could use about three thousand to clear up my credit cards.”
Jeff took out his checkbook. He wrote out a check for ten thousand. “One of the closings I have coming up is going to earn me a cool one-hundred thousand. This is ten percent. Will this help?”
“What about your children? Aren’t they going to want to go to college? Won’t you have to use the money for that?”
“Mom, I am getting better and better at this business. There is going to be plenty of money for the kids and Sandy. You know her new husband in one of the wealthiest men in North Carolina?”
“No. I didn’t know that. What does he do?”
“He is the founding partner of a major law firm and his father was one of the richest land owners in the State.”
“Oh, lucky him.”
“Don’t give a dime of this to Jack. He’ll just drink it away.”
“I know. Betty is earning about a hundred a week at the library. She gives me twenty-five and keeps twenty-five.”
“What happens to the other fifty?”
“The church.”
“Oh… While we are talking…I have a question that has been bugging me for some years but I have never gotten around to asking you about it.”
“What could it be?”
“Why am I the only one Uncle Oscar ever sent a birthday card to?”
“I don’t know. You should have asked him while he was alive.”
“Why did he never spend any time with us. Even at Dad’s funeral, he came, saw me and left. I know I am the middle child. Why didn’t he spend time with Betty or Jack?”
“How would I know?”
“Come to think of it, why did he always avoid seeing you?”
“Look, Jeff. I am your mother, not a mind reader. I have no idea what was going on in that man’s head. He was always trouble.”
“How come he and Dad never spent any time together?”
“Who cares? Forget all this stuff. You have two beautiful children, money, and you are almost famous. Why do you need to complicate everything? You always did. We breathed a sigh of relief when you went in the Army. All you ever did was hang around and ask too many questions.”
“Really?”
“Really!”
“Maybe it was because there were so many secrets in this family.”
“Why don’t you go back to your life in North Carolina? If we need anything here, I will call you.”
“You are my mother, aren’t you?”
“What are you asking? Of course I am.”
“I mean I am not adopted or anything like that?”
“I gave birth to you on your birthday thirty-five years ago. You father was with me at the hospital. He brought Jack with him. If he is sober, you can ask him. I am your mother.”
“Was Dad my father?”
“Who else?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps, Uncle Oscar?”
Jeff’s mother froze. She looked down at her meal. She didn’t say anything for about a minute. Then she looked up at Jeff and said, “The three of us decided long ago that we would never reveal anything that happened between us. Now I am the only one left. I am not sure what good will come of telling you this, but…Oscar was your father.”
“Holy shit! I was just guessing.”
“Your father fell in love with a student. She was only eighteen. He told me he was leaving. I was young and had a little boy to take care of. Your Uncle Oscar came at my request to talk some sense into your father. He stayed for about two months at our house. We became close. He was trying to help a young girl who had married an idiot and didn’t know what to do. One thing led to another and I became pregnant. The student dumped your father. After all, he was really a bore. He came back to me. The three of us talked it out and decided we would go along as if nothing had happened. But Oscar could not just walk away from you. He would send you gifts for your birthday. Your father and I would hide them and give them to you for some other holiday after we rewrapped them. He would send you cards. We only let the birthday cards get delivered. He sent us the money we gave you for college. I didn’t want to see him again. Your father never wanted to see him again.”
“Do Jack and Betty know?”
“No. Jack was too little to understand what was going on. Betty came later. Towards the end, you father became very upset with the fact that his brother’s son was the only one of the kids that was doing well. When you father died, you brother was already the town drunk and Betty was holed up in the church afraid of everything.”
“But I have seen my birth certificate. It was required for the Army and my passport. It says on it that you and Dad are my parents.”
“Thirty-five years ago, no one questioned the fact that your father and I were your parents. About seven years ago, someone asked us if we would like to have all of our DNA processed to see where we really came from. Your father went nuts. He was afraid you would do something like that and find out that he wasn’t your father. I went to see a geneticist and he told me that, as your father and Oscar were brothers, the chances are you would have the exact same DNA as Betty and Jack.”
“Is that why Dad never had much to do with me?”
“No. He never had much to do with Jack or Betty either. Your father was a famous loser. He was quite attractive when we were young. He wanted to be a college professor. I was a small-time girl from a small town. I thought I had found and married Clark Gable. He turned out to be a big nothing. If he ever had a personality, it died some time in the first year of our marriage. Think about it. Can you name any of your father’s friends?”
“Well…No.”
“That’s because he didn’t have any. No one could stand to be around him. You should feel lucky that you got the good Gershman genes from your uncle.”
“What was Uncle Oscar like as a young man?”
“He was warm and comforting. He had a sincere personality. He was very ethical. He was exceptionally smart. He had his Doctorate in Linguistics by age twenty-five. He was a sucker for a female in trouble. He almost married, twice. Both girls had problem childhoods and parents they were trying to get away from. They both left him and came to no good. I talked to him years ago, before your father died, and he told me he was researching porn sites on the internet that took advantage of underage girls. He had joined a group that was trying to find them and get them to a refuge center.”
“Oh, my God. We found a couple of sites like that on his laptop in Turkey. Everyone agreed not to reveal what we had found because it was disgusting and we didn’t want you and others to think badly of him. In effect, he was just doing research. Boy, do I feel better about him.”
“Jeff, there was nothing wrong with your Uncle. He was a good, honorable man. He just got involved with his brother’s family and his brother’s wife, which, thirty-five years ago, you just didn’t do.”
“Well this entire discussion now makes a lot of sense of my life. I was always worried that something was wrong with me. My father didn’t like me very much…”
“…He didn’t like anyone very much.”
“…and my uncle kept sending me cards and inviting me to come see him.”
“He never said anything to me, but I think he was very proud of you. I know that, as your mother, I am very proud of you. I have seen you on TV and you handle yourself with such ease and dignity. I think your uncle would be pleased.”
Jeff dropped his mother off at the house. He checked on Jack. His brother was out like a light in his bedroom. There was no sign of beer bottles. Jeff called his buddy Billy and asked if he would like to have dinner that evening. Billy was thrilled to hear from Jeff. “Wow, nothing for ten years and then twice in one month. I’d love to join you for dinner. Just let me clear it with my lovely wife.”
Jeff left the house intending to drive around town. He considered stopping at the church and seeing his sister, but decided against it. He couldn’t really tell her anything. He realized there was probably no one he could tell this information to. He was driving around the town when he realized that he was going to pass the entrance to the cemetery. He pulled in and drove to the side where his father was buried. He got out of his car, approached his father’s gravestone and began to talk to him. He talked with his father for about six or seven minutes. Then, he returned to his car, drove over to his uncle’s plot, got out, and approached the grave, which did not yet have a stone. Once there he began talking. He talked to his uncle for about an hour asking him questions and telling him about his life. Then he sat in his car for a couple of hours, trying to understand who he was and where he came from.
Billy called and said he couldn’t leave his wife behind for the evening. Jeff told him to bring her along, if she wouldn’t mind coming. Billy called his mother-in-law to babysit and the three met for dinner. They had a good time talking about high school and the Army. Billy’s wife was a Keene girl but she now knew many of the people Billy and Jeff had gone to school with. She laughed at all the times they talked about. If was fun for Jeff to not think about his uncle, the letters, his kids new father and everything else in his life that was stressful.
Jeff didn’t get home until almost midnight. His mother was up waiting for him. “Are you alright? I have been thinking about what I told you and I don’t know what came over me. I should have kept that secret and taken it to the grave with me.”
“No, Mom, you did the right thing. There have been too many secrets in this family. I went to the cemetery this afternoon and spent some time talking with Dad and Uncle Oscar. I think the three of us have straightened out almost everything. Thank you for telling me the truth.”
His mother kissed him and they both headed up to bed.