Sex Change: A Nina Bannister Mystery (The Nina Bannister Mysteries Book 6) by T'Gracie Reese, Joe Reese Page A
Authors: T'Gracie Reese, Joe Reese
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States.
And the question continued to lie there on the table like a dead seagull:
What had she been thinking about?
Well..
Olivia Ramirez for one.
But Olivia Ramirez was half a continent away right now.
Olivia Ramirez did not have to deal with the stark realities of Washington life.
“No, Ms. Bannister, the President is the least of your worries right now. The House Minority Leader is fuming. I’ve had calls from about twenty people, congressmen, senators…they’re all asking me what drugs you’re taking. By the way, you’re not on drugs are you?”
She shook her head.
“No. I’m not on drugs.”
“Damn. That would be an easy explanation. Then all we would have to do is get you into a rehab program and we could forget the whole thing. But there’s no rehab program for stupid.”
That word again.
Still, nothing to do about it.
“What do you want me to do?”
He shook his head:
“The best thing you can do is not to have given this story. No one on Capitol Hill—no one—favors simply opening up our border to any child who wants to wander up to it, and saying ‘We’ll find you a nice American family to spend ten years or so with, until we can get you into Harvard Law School.’ Do you understand that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Most of the people calling me want your head. The problem is, there are more than twenty of them—by nine thirty, that is—and you’ve only got one head. So that’s out.”
She said nothing.
“There are various things we can do when congressmen—or women—speak out of turn.”
“What are they?”
“Shoot them. Drown them. Send them off on a fact-finding tour somewhere. Make them Ambassador to France.”
Nothing to say to that.
“But the truth is, we can’t punish you.”
“Why not?”
‘You’re too little. And you’re a woman. And you’re new. And you’re from Mississippi, which means you’ve got three strikes against you right there when it comes to human intelligence. No, whatever we did—at least in public—it would look like we were bullying you. The National Society for the Protection and Preservation of Small, Inexperienced Southern Women would be up in arms.”
She found this amusing, but she did not speak.
She had decided, actually, never to speak again.
Nor ever to leave her apartment again.
That would be the ticket!
A little boring, but much better than this.
“No, there is one thing you can do, and you have to do it, and you have to do it quick.”
“And that would be?”
“Apologize. You have to hold a press conference. This afternoon.”
“How do I…”
‘Don’t worry about it; it’s all set up. It will be here in my office. There will be about fifteen reporters, all the usual crowd. Some of them you just met. Associated Press, Reuters, CNN. Anyway, you’ll start the press conference by reading a statement that is already being prepared for you. Then you’ll leave.”
“But if they have questions…”
“They will have questions and you won’t answer them. You’ll just dammit leave. And that will be the last that anyone hears from the esteemed REPLACEMENT representative from the great state of Mississippi for the rest of your stay in Washington. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. Now. You need to go with Tim. He’ll take you somewhere private where you can have lunch and be certain not to be seen. He’ll bring you back here at two. You’ll have a chance to read over the statement you’ve going to make. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Now please leave.”
He rose, walked around his desk, and showed her out the door.
Certain moments are so wretched that they cannot be lived away from. Certain moments are so bleak and rotten that they do not serve as jumping off points for the future.
There is nothing to do after them.
Her conversation with the House Minority Whip constituted such a moment for Nina Bannister.
Looking back months and even years later, she could not remember
And the question continued to lie there on the table like a dead seagull:
What had she been thinking about?
Well..
Olivia Ramirez for one.
But Olivia Ramirez was half a continent away right now.
Olivia Ramirez did not have to deal with the stark realities of Washington life.
“No, Ms. Bannister, the President is the least of your worries right now. The House Minority Leader is fuming. I’ve had calls from about twenty people, congressmen, senators…they’re all asking me what drugs you’re taking. By the way, you’re not on drugs are you?”
She shook her head.
“No. I’m not on drugs.”
“Damn. That would be an easy explanation. Then all we would have to do is get you into a rehab program and we could forget the whole thing. But there’s no rehab program for stupid.”
That word again.
Still, nothing to do about it.
“What do you want me to do?”
He shook his head:
“The best thing you can do is not to have given this story. No one on Capitol Hill—no one—favors simply opening up our border to any child who wants to wander up to it, and saying ‘We’ll find you a nice American family to spend ten years or so with, until we can get you into Harvard Law School.’ Do you understand that?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Most of the people calling me want your head. The problem is, there are more than twenty of them—by nine thirty, that is—and you’ve only got one head. So that’s out.”
She said nothing.
“There are various things we can do when congressmen—or women—speak out of turn.”
“What are they?”
“Shoot them. Drown them. Send them off on a fact-finding tour somewhere. Make them Ambassador to France.”
Nothing to say to that.
“But the truth is, we can’t punish you.”
“Why not?”
‘You’re too little. And you’re a woman. And you’re new. And you’re from Mississippi, which means you’ve got three strikes against you right there when it comes to human intelligence. No, whatever we did—at least in public—it would look like we were bullying you. The National Society for the Protection and Preservation of Small, Inexperienced Southern Women would be up in arms.”
She found this amusing, but she did not speak.
She had decided, actually, never to speak again.
Nor ever to leave her apartment again.
That would be the ticket!
A little boring, but much better than this.
“No, there is one thing you can do, and you have to do it, and you have to do it quick.”
“And that would be?”
“Apologize. You have to hold a press conference. This afternoon.”
“How do I…”
‘Don’t worry about it; it’s all set up. It will be here in my office. There will be about fifteen reporters, all the usual crowd. Some of them you just met. Associated Press, Reuters, CNN. Anyway, you’ll start the press conference by reading a statement that is already being prepared for you. Then you’ll leave.”
“But if they have questions…”
“They will have questions and you won’t answer them. You’ll just dammit leave. And that will be the last that anyone hears from the esteemed REPLACEMENT representative from the great state of Mississippi for the rest of your stay in Washington. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“All right. Now. You need to go with Tim. He’ll take you somewhere private where you can have lunch and be certain not to be seen. He’ll bring you back here at two. You’ll have a chance to read over the statement you’ve going to make. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“All right. Now please leave.”
He rose, walked around his desk, and showed her out the door.
Certain moments are so wretched that they cannot be lived away from. Certain moments are so bleak and rotten that they do not serve as jumping off points for the future.
There is nothing to do after them.
Her conversation with the House Minority Whip constituted such a moment for Nina Bannister.
Looking back months and even years later, she could not remember
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