here?â
âMy job.â
âWhat job is that?â
âThe job to see this execution through. To see that chaos doesnât break out. But if it does, we want you to know that there is someone on the scene you can turn to.â
My, my. âCome on in.â
I invited him to sit down. He took the chair. I took the edge of the bed.
I asked him, âWhat the hell are you talkinâ about?â
âIâm talkinâ about this. Every day, more and more people are turninâ up to support Rona Leigh. Sheâs becoming some kind of holy martyr. Now, turns out, we got a big-time FBI agent in town who could maybe give them the hope they need to cause us some serious trouble. But youâre doinâ your job and thatâs that. If trouble breaks, you need a cop? You come to me. If some other trouble of a more personal nature gets aimed your way? Trouble from people who donât like the thought of Rona Leigh beinâ a martyr, embarrassinâ people? I want you to know we will be happy to be of assistance, maâam.â
He stood up. He touched the brim of the Stetson. âYou need a cop for any reason whatsoever, come to me.â
I suppose I might have told him to watch the tires of my car. But instead I thanked him and he left.
I could see that Iâd reached a point in my day where I needed to talk to a familiar voice. So I called my assistant. It was quarter to five, her time.
âYou checkinâ on me, boss?â
âIf I were, Iâd be calling twenty minutes from now. The day you answer the phone at five after five, Iâll know itâs time for me to race back there and take your temperature.â
My assistantâs name is Delby Jones. When I interviewed her I asked her why the name on her social security card was not Delby Jones. She said, âYou were actually the first to notice.â
She made up the name, she said, when she was a singer. She left the band because that line of work wouldnât pay for Pampers and the complete works of Dr. Seuss. The name Delby Jones had grown on her.
I liked that. Imaginative way to clear the past out of your system while still holding on to the dream.
In addition, Delby has great reasoning skills and can keep a boss, an office, and herself finely organized. Mostly, she doesnât miss a trick. Impeccable instincts. So in the end, her terms were worth it. Her terms meant sheâd pick up her girls at our day care every day at one minute past five. And besides the five oâclock thing, at one minute before noon, she leaves to have lunch with them. Once, the President was in my office and so was she. She cleared her throat to serve me notice that it was the childrenâs lunchtime. The President ended up going to the day care center with her. Like me, he knows that the value of devotion is much more visceral than loyalty. So off he went with Delby while the Secret Service scrambled into formation and followed. I was left with a couple of technicians staring at their backs. After lunch, the President said to me, âI forgot how good a peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be.â Delby told me heâd left his carrot sticks on the plate just like all the kids.
Now, on the phone, she said, âYou want to know something fast, right?â
âI do. But first, real quick, did that fabric sample I gave you, letâs seeâ¦ââI looked at the notes on my computer screenâânumber eight-four-two, did it come back?â
ââCourse it did. Youâd be here kickinâ ass for a week if it didnât.â
âSo what was that stuff?â
I heard her clicking away at her own computer. By the time Iâd finished the question, she had the answer. Sheâs like that guy Radar on M*A*S*H.
âLetâs see. We got mostly sugar, gelatin, fumaric acid, an artificial flavoring agent, disodium phosphate, sodium citrate, couple of coloring
Matthew Kinney, Lesa Anders