Now and Then

“And he doesn’t have Hawk’s, what, joy?” I said.

Susan laughed.

“Oddly, joy is about right for Hawk,” she said. I let the traffi c pass, and U-turned back toward my hydrant.

“It’s almost as if we were talking about you,” she said.

“Which is kind of frightening.”

“I have more rules,” I said.

“I know.”

“And I have you.”

“Yes,” she said. “You do.”

I parallel-parked so adroitly that I was looking for applause. Susan had no reaction. She’d expected it. That was, after all, a kind of applause. We got out and headed across the street.

Susan had an umbrella. She offered me shelter under it. I declined, of course.

“This lecture,” Susan said from under her umbrella. “It’s by the man that Jordan whatsis was having an affair with?”

“Richmond,” I said. “Yes. Epstein gave me the FBI file on Alderson, or at least as much of it as Epstein felt I should see.”

“That’s cynical,” Susan said.

“You bet,” I said. “According to the fi le, Alderson is a visiting professor at Concord, and part of his deal is to give two public lectures per academic year.”

“And we’re going to assess him?” Susan said.

“Got to start somewhere,” I said.

“And you brought me along to help with the assessment?”

Susan said.

“Yes.”

“Not because it was going to be so boring you couldn’t stand to do it alone?”

“Boy,” I said, “you shrinks!”

We went into the college and found our way to the lecture hall. We sat in the last row. I put my feet on the back of the chair in front of me. No one else was within three rows of us. Susan smiled.

“Childhood habits persist,” Susan said.

“I was always a little rebellious in school,” I said.

“I’m shocked,” Susan said. “Shocked, I tell you.”

It was a big lecture hall, and could probably hold more than one hundred people. There were maybe thirty of us scattered 100 around the room. A professor in an ill-fi tting corduroy jacket came out onto the stage and introduced Alderson.

“My, my,” Susan said when Alderson came onto the stage.

“Handsome.”

“If you like that look,” I said.

“What look do you like?” Susan said.

“Thuggish,” I said.

Susan smiled.

“Yes,” she said. “I like that too.”

After the lecture, some of the audience gathered around Alderson at the lectern. They were almost all women. Alderson was animated and charming with them.

“Recruiting a replacement?” I said to Susan.

“Women like him,” Susan said.

We left, and, with the rain still coming pleasantly, we drove out to Arlington and had a late supper at a restaurant called Flora.

“Whaddya think?” I said.

“He’s a graceful performer,” she said. “Speaks well. Doesn’t say much that’s new and informative.”

“The federal government is fascist, his organization is the place of last refuge for freedom-loving Americans,” I said.

“That’s not new?”

“I don’t admire this current government either,” Susan said.

“Who does?” I said.