“You’re not serious?”
Michael nodded yes. Tucking one of her legs up on the bed, she moved back a foot.
“You are serious.” Michael nodded his head again. “Who are they?”
“I don’t think I should tell you.”
“Why?” asked an incredulous Scarlatti. “Because knowing who they are might drag you into this, and right now there is no telling where it’s going.”
“Are you going to talk to the FBI?” Michael looked down at the floor.
“No.” Liz got down on her knees and looked up at him. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“You have to go to the FBI, Michael! You’re a Congressman!”
“Darling, I’m not going to the FBI … at least not for now. And I don’t want you talking to anyone about this.” Scarlatti frowned and Michael said, “Liz, I confided in you because I trust you. Don’t mention a word of this to anyone.”
Reluctantly Liz said, “All right, all right… I won’t say anything.”
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Liz reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. With a frown she asked, “Who are they?” Michael looked into her brown eyes and said, “For your own good I’m not going to tell you.” Liz began to protest but the moment was broken by the ringing of the phone. Michael looked for the cordless phone and realized it must be on the charger in the den. If someone was calling this late, it must be important. O’Rourke dashed down the hall and grabbed the phone. “Hello.”
“Michael, I’m sorry to bother you so late. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
It was Michael’s former boss, Senator Olson. “No … no, I was awake.
What’s up?” After an uncomfortable pause, Olson asked, “Michael, I need to ask you a big favor.”
“What can I help you with?”
“I’ve decided to walk in the procession from the Capitol to the White House tomorrow. and I was wondering. if you would walk with me?”
“I thought they weren’t going to let anyone walk.” O’Rourke had been given a memo at the office that described the agenda for the day’s events and stated that no
Congressman or Senators would be allowed to accompany the horse-drawn caissons to the White House.
“Michael, I am a United States Senator. No one is going to tell me I can’t walk in that procession. I’ve thought about it long and hard. I worked with those men for over thirty years, and although I didn’t particularly care for all of them, I still feel it is my duty to stand by them one last time.
Someone in this town needs to show a little courage.”
“Why would you risk your life trying to honor four of the most dishonorable men who have ever been elected to public office? They were a disgrace! I can’t believe you’re even considering it!” Olson almost lost his temper. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Michael.
If I had known you disliked them so much, I would not have asked you to join me.”
Without saying good-bye the Senator slammed the phone down. The line went dead and O’Rourke looked at the receiver, debating if he should call Olson back. He decided against it and set the phone down. He was torn between his loyalty to Olson and his disgust for what men like Koslowski had done to America and its political system. The thought of honoring them in any way made him tense with anger. The decision would be easy if it weren’t for the fact that Michael felt more indebted to Erik Olson than any other person in the world. Erik and Alice Olson had been best friends of O’Rourke’s parents.
After Michael’s parents died, the Olsons had stepped in to help fill the void for Michael and his younger brothers and sister. O’Rourke glanced over at a picture on the wall. It
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was of his graduation from college, and he was flanked by the Olsons. O’Rourke continued to look at the other pictures and noticed that the Olsons were in many of them.
They had been there a lot over the last ten years-all of the birthdays and holidays where
Erik and Alice Olson had made the effort to act as parents for the parentless O’Rourke family. He drifted to another photo. A large, framed black-and-white his mother had taken just before her death. It was of the lake and woods in front of their family cabin in northern Minnesota. A fresh blanket of’ snow covered the frozen lake and hung heavy on the thick, green pine trees, weighing the branches down.
Taken after a snowstorm, the beautiful photo always reminded him of that sad time in his life. In the early years after his parents’ death, he had been tempted to take it down on many occasions because of the emotions it evoked, but he had kept it up out of respect for his parents and a belief that it was better to confront the pain and fear than run from it. As he stared at the photo on the wall, he thought about the funeral of’ his parents. He remembered standing in the cold cemetery, covered with snow, a crisp, cold wind coming out of the north and a dark, gray sky overhead. He stood over the graves while everyone else waited in the cars so he could say a last good-bye, alone. He couldn’t remember how long he stood there, only that it was cold and that his vision was blurred by the steady stream of tears that had filled his eyes. The memories flooded to the surface, and Michael remembered it was Erik Olson who had come to his side that cold day and led him away from the graves-back to his brothers and sister. Michael turned and saw Liz in the doorway. He held out his arms and they met halfway. Grabbing her tightly, he kissed her cheek and then whispered, I don’t ever want to lose you.”
FROM 10:30 A.M. TO ALMOST 11:30 A.M. SENATOR OLSON WAS
BESIEGED by everyone from his secretary to the President, all trying vigorously to dissuade him from walking in
