counterdeclaration and says he's OK. He's President again. Then Congress decides. During that delay Kennedy can do what he wants.'
Congressman Jintz said, 'And there goes Dak.'
Senator Lambertino said, 'Most of the Cabinet members will sign the declaration. We'll have to wait for the Vice President-we can't proceed without her signature. Congress will have to meet no later than ten P.m.
Thursday to decide the issue in time to prevent the destruction of Dak.
And to win we must have a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate. Now, can the House do the job? I guarantee the Senate.'
'Sure,' Congressman Jintz said. 'I got a call from the Socrates Club, they are going to lean on every member of the House.'
Troyca said respectfully, 'The Constitution says, any other body the Congress may provide by law. Why not bypass all that Cabinet and vice-presidential signing and make Congress that body? Then they can decide forthwith.'
Congressman Jintz said patiently, 'Sal, it won't work. It can't look like a vendetta. The voting public would be on his side and we'd have to pay for it later. Remember Kennedy is popular with the people-a demagogue has that advantage over responsible legislators.'
Senator Lambertino said, 'We should have no trouble following procedure.
The President's ultimatum to Sherhaben is far too extreme and shows a mind temporarily unbalanced by his personal tragedy. For which I have the utmost sympathy and sorrow. As indeed we all do.'
Congressman Jintz said, 'My people in the House come up for reelection every two years. Kennedy could knock a bunch of them out if he's declared competent after the thirty day period. We have to keep him out.'
Senator Lambertino nodded. He knew that the senatorial six-year term always grated on House members. 'That's true,' he said, 'but remember, it will be established that he has serious psychological problems, and that can be used to keep him out of office simply by the Democratic party refusing him the nomination.'
Troyca had noted one thing. Elizabeth Stone had not uttered a word during the meeting. But she had a brain for a boss; she didn't have to protect Lambertino from his own stupidity.
So Troyca said, 'If I may summarize, if the Vice President and the majority of the Cabinet vote to impeach the President, they will sign the declaration this afternoon. The President's personal staff will still refuse to sign. It would be a great help if they did, but they won't.
According to the Constitutional procedure, the one essential signature is that of the Vice President. A Vice President, by tradition, endorses all of the President's policies. Are we absolutely positive she will sign? Or that she won't delay? Time is of the essence.'
Jintz laughed and said, 'What Vice President doesn't want to be President? She's been hoping for the last three years that he'd have a heart attack.'
For the first time Elizabeth Stone spoke. 'The Vice President does not think in that fashion. She is absolutely loyal to the President,' she said coolly. 'It is true that she is almost certain to sign the declaration. But for all the right reasons. '
Congressman Jintz looked at her with patient resignation and made a pacifying gesture. Lambertino frowned. Troyca kept his face impassive, but inwardly he was delighted.
Troyca said, 'I still say bypass everybody. Let Congress go right to the bottom line.'
Congressman Jintz rose from his comfortable armchair. 'Don't worry, Sal, the Vice President can't seem to be too much in a hurry to push Kennedy out. She will sign. She just doesn't want to look like a usurper.'
'Usurper' was a word often used in the House of Representatives in reference to President Kennedy.
Senator Lambertino regarded Troyca with distaste. He disliked a certain familiarity in the man's manner, the questioning of the plans of his betters. 'This action to impeach the President is certainly legal, if unprecedented,' he said. 'The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution doesn't specify medical evidence. But his decision to destroy Dak is evidence.'
Troyca couldn't resist. 'Once you do this there will certainly be a precedent. A two-thirds vote of Congress can impeach any President. In theory anyway.' He noted with satisfaction that he had won Elizabeth Stone's attention at least. So he went on. 'We'd be another banana republic only in reverse, the legislature being the dictator.'
Senator Lambertino said curtly, 'By definition that cannot be true. The legislature is elected by the people directly, it cannot dictate as one man can.'
Troyca thought with contempt, Not unless the Socrates Club gets on your ass. Then he realized what had made the senator angry. The senator thought of himself as presidential timber and didn't like someone saying that the Congress could get rid of the President whenever it liked.
Jintz said, 'Let's wind this up-we all have a hell of a lot of work to do. This is really a move to a more genuine democracy.'
Troyca was still not used to the direct simplicity of great men like the senator and the Speaker, how with such sincerity they went to the very heart of their own self-interest. He saw a certain look on the face of Elizabeth Stone and realized she was thinking exactly what he was thinking. Oh, he was going to take his shot at her no matter what the cost. But he said with his patented sincerity and humility, 'Is it at all possible that the President may declare that Congress is overruling an executive order that they disagree with and then defy the vote of the Congress? May he not go to the nation on television tonight before the Congress meets? And won't it seem plausible to the public that since Kennedy's staff refuses to sign the declaration, Kennedy is OK? There could be a great deal of trouble. Especially if the hostages are killed after Kennedy has been impeached. There could be tremendous repercussions on the Congress.'
Neither the senator nor the congressman seemed impressed by this analysis. Jintz patted him on the shoulder and said, 'Sal, we've got it all covered, you just make sure the paperwork gets done.'
At that moment the phone rang and Elizabeth Stone picked it up. She listened for a moment and then said, 'Senator, it's the Vice President.'
Before making her decision, Vice President Helen Du Pray decided to take her daily run.
The first woman Vice President of the United States, she was fifty-five years of age and by any standard an extraordinarily intelligent woman. She was still beautiful, possibly because in her twenties, then a pregnant wife and assistant district attorney, she became a health-food nut. She had also become a runner in her teens before she married. An early lover had taken her on his runs, five miles a day and not jogging. He had quoted Latin, 'Mens sana in corpore sano, ' and translated for her, 'If the body is healthy, the mind is healthy.' For his condescension in translating and his taking literally the truth of the quotation-how many healthy minds have been brought to dust by a too healthy body-she had discharged him as a lover.
But just as important were her dietary disciplines, which dissolved the poisons in her system and generated a high energy level with the extra bonus of a magnificent figure. Her political opponents would joke that she had no taste buds, but this was not true. She could enjoy a rosy peach, a mellow pear, the tangy taste of fresh vegetables, and in the dark days of the soul that no one can escape she could also eat a jarful of chocolate cookies.
She had become a health-food nut by chance. In her early days as a district attorney she had prosecuted a diet-book author for making fraudulent and injurious claims. To prepare for the case she had researched the subject, read everything in the field of nutrition, on the premise that to detect the false you must know what is true. She had convicted the author, made him pay an enormous fine but always felt she owed him a debt.
And even as Vice President of the United States, Helen Du Pray ate sparingly and always ran at least five miles a day on weekends, she did ten miles. Now on what could be the most important day of her life, with the declaration to impeach the President waiting for her signature, she decided to take a mind-clearing run.
Her Secret Service guard had to pay the price. Originally the chief of her security detail thought her morning run would be no problem. After all, his men were good physical specimens. But Vice President Du Pray not only took her runs early in the morning through woods where guards could not follow, but her once-a-week ten-mile run left her security men straggling far to her rear. The chief was amazed that this woman, in her fifties, could run so fast. And so long.
The Vice President did not want her run disturbed; it was, after all, a sacred thing in her life. It had replaced 'fun,' meaning it had replaced the enjoyment of food, liquor and sex, the warmth and tenderness that had gone out of her life when her husband had died six years before.
