“Good.”
“Maybe she just doesn’t like you very much.”
He moves the silver-framed photograph of Pamela and the kids to a place on his desk where it can’t be seen.
At eleven-fifteen he receives an unexpected telephone call from Joseph E. Morgan, senior vice president of Comtex. Morgan sincerely apologizes for Adams’ mishap on the ice. If the team had been better equipped, etc. etc. Can Comtex make reparation?
“Well,” Adams says. “Essentially it was my fault.”
“I’m very impressed with the work you’ve done for us. I’d like you to know, we’re developing our own cartographic staff. Any chance you’d consider us?”
“I don’t know,” Adams says. “What did you have in mind?”
“I’d like you to interview, of course, but I can give you a general range…” He mentions the low fifties. Adams promises to get back to him.
At lunch Carter is jubilant. “We’re continuing to expand, Sam. Since you’ve been gone we’ve added two new data bases and increased our statistical and digital capacity.” The Deerbridge Road development has been a huge success and Carter has started a new housing district, early American to modern, geodesic domes.
“I’ve been offered a job,” Adams tells him. “Oh?”
“Comtex wants me.”
Carter closes his menu. “Bastards. Goddamn headhunters. Lend you to them for six months, next thing you know — ”
“It’s a very attractive package.” “How much?”
“It’s not just the money. I’d be happier in research and development. You know that.” “I need you on my projects.”
“Several of the young guys are ready. Rakofsky, O’Connor, Lajoie.”
“They’re kids, Sam. I can’t even speak their language, much less get a subtle concept over to them. Haven’t I given you what you wanted? You wanted an international assignment, I let you go.”
“I have no complaints,” Adams says. “But when a better offer comes along — ”
“What the hell would you do in research and development?”
“Expand our catalog. We can’t do fieldwork in deep space, but the computer can take us there. It’s an area we haven’t touched.”
Carter shakes his head. “I’m not sure there’s a market for the stars, hmm?”
“Oh, I think there is. Despite its setbacks, the shuttle opened things up.”
“You’re squeezing me, Sam.” Carter picks up the check.
I try to picture Austin but can only see the dead dry weeds in the field behind my house. It’s cold here. I miss you. Irrational, I know, but I keep hoping Jack has changed: self-centered, obnoxious, untidy. I don’t know how we’ll work it but I’m happy you want to keep the lines open. I’m used to fixing borders, closing things off.
I can’t seem to get moving. The house is strange. Everything’s noisy. The refrigerator cutting on and off, the traffic outside … it was so quiet on the ice.
When I was little I went into the fields behind my mother’s house and listened to empty grain silos howl with the wind that got inside them. Like the sounds of a dying animal. They frightened me. Coming into town tonight, watching the fields rush by, I felt nostalgic about those silos: attempts at order on the prairie.
You once said the academic environment was it for you. It for me has always been the imagination. I believed we saved ourselves from the size of the world by mapping it, studying it, appropriating it.
Since Svalbard I wonder. I was the dying animal out there in the snow, Carol, huddled inside the horse…
He puts down his pen. Perhaps he’ll just send her some flowers. Probably she doesn’t see many flowers in Texas.
Unless Jack gave her some, had a big bouquet waiting for her when she got home.
He starts to call Kenny; as he lifts the receiver, weariness overtakes him. Too many people, too far away. He places the unfinished letter in the center of his drafting table and, turning off the lamp, goes to bed.
Adams receives an Orb spider and a German chocolate cake in a ceremony announcing the expansion of On-Line’s Research and Development Wing, of which Adams will be the head. For the occasion he has bought a brand-new Brooks Brothers suit, tan, with a white shirt and solid red tie.
Pinning the spider onto Adams’ lapel, Carter says, “This man has been a catalyst in our banner year. From local acclaim to international distinction, he’s an example of what we all strive to be.”
Polite applause from his colleagues. In addition to more money, he’s given unrestricted use of a geodesic dome (Fuller’s most rigorous design) in Carter’s new housing district north of Deerbridge Road. The dome is equipped with a color television, a wet bar, fully stocked, and an IBM PC/XT.
Rakofsky, O’Connor, and Lajoie each receive a bronzed Ixodes ricinus in honor of their promotion into Special Projects.
Rosa’s been volunteering at the women’s shelter and has befriended Pamela. Recently the police asked her if she’d use her power to help them locate a missing baby boy. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and led two officers to an abandoned house, where they found the police commissioner’s fifteen-year-old daughter in an erotic embrace with a tractor salesman. “I kept telling them I’m a medium, not a psychic,” she says, although she knew before Adams even opened his mouth that he had lost a tooth. “What else is new?”
“I’ve become a Black Muslim.”
Adams stares at her. “But you’re white.”
“That’s a problem,” she admits. “I don’t know if the brothers will officially accept a white woman, but I’m a brother at heart, that’s what counts.”
“What brought this on?”
“The spirits told me the balance of world power is going to change very soon. The nation of Islam will rise and smite its enemies, the white supremacists.” Her voice intensifies, like a charismatic preacher’s. “Ike tried to talk me out of it.”
“Ike?”
“Eisenhower. A very conservative spirit. Refuses to admit the cosmic order’s shifting. Malcolm told me the malevolent spirits that have manifested themselves in white racism will soon be brought to their knees. And it’s not just the United States. You know who’s really being victimized in Central America? Blacks, Indians, women.”
“Same old story,” Adams says.
“You bet it is. Ever hear about female political prisoners? No. Women are the poorest people on earth. That’s why I joined the shelter. Grass-roots movements are important, but I’m more of an ambassador type. Hell, I’ve been all over the universe. I’ve got a broader view than most.” She leans back to catch her breath. “The spirits have plans for me.”
Adams doesn’t know how to respond. Finally Rosa says, “Want to see a movie?”
They go to a Shaft double feature at a second-run theater on the south side of town. Kids cheer as the detective empties his gun into the killer’s stomach. There are three other white couples in the audience.
“Isn’t he great?” Rosa whispers.
“Yes.”
After the movie they drive to Adele’s, where Adams orders a sandwich. Rosa wants two poached eggs on toast. “I’m still middle-class in a lot of ways, but I’m working on it. You’re going to have to change your maps when the revolution comes.”
“I don’t mind. As a cartographer, I’m supposed to be objective.”
“And as a person?”
“I’m not very political, Rosa.”
“Beyond politics, that’s what I’m talking about, like caring for your kids — how are they, by the way?”
“The most beautiful little people you’ll ever meet.”