Variation on a Theme, Book 6
Copyright© 2024 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 148: Rediscovering a Bad Guy
Friday, June 6, 1986
We were up and out fairly early in the day. On the drive, I took the very long way to Boston, including drives through Newport and Providence. We stopped for lunch in Providence at a fairly nice seafood place. Clam cakes seemed like a must to all of us.
I imagined we would eat a lot of lobster in Boston, somewhat repeating a trip I’d made with my wife and kids in the 2010s. At one point during that trip, my daughter had said, “Do we have to have lobster again?”
To be fair, she had a point. We had been close to overdoing it.
After lunch, we headed up to Boston, settled into the Marriott in Cambridge, and then took ‘The T’ — Boston’s subway — over to Harvard. As we had at Yale, we set out across the campus, just wandering for a while. It was far more of a mishmash of very old and quite modern buildings than Yale had been, at least from our perspective.
As we were walking along one of the paths, Angie said, “We could have gone here, you know. Meaning all of us, together.”
Jas blushed, but didn’t say anything.
“We ... probably could have?” Paige said. “I’m glad we didn’t, though.”
Jas nodded and said, “Me, too! Oh, it’s a great degree, but ... eh. I like being an Aggie. I like our house, and our other friends, and ... just, the whole thing.”
“Me, too,” I said. “But I never had the desire to go to the Ivies.”
“Oh, me neither,” Angie said. “I think, for me, it’s about stepping back and saying, ‘Objectively, I’m that good. We’re that good. We have nothing to apologize for. This just wasn’t our path.’”
Paige nodded quickly.
“I agree about that. Especially you!”
Angie giggled and blushed.
I said, “You might still go here. I’m not sure how good their graduate mathematics program is, but it’s probably pretty damn good.”
Angie shrugged and said, “It’s up there. MIT and Princeton are probably at the top, but Harvard is, at most, just a tiny bit behind. Yale is likely in the top ten, too, I think.”
“There’s a fairly good movie...” I started. Then I stopped, because I could see Jas getting ready to whap me.
Angie shrugged.
“I’m guessing it’s after my time?”
“It is,” I said, whereupon Jas finished the job, giggling.
“Anyway,” I said. “Harvard. Not great, but it’s got a funny ... um...”
I stopped there, biting my lip.
“What?” Jas said. “Now we want to know. No whapping! I promise!”
“So...” I said. “I was going to say that it has somewhat funny, somewhat pointed joke about the Unabomber.”
“I’m not even sure how that works,” Paige said.
Angie nodded a bit, then said, “Wait. I almost know who that was! I mean ... you know. Really.”
“That’s the thing,” I said. “So ... the joke, if it is a joke, is that one of the professors doesn’t know the Unabomber’s name or his story. The other does, and gives the name and story, basically to claim that the math prodigy at the center of the movie will turn into a lunatic if he’s pressured too hard. Which seems to be, more or less, how the Unabomber became the Unabomber. The other professor takes it as being more of a ‘We need to give this kid direction and goals, or he’ll turn into a lunatic’ sort of lesson. It’s a pretty good scene. But ... see, that’s the thing. I know the name, right now. The question is: do I tell anyone? The FBI, for instance? How would I possibly explain knowing it? Do I break anything if I tell? It’s ... this isn’t the first time I’ve thought of his name, but it’s been years, and I never went into the ‘do I share or not?’ thought process then.”
Jas and Paige looked at each other. After a second, Jas said, “We’ll discuss it. Probably ... yes. Probably you tell. Some anonymous tip line, from ... well, heck. Up here, maybe. There’s got to be some way to call anonymously.”
“Isn’t there a ‘Top 10 Most Wanted’ list in post offices?” Paige said. “They must have a number listed. Call that, give the name, hang up. That’s it. You don’t want a reward or recognition.”
“And the odds are low that you’re wrong,” Angie said.
“Probably near zero,” I said, nodding. “It’s not like someone else would have been the Unabomber if the first guy didn’t do it. It’s a yes or no thing.”
“We’ll talk,” Jas said. “Paige and I. It’s our role, and this sounds like a good place to just jump in.”
“It does!” Paige said.
I hugged Jas, then Paige.
“Thanks!” I said.
“Thanks for telling us,” Jas said.
“This one was...” I said, then paused. After collecting my thoughts, I started over, saying, “This one is tricky. I know the name, but I know the names of a lot of people who have done — or, really, will do — bad things. It didn’t hit me until now that this is a case where the bad things are ongoing, and I know the name, and the risk of falsely accusing an innocent person is low. That’s different. We’ll see if there are more.”
Angie nodded and said, “I can’t think of any others off the top of my head, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know them.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Jas said. “And, remember, we all agree — there’s no blame here. Not doing something is always allowed. It doesn’t make you responsible in some way. But sometimes doing something is better.”
“It was with the space shuttle,” Paige said. “Just ... well. It’s not like I saw what happened, but this seems much better.”
“Definitely!” Angie said. “Much better!”
Our dinner location, picked by the Boston crew, was the Wursthouse, not far from Harvard. When we got there, Amit, Sheila, Gene, and Sue were all waiting.
We got one surprise immediately, in the form of a sparkly thing on Sheila’s finger. This time, the girls spotted it just as quickly as I did. After letting out a collective squeal, everyone admired everyone else’s ring while Amit, Gene, and I congratulated each other.
Once the mutual admiration died down, Amit said, “There wasn’t a plan. It was ... just ... this felt right.”
“It really did!” Sheila said, nodding quickly. “It’s ... well. I’m sure everyone here knows what it feels like to be ‘engaged to be engaged.’”
Everyone nodded agreement. We definitely all did.
“So, there was no pressure. No ‘Will we or won’t we?’ We were definitely on that path, and waiting made it a bit more of a surprise, which was good,” she said.
“I felt a bit of pressure!” Amit said, chuckling. “A good kind, though.”
Angie chuckled.
“Me, too!” she said, nodding, with Gene and me echoing her.
“We’ll have to recount the proposals over dinner!” Sue said, grinning.
After we were seated, we did just that, with interruptions to order drinks and then food. They had heard about the CBS tie-in, of course, but it was different recounting it in person.
Amit chuckled and said, “If anyone was going to turn their proposal into a news story, it makes sense it was the four of you!”
“And it makes sense that it was accidental,” Sue said. “You wouldn’t set out to do that, but things just happen around you all.”
“Good things!” Paige and Sheila said, nearly simultaneously. They gave each other a high-five and grinned.
After that, Sheila sighed a bit and said, “Remember our freshman year, Paige and Jas? Like ... who would have believed we would all be engaged within six years?”
Paige snorted.
“I might have punched anyone who suggested it!”
“Or burned their house down,” Jas said.
“I still haven’t done that!” Paige said. “I want to!”
Everyone laughed.
“I think I’m the only one at this table who hasn’t dated at least two other people here,” Amit said, chuckling.
“That’s because you picked and stuck with it!” Sheila said, grinning and kissing him.
“When’s the big day?” Jas said, looking at Sheila.
Sheila shrugged and said, “We don’t know, but we think winter break a year and a half from now. Really, it’s a better time for us. We get past the other weddings, and we go honeymoon somewhere warm instead of hanging out in the ice and snow.”
“Makes sense!” Jas said, with the rest of us nodding along.
It definitely did. And it would be better for everyone than another wedding in the summer of 1987. Trying to make that work could be hard, especially since nearly all of us were on each other’s guest lists. Amit and Sheila likely weren’t on Connie and Jimmy’s list, and vice versa, but that was about it.
“So!” Gene said. “Catch us up! It’s not like we aren’t in touch all the time, but still.”
We did, mostly adding the New York stuff. There were judgment calls to be made, certainly. We didn’t share anything about our new friend, Gordon Sumner, or our slightly longer-term friend, Bob Geldof. That would risk crossing into bragging. The same basic logic applied to Michael Dell. Mom and Dad didn’t even know the details there. Tom Myerson knowing made some sense, but that was about it.
On the other hand, Sheila provoked one confession along the way.
“I know you’ve been keeping up with Jess Lively more than I have,” she said. “Not that I’m not, but I know you’re closer.”
“Since Steve dated her for years, they should be!” Gene said, chuckling.
That brought back memories. Memories both of Gene being far ahead of me with girls and dating in my first life, and memories of the role reversal in this one and how that had felt at first. First-life Steve dating Jessica would have been absurd. This one? Par for the course, more or less.
Sue snorted and nodded.
“Oh, definitely!”
“Anyway,” Sheila said, “I know — I mean, obviously — she’s met a bunch of celebrities. And I know she really knows Michael J. Fox, anyway. That’s ... kinda both really cool and also weird.”
“I still rank President Reagan quoting Steve above that!” Amit said. “That, and getting Lizzie and Janet as an Extemp topic at Nationals!”
We all chuckled. That was true.
“Okay, fine!” Sheila said. “Both of those count. Still ... well, you got to go to the ‘Back to the Future’ premiere, Steve. Did you meet him?”
“I did, actually,” I said. “We talked for a few minutes. He seemed like a pretty down-to-earth guy, really.”
Sheila almost bounced in her seat.
“See! That’s how I imagine Jess to be, now. So, it makes sense that people she likes are that way,” she said.
Angie, Paige, Jas, and I all exchanged quick looks and pretty much agreed.
I said, “We’re going to that Amnesty International concert on the 15th.”
“Yeah,” Amit said. “It sounded really cool, but ... eh.”
“Definitely!” Gene said. “I’m actually more bummed about missing that Rendez-vous Houston thing. That sounded amazing!”
“Oh, it was!” Jas said, with the rest of us quickly agreeing.
“Anyway,” I said. “Jess is flying out, along with another friend of ours, Laura Waters...”
“Who you flipped out over at Hockaday!” Amit said.
“And who nearly got you squashed by a truck,” Sue said.
“That’s her,” I said, chuckling. “It all worked out. Oddly — maybe really oddly — but it did.”
“You were saying?” Sheila said.
“So, the funny thing is, they have a bunch of celebrities who’ll introduce bands, say nice things about Amnesty International, and stuff like that. One of the celebrity hosts is Michael J. Fox.”
“Oh, my God!” Sheila said. “That’s really cool!”
“It is!” Sue said, nodding.
Amit and Gene nodded, too.
The four of them looked at each other, and then Gene said, “Still not going, though.”
“Nah,” Sheila said. “Maybe when Jess is a big star. Because ... I think she’s going to be.”
“Us, too!” Angie said.
Sue nodded slowly, then said, “I think, one day, quite a few of us will be ... somebody. Maybe only in some circles, like Gene’s dad is only ‘somebody’ to people who care about the Federal court system, but ... it just feels like there’s something going on, you know?”
“Some of us might be somebody to somebody,” Sheila said, chuckling.
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