Threeway, ch. 11, Inevitability, pt. 1 of 3
In which things quickly go to shit. "Threeway" continues in serial form with a link to buy the book at the bottom of the post. To catch up on prior segments, start at the bottom of the blog. Enjoy. Tell your friends.
THREEWAY: A Short Novel for a Long Season
by
STEVEN LUBLINER
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogue, and descriptions are the author’s creations and are not to be taken as true. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All incidents depicting, suggesting, or referring to public figures or other historical persons are also fictionalized and are not to be taken as true.
Copyright © 2016 Steven S. Lubliner
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1530971292
ISBN-13: 978-1530971299
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Prologue: The Personal Is Political i
1 Fillmore Pipp’s Boner 1
2 Big Mel Kriegman 16
3 Hi and Bye, Connie and Herb. 32
4 THE BROWN BAGGERS!! 40
5 Mittelpunkt 43
6 Mandy 51
7 Mandy In. Mandy Out. Mandy In. 66
8 Authenticity 75
9 Momentum 79
10 Brother Paul 88
11 Inevitability 98
12 Win. Lose. Repeat 108
Epilogue 112
Chapter 11: Inevitability (pt. 1 of 3)
Introduced as Mandy’s vice president to great fanfare, Brother Paul confined his remarks to “Glad to be out. Fuck all of you.” He dropped a load and flew the double bird, doing his bit with vigor and spirit.
Mandy’s mother rushed the stage and joined him. Told by reporters that she must be proud, she said this is what happens when you let your kids dream big. Asked what would be the best part of Mandy and Paul winning, she teared up and said they would all be under one roof again. The faithful wept and shit buckets. Some polls had Mandy ahead of Kriegman by twenty points with Pipp bringing up the rear.
Mandy and Paul barnstormed around the state, getting out the Brown Bagger message in parks and at super markets and daycare centers. Brother Paul’s angry magnetism was a hit, but the enforced silence ate at him. He had sat silent for twelve years. Now, he wanted to speak.
“All in good time,” said Mittelpunkt. “Every politician can preach to the choir. We’re saving you to send out among the heathen. Tomorrow, Paul, we go north. Tomorrow, you can tell my New York friends it’s their duty to line up and die.”
“If you still have any New York friends,” Paul countered.
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Tomorrow, Brother Paul was arrested at the airport. He had committed no crime, but since he had not been granted permission to leave the jurisdiction, he was in violation of the terms of his release.
Mandy flew at the officer. Flashbulbs exploded in slow motion, Paul’s face contorted with embarrassment, and Mandy’s screams echoed in a loop in the background, or so Mittelpunkt imagined it. He let the scene play out. Then, like a conductor quelling a crescendo before it tipped over into self-indulgence, he held Mandy back. Paul was taken away. The rest of them got on the plane.
“Pipp’s playing hardball,” Mittelpunkt opined when they were safely up in the air. Mandy stared out the window.
“I want to release the tape.”
“No way.”
“He messed with my family.”
“America’s always messing with families. War messes with families. The law messes with families. Paul made his bed long ago. We need to move on.” Mandy glared icily at Mittelpunkt.
“You’re glad this happened.” It was not a question.
“You want Paul’s job, don’t you?” Mandy pressed.
“Not even close. You’re angry. I respect that, but releasing the tape will hurt you.” A light of happy anticipation flickered on in Mandy’s eyes. Mittelpunkt corrected himself.
“It will hurt the campaign.” The light faded. Mandy grew thoughtful again.
“I think Pipp wants it out there. Otherwise, arresting Paul makes no sense. He gave me the tape when I was nobody, and maybe that was a crazy mistake, but I’m somebody now, and he knows I have it, so why push my buttons? He wants it out there. The question is why. Maybe he’s quitting. Maybe he thinks it puts him over. Maybe he can’t stand the suspense. Whatever, it feels like he’s offering a trade. If we put it out there, I get my brother back.”
“If he wanted it out there,” Mittelpunkt countered, “he could leak it himself.”
“Maybe he destroyed the original. Maybe his wife did. Or maybe,” she drew out, the dangerous life returning to her eyes, “this is his way of apologizing.”
Until that last sentence, Mittelpunkt had been smiling. For a moment, he admired her intelligence. For a moment, she was thinking strategically. For a moment, he envisioned a marriage of cunning, world-weary equals that extended beyond the White House years as they lived out their working lives plotting and counter-plotting for fungible candidates and causes while growing richer. Now, he gasped inwardly at his mistake. Affairs of state were nothing more to her than another uneven field on which to play boy/girl games.
In the broader sense, that was all right. All politics is local. Sometimes, it’s deeply personal. Mandy only became Mandy because Mittelpunkt had let a political slight pierce his heart. Still, if personal dramas were going to be played out in public, the author had to write herself a happy ending. Mandy never did. Not that Mittelpunkt understood his own script any better. He did not grasp how little he mattered to Mandy. Her indifference let her look at him with clear eyes.
“Why aren’t you upset?” she asked him again. “You work for me. When I’m upset, you should be upset.”
“I am upset.” Mandy stared at him. Mittelpunkt fidgeted.
“Before we go nuts with the tape, let me make some calls. I’ll call Pipp’s camp and say I hope they had a good laugh. I’ll let Ira Stengel call me dirty names. They’ll put things right.”
“It was you!”
Buy Threeway.
Read the review on Kirkus Reviews.
Read an article about the author.
Review Threeway on Goodreads.
Buy A Child's Christmas in Queens.
THREEWAY: A Short Novel for a Long Season
by
STEVEN LUBLINER
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, dialogue, and descriptions are the author’s creations and are not to be taken as true. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All incidents depicting, suggesting, or referring to public figures or other historical persons are also fictionalized and are not to be taken as true.
Copyright © 2016 Steven S. Lubliner
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1530971292
ISBN-13: 978-1530971299
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Prologue: The Personal Is Political i
1 Fillmore Pipp’s Boner 1
2 Big Mel Kriegman 16
3 Hi and Bye, Connie and Herb. 32
4 THE BROWN BAGGERS!! 40
5 Mittelpunkt 43
6 Mandy 51
7 Mandy In. Mandy Out. Mandy In. 66
8 Authenticity 75
9 Momentum 79
10 Brother Paul 88
11 Inevitability 98
12 Win. Lose. Repeat 108
Epilogue 112
Chapter 11: Inevitability (pt. 1 of 3)
Introduced as Mandy’s vice president to great fanfare, Brother Paul confined his remarks to “Glad to be out. Fuck all of you.” He dropped a load and flew the double bird, doing his bit with vigor and spirit.
Mandy’s mother rushed the stage and joined him. Told by reporters that she must be proud, she said this is what happens when you let your kids dream big. Asked what would be the best part of Mandy and Paul winning, she teared up and said they would all be under one roof again. The faithful wept and shit buckets. Some polls had Mandy ahead of Kriegman by twenty points with Pipp bringing up the rear.
Mandy and Paul barnstormed around the state, getting out the Brown Bagger message in parks and at super markets and daycare centers. Brother Paul’s angry magnetism was a hit, but the enforced silence ate at him. He had sat silent for twelve years. Now, he wanted to speak.
“All in good time,” said Mittelpunkt. “Every politician can preach to the choir. We’re saving you to send out among the heathen. Tomorrow, Paul, we go north. Tomorrow, you can tell my New York friends it’s their duty to line up and die.”
“If you still have any New York friends,” Paul countered.
“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Tomorrow, Brother Paul was arrested at the airport. He had committed no crime, but since he had not been granted permission to leave the jurisdiction, he was in violation of the terms of his release.
Mandy flew at the officer. Flashbulbs exploded in slow motion, Paul’s face contorted with embarrassment, and Mandy’s screams echoed in a loop in the background, or so Mittelpunkt imagined it. He let the scene play out. Then, like a conductor quelling a crescendo before it tipped over into self-indulgence, he held Mandy back. Paul was taken away. The rest of them got on the plane.
“Pipp’s playing hardball,” Mittelpunkt opined when they were safely up in the air. Mandy stared out the window.
“I want to release the tape.”
“No way.”
“He messed with my family.”
“America’s always messing with families. War messes with families. The law messes with families. Paul made his bed long ago. We need to move on.” Mandy glared icily at Mittelpunkt.
“You’re glad this happened.” It was not a question.
“You want Paul’s job, don’t you?” Mandy pressed.
“Not even close. You’re angry. I respect that, but releasing the tape will hurt you.” A light of happy anticipation flickered on in Mandy’s eyes. Mittelpunkt corrected himself.
“It will hurt the campaign.” The light faded. Mandy grew thoughtful again.
“I think Pipp wants it out there. Otherwise, arresting Paul makes no sense. He gave me the tape when I was nobody, and maybe that was a crazy mistake, but I’m somebody now, and he knows I have it, so why push my buttons? He wants it out there. The question is why. Maybe he’s quitting. Maybe he thinks it puts him over. Maybe he can’t stand the suspense. Whatever, it feels like he’s offering a trade. If we put it out there, I get my brother back.”
“If he wanted it out there,” Mittelpunkt countered, “he could leak it himself.”
“Maybe he destroyed the original. Maybe his wife did. Or maybe,” she drew out, the dangerous life returning to her eyes, “this is his way of apologizing.”
Until that last sentence, Mittelpunkt had been smiling. For a moment, he admired her intelligence. For a moment, she was thinking strategically. For a moment, he envisioned a marriage of cunning, world-weary equals that extended beyond the White House years as they lived out their working lives plotting and counter-plotting for fungible candidates and causes while growing richer. Now, he gasped inwardly at his mistake. Affairs of state were nothing more to her than another uneven field on which to play boy/girl games.
In the broader sense, that was all right. All politics is local. Sometimes, it’s deeply personal. Mandy only became Mandy because Mittelpunkt had let a political slight pierce his heart. Still, if personal dramas were going to be played out in public, the author had to write herself a happy ending. Mandy never did. Not that Mittelpunkt understood his own script any better. He did not grasp how little he mattered to Mandy. Her indifference let her look at him with clear eyes.
“Why aren’t you upset?” she asked him again. “You work for me. When I’m upset, you should be upset.”
“I am upset.” Mandy stared at him. Mittelpunkt fidgeted.
“Before we go nuts with the tape, let me make some calls. I’ll call Pipp’s camp and say I hope they had a good laugh. I’ll let Ira Stengel call me dirty names. They’ll put things right.”
“It was you!”
Buy Threeway.
Read the review on Kirkus Reviews.
Read an article about the author.
Review Threeway on Goodreads.
Buy A Child's Christmas in Queens.
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