2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [169]
And as it turned out, Clyde Folsom chose well. It took almost six months but the attorney convinced the prosecution that Kathy Bernard was not an accomplice; she had merely chosen her friends poorly, which even in 2031 was not yet a crime. The good news was that Kathy got her job back and continued to be Clyde’s very best employee. The bad news was that after adding the attorney’s fees to the medical loan, she was now well over a million dollars in debt. But Clyde reassured her.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “there’re a lot of houses out there to be sold. You’ll be fine.” And even though Kathy wasn’t much for irony, as she arrived at work each day she could not ignore the fact that her very best friend in the world was about to turn eighty-seven.
* * *
When the President announced that he would run for another term, it wasn’t a surprise. There was no Democrat who was going to compete with a sitting president. But when John Van Dyke turned in his resignation and said that he would not be part of another Bernstein administration, it caught the President unprepared.
Van Dyke had seemed to accept the new order in the White House. He seemed willing to work for a President who was divorced and in love with a cabinet member, willing to be third in line, after Susanna. But it wasn’t true. And one Friday, before he left for home, he came to see the President and put his letter of resignation on his desk.
“Do I have to read this?” Bernstein asked.
“I will not be helpful to you any longer. I have loved our relationship, but it’s time for both of us to move on. You and I have always seen eye to eye, but no more, I fear. You deserve someone who is always on your side.”
The President looked at the letter. It was simple, just two sentences stating that Van Dyke was leaving. He asked John to sit down. He would accept the letter, but after twenty years this at least deserved a conversation.
“You are my right arm. You know that, don’t you, John?”
“I was. Not anymore.”
“It’s not true. I know you’re jealous of Susanna, but it’s silly. You both are helpful to me. Why is that wrong?”
“It’s not wrong, Mr. President. But when you were married to Betsy, your decisions came from our discussions, not the discussions you had with her. It no longer runs that way. I now wait to find out how you’re going to approach each day. I’m not the first one in the loop any longer and it doesn’t make sense anymore.”
The President didn’t have it in him to convince Van Dyke to stay. He could see that the decision was made, and he had learned a long time ago that if someone actually wrote a resignation letter, they had reached a point of no return. He recalled years earlier when his chief aide in Congress had resigned, but Bernstein had begged him not to leave. The aide stayed and the next year was miserable for the both of them. He didn’t want that to happen again. “John, I will miss you. You are a really good man and I know you will do something great. I hope I at least have your support in the next election.”
“I’ll vote for you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
The President smiled. He got up and gave his chief of staff a bear hug. He whispered in his ear, “Don’t turn on me, John. Don’t write a book.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
The opening of the new football stadium in downtown Los Angeles was a major event. It was a beautiful site with monorails providing transportation directly into the arena. And it was surrounded by ongoing construction; new condominiums, office buildings, and three hotels that looked as though they would be finished within a year. It was the kind of downtown that Los Angeles had always dreamed about, but never could accomplish.
The rest of the city was taking shape and it was equally magnificent. No other American city looked like it. Finally, America had made a leap into the future. It had taken a disaster to make it happen, but it happened nonetheless, and the rest of the country was jealous.
The Chinese who were in charge of the