2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [56]
“At some point in time? Well, what the hell am I supposed to do to get to that point?”
“We can keep you here for as long as necessary and feed you and take care of your medical needs.”
“My boy, I had a condo! I owned it outright! I don’t need people feeding me or housing me; if I did, I would have moved into a nursing home. I am owed that money! As a citizen of this country, I am owed that money!”
“I agree, Mr. Miller. My uncle feels the same way.”
“Well, good for him. Hey, does he want to trade with me? I’ll live with you for a while and he can stay in my bunk.”
The man smiled. He realized there was nothing more to say. “Mr. Miller, I just wanted you to know that you are not invisible. We are trying to come up with real solutions to a problem that has never existed before.”
“Well, that makes me feel better. Hey, would you like to stand in line with me for two hours? I have to take a piss.”
* * *
Kathy and Max were on the road to Chicago. It was a beautiful day in the Midwest: mild temperatures, blue skies. It would have been the best day of her life if her father’s urn weren’t sitting on the backseat.
Max’s car was a lot nicer than one would have thought listening to him at that first meeting. Max Leonard came across as someone who had no finances and who had to bum rides with someone else, or who had a broken-down car that was twenty years old. That wasn’t the case. He had a German sports sedan with everything on it. Huge electric power, auto drive, a sound and visual system that would rival a home setup. You could cruise along at a hundred miles an hour and actually forget you were in a car, especially if you chose the auto drive. The advanced radar systems were so good, they would simply not allow you to get into an accident. The sensors could see front and behind up to a mile, and off to the side up to a quarter mile. If someone was about to sideswipe you, the car would take evasive action, and then ask you to take over. Other than that, it would never bother you. It could easily turn corners by itself and stop before anything got in its way. If an animal or a human ran in front of it, the auto drive would stop the car faster than if it were being driven by a person, so driving was more about having something to do than for safety.
As they cruised along Highway 41, Max told Kathy his life story and how he’d gotten to this point, and as he talked she couldn’t believe that she’d found him. This was her dream man. A rebel with money. Someone who could offer actual comfort but still want to change the world. What a combo. She hoped she wasn’t too materialistic wanting this kind of guy, but screw it, why not? She wasn’t asking him to pay off her loans. She wasn’t asking for anything. That was why it seemed great. The love came first and the other good stuff just happened to be there.
Max was aware of her $350,000 debt and he brought it up on the trip. “You know what I think is really fucked?” he said.
“What?”
“That medical loans have to be paid off even when the patient dies.”
“Let’s not talk about it. It’s beyond fucked.”
“What if you just don’t pay it?”
“I don’t know. Jail, I would imagine.”
“Maybe there’s a way around it.”
“Let’s just have fun. I don’t want to talk about it in front of my dad.” Max looked behind him at the copper urn.
“I understand. But from everything you’ve said about your father, I bet he would be the most angry of all.”
Kathy picked up the urn, rubbing it as if a magic genie would appear. “He would really like you,” she said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The President’s mother, Bernice Bernstein, had been moved to a facility in Baltimore, a sophisticated recovery center where people rarely recovered, mostly living in a coma forever, mostly on the government’s dime.
Bernice was in suite 401. It was a large room, overlooking a parklike setting, with six machines working 24/7. She lay there with her eyes closed and no expression on her face, and to look at her, one would have no idea if she was even alive, but