by Frank Perry
would be miserable in a corporate job. Their love would only sustain them for so long. It was a big hurdle if she didn’t follow him. It was a mental tug-of-war that needed to be resolved. She knew Hunter was struggling with “asking the question.” He knew it, and so did she. The threats on his family had sidetracked them, but the concern had mellowed slightly after a few days.
The cafeteria was immense, and they were able to get a private table together far away from others. They smiled and held hands off and on before Hunter asked. “Say. I want to take you out for a special dinner this weekend.”
It was the signal she had been expecting. “I may have to work.”
“Laurie. You don’t have to work until you drop. Work in the morning, and we can have dinner late if you want. It’s important.”
She took a deep breath. “I’d like that, Hunter.” She knew that important could mean a couple different alternatives. From his smile, she expected him to propose, and she didn’t know if she would accept what he had to say.
Hunter left shortly after eating. He hadn’t planned to frame the weekend invitation quite so conclusively. Something in his mind pushed him to a decisive point that he’d been avoiding. It felt amazingly exhilarating, and he almost ran to the Capitol, even though he had plenty of time to spare. He was also terrified. Had he just told her that he planned to propose? That decision was central to his plans for a future with Laura, but the reality scared him. What was his plan for the future? He needed to crystalize his thoughts before Saturday.
The weather was cloudy but rain-free as he walked seven blocks to the Rayburn House Office Building beside the Capitol. The rain had knocked some of the humidity down, which was welcomed in late summer. Most of his peer lobbyists would take a taxi, but Hunter still enjoyed the ambience and mystic appeal of walking through the Mall area toward the Capitol. He had the time. He was still a newcomer to Washington, but so were a third of the Congressmen. It was a humbling thought that laws were being decided by freshmen, but maybe that’s the way the Founding Fathers intended laws to be made. We needed more new blood. The phenomenon of the professional politicians that now filled senior positions on the Congressional Committees was never anticipated when the nation was formed. It was one reason that real courage was so hard to find among the newer generation of politicians. Hunter saw it every day. People now came to Washington to be long-term employees, not as a higher calling to represent the needs of the nation. He valued the insight he had gained but was often discouraged by “the system” at the same time. This dichotomy was something he would resolve before Saturday.
After losing himself in self-examination, he nearly walked past the entrance of the building on Independence Avenue.
Laura returned to her office feeling nervous with anticipation about an “important” dinner with Hunter. She had several days to think about her responses, but it wouldn’t help. She needed to solidify her own feelings and plans. Unless Hunter was sending the wrong message, she would need to make some hard decisions, fast. She had invested two years with him, and after Saturday their relationship could be heading toward marriage, or over. There was no such thing as “just friends” at this point. She could call her mother but wanted to lean on someone more neutral. She didn’t have any close personal friends, not the kind she could trust with her emotions. She needed to decide this on her own. She felt a headache coming.
Inside the Rayburn Building, Hunter’s instruction was to call Gloria Morrow, on the HAC professional staff. From his first impression of Gloria, he knew this woman was all business. She was older than most of the other staffer’s on the hill. Obviously, she wasn’t using the position to catapult into something else. She carried a portfolio with lined legal-sized paper. She was mid-forties, five-three and stocky, which is not something a man would use to describe most women, but it seemed to fit in this case. She had a cold dry grip when they shook hands then she immediately led him away to one of the huge unused committee rooms. It felt odd to him, sitting in a room large enough for a big wedding reception. She was not taking him to her office. She didn’t offer refreshments, nor ask him anything off subject.
“Mr. Hunter, I’m pleased that you stopped by. My boss got a call from Ms. Bryant, whom I assume is your boss?”
“No, ma’am. Leigh is a consultant for the State of California. I work directly for the state. She knows how things are done in Washington, and I use her as an advisor. She suggested that I talk to you and helped me make the appointment. He couldn’t tell if she was perturbed by meeting with him or just disagreeable. People in Washington learn to avoid expressing their true impressions.
“Tell me, Mr. Kohl, how can I be of service?”
“Well, Ms. Morrow. I work with a Department in the California State House that is interested in revisions to the current Federal drug control policies and would like to see changes that would legalize and regulate milder drugs, Marijuana and Cocaine, for example.”
She snickered, “Something we might expect from California.”
He was taken aback. “Look, ma’am, I just spent four years on the front line of the War on Drugs. My sponsor (his sister) lost her husband, murdered, over this issue. No one I know gives a fig about drug use. None do it. This is about thousands of people dying each year, some trying to smuggle drugs and others fighting in gangs in our cities.”
“Mr. Kohl, do you have any idea how many kids would suffer through easy access to drugs? I’ve seen the statistics.”
Hunter had seen them, too. He wondered what experience lingered in her background that was so polarizing.
“Ms. Morrow, we would hope that regulating legal sales and more funding for education and treatment would save more children than the situation that exists today. We could spend far less in money and lives and quadruple the social programs to stop the drug epidemic, if we could legislate an end to the War on Drugs. The war isn’t solving anything.”
“I’m sure you are aware, Mr. Kohl, that we on the staff only work under the direction of the elected committee members and don’t make policy.”
“Yes, ma’am. I know what you do. I’m just here to provide my services any way possible.”
“What can you give us?”
“I work on both sides of the hill and work closely with the Senate staffers. I’m sure you know that they’re drafting language for a change in policy in their Appropriations Bill.”
She responded scornfully. “We were recently told to put something into the HAC bill also.”
Romanoff had gotten to the staff. “Ms. Morrow, you probably know Brian Collie on the SAC professional staff?”
She sneered. “He’s one of those new wiz kids from an Ivy school. I know who he is but haven’t ever spoken to him.”
Hunter was starting to recognize the enmity she felt. She probably had a night school education finished late in life and had to fight her way into the job. He could understand jealousy. “Ma’am, if it would help, I have a copy of the SAC draft language if you’d like to see it.”
“Were you told by Collie to give this to me?”
“No, ma’am. I just thought it would make your job easier if the members wanted something that wouldn’t scrub at the conference.”
She took the draft from him and scanned it quickly. “This isn’t good language for a bill. What if I draft something different?”
“Ma’am, I’m just here to help, and to monitor things for the state.” He was hoping that complete honesty might help defrost her.
“I don’t think this is well-worded.”
“Ms. Morrow. If you have something better to offer, I would be happy to help sell it across the hill.”
She was offended. “That’s my job. You don’t work for the Government, Mr. Kohl. As far as I’m concerned, you’re just another parasite we all pay for in things we buy. I don’t like lobbyists, Mr. Kohl, messing around in our business.”
“Well, ma’am. As far as I k
now “our business” is the business of the people. I represent the people of California, and you could consider me to be a watchdog for those people.”
“Well, Mr. Hunter, we can certainly disagree there.”
He knew how to control his temper, but also knew it was time to leave, fast before this disintegrated further. “Ms. Morrow, Here’s my card. I can be of service if you choose me to help you. Otherwise, at least you’ll know who’s stirring the pot.”
“We don’t need any outside interference, Mr. Kohl.”
“Well, I’m sorry ma’am, that’s what the good people of California sent me here for. I’m going to be building up support with the members on our behalf. I thought you’d like to know that I’m out there.”
The meeting ended when she closed her notebook. His card was thrown loosely inside her papers, probably to be lost.
He didn’t offer to shake hands and walked out ahead of her. There was no reason for disingenuous courtesies at this point. Outside the building, walking toward the Capitol South Metro Station, he called Leigh to report.
She asked, “How’d it go.”
He half smiled. “She’s a real ball buster, Leigh.”
“I don’t know her. She’s been a minor scribe for the staff for a long time. There are people like that in Government who have perpetual grudges. They forget that Government jobs are supposed to
