The Exodus Strategy

by Barbara Winkes

  Vivien had more questions.

  “How can you help any woman who’s in a desperate situation, right here?”

  “Giving her a plane ticket, if necessary. Finding her a job so she is able to get back on her own feet, whatever that takes. Information and education is key. Once we’ve got things up and running, we’ll get a lot of press. No one will be able to ignore us.”

  Kerry still looked doubtful, but Hilary hadn’t missed the longing glance on Vivien’s face. She’d been dreaming of the big leap when in her job, she had to work hard to achieve small steps, against an opposition of which some were loud and uninformed, others seeming invincible. Kerry’s doubts were legit, as this was a huge and unprecedented undertaking, but somebody had to do it. If they ever wanted to fix the rules of the game, they had to know how to play it first, and get good at it.

  “What if things aren’t up and running?” Kerry asked. “What if it all goes wrong?”

  So much for unwinding with light conversation…Hilary had already invested too much in this idea to let doubts stop her—even if they came from her best friend.

  “Miller isn’t going away anytime soon; neither are the ones who helped him get into office. What are we going to do? I’d rather fail than have to live with the fact I never tried. I believe things will go in the right direction, that people will wake up before we’re about to blow up the planet, socially and environmentally—but I’d rather not take the risk.”

  Kerry shook her head.

  “I should have known. This is your idea of a relaxing evening? I’m sorry. Maybe I’m not as good as you thought I was, because for me, my family, my home comes first. There, I said it. We had good ideas when we were younger, but I think the reality of what little we can do is catching up with us. Even with your kind of money. We have to wait it out. Miller will never have a second term if he continues like that. Believe in the good of people for a moment.”

  She left them standing. Vivien cast a regretful look after her.

  “I’m so sorry. We all have a lot on our minds at the moment.”

  “You can have the baby in California. Kerry could ask for a transfer if she doesn’t want to work for us.”

  “This is scary, for all of us.” Vivien sighed. “It’s not just the women’s clinics, though it sucks for them. Sooner or later, my job will be on the line too, because Miller promised he’s slash through every funding for employers like mine. The people we serve…God knows what will become of them. As for his followers, they’re getting more aggressive every day. I don’t tell Kerry half of what we’re dealing with, but of course she can guess. That’s no excuse to be rude, but I think she’s feeling trapped. I know I do.”

  “You don’t have to. Take a few days, weeks even to think this through, all the advantages for you. We’ll work with Dana on a list of your clients, what their skills are, how we can involve them. No one’s going to be left behind, and certainly not you or Kerry. Besides, how would you like to spend your maternity leave on the beach?”

  That, at least, elicited a smile from Vivien.

  “I know where Kerry is coming from. When I started reading this old paper, I got scared too, but I got more angry than scared. You still cannot marry the person you love, and Miller wants to prevent you from doing that as long as he can. Sure, it’s stalling. At some point, another one of those suits goes all the way to the Supreme Court, and they hopefully tell him to do his job, but we don’t know how soon it will happen here. You and Kerry deserve better. My daughter deserves better than having her future taken away from her because this guy hates confident and educated women, and can’t stand to hear the word vagina.”

  Despite herself, Vivien laughed. “You should run against him next time. He wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  Hilary was glad to leave this in the realm of theory. “That’s the beauty of it, I don’t have to. I’ll just throw my money and power around.”

  “You know what, I think that might work. I think I should—”

  “I’ll go,” Hilary said. “I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on her, and I guess I owe her an apology. Will you be free for dinner next weekend? We’ve still got a lot to talk about.”

  “I think we could make it. You really got that idea in college?” Vivien asked. “I’m so jealous. There’s some brilliant theory in there.”

  “Thanks.”

  Kerry had once been convinced that it could work in practice too. In their paper, they had chosen Hawaii, which had prompted some fellow students to accuse them of wanting to live the easy life.

  Hopefully she could convince Kerry once more. Someone who wasn’t afraid to get into a small room with murderers and rapists in order to get answers from them would be valuable to the revolution--and Hilary couldn’t imagine starting it without her best friend.

  * * * *

  “I feel horrible. Even more so, since I know everything you said is true, and I know that Vivien would consider it, but I can’t.”

  “Why?” Hilary asked softly.

  Kerry stared into her wineglass somberly. “It was our dream one time, and I know it’s still yours, but sometimes you have to remember we are not that much alike after all.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Kerry shook her head, looking frustrated. “You call an hour before you send a car to our house, and I’m sure you already told Ms. Martin you would talk to Vivien this evening without even checking with us. You mean well, you always do, but you tend to overlook the small details.”

  “Like what?” Hilary had the impression that this conversation had the potential to bring up hurtful truths, but better to bring them all up at this point, work them out before they would embark on the biggest adventures of their lives. She sat at the table in the corner where they were somewhat shielded from the other attendees. She felt busted. Of course Hilary had never doubted that she would meet Vivien tonight to discuss the new development for her employer and the FPCs.

  “You know where I’m coming from,” Kerry said. She remained standing.

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with anything? If it should impact your decision in any way, you should think about the benefits of leaving.”

  “It’s the way your life is; the way it has always been. You are smart, and you have good plans that usually work out, and what if they didn’t? Who cares? You have a nice soft cushion to fall back on, you always had. It’s not the same for everyone. Some people only have that one shot.” Kerry had turned away, unaware of how much of a gut punch her words were for Hilary. Never mind. She was far from ready to bring up all hurtful truths. From the moment they met in elementary school, and when they later reunited in college, Hilary had always trusted Kerry, but there were some things not even her oldest friend knew about her. Then again, maybe Kerry was right, because some situations, no matter how bad, were easiest to deal with when you had the full impact of the Greene Industries capital behind them.

  “For the first time in my life, I have the chance to build something for myself—a home, a family, the kind of stability that no one in my family ever had. Ask my mom who has a nice apartment for the first time ever. Ask my Dad…well, that’s gotta be a bit difficult, but if anyone can find out where he is, it’s one of those Greene in-house investigators. You have those, don’t you?” Finally, Kerry faced her. “It sounds so petty and selfish, right? I’m a traitor to your dream, because I’m scared everything I worked for, that is my own, could be slipping through my fingers.”

  Hilary had time to recover from the unwelcome trip down a dark and sad memory lane, but both the memories and Kerry’s struggle did nothing but drive home the facts.

  “It already is. What we have worked for, and generations of women before us, is slipping away if we don’t step up. You are right, there are situations when we only have that one shot—and this might be ours. You mentioned your father. Do you want to take the chance that, if God forbid something happened to you, he could come here and kick Vivien and your child out on the stre
et? Maybe you’re lucky, and whoever is in charge, has to comply with the law and give you the same kind of protection that any straight couple would have—or maybe not. You and I are privileged, Kerry, because we have options. We’re going to use them, and we’re going to enable other women to do the same.”

  As they held each other’s gazes, the years fell away like magic, the two of them in a classroom in front of two dozen students and a teacher whose jaws were dropping.

  “You’re going to need allies on the ground to make this possible,” Kerry said. “There’s going to be opposition from those who hate you, and those who, on most given days, agree with you, because the latter will think you’re letting them down. You’re going to have one hell of a hard time selling this idea.”

  “I know. Once there’s a mass exodus, Miller won’t be able to cover up all the things that are going wrong. The coverage is going to be nation-wide, international even, and he’ll have to answer some hard questions.”

  Kerry finally pulled herself a chair. “What about King? She’s not stupid, she knows you’ve been on a land buying spree. She’ll put two and two together rather sooner than later. What about jobs and housing in the local community?” She laughed wryly. “I’m sorry, but the way I imagine this, there are some unfortunate parallels.”

  While those weren’t easy questions, Hilary could breathe a lot easier. Questions meant they were still talking. Questions meant Kerry was, at least for this moment, entertaining the idea they could succeed.

  “I get you, I do, but remember when we discussed the paper on the college radio?”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  Hilary winced. “Oh yeah, it got a little out of hand, but the point is, we always said we wouldn’t upset the equilibrium of the local communities. We involve the locals. We’ll work with the job training centers—if King asks for a librarian, a doctor, a gardener or a nuclear scientist, I’m pretty sure we can bring them.”

  “Greene Industries is into nuclear science?” Kerry asked in disbelief.

  “That’s beside the point, at least where your question is concerned. We’ll make sure no one is worse off than they were before. People will still have jobs, here and there. They will see what we do leads to results, more education and equality. The idea could and should spread throughout the country. As more people learn, the next step would be to change the political landscape.”

  “I’m all for that. There you are,” Vivien said, perching on Kerry’s lap. “I’m glad you made up. I have a question for you though, Hilary. Our brave new world will have some rules, right? That’s the whole point. That paper you wrote was about fairness and equality. I understand how California law is a better backdrop, but you still have to observe the First Amendment, which means the jerks who call me a baby killer enabler can still do what they do in Greene land. How would we be any better off?”

  “You forgot something,” Hilary told her. “This is not government owned land. It’s ours, and that of our business partners. All of Greene land, as you call it, would be a safe zone.”

  She could tell that both Kerry and Vivien were still absorbing the enormity behind that thought, the responsibility and the dangers that came with carrying through with the concept.

  “It’s not anarchy. We don’t mean to disable the government or the First Amendment. What we’re saying is that it’s not all right to call someone a murderer when it’s factiously not true. We can’t shut down their websites or meetings—well, we possibly could, but that’s not the point. We won’t do anything illegal.”

  Vivien took a sip from Kerry’s glass. “That sounds too good to be true, frankly. Going to work will be a cold shower of reality.”

  “We can make that a reality. Just think about it.”

  “Yeah,” Kerry said, wrapping her arms around Vivien. “Since November, that’s pretty much all we’ve done.”

  Chapter Four

  “I’m sorry about Lemon. He got on my last nerve.” After saying good night to Frances who had acknowledged her parents with a wry shrug, there was finally some quiet time. Of course, certain subjects crept up on them, even here in the privacy of their bedroom.

  “Don’t be. He gets on everyone’s last nerve.” Marc turned off the light, and she snuggled into his arms. “He doesn’t even know he’s like some sad cartoon in a movie—one of the bad guys, that is.”

  “He’s going to be trouble.”

  “Yes, he is,” Marc agreed, “but I’m kind of looking forward to telling him. A pro-choice, marriage equality society? That’ll blow his mind.”

  Hilary couldn’t help but laugh at his delivery. “You’re evil. I wish, though, that his antics would be the worst it can get.”

  “What we unleash is going to be epic, but it’s going to be worth it, for the people we’re doing this for. Frances. Hopefully she’ll need less than a decade to realize we had her best interests in mind.”

  “That’s optimistic.”

  In spite of their attempts at making light of the situation, they were well aware of the graver truths between them, some of which were to be handled carefully. Hilary thought back to her conversations with Kerry, today, and yesterday. If she expected that much courage from her friends, shouldn’t she be able to return the favor? Didn’t they deserve to know? Did Marc? She was well aware Marc had his own reasons and painful memories to want this new start so badly. Building it partly on the foundation of a business transformed and expanded to incredible wealth by patriarch Adam Greene was some sort of poetic justice to them. Grandpa Greene wouldn’t have approved, and Albert would not hold back or hesitate when reminding them.

  Frances was a whole other story. Frances was fifteen. Even cushioned, as Kerry had called it, by her family’s wealth, even smart beyond her age, she saw life through the lenses of a teenager. Hilary and Marc had their challenge cut out for them.

  “It’s a good thing we’re both optimists,” Marc said. “We’re going to sit down with her as soon as we’re through with the first employee screening. Basically, that’s what we’re going to do all Monday morning. I expect this to be the easy part. We start with Jerome, Sunny, Sonia and Taylor. Nathan, Oliver, and Quinn.”

  “I’d call that indulging ourselves.”

  “That’s right. Why start with the hard part?”

  Hilary knew all these people, more or less, and most of them weren’t necessarily the disenfranchised women she and Kerry had once dreamed of saving, creating a second chance for them—but in order for the idea to work, they needed allies. Many of them.

  “I hear you.”

  They ended the work-related talk at that point. There was only so much time they had left to themselves.

  * * * *

  Sunny and Jerome, engineers, had both been with Greene Industries for over a decade. They were married with two sons, one of which was married out of state, and the other had just left for college. At the moment, both of them were sitting on the edge of their chairs, literally, waiting to hear why they’d been called into Hilary’s office without so much as a warning.

  “I’ve heard you’ve been expanding, but I didn’t know everything was in place already.” Sunny’s tone was cautious.

  “It isn’t,” Marc said. “That’s where you come in. I want you to read this carefully. Some general information, and a new contract.”

  “Why would we need a new contract?” Jerome asked.

  Hilary could tell from the looks he shared with Sunny they were both uneasy about the setup.

  “It’s all in the file,” she explained. Basically, it’s a promotion, and we think you will appreciate the offer, but of course it’s your choice. If after considering all the details, you prefer to stay with headquarters here at home, that’s fine. If you decide to join us—we’d be delighted.”

  “This is strictly a program for engineers?”

  The “program” was so huge, at times it made Hilary dizzy to think about, but they couldn’t afford to waver when they were asking people to lay their liv
es into their hands. She gave Marc a prompting look, and he continued.

  “Starting right here with you, we’ll have those screening talks through every level. It will make a lot more sense to you after you’ve read the dossier. The recent political development will make it harder for us to live the philosophies of our company. We attempt to create circumstances that allow us to counter, and, if we’re lucky, you both will be a part of that.”

  “You’d like another coffee?” Hilary asked.

  Jerome and Sunny said “yes, thank you!” in unison. She had to suppress a smile, and she could tell that Marc was too. If you sprang a revolution on unsuspecting people on Monday morning, you couldn’t blame them for being a bit overwhelmed—providing them with caffeine was the least you could do.

  * * * *

  With the size of Greene Industries, it was impossible to remember the story of every single employee, but some had stuck with them, and those were the people first on their list. Taylor was a programmer, her wife Sonia worked in accounting. They had married in New York, but when Taylor got into an accident, DOMA had allowed hospital personnel to disrespect their marriage and be well within the law. These days, with the Supreme Court throwing out section three and human rights organizations energized in every state, the local ban might stand on shaky grounds. As for now, it was still in place. With Miller dragging his feet, they had good chances of being that last state to adopt equal rights, unless the Supreme Court intervened sooner.

  “Oh my God, you two rock,” Taylor said after leafing through the dossier. Her eyes were welling up, and so did Hilary’s.

  Sonia took Taylor’s hand, reminding her with an affectionate look that they were here in the pantheon of Greene Industries, with the two people who were running the show. Hilary didn’t mind. Both she and Marc asked respect from each of their employees. They had no desire to be feared.

  “Actually, we thought it was time for a warmer climate,” he joked. “In all seriousness, you should be reading this carefully. It will be a big change, and not everyone will be friendly about it.”