The whole experience was magical. The canyon was wild and glorious, the eternal river flowing through rapids and down long, languid stretches, then through more rapids. We saw mule deer and coveys of chukar. Eventually we ended up on the Snake and spent a day drifting with the current to the pullout. People along the banks of the Snake on farms and in yards waved to us.
Sarah and I were laughing and smiling when the experience was over. America was still here, still glorious.
After another week of driving through the mountains, we ended up in Idaho Falls. That evening we finally turned on the television to a news channel and began catching up.
A constitutional convention had been announced. Jake Grafton was on television with the leaders of the House and Senate asking the governors of states both in and out of the Union to send delegates. He finished with this statement: “I think a great many people feel that the constitutional mandate for separation of powers between the three branches of government, and between the states and the federal government, got badly warped through the years. We hope a convention can fix that, especially by putting more teeth into the Tenth Amendment.”
Grafton continued, “The judges decided the interstate commerce, due process, and some other clauses were loopholes big enough to swallow the states and give the federal government control of every aspect of American life. That control was not exercised by Congress, an institution totally inadequate for the task, but by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats, sometimes controlled by the executive but often controlled by no one at all. That has to change. I don’t know what devices the convention delegates will come up with to harness the Cheshire Cat, but they can try or fail or surrender, as they choose.
“The delegates may also choose to revise our democratic institutions to make them more efficient and responsive to the electorate.
“What is not on the table are the basic civil rights we Americans as a free people enjoy. We are seeking new ways to preserve those rights, not diminish them.
“If the delegations do their jobs well, we will have added safeguards to preserve liberty, the rights of the states, and the freedom of the people. It is my hope that the states that have declared their independence will return to the family of states that we call the United States, a family that has provided shelter and livelihoods for a free people for over two centuries, and I believe, with tweaking, can shelter us and our descendants for many more.
“May God bless a restored and reunited America.”
After the speech a commentator appeared on camera. I stared. Yes, it was Jack Yocke, clean-shaven, with a haircut, wearing a suit and tie. He was now the network’s expert on all things Grafton.
Jack Hays was next.
“Texas is getting its act together,” he said. “We are in talks with Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona to form some kind of federation. How that will work out, I don’t know, but I am encouraged. The illegals who don’t speak English and have no job skills are going back to Mexico; we have about two thousand families a day moving to Texas to find jobs, families that do speak English and have trades and job skills to support themselves and make positive contributions to the economy and tax base. We are reforming the education system, training Americans, and putting them to work. Texas has a bright future.”
When we turned off the television in the wee hours of the morning, Sarah asked, “So what are we going to do with our lives?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, truthfully.
“We can’t keep doing nothing.”
“I know.”
“I want to go home,” she said.
The following day we pointed the truck east. The highways were more crowded, almost back to normal, I thought, and every filling station and truck stop had gas and lots of customers.
Four days later we rolled into West Virginia and stopped by the safe house near Greenbank. Dr. Proudfoot was there making a house call. Mrs. Price sat on the porch with a jacket around her shoulders and a blanket over her legs enjoying the fall colors, which I thought were near their peak. Little Sarah threw herself at Big Sarah, and Armanti Hall shook my hand until I had to jerk my appendage out to save it.
“I thought you were boogying off to Texas,” I said, flexing my fingers.
“Gonna stay here and rebuild Mrs. Price’s house. Then the three of us are going to live in it.”
“Got enough money for lumber, toilets, and pipes?”
“I have a little saved up,” he said, looking down his nose at me. “Need a loan?”
“Ah, right now, no. But if in the uncertain and unpredictable future I unexpectedly find myself in a fiscal hole, I know where to find you.”
“Right up the road. We should be in by spring.”
“It’s great to have friends.”
“So they say.”
We drove on to Washington and stopped in front of the lock shop. We went in, and there sat Willie the Wire Varner.
“Where the hell you been?” he demanded. “I thought you two were dead.”
“Still kicking,” I said. “What happened to you after the battle of Kingwood?”
He said he had hitchhiked back to Washington. “I’m no warrior,” he declared defensively. “Ain’t got it in me.”
This was the Willie Varner I knew and liked.
We were catching up, telling him of our adventures and listening to him describe his odyssey back to Washington, when my cell phone rang.
I looked at the caller ID — Jake Grafton — and answered it. “Hey.”
“Tommy, where are you?”
“In Washington.”
“Good. Come see me tomorrow. I need you.”
“See you where?”
“Callie and I are bunking at the White House temporarily.”
“Okay.”
“I want you to go to Europe. Some of the Middle East refugees flooding in there turned out to be jihadists, which seemed to surprise the Europeans. Maybe you can help keep us advised of what’s going on.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I hung up.
Sarah looked at me and raised her eyebrows.
“Jake Grafton,” I said. “He wants me to go to Europe.”
“It’s about time,” she said, and smiled.