Dead Certain

them from buying the hospital.” Mother stared at me over the tops of her reading glasses, no doubt rendered speechless by the fact that this was the first time I’d told her she was right about anything since I was six years old. “That’s the reason I drove all the way out here today,” I pressed, “to see whether you were serious about stopping the sale of the hospital or if you’d just gotten your feathers ruffled by HCC.”
    “How dare you even suggest that I didn’t mean what I said?” declared my mother, stung.
    “And how dare you insist that I drop everything else that I’m doing to deal with HCC, while you can’t be bothered to interrupt a hand of bridge?” I snapped.
    For a minute we just stood there glaring at each other. I doubted it was a picture anyone would want to put on a Mother’s Day card.
    “How do you propose to stop them?” inquired my Mother finally.
    “First of all, it’s not me, it’s us. I need you to be clear on that up front. There is no possible way to do this wWithout a commitment from you.”
    “Then tell me, how do you propose we do it?”
    For a minute I wondered if I was out of my mind. Then I took a deep breath. “Let’s start by getting a few things out on the table so that we’re sure we understand each other. The first thing you have to realize is that if we do this, it isn’t going to be like anything you’ve ever done before. HCC is a big company and they have a tremendous amount riding on this transaction. I guarantee they’re not going to back away from it without a big, ugly fight—the kind of fight you can’t win between bridge and lunch.“
    “There’s no need to be insulting about it,” said Mother. “You’ve made your point.”
    “Good, because if we commit to doing this, being insulted is going to be the easy part. HCC is not only aggressive, but they’re used to winning. I’m willing to take them on because I think what they’re doing is wrong and there has to be a way to use the law to stop them. But that still doesn’t mean we’re going to be able to beat them without an all-out fight, and I can’t do that alone. You’re the one who’s going to have to marshal the political support, you’re the one who’s going to have to get into the media spotlight and put the weight of your social position behind this thing.”
    “You make it sound as if doing this wasn’t my idea in the first place,” protested my mother, “and I resent the suggestion that I’m not serious about seeing it through.“
    “Serious enough to use your connections?” I demanded. “Serious enough to risk not only finding yourself bearing the brunt of unfavorable publicity, but also seeing lies and rumors about you, your family, and friends in print? Are you serious enough about beating HCC to ask favors of people you normally wouldn’t even think of entertaining in your woodshed?”
    “I am prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve Prescott Memorial Hospital as a nonprofit institution,” declared my mother firmly. “The question now is, are you?”
     

CHAPTER 8
     
    As soon as I got back to the office I proceeded to launch my own personal jihad against HCC. Of course, not everyone in my little universe was necessarily delighted by this development. For a second I actually thought Cheryl was going to kill me. With final exams approaching and a Day Runner already crammed with job interviews, the last thing she needed was for me to start tilting at windmills. Even so, she took down in her own peculiar brand of shorthand the long list of things I needed her to do, and when I was finished, she stomped off in search of Sherman Whitehead, muttering something under her breath about misery loving company. I had no doubt she was already counting the days until she had a secretary of her own to push around.
    Sherman showed up a few minutes later, bobbing and shuffling in the doorway his usual Saint Vitus’ dance of nerdy ticks. At Callahan Ross, Sherman was considered a special breed of pariah. Having been deemed NPM (not Partnership material) on account of his profound and terminal geekiness, he had confirmed everyone’s fears by refusing to have the good sense to shuffle off, tail between his legs, to a smaller firm. Instead, he appeared content to stay on at Callahan Ross indefinitely, relegated to the purgatorial role of “counsel.” The sad part was that he was not only brighter but more able than most of the partners put together. However, I