Leo Frankowski

introduced you around.”
    “Well, maybe. Or
maybe the best way to learn how to swim is just to jump in.”
    “Well, son, I think
that I might be able to give you a swimming lesson or two. You come over to
Daisey’s party tomorrow, and I’ll introduce you around.”
    “I’d really
appreciate that, Moe.”
    “No trouble at
all. I owed old Lou a few favors, and I might as well pay them back to you. Now
how about the other half of the business? Were you able to keep many of his old
clients?”
    “About half of
them. I’ve got Markoff Industries, the Michigan Milk Producers, and Copernicus,
Inc.”
    “Well, that’s a
fine start for a young man in your business. Go soft on Copernicus, though.
Heiny Copernick didn’t make any friends with that stink he raised about his
rejuvenation research program.”
    “He was funding
it with his own money, wasn’t he? Why shut him down?”
    “Whoa, now!
Nobody said that he had to stop his research. Just like nobody said that the
government had to keep on buying equipment from his company. But screaming
‘patricide’ when he got a few orders canceled … Well, that’s just not how the
game’s played.”
    “Well, in any
event, Heinrich Copernick is retiring. He doesn’t even own any stock in the
company anymore.”
    “Yeah? Well, you
mention that around and you won’t hit so many snags. But don’t do it until
tomorrow, Lou.”
    “Why not?”
    “So I can sell my
Copernicus stock before the bottom falls out of it!” The senator stood.
“Well, I got to git. But you take yourself over to Daisey’s
tomorrow.”
    “I’ll do that.
Better still, how about if I pick you up at your house and drive you over
there? You could show me those college photos.”
    “Sure. See you at
five thirty.” The senator hobbled away cautiously.
     
    Von Bork arrived at
5:29:59 in a nine-hundred-dollar casual suit. “Good afternoon, Moe.”
    “Lou, boy! Come
in.” The senator looked down at his own housecoat and slippers. “Been
taking it a bit easy today.”
    “Yes, sir. I
understand.”
    “Quit ‘sirring’
me. And what the hell do you mean, you ‘understand’?”
    “I—I went out
with a nurse last night. One of Dr. Cranford’s.”
    “Good man,
Cranford. Go to him myself occasionally. You don’t mean that pretty little
redhead he’s got running around his front office?” The senator was adept
at getting people off unpleasant subjects.
    “Yes, Moe. She
told me. About you.”
    “What! She has no
business talking about other people’s lives!”
    “She has been a
fan of yours all her life. She was so broken up, she had to tell
somebody.”
    “Listen, boy. She
didn’t tell you nothing. And you didn’t hear nothing. And you ain’t going to
say nothing, either! You hear me, boy?”
    “Anything you
say, sir. I’m not your enemy.”
    “I know that,
boy. And old Lou is my best friend. It’s just that if word of this got around,
my effectiveness in the Senate would be over.”
    “I understand,
Moe.”
    “I doubt that.
I’m afraid of dying… But it isn’t really that. Life hasn’t been worth much
since my wife died. It’s just that I hate leaving when there’s so much to
do.”
    “No chance of an
organ transplant?”
    “Would be if it
was only one organ. But Cranford says that just about every organ in my body is
shot. Replacing any one of them would be too much of a strain on the rest. I
guess that some people just grow old faster than other people.”
    “It doesn’t have
to be that way, Moe.”
    “Growing old and
dying is a natural part of life.” The senator was staring at the floor.
    “So is shitting
in the woods. But that doesn’t mean that we have to do it.”
    “What are you
talking about?”
    “Rejuvenation,
Moe.”
    “That work-was
stopped. I helped stop it. I guess my sins are coming back to me.”
    “So maybe dying
would serve you right. But justice isn’t a fact of nature, either. Anyway, the
work wasn’t stopped. It just went underground.”
    “How could Heiny
do that without being caught?”
    “Motivation. He
didn’t want to die, either. Look, Moe. I’ll keep your secrets if you’ll keep
mine.”
    “About Heiny? Why
not? He didn’t break any laws. And knowing about it would just upset
folks.”
    “About
rejuvenation. And about me. Moe, I’m not my grandson. I’m me.”
    The senator stared at
von Bork for thirty seconds. “You’ve got one hell of a lot of proving to
do, boy!” “Ask me some questions.”
     
    “So I