Spencerville

Keith had a strange feeling of deja vu, then recalled his first dinner with Jeffrey and Gail in their little apartment off campus. Not much had changed.

Gail poured the remainder of the Chianti into their glasses and said to Keith, "You probably think we're stuck in the sixties."

"No." Yes.

"Actually, we're selectively sixties people. There's good and bad in each era, each decade. We've totally rejected the new feminism, for instance, in favor of the old feminism. Yet we've adopted the new radical ecology."

Keith remarked dryly, "That's very astute."

Jeffrey laughed. "Same old wiseass."

Gail smiled. "We're weird."

Keith felt compelled to say something nice to his hosts, and offered, "I think we can be as weird as we want to be. We've earned it."

"You said it," Jeffrey agreed.

Keith continued, "And you've put your money where your mouth is by resigning as a matter of principle."

Gail nodded. "Partly principle. Partly, we felt uncomfortable there. Two old radicals who got laughed at behind our backs." She added, "These kids have no heroes, and we were heroes. Heroes of the revolution. But the kids think the history of the world began on their birthdays."

Jeffrey said, "Well, it wasn't that bad. But professionally we felt unfulfilled."

Keith pointed out, "That's not exactly what you said last night."

"Yeah, well, I was drunk last night." He thought a moment, then confessed, "But maybe I was closer to the truth last night. Anyway, here we are, tutoring high school dull normals."

Gail said to Keith, "Jeffrey tells me you were sacked."

"Yes, and none too soon."

"Were they laughing at you?"

"No, I don't think so. Old warriors are still honored within the imperialist military-intelligence community."

"Then why were you sacked?" Gail asked.

"Budget cuts, end of the Cold War... no, that's not the whole truth. I was sacked because I was tottering between burnout and epiphany. They can smell that a mile away, and they don't like either." He thought a moment and said, "I was starting to ask questions."

"Such as?"

"Well... I was at a White House briefing once... I was there to give answers, not ask questions." Keith smiled at the memory of what he was about to relate "...and I asked the secretary of state, 'Sir, could you explain to me this country's foreign policy, if any, so that I can figure out what you want?' " Keith added, "Well, you could have heard a pink slip drop in the room."

Jeffrey inquired, "Did he explain it to you?"

"Actually, he was polite enough to do so. I still didn't get it. Six months later, I got a letter on my desk explaining budget cuts and the joys of early retirement. There was a place for my signature. I signed."

They sipped their wine, Jeffrey turned his attention to the stew, which he stirred, and Gail took a platter of raw vegetables and bean dip out of the refrigerator and put it on the counter. They all nibbled on the vegetables.

Jeffrey said finally, "Sounds as if you resigned on principle, too."

"No, I was asked to accept an early retirement for budget reasons. That's what the press release and the internal memo said. So that's the way it was." Keith added, "My job was to discover objective truths, but the truth needs two people to make it work — the speaker and the listener. The listeners weren't listening. In fact, in the last two decades, they rarely did, but it took me a while to figure it out." He thought a moment, then said, "I'm happy to be out of there."

Gail nodded. "We can relate to that. So here we all are, back on the farm where the bullshit is good for the garden." She opened the refrigerator and took out the apple and the grape wine that Keith brought, saying to Jeffrey, "Remember this? Eighty-nine cents a bottle. What did you pay for these, Keith?"

"Oh, about four bucks each."

"Robbery," said Jeffrey. He unscrewed the cap of the apple wine and sniffed it. "It's ready." He emptied the bottle into three water tumblers, Gail added sprigs of peppermint, and they touched glasses. Jeffrey said, "To days past, to absent friends of our youth, to ideals and humanity."

Keith added, "And to a bright future without the nightmare of nuclear extinction."

They drained off the wine, put down their glasses, and made exaggerated smacking sounds of pleasure, then laughed. Jeffrey said to Keith, "Actually, not bad. You have any more?"

"No, but I have a source."

Gail said, "I'm getting a buzz." She went to the kitchen table, carrying the grape wine, and sat. Jeffrey brought over the vegetable platter and turned off the lights, then lit two candles on the table.

Keith sat and poured wine for them. They ate the raw vegetables and dip, and Keith praised their gardening abilities, which they took as a high compliment from a farmer's son.