Chapter Five
“DADDY! DADDY!” A tiny person with wispy black hair plunged into the foyer of Matt Branson’s Virginia home and wrapped chubby arms around his legs.
“Easy, Munchkin. You’re going to knock Daddy over.” He set his briefcase on the floor, bent, and snatched up the little girl. He sniffed her hair. “You smell familiar.” He gently squeezed one of her arms. “You feel familiar.” He gazed into her face and his heart started to melt as it did each time he saw her. “You look familiar too. Do I know you?”
“Daddy. I’m Ruthie. I’m your daughter.”
“Hmm. Ruthie, eh? Daughter, you say? I think I would remember if I had a daughter.” He held her a little tighter.
“You do. Just ask Mommy.”
He bent enough to retrieve his briefcase, then carried Ruthie into the living room. Michelle, who sported the same dark hair and brown eyes as Ruthie, was seated on the sofa poring over a coloring book. Clearly the two women in his life had been deeply involved in an art project.
“Excuse me, lady. This tiny person seems to think she’s my daughter.”
Michelle looked up. “Sorry, I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
“Mommy. I’m your daughter too.”
Michelle rose. “I don’t know. My daughter has dark hair and brown eyes.”
“I have brown eyes and dark hair. See?” She ran a hand over her ebony locks.
“True.” Michelle stepped closer. “But my daughter is the prettiest girl there has ever been.”
Ruthie giggled. “That’s me!”
“It sure is.” Matt nuzzled his daughter’s neck. “That makes me the luckiest daddy in the world.” He leaned forward and kissed his wife. “And the luckiest husband in the world too.”
“Did you brung me anything, Daddy?”
“Bring, sweetheart,” Michelle said. “Bring, not brung.”
Matt set his daughter down.
“Oh, right. Did you bringed me anything?”
Michelle sighed. Matt laughed.
He moved to the sofa and patted the space next to him. Ruthie was there in an instant. He set his briefcase on his lap and opened it just enough to keep prying eyes out. He peeked inside. Slowly at first, then dramatically he removed a magazine. “Ta-Da! I brought you the latest edition of the Michigan Law Review journal.”
Ruthie crossed her arms and gave Matt an expression well-known in the family as the stink-eye.
“Oh, I see how it is. You’re tired of reading law. Okay then, how about this?” He reached into the briefcase again and this time removed a worn book. “This, my little princes, is an old book but don’t turn your nose up yet. I was a little boy when I first read it and it was kind of old then. It was my favorite book and I want to share my favorite childhood book with you.”
Ruthie studied it, uncertain.
“Do you know what this is?” Matt pointed at an image on the cover.
“A dinosaur?”
“Yep. It’s a stegosaurus. The book is called, The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek and was written by Evelyn Sibley Lampman. I love this book. It’s one of my favorite childhood memories.”
“But Daddy, I can’t read that. It’s too big.”
“Ah, that’s the other special thing. I know the book is too big for you now, so I’m going to read it to you a little every night when you go to bed. When you’re older, you can read it again for yourself. For now, it will be something for you and me and Mommy to share. How’s that?”
Ruthie studied the book.
“The dinosaur talks,” Matt said.
“Really?”
“Absolutely. What do you say? Shall we start tonight?”
Ruthie stood on the sofa and wrapped her arms around Matt’s neck. “Thank you, Daddy.”
“Anybody want dinner?” Michelle started for the kitchen as if she had already received an answer.
“I do,” Matt said. “I could eat a dinosaur.”
Ruthie scrunched up her face. “Eww.”
“HOW DID THE promotion ceremony go for John?” Michelle inched closer to Matt on the sofa. Neither of them were much for television and often spent their evenings reading, talking, and listening to music. They had finished dinner and then read the first chapter of Ruthie’s book to her when she went to bed.
“It went fine. John was in rare form. The guy knows how to work a crowd.”
“So now he’s an assistant attorney general.” She shuddered. “I don’t know why, but that gives me the chills.”
“You’ve never liked him.” Matt pulled a few pieces of paper from his briefcase.
“I won’t deny that. I know he’s your friend, but I don’t trust him.”
“He puts a lot of people off. I’ve known him since Princeton and I still feel unsettled around him. He’s driven.”
“By what?”
“The need to make a difference. He wants to be a world-changer. Always has. He has a point of view he thinks everyone should share. He’s an either-or kind of guy. Either you’re for him, or you’re against him; either you see the truth the way he does, or you’re not paying attention.”
“So he’s the final arbitrator of who is good and who isn’t?” Michelle loaded the sentence with sarcasm.
“He wouldn’t put it that way. He’s just supremely confident in himself and his views. Truth is, he is usually the smartest guy in the room.”
“Not if you’re there.”
That made Matt chuckle. He leaned close and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, but I don’t fool myself. The guy is smarter than me. He’s proven that several times.”
“It is one thing to be smart, Matt; it’s another to be wise. ‘Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools...’”
“Let me guess. Romans 1:21.”
“Romans 1:22.”
Matt frowned. “You always were better at citing Bible texts than me. Maybe you’re the smartest man in the room.” That earned him a playful punch.
“My point is: Smart people often do dumb things.”
“I won’t argue that. I think he’s compensating. He wasn’t popular in high school; wasn’t a standout until his junior year. He got serious then. He went from being a willowy six-footer with unruly hair and an awkward manner to a man of confidence. He grew into himself. I think he’s been trying to make up for lost time ever since.”
“Whatever the cause for his attitude, he still gives me the creeps.”
Matt didn’t say it, but John Knox Smith sometimes gave him the creeps too.
Michelle opened a novel and was soon lost in its pages. Matt was lost in some pages of his own. His role in the DOJ was to lead the Office of Professional Responsibility, the office that reviewed misconduct allegations of DOJ attorneys. In some ways, it was like being part of Internal Affairs of a major metropolitan police force. When he paid a professional visit to a DOJ attorney it was seldom welcome. As part of his job, he tried to stay abreast of any changes in the DOJ that might involve his department in the future. John’s new department qualified as a major change.
He had read the papers several times and the sense of foreboding that came with each reading only grew worse. The papers were John’s list of objectives for his new office.
“DTED Organizational Objectives:
“All: Identify organizations and individuals in open and flagrant violation of the United States Respect for Diversity and Tolerance Act (RDTA).
“All: Create a national interdepartmental and agency database on organizations and individuals engaged or suspected of engaging in violations of RDTA. This list should include religious organizations where sexual and other bias is advocated. The list will be maintained by the Department of Justice with Department of Treasury, Postal Service, and Internal Revenue Service cross reference.
“Agencies: Investigate and prepare criminal case prosecution reports against organizations and individuals engaged in serious violation of RDTA for DOJ prosecutors.
“Justice: Prosecute violations of RDTA
seeking penalties for organizations and individuals up to the maximum levels allowed by law.
“Justice: Prepare civil lawsuits to obtain prohibitory orders to stop all use of the United States Postal Service by organization or individuals engaged in violation of RDTA. Most hate-based sectarian organizations cannot function without direct mail solicitation. The United States Postal Service must put an end to all mail that promotes or enables hate.
“Agencies and Justice: Supply non-grand jury investigative data to the Federal Communications Commission for actions including suspension or revocation of broadcast licenses for stations carrying content in violation of RDTA.
“IRS: Prepare administrative cases, to be backed by civil litigation, to eliminate tax exemptions for—and the deductibility of charitable contributions—to all organizations engaged in violation of RDTA, especially Christian and Jewish schools that openly oppose Darwinian and other scientific truth.
“Justice: Prepare civil Racketeering and Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) lawsuits to seize all of the property, especially homes, churches buildings, and commercial property, hate literature such as tracts, films, videos, electronic storage media, and other publications owned or controlled by organizations or individuals involved in violation of RDTA. As soon as we develop an RDTA case, we should move with RICO.
“Justice: Work with the public news media to provide maximum publicity, within the bounds of legal ethics, to ensure awareness of and compliance with the law.
“Justice, in liaison with Congressional leaders: Review all sections of the United States Code and identify inappropriate language for updating. Seek and remove all authorizations for bias from law specifically including the misnamed “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” the “Equal Access Act,” the illusory claim “In God we trust” from currency, any funding for education or backing of student loans where the institution allows unlawful public religious acknowledgment.
“Justice and State Department liaison: Coordinate with international law enforcement community, the United Nations, and the International Court of Justice to ensure that the United States is in full compliance with worldwide efforts regarding tolerance and equality. Determine which international conferences and events may merit DTED’s active participation.”
THERE WAS NOTHING in the list requiring Matt’s action, but there was enough to cause concern. If John wasn’t careful, he and Matt might be meeting for something other than lunch.