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Wednesday, July 13, 2005Scenes from an earlier time...Joe Wilson was not the man he once had been, and he was feeling it. Sure, he retained a handsome air and his graying temples made him appear oddly distinguished. But something was missing. He needed adventure. He needed excitement. He only wished he knew where to find these. He heard the thud of the front door slamming and ran down the steps. There was his lovely wife, Valerie. She looked distressed. "Honey, what's wrong?" "You won't believe the mess at work." Joe braced himself. These discussions always lasted forever and never got anywhere. And by the time they were over, it was too late for dinner. He braced himself for another night of tater tots at 1 a.m. Valerie went on, "I keep trying to tell them there's nothing to Saddam. Me and Bill and Todd - you remember Todd - were discussing it again today." Joe did remember Todd. Todd was a hero. Todd was brilliant. Todd was insightful. All fine and dandy, but had he ever been an ambassador? No he hadn't! "Is there anything I can do, dear?" Joe hated saying this. He heard his masculine fix-the-problem psychology thick in his voice. But the words had come and he readied himself for the lecture about just listening and not trying to solve everything. Ever since she'd gone to that seminar... She looked at him thoughtfully. "Actually, honey, I think there is. Todd had an idea..." Joe winced, but hoped that his chance to play the hero was coming. "Honey, we were thinking, since you've been an amabassador over there and everything, maybe you could go and prove there's no uranium in Africa..." "Umm, but there are large quantities in Chad and..." "Hush, honey, I mean no Saddam uranium." "Oh." The task wouldn't be easy, of course, but Joe knew he could do it. He wondered how long it would take to not find Saddam uranium in Africa. Then he wondered aloud, "Who gives a rat's ass what a former ambassador from a former administration thinks?" "Honey, they're all over the cable news! Haven't you seen? Honestly, if you'd ever change from the wrestling channel..." "But, how would I justify it." "Dear, you'd be on a CIA fact-finding mission." "Tenet agreed to this." "Heavens no, but I'm in the CIA and Bill's in the CIA and Todd..." "Enough about Todd! I've got to go find no Saddam uranium in Africa." "Oh Joe, I always knew you had it in you!" The couple moved upstairs, and soon passions were in full flame, their love renewed, their hopes for their shared life reinvigorated. "Say it for me again, Joe!" "There's no Saddam uranium in Africa!" "Oh, Joe! I love it when you talk that way..." There are those who put their faith in following protocols and respect for the lines of authority. Those who think that undermining an entire government from behind the scenes is, well, wrong. But to see the love, to see the passion that animated Joe and Valerie that night, you'd know that sometimes commissioning a government operation on your own and publishing the ostensible discoveries of a secret organization in the New York Times is the highest form of truth: the truth of the love and shared respect of a man and a woman, married, with backgrounds in civil service. [Apologies to those who may have told this story before. I have not read such accounts, but am sure they have been written. For the love and devotion of Joe and Valerie, like that of Tristan and Yseult, and Lancelot and Guinevere, so fires the human imagination that it must call forth many tellings.] 
posted by gbarto at 1:03 PM |
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Day By Day© by Chris Muir.Old TurkeyBlog here.
