The Second Term

Part Four

Nothing Left to Lose

Friday, March 19, 2021, 8:30PM Eastern Daylight Time

The regular Friday meeting of SNRM was wrapping up at Douglass College, and several new members were at the front getting signed up. Jenna was sitting at the registration table when Vaneida walked by.

“You seen Joe?” Vaneida asked.

“No,” Jenna said. “I think Janice said he told her he had a business trip or something.”

“How are you doing?”

“I’m good. Eye’s totally healed.”

Vaneida cast a glance at Jenna’s face.

“Yeah, you would hardly notice it,” she finally said. “You ‘ve almost lost your bragging rights.”

Someone called Vaneida’s name, and she walked away to answer the query. Jenna finished writing something on a piece of paper, and then looked up to see a blond, 40-ish, close-cut, fit man at the front of the line, with a twitchy, shorter, younger, Mediterranean-looking man next to him.

“Fill this out here, with your name, address, email, all that stuff,” Jenna said, handing the blond man a piece of paper. “Or you can go on-line and sign up.”

“I’m Craig,” said the blond man. “What’s your name?”

“Uh, Jenna,” Jenna said. “First time?”

“Yeah, I’ve never gone to one of these and I thought I’d check it out,” the blond man said.

“Yeah, things slowed down a bit after the election, but now the interest is rising again,” Jenna said. “What’s your friend here’s name?”

The shorter man leaned over and extended a hand. “I’m Sal.”

The blond man gave him what seemed to be a meaningful look.

“Jenna,” Jenna said, shaking his hand.

“What are the dues for this?” the blond man asked her.

“Dues?” Jenna said, puzzled.

“You know, the money you need to pay for membership?”

“Oh, we don’t have that,” Jenna said.

“How do you pay for the organization?”

“Uh, well, there isn’t much to pay for,” Jenna said. “We just meet. The university lets us use the room as long as we sign it out. I guess they do that for all campus organizations.”

“Huh. I guess I’m used to organizations charging membership fees or dues,” the blond man said.

“Yeah, well, I guess I never thought about that,” Jenna said. “Although, maybe I’m not such a great representative of the group here. I think I did hear Vaneida – Professor Allen over there – say that any donations would be gratefully accepted, so if you WANT to give some money I’m sure we can get you a receipt for your taxes or whatever.”

“Yeah, I might want to do that,” the blond man said.

“You guys must get some money from somebody, for upkeep, or whatever,” the twitchy man said.

“Upkeep?”

“Well, I heard you guys had Okomo here last month,” he said. “That had to cost a little more than popcorn money.”

Jenna’s eyes narrowed. “I… I don’t know anything about that,” she said. “He didn’t charge us anything. I think between the university and the District and the Secret Service, it was pretty much covered.”

The blond man interjected, as if intervening to save the conversation, “Yeah, I’m sure it was. It’d be nice, though, if maybe some rich guys pitched in and offered to help out with expenses, what with the inequality rising and all.”

Jenna did not know what to say to this. After a moment, she said, “Are you offering money? Do you know someone like that?”

The blond man paused for a second, as if thinking quickly on his feet.

“Well, you never know,” he finally said. “I’ll keep it in mind in case I run into a billionaire.”

The twitchy man abruptly turned around and stifled a laugh.

“So, if you fill these out, we can put you on the list,” Jenna said, handing another sign-up sheet to the twitchy man.

“Thank you,” the blond man said. “Hey, I’m sorry I missed Okomo. I’m a big fan. You think he’ll ever be back at one of these meetings?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Jenna said. “You’d probably have to ask Vaneida – Professor Allen. She talks to him every once in a while.”

“Maybe I will,” the blond man said. “Thanks for these. Oh, one final dumb question – do people get together after these meetings, maybe for a drink? We’d like to get to know them a little better.”

“There’s a bar across the street. Sometimes some of us end up there.”

The blond man raised the sign-up sheet to his head as if in valediction.

“Thanks again. I hope to be a regular here.”

“Me too,” said the twitchy man.

“Okay,” Jenna said.

As they walked out of the room, the blond man leaned over and whispered in Sal’s ear, “I thought I made clear, no real names.”

“Ah shit,” Sal said. “I’m sorry, Terry.”

The blond man looked at him incredulously as they walked out, and then shook his head.