“…and what is happening to our ecology is a national disgrace. It is time that this great body realized that it is its sworn duty to preserve the precious heritage that our forefathers entrusted to us. It is not only our sworn duty but our privilege to protect the land, the air, and the seas from those vested interests that are selfishly destroying it. And are we doing this? Are we in all conscience doing our best? Or are we allowing the voice of mammon to influence us…?”
Kevin Parker, seated in the visitors’ gallery, glanced at his watch for the third time in five minutes. He wondered how much longer the speech was going to last. He was sitting through this only because he was having lunch with the senator and he needed a favor from him. Kevin Parker enjoyed walking through the corridors of power, hobnob-bing with congressmen and senators, dispensing largess in return for political favors.
He had grown up poor in Eugene, Oregon. His father was an alcoholic who had owned a small lumberyard. An inept businessman, he had turned what should have been a thriving business into a disaster. The young boy had to work from the age of fourteen, and because his mother had run away with another man years earlier, he had no home life at all. He could easily have become a drifter and ended up like his father, but his saving grace was that he was extraordinarily handsome and personable. He had wavy blond hair and fine aristocratic features that he must have inherited from some long-forgotten ancestor. A few affluent townspeople took pity on the boy, giving him jobs and encouragement, going out of their way to assist him. The wealthiest man in town, Jeb Goodspell, was particularly eager to help Kevin and gave him a part-time job with one of his companies. A bachelor, Goodspell often invited young Parker to join him for dinner at his home.
“You can be somebody in this life,” Goodspell told him, “but you can’t make it without friends.”
“I know that, sir. And I certainly appreciate your friendship. Working for you is a real lifesaver.”
“I could do a lot more for you,” Goodspell said. They were seated on the couch in the living room, after dinner. He put his arm around the young boy. “A lot more.” He squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “You have a good body, do you know that?”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Do you ever get lonely?”
He was lonely all the time. “Yes, sir.”
“Well, you don’t have to be lonely anymore.” He stroked the boy’s arm. “I get lonely, too, you know. You need someone to hold you close and comfort you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have you ever had any girls?”
“Well, I went with Sue Ellen for a while.”
“Did you sleep with her?”
The boy blushed. “No, sir.”
“How old are you, Kevin?”
“Sixteen, sir.”
“It’s a great age. It’s an age when you should be beginning to start a career.” He studied the boy a moment. “I’ll bet you’d be darn good in politics.”
“Politics? I don’t know anything about that, sir.”
“That’s why you’re going to school, to learn things. And I’m going to help you.”
“Thank you.”
“There are plenty of ways of thanking people.” Goodspell said. He rubbed his hand along the boy’s thigh. “Many ways.” He looked into Parker’s eyes. “You know what I mean?”
“Yes, Jeb.”
That was the beginning.
When Kevin Parker was graduated from Churchill High School, Goodspell sent him to the University of Oregon. The boy studied political science, and Goodspell saw to it that his protégé met everybody. They were all impressed with the attractive young man. With his connections, Parker found that he was able to do favors for important people and to bring people together. Becoming a lobbyist in Washington was a natural step, and Parker was good at the job.
Goodspell had died two years earlier, but Parker had by then acquired a talent and a taste for what his mentor had taught him. He liked to pick up young boys and take them to out-of-the-way hotels where he would not be recognized.
The senator from Utah was finally finishing. “…and I say to you now that we must pass this bill if we want to save what is left of our ecology. At this time, I would like to ask for a roll-call vote.”