Here is the way back to the Introduction.

 

Saturday afternoon brought another meeting in Washington, DC. I went under orders, this time to Bethesda to a lovely town house that belonged to Harmony Flowers. Yes, that is her name though I think of her as Princess Harmony. Naama Roth's father was there with his note taking little as was Senator Stevens, the Rainwaters, Colin (Kayla couldn't make it), and several others. The so called priest from Ellenville was thankfully absent.

 

The meeting began with Harmony requesting Alise Liddell's movement logs which she shot on to a big screen with a data projector for everyone to see. "Wow," commented one or two people whom I didn't know. "Twice in to and out of Lisette Dumont's apartment...Who would have imagined."

 

"Lisette Dumont apparently has some access to magic," I commented.

 

"That," said a slim blond woman in a light green twin set "is an understatement. Lisette is one of the most powerful mages in the city and one of the reasons that the Choke Gardens Plaza Supermaket operates without paying off the local law enforcement. I don't have to tell you what Lisette Dumont can do and has done. There have been incidents with police cars stalling, weapons not firing, law enforcement left disoriented, under cover cops with their cover blown. I suspect Lisette has been involved in human sacrifice of thsee last individuals."

 

There were gasps around the room. "That Alise walked in to and out of Lisette's apartment in one piece speaks volumes and is also...a bit scarey."

 

"So are we still going to back Ms. Liddell up with law enforcement?" asked Gavriel Roth. "If we don't or say we will and then we won't, she becomes a nonproblem."

 

"Not in my city," Harmony protested. "I'd like the Supermarket out of there and Lisette Dumont brought to heel. Alise it appears may be doing both of those things for us. After she gets done we can make a different decision if we don't like the results."

 

"Ms. Flowers," said Gavriel Roth. "Do you know anything about Rose Among Thorns?"

 

"They are anti consumer, pro education, pro religion in a general sense and nonsectarian to their core. They care for orphans and foster chidlren, run top notch tutories and recreation programs. They are a mecca for volunteers of all stripes. They have helped clean up several unscrupulous farms that hired undocumented workers in the Southern Tier...would you like more?" asked Colin.

 

"They are a threat to the economy of this nation," spat Gavriel Roth.

 

"They also ultimately are a threat to our whole way of life," said Douglas Rainwater. "You saw how they opposed the draft until it offered a noncombat option. Now imagine thousands or millions of people turned out against government policies, boycotting products, staying home, having general strikes. You see what we're up against, and these won't be your middle class political supporters. They'll be the waitress in your diner, the guy who works on your assembly line, the preacher at the nearby church who sends volunteers to Rose. The control we extert through advertising and the media will be gone. Rose Anmong Thorns has figured us out and they are coming after us...."

 

"You really think that is such a bad thing?" I asked.

 

"I'm with Dr. FitzRoy," explained Harmony. "It would not be the worst thing if the bottom and even some activist middle class youth and workers formed their own quietist support group. Rose Among Thorns asks nothing from the government except for its 501c3 status. Having the bottom of this society well supported and not starving is probably good for our entire scurity. I mean when left to their own devices the poor prey on themselves and on each other. We, society, are left with the costs. Rose Among Thorns may help more than hurt by cutting those costs."

 

"I'm with you on that," explained Colin.

 

"None of you know how far Rose Among Thorns can go," the Senator whose last name was Stevens interjected.

 

"If you wait and see," complained Gavriel Roth. "You will have a bigger monster to kill. Alise is just an officer. The organization has a head."

 

"No one is touching Marguerite Weinstein," Colin snarled back at Mr. Roth.

 

"We're not discussing Marguerite today," the Senator added. "So what do we do about Ms. Liddell."

"The same thing we decided last meeting," explained Harmony. "That she is reaching out to Lisette is all for the best.

 

We put it to a vote. It will probably be another three to five days until Dr. Karch has the master dial-in system ready for the Ring of Fire. Harmony has talked to the Chief of Police for Washington DC. Beyond the next week is what scares me. I try to picture Independent Rainbow as a split organization and I just feel scaird.

 

Kathleen Fitzroy Phd

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow -- Zia

somewhre in Bethesda Maryland

Point Two-Five

Humanity is our business!

 

Kathleen Fitzroy -- This time the meeting of Independent Rainbow National was at a hotel in downtown Washington DC. There was coffee, finger sandwiches, and broken up bits of irregularly shaped dark and milk chocolate candy.

 

"Be careful," Mr. Rainwater told me. "That's God's own chocolate, created by a miracle from semi-automatic weapons carried by Eyes' thugs." I took some of the chocolate anyway and took a bite. It was excellent.

 

Harmony Flowers, aka Princess Harmony, had the floor. She began by dimming the lights. In the darkness I could see the Rainwaters, Colin and Kayla, Gavriel Roth minus his little this time (I hoped the Little was OK), Senator Stevens and two other people I had not met before. I am not all that familiair with Top Strand. Suits and I are enemies from way back. Dr's Kalish and Rothstein were with me at the meeting. We had used our physical gate to get to DC.

 

On the screen Princess Harmony showed grainy footage of the police raid on the Supermarket. She showed it several times. "Apparently they filmed themselves with electronic cameras," she explained "I like this version. Look at Alise' face, such passion. The scarf apparently was to warn the police that the loud pops were not gunshots." Harmony sighed.

 

She brought up the lights: "They've had lawyers in court with the defendents. Apparently after something like this they switch sides. The judge is sympathetic. Law enforcement filled a lot of jail space, so half the young men taken in the raid are back on house arrest. The tutorie works mainly at night due to the fact that the tutors tend to be Special Assignment Conscripts." Harmony smiled. "Building #17 is off limits. Eyes will go to trial. Lisette Dumont will testify against him. I got that much from the DA. Dr. Guilesspe, the floor is yours."

 

Dr. Guilespe, a physician with a red beard, took the floor. "I'm Alise Liddell's personal physician. Let me say first that Ms. Liddell is not malingering. Magic, not the kind of raw power magic we see practiced by either Ms. Roth or Ms. Liddell, is healthy. Alise was admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center with a fulminating kidney infection. That seems to be resolving, albeit slowly. She probably will regain most, but not all her kidney function. She is out of work this week and out of action. I advised her that the performance you saw is a once in a life time event. I think she understands. Mr. Roth, I believe you are next."

 

Gavriel Roth shifted uneasily in his off white courderoy pants and marled blue-green sweater which looked thick, comfy, and expensive. "I think we can let nature take its course. I spoke to Douglas Ashby, head of the Ashby Group which owns Oak Gardens Plaza. Now that the area is more or less crime free, they are thinking of turning the place in to condominiums and have started court procedures on the conversion. This is after all valuable real estate. I think we can safely let nature take its course from here on out."

 

"Amen," said the Rainwaters quietly. The Senator smiled. Colin and Kayla shook their heads. I approached Gavriel Roth. "Where is your little?" I asked. "Oh Lonnie ran away," answered Mr. Roth. "You son of a bitch!" I snarled.

 

"Where is your little?" Mr. Roth mimicked me.

 

"I don't have a little, but it would be a son or daughter to me if I did."

 

Mr. Roth snorted.

 

"Come on," said Harmony Flowers pulling on my arm. "I'll take you for lunch."

 

Lunch was somewhere other than the hotel. Dr's Rothstein, Kalish, and I piled in to Harmony's Lexus and we sped through the streets of DC until traffic caught up with us. "Alise Liddell should have done her homework," Princess Harmony explained. "Philanthropy is voluntary. That said....I know Douglas Ashby and I know others who have interests in development. Ashby group is not God Almighty. Alise is going to have to learn to work in some fairly high philanthropic circles. Thankfully it is the holiday season and I can't see anything moving until after the first of the year."

 

Kathleen Fitzroy PhD

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow -- Zia

Somewhere in Washington, DC

Point Two-Five

Humanity is our business!

 

Dear Alise,

 

I know something about Project U. I am one of the people they interviewed. Alise, they do not just take an interest in "people of color." I am white but I grew up in the ass end of Amsterdam, New York and later in Old Forge in the very depressed North Country. I am a daughter of the chronically disposessed.

 

The Project U people wanted to figure out how I ended up at Syracuse University on scholarship (Independent Rainbow only footed the rest of my bill, but that is a long story.) when the odds were so far against my leaving the kind of life my mothers and sisters and aunts all had. They figured if they could figure out what made me tick, they could teach others to tick the same way.

 

As you might, guess this has not been very profitable. Rose Among Thorns works better. College students want to tutor. High schoolers and middle schoolers need tutoring and recreation as well as other support services. Apply the services and most of the time kids do better. That is the reason that Project U is interested in Rose Among Thorns.

 

Project U's other successful project has been free gender selection of offspring. The technology for this is fairly old (about ten years or more) and scientists developed it for the dairy industry. They spun bull semen and the heavier sperm dropped to the bottom. The heavier ones are female. Spun sperm meant mor cows and fewer bulls.

 

One can use the same technique with human sperm and the result is a female baby eighty to ninty percent of the time. This gender selection for daughters has been immensely popular. What scientific tests and sociology prove, is something mothers and mothers-to-be instinctively know. In an industrial or postindustrial society if you are not wealthy, daughters do better. They have fewer problems in school, stay out of fights, stay out of jail and trouble. You may get fewer geniuses but you also get fewer outliers at the left end of the curve. One of the ways poor families can improve their lot is not to produce sons. This is not eugenics by the way. The sperm belong to the client's husband or boyfriend, and Project U does not do any selection besides for sex.

 

I know you may find this a little unsettling, but Project U really means business and they are very willing to think outside the box. And yes, they probably want to copy Rose Among Thorns' methods and then divorce them from the religious and philosophical rhetoric. I don't think they can do that, but that won't stop them from trying. Good luck at the meeting tomorrow.

 

Kathleen FitzRoy

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow -- Zia

Shared Conceptual Space and

517 Oxford Road

New Hartford, New York

Point Two-Five

 

==Kathleen FitzRoy narrates==

 

Saturday morning found me "invited" to a meeting in Washington. At least it was a breakfast meeting. Harmony Flowers, the Rainwaters, Senator Stevenson, and of course Gavriel Roth were all there along with the Ashbies. It was a buffet at a hote but we had a private area off the main dining room. Gavriel Roth wore a sweat shirt on which was silk screened a picture of a voluptuous brown haired white woman in a dress with plenty of declotage. Clenched in the woman's large capable hands was a mallet and a huge nail. Above her head a slogan read: "It only takes one nail!"

 

Gavriel grinned from ear to ear. "These are for sale all over Washington in certain parts of the city," he chuckled. "Apparently your friend," the comment was addressed to Harmony Flowers, "Lisette Domont convinced the owners of several silk screen shops to make these up."

 

"They royalties go to Rose Anmong Thorns here in Washington," said Harmony Flowers.

 

"How wonderful," commented Ms. Rainwater. "Do you have any idea what this design is on these shirts?"

 

"I do," I said. "The woman's name is Jael pronounced somewhat like the university in Connecticut. She is in the book of Judges in the Bible. She was a herdsman's wife. When Sisera fled from battle after the Israelites routed him, he stoped at the tent and Jael took him in. He asked for water and she gave him milk. He fell in to a deep sleep and she took the tent peg and a hammer and drove the tent peg through Sisera's temple. It only takes one nail."

 

"You think this is fine?" asked Ms. Rainwater.

 

"I think it is..." I searched for a word. "Authentic. The women who painted this are Cheyenne and Miriam. They are Alise Liddell's rommates in Langley. This is going to be a mural in the new Rose Among Thorns Community Center at Oak Gardens Plaza."

 

"It makes a great advertisement for Rose Among Thorns doesn't it?" said Gavriel Roth.

 

"Not exactly love your fellow man," commented Mr. Rainwater.

 

"The Bible is full of stories like this," I answered.

 

"People don't need to know that!" answered Senator Stevens.

 

"Are you suggesting people should remain ignorant of their religious texts?" I asked.

 

"That's not the question," said Robert Ashby. "The question is what we do about Rose Among Thorns."

 

"This shirt," Gavriel Roth took up the rallying cry. "In and of itself is not so bad. It is a bit unsettling, but we've had a shooting on Rose Among Thorns property. The perpetrator came through some portion of the Shared Conecptual Space. Do I have to say more about safety? Ithca and even New York State's finest are going to be quite perplexed when they find that both killer and victims do not exist in any one's computer. How much do you think it will cost to make things right or maybe we don't make things right and it costs us more some day...."

 

"I suggest we just don't go there," Robert Ashby backed up Gavriel Roth. "I think the time is now to pull the plug on Rose Among Tnorns."

 

"What will your wife say?" I asked.

 

"Fuck Marilyn!" snarled Gavriel.

 

"She's having your twins in May and she has Th'Lani living with her most of the time."

 

"Fuck Th'Lani," snarled Gavriel again. "Littles are more trouble than they are worth especially with the stupid New York State laws."

 

"Can we vote on this?" asked Robert Ashby.

 

"I have a friend in the shirt business," answered Harmony.

 

"What does that mean?" asked Mr. Rainwater.

 

"It means I can have these shirts manufactured by the million," commented Harmony Flowers. "Rose Among Thorns will get the royalties. Cut their lifeline and they will be able to buy their own housing anyway. That design is a gift of the Deity."

 

"Fuck the Deity," snarled Gavriel.

 

"Do you still want a vote?" asked Harmony.

 

"It's gone too far all ready," sighed Senator Stevenson. "The only question for us is what happens next. Any one know?"

 

"This city," said Harmony Flowers. "Is about to be host to the world's largest Rose Among Thorns House and it will be number 12 I believe."

 

I nodded.

 

"Just what Washington, DC needs," snapped Mr. Rainwater. "The world's largest Rat Hole. Where are Rat Holes number one through eleven by the way?"

 

I smiled. "Number 1 is in Syracuse. Number 2 is Ithaca. Number 3 is Binghamton in the Southern Tier. Number 4 is Utica near where I live. Number 5 is Rochester. Number 6 is Albany. Number 7 is Buffalo. Number 8 is Poughkeepsie. That's Vassar. Number 9 is Stonybrook out on Long Island. Number 10 is Ardsley, New York and Number 11 is Waltham, Massachussetts and hs connections to Brandeis."

 

"Are you taking notes?" Robert Ashby asked Gavriel Roth.

 

"What we have," said Ms. Rainwater "is a largely regional Northeastern movement. I would expect more hosues in New England, New Jersey, and New York State. DC is a stretch. It was also a fluke because the government drafted a co-emissary from Ithaca and Marguerite gave her an evangelizing mission here in the DC area. I would be very surprised to ever see a Rose Among Thorns house in Miami or California."

 

"DC is the test," commented Harmony Flowers. "If the house can handle black Santeros, Catholics, and Moslems, Rose Among Thorns has something universal. Also you forget Unity Samuels."

 

"Who is Unity Samuels?" asked Robert Ashby.

 

"The Music Director at Rose Among Thorns in Ithaca. Her home town is Savannah, Georgia," Harmony smiled. "Rose Among Thorns is going to wash over the world and that is a good thing. We can either surf its wave or have it leave us drenched and stuck on the shore. The choice is ours."

 

"Harmony," spat Gavriel Roth. "That is complete and utter bullshit. I have no choice."

 

"No had a choice," commented Ms. Rainwater. "You married Marilyn."

 

Gavriel Roth sighed. Needless to say we took no vote. A fairly wealthy and secure Rose Among Thorns will be signing papers to take over Oak Gardens Plaza here in Washington DC, February 16, 2007. Needless to say, I hope that Harmony Flowers is right.

 

Kathleen FitzRoy PhD

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow Zia

575 Oxford Rd.

New Hartford, New York

and the Shared Conxceptual space

Point Two-Five

 

Note: New Hartford is a suburb of Utica.

 

==Kathleen FitzRoy narrates==

 

Some things are just better done in person. Sometimes not even the telephone will do and this was one of those times. I drove west from Utica and New Hartford down 5 which is also known as Genesee Street, watching the just barely hanging on rural communities and wannabee upstate exurbs glide by. I'm a lucky person. I've never left the Mohawk Valley except to live in the North Country as a teenager which gave me two homes in the end. My people are here and I am one of them. I think Colin and Kayla feel the same way though I think they were born somewhere else.

 

It doesn't matter. They work out of their home. They are sympathetic to Rose Among Thorns and to our middle strand of Independent Rainbow. They were my mentors and advisors when I needed more than what my parents could or knew how to give me. In short, they are almost family.

 

They live in a mansion out in Manlius. The place has a huge winding hidden driveway, an orange tile roof, and cream colored stucco walls. I walked across the driveway and ring the bell. They were expecting me. I sat in their study with its huge chocolate brown hardwood floor and fake Western furniture that somehow does not look or feel one bit fake.

 

"I need a favor," I pleaded after we get done with the greetings and the niceties.

 

"What is it?" askd Kayla.

 

"I need to know about the wherabouts of Clay Taylor of Nampa Idaho. He's an Airman. He was stationed in Diego Garcia and went on a black op somewhere in Central Asia. His girlfriend, Vijaya Naipul, about whom I care a lot, has lost contact with him. He has stopped responding to her emails. She worries that the worst has happened. She fears he is missing in action."

 

"And there was no 'Dear Vijaya letter,'" said Kayla.

 

"I know boys don't always write those, but in this case no," I replied.

 

"A death would trigger an official notice of some kind even if the military had to lie about the cause," Colin said.

 

"That's why Vijaya and I both believe Clay is alive," I answered.

 

"Then he's either injured or missing," answered Colin.

 

"That's what Vijaya needs to know," I responded.

 

"All right," sighed Colin. "Do you have Clay's serial number."

 

I had all that. Vijaya gave it to me when I promised to pull whatever small strings I had. I handed Colin and Kayla my paperwork. They said they'd be back with answers in forty-eight hours.

 

I wish I had better news to report. I listened to the radio as I rode over the snowy roads back to New Hartford. My country looks very dead in the winter.

 

Kathleen FitzRoy

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow -- Zia

575 Oxford Road and the Shared Conceptual Space

New Hartford, New York

Point Two-Five

 

Dear Alise and Vijaya,

I don't trust the boys at the Testosterone Palace either, though I do believe they have top secret clearance. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, they are right. My contacts in Washington checked the databases and Clay Taylor was severely injured in an unspecified accident in an unspecified location and now is at a Hopital d'Isabella in Bilbao, Spain. His leg was smashed. Think of the race horse, Barbaro, and you'll have an idea. I don't know if Clay would be unmedicated enough to use the internet even if he had access to email. I do think he'll probably end up at Walter Reed. The problem for you I suppose is the long wait.

My heart is with you on this. It can't be easy. I hope you stay safe driving on those icey mountain roads. They say the worst snows are in late February and March. I know you don't need to hear that. I hope all is well at Ivy House.

Kathleen FitzRoy

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow -- Zia

Shared Conceptual Space and

575 Oxford Rd.

New Hartford, NY 13508

Point Two-Five

 

==Kathleen FitzRoy==

 

I found myself with Colin, Kayla, Murray Kalish, Harmony Flowers, and the Roths as we walked through the circus that was the dedication for Rose Among Thorns House #12. "So how do you like it?" Mr. Roth asked his wife who is by now seven months pregnant and was dressed as either Queen Esther or exQueen Vashti.

"Vibrant," answered Marilyn Roth. "I say the same," answered Harmony. "It's also a real rainbow. "We have Jewish kids from middle class and upper middle class backgrounds mixing with excons or nearly excons. We have artists, dancers, students...you name it. It's here. If this works in the long run, Rose Among Thorns has broken the color line and the class barrier."

"And what happens next?" snarled Gavriel Roth. "You want the indicators?" asked Kayla.

"Fuck yes!"

"OK, I'll give them to you. There should be a drop in subprime lending, an overall reduction of post Christmas credit card debt. Children's grades in school should improve and with them high school graduation rates. Drug abuse should plummet."

"There's more to it than that," snapped Gavriel.

"Yes, they'll watch less TV and consume less becasue they may either give to charity or have a savings rate. Nice thought huh?" answered Kayla. "Less crime, greater upward mobility."

"You're not telling the whole story...."

"They control themselves and you don't get to directly control them any more," answered Colin. "There was always a question of though of how much control you had in the first place?"

"You say that so calmly. You've worked with scholars for too long. You forget what real people are like," snapped Gavriel. "And do you really think Jael with her Nail is better than Pseudo Reality TV."

"The story of Jael," I spoke up "is the story of the powerless against the powerful. The same is true of Esther by the way. People discovering the old stories discover their power."

Gavriel shook his head. Out in the courtyard, on risers and bundled in their coats, a hundred and fifty school girls sung Painter of the Heavens. "They're throwing out the idols," Marilyn Roth said to Harmony Flowers. "It can happen. It has to be a good thing."

"Do you know what people are capable of in the name of God?" asked Gavriel.

"Not much more than they are capable of in the service of idols," answered Colin.

"Depends on the idols," Gavriel sighed. "The right idols keep people quiet and that is the way we need most of the population to stay. Harmony, you've just created a major problem."

"The problem," Harmony Flowers, "as you like to call it, created itself, or maybe God sent it. It's here now, and it is going to do more good than harm."

"Not in the long run," Gavriel Roth answered back.

"What can any of us do now?" asked a voice and we turned to see Rick Rainwater who had ome to watch the festivities.

"I can think of some strategies," said Gavriel.

"Like what?" asked Rick.

"Like what we tried a few years ago..." Gavriel hissed.

I had a hunch I knew what that was, but I'll talk about that later.

Kathleen FitzRoy

Ethicist

Independent Rainow Zia

Shared Conceptual Space and

575 Oxford Rd.

New Hartford, New York

Point Two-Five