Sons of Fortune

“Anyone on my side?” asked Fletcher.

“Yes, I don’t think he’s cute,” said Jimmy. “But he has thought a great deal about your bill and he obviously considers it an election issue.”

“I don’t know about cute,” said Annie, “but have you noticed that at certain angles he looks a little like you, Fletcher?”

“Oh no,” said Lucy, “he’s much better looking than Dad.”

The third question was on gun control. Ralph Elliot stated that he backed the gun lobby and the right of every American to defend himself. Nat explained why he would like to see more control of guns, so that incidents like the one his son had experienced while at elementary school could never occur again.

Annie and Lucy started clapping, along with the studio audience.

“Isn’t someone going to remind him who it was in that classroom with his son?” asked Jimmy.

“He doesn’t need reminding,” said Fletcher.

“One more question,” said Anscott, “and it will have to be quick, because we’re running out of time.”

The plant in the second row rose from his place right on cue. Elliot pointed at him in case Anscott was considering anyone else.

“How would the two candidates deal with the problem of illegal immigrants?”

“What the hell’s that got to do with the governor of Connecticut?” asked Fletcher.

Ralph Elliot looked straight at the questioner and said, “I’m sure I speak for both of us when I say that America should always welcome anyone who is oppressed and in need of help, as we have always done throughout our history. However, those who wish to enter our country must, of course, abide by the correct procedure and meet all the necessary legal requirements.”

“That sounded to me,” said Fletcher, turning to face Annie, “overprepared and overrehearsed. So what’s he up to?”

“Is that also your view on illegal immigrants, Mr. Cartwright?” asked David Anscott, a little puzzled as to what the questioner was getting at.

“I confess, David, that I haven’t given the matter a great deal of thought, as it has not been high on my priorities when I consider the problems currently facing the state of Connecticut.”

“Wrap it up,” Anscott heard the producer say in his earpiece, just as the questioner added, “But you must have given it some thought, Mr. Cartwright. After all, isn’t your wife an illegal immigrant?”

“Hold on, let him answer that,” said the producer. “If we go off the air now we’ll have a quarter million people phoning in to find out his response. Close-up on Cartwright.”

Fletcher was among those quarter of a million who waited for Nat’s reply as the camera panned across to Elliot, who had a puzzled look on his face.

“You bastard,” said Fletcher, “you knew that question was coming.”

The camera returned to Nat, but his lips remained pursed.

“Wouldn’t I be right in suggesting,” continued the questioner, “that your wife entered this country illegally?”

“My wife is the Professor of Statistics at the University of Connecticut,” said Nat, trying to disguise a tremble in his voice.

Anscott listened on his earpiece to find out how the producer wanted to play it, as they had already overrun their time slot.

“Say nothing,” said the producer, “just hang in there. I can always run the credits over them if it gets boring.” Anscott gave a slight nod in the direction of the head-on camera.

“That may well be the case, Mr. Cartwright,” continued the questioner, “but didn’t her mother, Su Kai Peng, enter this country with false papers, claiming to be married to an American serviceman, who had in fact died fighting for his country some months before the date on the marriage license?”

Nat didn’t reply.

Fletcher was equally silent as he watched Cartwright being stretched on the rack.

“As you seem unwilling to answer my question, Mr. Cartwright, perhaps you can confirm that on the marriage license your mother-in-law described herself as a seamstress. However, the fact is that before she landed in America, she was a prostitute plying her trade on the streets of Seoul, so heaven knows who your wife’s father is.”

“Credits,” said the producer. “We’ve run out of time and I daren’t break into Baywatch, but keep the cameras running. We may pick up some extra footage for the late-night news.”