Nealey  -  Swenson

 

 

 

        In a small town everyone does not know everyone.

        Since the death of Lin Schroeder his children and grandchildren have been busy with occupations unlike his.  Lin constructed plenty of houses, barns and stables.  He had a good-sized ranch of his own with a few horses.  Joyce Hudson had long been one of his closest neighbors, and she frequently visits, or is visited by, his granddaughter.  They almost never talk about their professional work.  Sometimes they talk about another person's work, a person they call the adman.  He lives in the nearest town.  He's unacquainted with many people there, and most who know him have no idea what kind of work he does.  Lin's granddaughter talks to this man and sometimes relays his comments to Joyce. 

        His opinions have been a disguised unfriendliness.  This in turn has led to a rancor which is no secret.  Several names including that of Ross Lawrence, a man who lives near Denver, have been pulled into this.  It may seem unlikely that something polemical would be circulating, or exploding, here.  It's a quiet area, not heavily developed - ideal for many of the wistful.  Of course it could be developed as a resort community, most of all for the outdoorsmen.  There's an extensive stand of spruce, rather anomalous for the region.  Streams that pass through could express eternal calm, a place devoid of trouble.

        Eric Metz is another person who lives near the Schroeder family ranch.  He likes to see the different neighbors, and one morning he comes to the home of Joyce Hudson.  He's been told that her son, Drake, wants to discuss a few things.

        Eric walks up to the front door and lets them know he's here.  When it opens he's greeted by Joyce, a prospering senior citizen.  He comes in to the largest room and he sees Drake again for the first time in almost a year.

        Drake is a bit younger than Eric.  He's in a chair at one end of the table in a dining area which isn't clearly demarcated from the main front room.  The visitor comes to the table, as invited.  They're having some coffee and custard pie.

        Joyce remarks, "Next week we have our hands full.  It's a gathering of experts in high-tech.  They're calling it orientation." 

        Somehow an amused glance at her son bespeaks pride in his efforts.  Drake has helped others promote the informal conference.  The challenges they'll talk about are his own favorites.  Right now he goes over his most favorite, involving a type of consumer product.  There's one person he wants to rely on, especially.

        "We've got someone coming here for this," he says, "but we don't know what he has in mind."

        "When does he get here?" the visitor asks.

        "He's supposed to be here today," Drake answers, "but I haven't been able to reach him.  I don't seem to have the right number for him."

        "Using a different number these days?" Joyce adds, frowning.  She tried to reach him too.

        The man they have in mind is James Nealey - Swenson.  Drake wonders aloud concerning the state of telecommunications.  He wants to spend some time on that.

        "You've got him coming here for this," Eric reminds him.  The point is well-taken.

        "We talked to him a few weeks ago," Drake says.  "He told us there'd be exhibits, and he described the different kinds.  He was recommended to us.  We'll see."

        His bland face goes well with a bland explanation.

        Joyce hopes to introduce the adman to Nealey - Swenson.  The gathering she looks forward to is improbable for the location.  Who would think of this town?  Then again the choice of location could be made by a nabob who's free to disregard the demographic numbers. 

        They have some other topics to mention.  Right now Joyce warns her son about the expected permanent changes in the neighborhood, changes for which he'd have no enthusiasm.  They include a substantially increased flow of traffic along Zinda Road.  Though he lives in town he still spends a lot of time at this place. 

        He says, "I don't wanna die sooner, I wanna die later."

        He makes a flippant reference to Ross Lawrence, as if blaming him for those immanent changes.  The point is superficial.  He tends to look on the bright side.

        Eric states, "I heard about your woodworking project, some things you brought here from your place.  New furniture in the basement?"

        Drake doesn't seem interested in the subject, but he answers, "It's more or less what I told her I'd come up with."

        "Not half bad," the mother admits. 

        Eric enjoys present company, but he doesn't have well-developed opinions about something like the technetronics meeting.  He's always had some admiration for Drake.  He's here with his friends for about forty-five minutes.  They talk about their younger days and then Drake shows him his work in the basement.  Eric knows he'll remember some things they've told him about life in this house.  The visit has been worth his time.

        Not long after he departs, Joyce is greeting Lin's granddaughter as well as two other guests, Kay Fitzpatrick and Michelle Rowe.  Drake lingers for a bit, thinking his mom wants him to listen.  There's no need.  In relation to these younger women there's not much impression made either way, and within ten minutes he's leaving the house. 

        Joyce tells Kay, "You've got an opportunity for something here at the conference."

        Kay says, "You mean orientation."

        The older woman sees it was a slip of the tongue.

        Michelle points out, "It's too academic if you call it a conference.  We're all about the market place, remember?"

        Actually the other women don't see Michelle very often.  She lives in Gresham and has to drive across the I-205 bridge, coming quite a ways north from the bridge in order to reach the home of Joyce Hudson.  Despite the point she made Michelle is candid about not being a businesswoman.  She's candid about her different viewpoint, the fact that she's a housewife who pays attention to electronics.

        In this case Kay appreciates the amateur's way of looking at it.  Kay's a distributor of electronics products. 

        Even though Joyce thinks that Kay and Michelle are excessively smart-assed, it would have been good, she thinks, to see Drake paired with one of them instead of with that frowzy babe he calls his wife.

        It's just as well that Drake's mom doesn't have to express opinions about everything.  For example, if you could trace influence back to the source, you'd find the secretive elite that authorized the technetronics meeting.  In principle this kind of elite shouldn't be very hard to explain.  But it might be a dangerous thing to express opinions about.

        One question these women could talk about today, but don't, perplexes a few people in the county.  The subject matter could be frightening, or merely curious. 

        In the last few days the dread visage of Ross Lawrence has been sighted hereabouts.  Of course he refuses to wear a mask.  One person recognized him when Lawrence, walking down a sidewalk near the town's only credit union office, halted and looked around at the different shops.  He resumed his movement towards the nearest of the houses on the other side of an open field.  The man who observed him was coming out the door of a retail shop that offers building supplies.  The shop's across the street from the credit union.  Another sighting was a mile outside of town, at the edge of a tree farm.  Lawrence appeared to be showing great interest in the comparison of two trees.  The witness this time was a person jogging by.  There was no road in between, only a simple footpath in a field.  The witness recognized Lawrence and he slowed to a walk.  He doesn't think he was noticed by the other man.  Not far away working among the trees was an employee, paying attention to nothing but his own work.  The witness at the tree farm and the witness by the credit union have both reported the observations.  It's amazing how the statements by TV and social media can make an ordinary man conspicuous.  This man comparing the trees is known to people across the country. 

        Ross Lawrence continues to be, and probably will for the rest of his life, abused in the social media.  He's depicted as the proverbial, frightening extremist, archetype of the boogeyman.

        Joyce had invited the person whose arrival was mentioned by Drake.  He's actually been here in town for some time - prior to this week - and he has reasons for not telling them.  As a person who awaits the gathering of experts, Joyce has herself been trained in a few things electronic and cyber.  She was compelled to learn this as a businesswoman.  She's looking forward to something a little different from this man who has gained her son's attention.  Unfortunately, health problems have been an issue.  Joyce has been unsteady since losing her husband the previous year.  But she's getting better, and she has confidence in her son.

        Discussion becomes interesting on a Wednesday, around lunch time.

        James Nealey - Swenson is waiting for someone at a table, one of several placed between two of the town's mobile food vendors.  It's reasonably comfortable for the purpose.  Each table has the small roof typical of such dining arrangements, and the weather's mild.  Jim is here at this 'food court' about ten minutes before a young woman approaches.  The eye contact is friendly to begin with.

        "Welcome to Cabin Park," she says.

        After the greeting she proves to be long-winded.  Jim is hearing about Lin's granddaughter.  Most of the points being made are not trivial.

        "You're candid without cutting her down," he finally responds.

        "We cut each other down in grade school," she says.  "Enough is enough."

        Jim tells her about what he needs to find out, then mentions the nearby gathering.

        "So we've both been to the conference," he notes.  "They had some talented people there today."

        She replies, "Wanda Schroeder was there, but I couldn't tell what she was doing."  There's a hesitancy.  "I wouldn't have thought there'd be an EKG workshop.  I guess for someone that must be a natural application.  They have an instrument that takes readings from the Web, so I'm told.  I think Wanda knows a lot about that."

        She wants to take it seriously.

        "Readings from the Web," he muses.  "So they can track the bad guys, correct the bad guys?  There's always someone with a new way of tracking, but correcting is a tall order."

        "They make it sound more positive than that," she says, and he agrees.

        The arrangement he observed at the meeting is unusual.  The exhibits are few, but they're quite informative.  They're not for the general public.  He knows very little about the leadership that authorized the gathering, but he senses a dogma.  For Jim the presentation raises enough questions to be intriguing. 

        He tells the young woman, "I don't know of another event like this one.  It's hard to get an explanation of why it's necessary."

        She describes the training she received for it, and the description sums up her sense of the meeting's purpose.  Jim will have to keep trying.

        He asks, "Were you able to find the people I mentioned?"

        "Only one," she says.  "The Director."  She looks apologetic.

        Jim isn't very surprised, and he declares, "We'll find the ones we need."  He wants to hear more about the organizers.

        After summarizing what she knows about that, she says, "It's obvious what I'm supposed to tell my boss when the big to-do is over with.  It'll be close."

        "Think you can last the next two days?"

        "I don't mind the schedule here," she answers.

        Jim restates, and is able to magnify, her inducement for working with him in the short term.  It may be hard to believe the effort he gives to the conference could be worthwhile.  He has plenty of ambition.

        "We have to be watching for a certain kind of person," he finally tells her.  "I say 'we,' I mean society.  This event raises more concerns than most others, for some reason."

        She comments, "And it goes longer than you can tell from the schedule.  There's someone who insists on follow-up, isn't there?"

        He admits, "These things taper off too slowly."

        Wanda Schroeder, the granddaughter, has a political commitment she isn't too obvious about when she's talking to relatives or some acquaintances.  During the pandemic, though, she's been flourishing.  The downtown Portland madness has been her cup of tea.  This fondness for direct action doesn't seem to cost her much.  It doesn't isolate her from the tech innovation conference.  Wanda has friends who can usually give help.

        Jim's another one with some people to help him in trying to achieve his mission.  He belongs to a well known alliance, rather informal.  They do have an agreed upon label, suggesting a solid expertise  :  The Math Proxies.  They lobby and petition.  They conduct a sort of research and they publish.  These are citizens authorized to endorse formal agreements on behalf of wealthy businessmen and highest-grade attorneys.  Nealey - Swenson obtained membership in the group six years ago.  What sets them apart more than anything is their notion of a self-destructive 'cycle of technology,' but they have nothing to do with environmentalism.  Jim's assignment has been prompted by a sufficient amount of money coming from a reliable sponsor.  If you call what he does espionage, you can't say it's industrial or political.  For the public record he gives his fellow activists due credit : they didn't command him to undertake this mission, but they made a statement he found inspirational.  Jim likes to call the Proxies a brotherhood.  Allegiance, multitude of equals!   

        As for Lawrence, a few of Jim's allies execrate him, others don't seem to have an opinion.  Jim doesn't defend the man, but he knows more than he lets on.  The nightmare has been fabricated.

        Still, the owner of the tree farm is angered by the reports about Ross Lawrence.  The sightings have happened at the farm on several occasions.  The farmer hates to be associated with Lawrence in the mind of the public.  Not knowing the adman - though their houses in town are two blocks from each other - his complaints about the rumors go to some other persons first.  When the adman finally hears the complaints, he welcomes them as useful information.

        A few times over the years Eric has talked to the tree farmer.  The man has told him about the sightings.  The tree farm is impressive, and its proprietor is no fool.  From Joyce and her friends Eric has also heard about the adman.  But the references made in his hearing have not been strident.  He's never met the adman, and he has no definite opinion of him.  Before this Lawrence obsession runs its course the farmer will be seriously persecuted by some of the miscreants with blogs.

        Vague suggestions in the right circles have already linked the adman to a crusader of sorts from the city of Indianapolis.  The crusader's an attorney, a dragon of litigation with practical influence far exceeding that of the mildly wealthy.  He's able to intimidate most kinds of people, and he's able to make a difference in the judicial system.  He's very clever about labels.  He won't touch the word 'socialism.'  When he's had too much to drink he brags that he can beat those people at their own game.  Why make yourself a target with pointless nomenclature?  You can sound righteous with a different approach.  He's poised to apprehend and finish off the unsuspecting Lawrence. 

        Meanwhile the big city's rampaging youth have peculiar intentions for what they see as the boondocks.  Their plans may be ambitious without being realistic.  Their backers have come up with a TV advertising splurge about a place in the country - beyond exurbia.  Such a village will be more sustainable than a hippie commune.  Wanda's adman contributes in a big way - his one great effort in the field that people think of as advertising.  The type of settlement, colony, whatever is billed as a promised land for the most marginal social classes.  The TV message avoids referring to something else in the works  : use of the judicial system to achieve coercion.  The settlement's location could be reached by a ten minute walk from the Metz residence. 

        Eric's parents have, because of an injury to his father, moved out of the residence and into a smaller place near Battle Ground.  Eric has the house he grew up in, and the two acres.  The strip of land between the Schroeders' ranch and the Metz property has a concentration of so-called weeping cedars.  A few weeks ago the grandson who currently lives at the ranch came to pay a visit, making his way through the trees.  His manner of reserve combines with an obvious friendliness.  In the living room they conversed at length.  Statements were made about a greenhouse that was installed at the ranch when Eric was a toddler.  He's never given it much attention.  The grandson made a satirical remark about Wanda, who lives nowadays in Portland.  Eric found the comment baffling, but he wasn't going to pursue it.  Before long there was a bit of reminiscing.  Lin Schroeder was described in more detail than Eric had previously heard.  One detail  :  sometimes Lin would slaughter poultry, but not very often.  He didn't enjoy it.  It was also true that his political statements were a bit strange, and anything but ingratiating to modern Americans.  It's now clear to this neighbor that the construction worker had a special reputation for his opinions about society.  If he wasn't volatile, he wasn't reserved, either.

        Since he died the town has had a bit of noticeable growth.  Zinda Road is the most obvious addition.  It's true that life has been made more colorful by some petty squabbles.  But one change has been downright unfortunate.  Six years ago the adman came to this community from Texas.

        He's the subject of rhetorical exchange one afternoon between Kay Fitzpatrick and Michelle Rowe.  They've just had lunch at the attractive home of Kay's older sister, who wasn't persuaded to come back from work during break time.  Kay's lived in this house for the past year and a half.  It's a lengthy drive westward from the Hudson's place, in a burgeoning suburb close to the Columbia River.  They try to analyze Wanda's reasons for spending time with the tech person whose online activity tarnishes reputations.  This includes remarks about her disastrous relationship with another man - Wanda's only try at marriage.  Kay and Michelle also express opinions about the man who's been invited to the conference by Joyce.

        There's more than they'll know.  Jim Nealey - Swenson communicates with several of the leading experts on the presumed crisis of engineering electronics.  He's not in their class, but he can apply the arguments they use.  This anxiety about science doesn't come from conservatives.  The Math Proxies make some telling points against familiar commentators who claim to speak for the specialists.  Quite a few legislators across the nation are dealing with proposals for safeguarding the means of energy distribution.  Jim tries to keep up with the latest findings.

        He talks to a second informant about six o'clock the same day he sees the woman at the food court.  This is at a different location - at a house in town.  It's a temporary lodging for Jim, and he's been here for five weeks.  He does have some unusual resources.

        He says to the young man, "I can tell you've learned something."

        His informant eagerly describes the situation.

        "Multnomah County's putting something decisive together," he announces.  "The first time ever.  Maybe you call them activists.  I call them the ones who take steps to bring down the plutocrats.  What happens around here happens within a week.  That's what they're saying."

        "How many people know this?"

        "Could be anyone, could be everyone.  They don't have to be quiet about it.  What can the authorities do?"

        "Not very much, these days."

        Any 'sleuthing' Jim has had to do in this town has been facile.  On the other hand he's had to do a lot of waiting.  The person he's looking at may have potential, but if so his achievement is years away.  He's worth talking to because he knows a well placed agitator.

        He tells Jim, "I can't speak for any group that has much influence.  I can set up some interviews or committee sessions.  Did you have something in mind?"

        Jim answers, "I'm not particular about which person I see, just a person who's recognized by your people."

        Several names are mentioned before one is agreed upon.  It isn't the best known agitator, but it's one who can still be useful.  Then the informant asks about the organizational structure of the Math Proxies.  He thinks it might resemble that of the hard core Left.

        Jim says, "The people we work for insist that we determine our own working relationship - that is, among ourselves.  That makes it look more democratic.  It is, in a sense."

        The young man comments, "I agree with you guys, not that I'll ever qualify as a Proxy."

        Jim says, "They've told you about the modern syndrome : the intention of replacing life in the real world with life in the mass media system.  And certainly the virus lockdown is a further step in that direction."

        The young man states, "It occurs to me now, because someone told me."

        Jim has a sarcastic, unspoken thought about the nation's future being in such good hands.

        He's gained the young man's attention the same way he gained the attention of Drake Hudson.  It wasn't something he was trying to do.  If you associate with one kind of person you might for that reason find yourself associating with another kind.  It's true that Drake, a shopkeeper, can be too impressed by some of the unconventional social types.  But if he had to emphasize one of these, his choice was fortunate.

        Jim's idealism threatens at times to be an embarrassment.  So far he's avoided much of the pressure that could make him take a different lifestyle.  He has a kind of balance because he's mature but younger than most people with influence.  His interest in the gathering of experts is more about persons than about technology.  When the discussion is over, his visitor walks out the front door, believing he's communed with a great man.

        He can't suspect that, with one exception, this man's attainments have been very modest.  The exception was the time he gave his endorsement to a secret agreement with a high-level interest group.  Among other privileges the group directs a brigade of enforcers.  Judges haven't been able to keep the enforcers from doing work that seriously changes the lives of citizens.  For the secret agreement only one signature was needed from the Proxies.  It seems hard to explain.  The name 'Nealey - Swenson' was adequate.

        He's been trained to evaluate, or simply uncover, certain kinds of information.  He blends in with a subculture even more than he blends in with a crowd.  Soon after his informant leaves the house Jim receives a text from someone working at the orientation event.  The text gives him a vital increase of knowledge, but right now he's close to bewilderment.  What he's been finding out would suggest a decisive change in every day life.  The change would be a social collapse resulting from disinformation.  He'd like to ignore the prospect.

        He considers one more thing revealed by the man who just left the house.  The man happens to be a friend of Eric Metz, and he'd learned of a detail so far unknown to the other people in the circle centering on Hudson and Schroeder.  This was the mutual attraction between Eric and Kay.

        Jim will eventually receive an email from Eric.

        "Kay's first visit was no-nonsense," the message reads.  "A man and a woman, two of the Proxies, came with her to my place, which is very close to the Schroeders.'  I wasn't ready for this.  A straight exposition of the movement's principles fell on ears that were, in a nonphysical sense, partly occluded.  They told me what the conference would signify.  After a few days I began thinking in those terms.  I like their well-informed, extremely disparaging view of the village being proposed for the area.  What's most important is the way they insist their philosophy isn't the pessimism it appears to be when you first hear it."

        Chet Gilbert, a man that Joyce and her closest friends know some things about, is the defamer extraordinaire.  He's been working with some help from a distant person, Steve Tellari, commorant in Sausalito.  In this week Steve responds to an urgent warning from Chet.  He travels to southwest Washington, arriving directly at Chet's house.

        "Lovely town you've got here," he observes, meaning it or not meaning it.

        Chet likes to gloat.  He assures the other man, "Anyone who amounts to something here is a pushover.  Give me a couple of technicians and we can reeducate the public."  He admits there's one problem.  "We need some way of handling the government watchdogs from out of town."

        Though Chet goes on in this mode, Steve dominates the encounter.  Like the zealot from Indianapolis, he gives an obscene flavor to the expression 'power of attorney.'

        He says, "My generous friends have increased the amount they're giving to our project.  Let's not disappoint them."

        He looks at the furnishings of the man's private study.  These border on the opulent.

        He continues, "This very small community has great potential.  We could establish an office building here in town - the biggest building.  I mean it, we've got the civic requirements defined for us.  We've already fulfilled the requirements.  It takes only one step to get it going.  It seems impossible that you would let this fall apart."

        Both men have a kind of insider's knowledge about the motivation for the gathering of tech experts.  They know the policy issues the business world has been recently stressing over.  They haven't declared themselves on this matter.

        Steve gives Chet Gilbert a subtle but unmistakable expression of patronizing poison.

        "We don't need a milksop, we need a man with balls.  Go on, show some audacity.  It isn't me you're in danger of disappointing, it's them."

        Later that day Steve has a more diplomatic talk with Lin's granddaughter.  This gives him confidence in his partners who live hereabouts.  Afterwards he has dinner at the cafe of choice.

        Chet, Wanda, Steve and similar persons are not well-informed about a social process they depend on.  They don't know exactly what happens to men who are placed in the light of malicious notoriety.  They know how to pull the trigger.  For them that's as far as it goes.  Wanda was very comfortable one time when she gave a radio interview, describing Lawrence in the most unflattering terms.  A few of her associates, including Joyce, are kept ignorant about nasty habits that are closer to home. 

        Anyone who follows this reportage might expect a number of anecdotes to emerge after the conference, anecdotes about Nealey - Swenson.  These will be more friendly than those about Lawrence.  Talk about mythic stature.  It's bound to envelope Jim, though he knows how to be protected from it.  Contrary to the fables, he's never spent much time in the northeastern part of the nation, but it's true that he knows a few interesting people in Seattle, his home town.  Something in his personality generates these attractive stories.  It won't be long before he provokes the hatred of some big name politicians because of his attack on censorship.  He'll spend too much time correcting mistaken beliefs about the Proxies, but he won't pretend he knows many of the secrets.  He has a public image because he sporadically encounters VIPs.  He'll take residence in Federal Way.  In a natural move, he'll marry.

        He agrees with a conjecture first published by one of his allies.  It's in keeping with suspicion of technocracy, but it's easily turned into a more inclusive disparagement of business organizations.  In this form it becomes a rabid catchphrase for the notion of equality.  It's been scrawled on the sides of buildings in the downtown zone of agitation.  Jim finds this comical and scary. 

        He's even amused when he hears of a self-labeled psychic who talks about having mental images of Ross Lawrence, as Lawrence arrives at someone's home in this area.  The despised man has body language that can only mean some dastardly purpose.

        The friendship Joyce keeps with Eric Metz is the authentic but casual sort that comes from the two of them having been close neighbors.  Joyce has made attempts to instruct him in the ways of information technology, without much to show for it.  He's one of the few persons in his age group to be confused by the standard, elaborate TV remote.  In a superficial way he keeps paying attention to tech.  He accompanies Drake to the conference on the second day, and his friend introduces him to Nealey - Swenson.  Drake and his mother have greatly different perceptions of Jim as a person.  Drake tells Eric that his early interest in the Proxy came from a few slim references.  The sympathetic attitude is more for Jim than for the Proxies.

        As he always has, Eric moves around in the county.  Now and then he sees the manifestation of odium.  The other day someone left a photograph of Ross Lawrence on the drain of a rest room urinal at Fred Meyer.   

        The second day of the tech orientation is also the day when Chet participates.  The gathering is held at the town's only building of reasonable size which is made available for different kinds of groups.  Some of the attendees wonder about the 'guidelines,' - can such a gathering be held in such a place at a time like this?  Chet spends most of his day comparing notes with a man who labels himself a consultant.  Chet knows this man has been sliding down a psychological ramp, a comfortable descent in the direction of satisfied iniquity.

       How would he know this?  It's easy - they've done each other some favors now and then.

       One thing he doesn't know about the consultant is the fact of his recent participation with demonstrators.  Lots of people had had the time for it.  They'd followed their plans to express contempt for one of the lesser known Founding Fathers, a man with plenty of slaves.  The raid they conducted into a park was quick and spectacular.  They toppled the statue in no time at all.  But they saw their mistake when they learned it was a statue of Alexander Hamilton.  Some deeds can't be reversed. 

        Later on the second day Steve Tellari comes to the orientation.  He sees a person he didn't expect to see.  It's another man from California.  Steve salivates unduly.  He's long detested the man, a CEO with many defenders.  A person's likes and dislikes are as intricate as you want them to be.  Steve has his reasons for wishing the man could be used as a nightmarish object lesson by the bringers of justice.  It's enough to make him forget his opposition to capital punishment.

        This is also the day Jim has his talk with the agitator.  It isn't very constructive.  The man gives an elaborate account of his method for psychological warfare.  He relates how he took several steps to provoke a police officer.  He claims the officer snapped under the pressure and assaulted a person who was working for justice.  After being savaged in the news reports, the policeman took up a different profession.  The agitator expresses great satisfaction.  He makes a cryptic reference to an 'unfair advantage' that he and his ilk have, and makes a show of not feeling guilty.  The fact that he disavows the use of guns doesn't keep him from having a mean streak.  He also gives a tantalizing hint of having worked with Chet Gilbert, but Jim can't pry some useful information about this.

        Jim's point of view won't be tolerated by the leadership that authorized the conference.  It isn't the only upper crust to keep in mind.  It's clear by now there's a unique readiness in the organization that has the elite brand of paramilitary enforcers.  They're watching a play of concern in the national publicity system.  They know what's happening at the conference.  They have their own fears about the nightmare of extremism.

        On the final day of the orientation gathering Joyce introduces Nealey - Swenson to Chet Gilbert.  It won't be long before she becomes confirmed in the awareness that she has a higher opinion of Jim than she has of Chet.  Despite her age and poor condition of health she's able to enjoy some of the social events.  Wanda's a bridge between her and the adman.  She finds Wanda more likeable.  In this conversation at the meeting hall much is said about Steve Tellari.  The man's theories concerning the newest information technology have given rise to a kind of sensationalism.  His proposed method, like other breakthroughs in engineering, might be confused with perfection.  This afternoon Jim doesn't get to sense the adman very much as a personality.  He does gain important knowledge about Steve.  Joyce makes remarks that hold Jim's attention.  But the schedules of Drake and Eric this day prevent them from being here in the afternoon, when the encounter takes place.  

        There's a man at the conference who's thought to have the greatest influence.  He's called the Director, and he's talked to Jim a few times.  He gives some attention to the Proxies' arguments, but he isn't convinced by Jim's version.  He's aware of extraordinary discord among the attendees, and for some reason he avoids Gilbert.

        He spends fifteen minutes in the parking lot.  He has his method of cultivating freedom from stress : a cigarette.  He's thinking about an Ed Harris movie.

        When he's done with his break he turns back to reenter the building and sees a man facing him, a man with a pleasant, rather deceitful smile.  It's the non-socialist, a dragon of litigation.  They stay outside for a few minutes.  Having talked to this man before, the Director knows about his background.  Now the Director has to hear a lecture about brilliant new technology that can be used for indoctrination.  The lecture has a startling relevance to the society that some experts think will emerge from a pandemic.  This crusader attorney, in league with Steve, knows a lot about engineering.  He fails to mention Lawrence, but he's planning to stop in Denver on his way home.  Now as he continues the speech, a small propeller plane flies over the building, and the captive audience wishes he was a passenger.  He listens to an intricate suggestion that glorifies the recent civil unrest.  He hears the lawyer describe a central authority that's been dictating specific moves in the unrest.   

        They go inside the conference hall and keep talking.  The man decides to leave before long, and the joyful fellowship comes to an end. 

        He's informed the Director about a revision of land use planning, including the utopian village that Eric doesn't like the sound of.  Drake won't like any of this either.  The frightening part is, quite a few legislators and attorneys have gotten on board.  Chet wants to do his part.  They'd love to put one over on the yokels of this geographic region.  The man breaking the news in the parking lot has made a not so veiled threat.  But the Director faces a more immediate problem.  It has to do with commitments being expressed by several persons of influence here at the meeting.  He'll have to make terms with a philosophy that he finds unattractive.  It's been gaining ground at the conference very quickly.  Participants are being surprised.

        Some of what gets mentioned is more playful than philosophical.  Just today here at the gathering, Jim has learned a pivotal fact in the background of Lawrence.  The accused man's notoriety began when he was twenty-three, trying to be a stand-up comedian.  One of his jokes began, "A lesbian, a black man and a Scientologist walk into a bar..."

        About a hundred feet from Drake's house there's a small commercial plaza where he maintains a shop.  Here he sells a relevant assortment of industrial and agricultural equipment.  The shop is not very far from the site of the conference.  Around two o'clock Wanda Schroeder comes to see Drake.

        Joyce had planned on being here at the same time.  She's running a half hour late, for some reason.  In the meantime Wanda receives a package from Drake.

        He says, "According to somebody it's a big help in the greenhouse.  Frankly, I wouldn't know."

        She replies, "Not the greenhouse, but close to it.  This goes into the side yard that has the euphorbias."

        It doesn't bother him to stand corrected.

        And she doesn't mind small talk.  "How's business, all things considered?"  

        "It'll get better.  That's what I've told myself each year, and I'm still in business."  He knows how to seem realistic.  "This line of work doesn't have much for your gadget crowd.  But it's hard to see how a shop like this would cease to be relevant here.  We both know how it goes.  Everything's different away from the big city."

        They have a brief discussion on familiar topics and one topic that he finds very surprising.  Then she leaves, taking the package to the ranch as a delivery to her brother.

        As Joyce walks up to the front door of the shop she notices the younger woman driving away.  Joyce enters the shop and talks to her son.  He repeats a surprising thing Wanda told him - about Kay Fitzpatrick.  It seems that Kay has membership with the Proxies.  Joyce hasn't heard this mentioned before, and she doesn't yet know of the romance with Eric.

        She wouldn't like it if she knew much about Steve Tellari.  He's begun to set something drastic in motion, colluding with a more famous person - his counterpart from east of the Mississippi.  The word 'insurrection' doesn't quite apply to what they have in mind, but most people won't like it anyway.  For good measure, Steve has another session with Gilbert.  He gives the most helpful clues about what to expect.  He also voices frustration about a lack of results in the Pacific Northwest.

        Before he flies back to California, he talks to another businessman who's well-known in the area.  Steve makes an unfriendly suggestion that highlights the boogeyman.  The merchant agrees to it.  For a while there's lighthearted chatter. 

        The retailer finishes by asking, "Do you still give people that crap about how you know the top guys in organized crime?"

        Steve finds this irritating.  "I haven't done that in decades," he says.  "Why do you keep razzing me about it?"

        The misleading picture of Lawrence comes partly from a psychic aberration that seems impossible.  One theory says that a mental distortion result is unavoidable given the nature of electronic and information technology.  Mental distortion but not mental control.  A number of esteemed professionals mistakenly believe that Lawrence has committed felonies here in the county.  One person who follows the postings by Chet Gilbert actually thinks he remembers witnessing one of these crimes.

        An official who commands the most eminent Proxies now informs Nealey - Swenson about this.  He talks about the chance of illusions resulting from technology.  Both men have an esoteric, mystical belief that such a problem exists.  Predictably, new devices are being designed, either to correct the problem or exploit it.  Jim is called away from the region so he can take three days of special training in the latest and safest devices.  This happens near San Diego. 

        Examples of the apparition multiply.  Lawrence has been suspected of hocusing the drinks provided to several women who live here in the county.  The notion is fantastic.  So far it's been voluntarily suppressed - that is, withheld from publication.  But for how long?

        Kay's belief in the Math Proxies remained unexpressed when all four women were together.  One on one with Michelle it's been referred to, and the same with Wanda.  Lin's granddaughter has been told more than Michelle.  Wanda's puzzled, because Kay's remarks about the cycle of technology seem at odds with a lifestyle that promotes electronics.  Of course a philosophy has some tolerated variants.

        A solemn James Nealey - Swenson arrives for lunch one day at the open air, simple food court.  He goes to a table that already has Eric Metz and Michelle Rowe.  He orders the most highly regarded salad.

        Eric says, "I'm glad to see that the conference was managed carefully."

        Jim answers, "The policies are predictable, I guess."

        Michelle comments, "I don't see anything new in the products they envision."

        Jim asks, "Have you talked to Joyce today?"

        "Yeah, but only for a minute," she says.  "I drove to the house for nothing.  She's got a couple of guys doing some yard work.  They're making improvements to that pathway that leads to the garden.  She's too busy for us, but I find it's not a wasted trip."

        She describes a useful purchase that she's made here.

        Before long Eric has his ham and corn chowder.  Michelle has cabbage rolls and french fries.

        Jim says, "I'm told Steve Tellari has already gone back to California."

        "After doing what he came to do," Eric replies, "which wasn't much.  An actual conspiracy doesn't have to be interesting.  Steve does worse things in California."

        At first Jim won't demand an explanation of how Eric has gained such knowledge.  And Eric doesn't offer one, at first.  They do talk more about this, but they can't get to the heart of what's going on.  Neither of them has learned enough.

        Soon Michelle comments about Joyce and Kay.  "They're innocent, compared to Lin's granddaughter.  But they take her too seriously."

        Jim asks, "Have you told them that?"

        "Not in so many words."

        This morning Jim has found out about a clandestine maneuver that promises a policy change at the nation's highest bureaucratic level.  The change will amplify phoniness.  The lawyer-crusader has been part of something astonishing.  Jim was inclined to reveal this to Eric and Michelle, but the more he thinks about it the less attractive that seems.  If he can just keep his mouth shut.

        Eric finally gets to the point.  "My friend and I think we know what to do about the problem you mentioned.  There's some evidence that came out of nowhere."

        He tells Jim who the friend is - Kay Fitzpatrick.  Jim can guess who the problem is.

        He says, "You're talking about the guy who works overtime demonizing Ross Lawrence."

        "That's only a small part of the problem," Eric answers.  "This thing is hard to believe.  We weren't investigating, but we've got two witnesses who talk about Gilbert's victims.  I'd like to say that Wanda's one of the witnesses, but I haven't spoken to her."

        Michelle finds this credible, based on what Wanda's told her about Chet Gilbert.

        Jim reminds Eric of a professor he'd known in college.  What Eric recalls most is a poster message on the wall in the professor's office.  The poster said, "The best way to keep someone in his place is by letting him have his own TV show."  Like the prof, Jim seems to be about books rather than social media.  

        The time comes for a critical decision to be made by the man who topples the wrong statues.  He makes his decision, and its the wrong choice.  Thinking he's helping Chet Gilbert, he antagonizes the Director and several other persons.

        As a movement the Math Proxies have a relevance to the question of the rogue blogger.  Even though they work with the publicity system on this case, their effect isn't explicitly mentioned.  Eric and the tree farmer collaborate with the Proxies.  They're able to do this without coming to the attention of the most insidious creatures in the news media.  Their peculiar beliefs about technology somehow contribute to exposing the defamer.  This isn't well-planned, but it works.

        A very small splinter group - about a dozen persons - comes from one of Portland's recurrent civil disturbances.  They make their way onto the ranch and commit minor vandalism.  For some reason they don't approach the house.  The timing is good, because the residents are away.  But the group is observed by a neighbor, who reports the occurrence.  The visit happens because there's a tendency to associate the location with a formidable scoundrel who commits crimes by way of the Internet.  Somebody knows of the criminal's direct acqaintance with the Schroeder family.  It's grimly amusing - the fact that the Internet criminal's political views are similar to the hooligans' views.  

        The notion of political rowdies who intrude on the ranch is hard to imagine.  Michelle remembers a few things about her two visits to the ranch, the first visit five or six years ago.  From the driveway you look across to the west, and there's the stable.  In the other direction at some distance are the poplar trees, and the Schroeders' land extends beyond the trees.  The house is a dignified middle class example.  She was there again two years ago, with Joyce and Kay.  The couple running the place were normal, perhaps a bit boring.  Jim's embarrassed to admit that one of the Proxies made his own intrusion a while back, photographing the ranch and putting the imagery on a website.

        Eric and Kay both recognize the benefits in the year and a half of their betrothing.  It isn't the pandemic that caused a delay.  It's true the young woman is the one who brought Eric into a working relation with some of the Proxies.  After people have made the effective move against Chet Gilbert, Eric and Kay announce their plans.  Jim is invited to the wedding. 

        Chet Gilbert, like his consultant friend, has made some mistakes and has come to the attention of a belligerent executive.  The corporate official and his colleagues are impatient with Nealy - Swenson's work.  They enjoy targeting this man Gilbert.  They understand they can achieve their goal without taking callous advantage of the Schroeders.  They'd like to use Gilbert against Lawrence.

        A disturbing judgment is pronounced by the committee chosen to speak for the orientation participants.  The statement is made the week after the conference.  They're suddenly espousing a version of the Proxies' belief - the problematic cycle of technology.  Big Tech suffers a paroxysm of indignation.

        The Director knows he's becoming famous.  He'll never identify with the Proxies, but he doesn't see them as an adversary.  They might be helping his career. 

        On Jim's return from San Diego he'd brought with him a device that has breathtaking potential.  In its application the instrument begins with some EKG magic.  Its target will be the statue toppler.  That man's latest exploit leaves him in a hopelessly compromised position.  Jim knows the results of the weapon are less predictable than his trainers in California would admit.  He's taking his chances. 

        But it works.  A paramilitary force has been summoned.  Its cooperation in this case is incidental, not based on some abiding policy.  The high command sends a squad for the purpose of detaining Chet's unscrupulous friend.  When they arrive at the man's workplace, a few bystanders take the officers to be members of an outlandish cult.  But the task is performed with great efficiency.  Their act of detaining him is more corrective than punitive.  The prisoner will at some point return to his occupation in his hometown.  

        Whatever the reason, they ignore Gilbert, leaving him to be cornered by others.  When he's finally arrested by the sheriff's men, he's found standing near an old-style community bulletin board.  He's looking at the notices - papers attached to the facing on the plywood.  Though it isn't the Web, he's paying attention.

        The prosecutor handles the case with great skill.  Eventually Jim learns that Chet Gilbert inhabits prison.  The stay will be lengthy.

        What basic social consequence will be ascribed to Jim and his allies?  Their fascinating orthodoxy comes to the surface of the nation's public discourse.  Their misgivings are acknowledged by more and more journalists.  The VIPs authorizing the conference have been successfully defied by a faction at the conference.

        Another social consequence of recent events - one that Jim doesn't like - is more tangible, somehow.  This one takes the guise of presumptive altruism.  An example is the utopian village intended for Eric's neck of the woods.  In the near future this kind of thing will be a plague, so to speak, a sort of pandemic.  Some people don't care if the supposed beneficiaries have to be victims.  In the view of most experts in social theory the outlook isn't bright.  Jim's criticism of this trend will fall on partly occluded ears.  Despite such indifference, one big city will honor him with a larger than life marble statue.