Background
Jefferson's and Monique's lives evolve.
|
Previously in "Dulcius Ex Asperis":
NYU law professor Jefferson Thomas and bookstore owner Monique Vasquez have adjusted well to their new lives and relationship, established in the previous book. Now, now opportunities and challenges present themselves.
"So, how did Mahanoy impact Tinker?" Jefferson Thomas pressed, standing behind the lectern at the front of the classroom.
While he'd never considered himself a legal nerd like his friend Eric, he had been looking forward to presenting this topic. Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. was decided by the United States Supreme Court the previous summer. It hadn't even been added to the course textbook yet and he'd tasked the students with reading up on it alongside the usual assignment.
By contrast, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District was in any book remotely related to the First Amendment. Decided in 1969, it was a landmark ruling. With Associate Justice Abe Fortas writing the majority opinion, seven of the nine justices of that time determined a school had a right to regulate its students' speech when said speech had the potential to cause disruption to normal operations. Of course, Tinker never accounted for social media or cell phones with cameras.
"Let's hear from Sarah Hennis," Jefferson said, selecting from the names he could recall on the spot.
He waited a few seconds.
"Mahanoy address a student's off-campus speech and actions," a male voice said.
Jefferson knew this was Sarah's sign language interpreter, the woman being Deaf. He believed the man's name was Lewis Dodson.
"The Third Circuit Court of Appeals admitted the student's posting was 'crude, rude, and juvenile,'" the interpreter continued, "but they ruled that, since the post was made while the student was at an off-campus location, the school had no standing to discipline her for it under Tinker. The Supreme Court agreed with the Third Circuit, upholding their ruling, but Justice Breyer was careful to write in the majority opinion that this case should not be considered as precedence to determine when a school had a right to regulate off-campus speech. They overruled that part of the Third Circuit's ruling."
"How will courts determine which off-campus speech can be regulated in the future?" Jefferson asked.
"The Supreme Court is leaving that to the lower courts to decide in future litigation."
"Which means," Jefferson said to the class at large, "we have exciting things coming in the world of Constitutional Law. I hope you all will be paying attention."
He doubted more than a quarter of the class would, but he still felt it was prudent to suggest the idea.
"That's all for today," he said. "We'll pick up with Lee v. Weisman next week."
As the students packed up their books, he pressed the button on the upper-right corner of his watch.
"6:02," the electronic voice recited.
Jefferson was short on time. He was supposed to be at dinner at 6:30 and still had a few things to do first. Of course, he'd been given an early-evening class to teach this semester. Further complicating matters was the dinner arrangements hadn't been his to make.
He grabbed his briefcase from the chair behind the desk next to the classroom's lectern.
"Up," he said.
His guide dog, a tall yellow Labrador Retriever named Presley, sprang to her feet and stretched. As usual, she'd been sleeping with her back against the wall behind the desk and lectern. Having been paired with Jefferson six years ago, she was very used to his classroom lectures. She'd become bored by them five years and eleven months ago.
"You finished?" Jefferson queried. The dog usually had a stretching routine at the end of every class.
Presley shook, her collar tags and harness jingling, and came over to her handler. Jefferson found her leash and harness handle.
"Forward," he directed. "Find the door."
Pausing in the open doorway at the front of the classroom, Presley led him down the corridor towards the elevator.
"Steady," Jefferson reminded her.
Presley learned every semester's new class schedule within a few days and she knew when their day was just about finished. Like all guide dogs, she thrived on routine.
They headed up to Jefferson's office. Jefferson kept Presley in her harness as he planned on staying less than five minutes. He was supposed to be at Da Raffaele in just over twenty minutes, and it would be a fifteen-minute drive, if Manhattan traffic cooperated. Thankfully, Monique and Anya had the kids taken care of and he'd fed Presley during the earlier break in the class.
He skimmed through his Outlook inbox as quickly as his screen reading software enabled him to without missing an e-mail's subject line. Satisfied there was nothing requiring an urgent response, he engaged his computer's shutdown process and jumped up from his chair before his screen went dark.
"Come on," he encouraged and Presley fell back into step on his left side.
He almost ran into Eric Nelson on his way out of his office, his friend barely able to jump out of the way.
"In a hurry, huh?" Eric asked, falling into step behind and to the right of Jefferson and Presley. "What's this dinner all about, anyway? Sounds mysterious."
"I'll tell you when I know," Jefferson replied. Apart from the name of the people inviting him, he didn't know much more.
"The kids are okay, right?" Eric asked.
Jefferson could not figure out how a mysterious dinner invitation correlated with the twins or Matthew being in some kind of jeopardy. But Eric had been his lawyer when he applied to be their legal guardian and later when he officially adopted the three of them. Plus, he and his wife, Amy, were close with them. His concern was valid, if misplaced.
"They're fine," Jefferson said, stopping to look back towards his friend. "Monique's with them."
Eric nodded.
"Well," he said, "I'll bug you tomorrow then. I want to know what's going on. I've also got some news of my own."
His tone made it clear he too could keep things a mystery.
* * *
Jefferson's Uber pulled up outside Da Raffaele and he couldn't resist checking the time on his watch. It was 6:29. He'd actually made it, even with stopping to let Presley relieve herself outside the law school building.
"Get out on your right and the door is straight ahead of you," the driver said.
Not many drivers, taxi or Uber, showed this sort of consideration and Jefferson appreciated it.
His phone chimed as he entered the restaurant. His ride was completed and he elected to give the driver, Gustave, a twenty percent tip.
"Can I help you," the host asked.
"I'm meeting Tobias Sterns," Jefferson explained.
"Yes. Mr. Sterns was just seated. Can you follow me?"
"Sure."
Jefferson instructed Presley to follow and soon reached a table set for five. Tobias Sterns, who'd been speaking to someone, stopped the conversation.
"Jefferson," he said. "Glad you could come. How have you been?"
"Good, thanks," Jefferson said as the host guided his hand towards the pulled-out chair. He and Tobias Sterns hadn't actually seen each other in almost two years. At first, that was Jefferson's doing, but then Covid prevented future meetings. Still, they'd kept in touch.
"I believe you know Robin Walker," Tobias said, sitting as well. "And this is Denise Yang, our newly-elected Third Vice Chair.
The two women exchanged greetings with Jefferson. Robin Walker had been his first contact in the Manhattan Democratic Committee and he'd heard of Denise Yang before, even if he couldn't recall having met her on any previous occasions.
"Steven's on his way," Tobias explained. "He texted me ... something about construction."
"Will you keep me in suspense until then?" Jefferson queried.
He'd known Tobias Sterns for twelve years. Even though the man was the Committee's chair for the past eight years, Jefferson was comfortable being blunt when speaking with him. And today, Tobias had invited him.
"Let's order drinks first," Tobias insisted. "I have no intention of drawing this out as we'll have a lot to talk about no matter where this conversation goes."
Jefferson agreed, having reviewed Da Raffaele's online menu during lunch.
Steven Esparza, the Committee's Second Vice Chair, arrived just after they'd given their drink orders. Waiting for him to then receive his cocktail furthered the wait, leaving Jefferson to keep wondering why he was meeting with almost the entire Committee's leadership. The most prominent missing person was State Senator Robert Forster.
"I'm glad we could all sit down," Tobias said when Steven Esparza's drink order arrived. "Jefferson, you know I don't mince words. We invited you here tonight to talk about the Congressional seat. You know Murphy's pushing eighty and he feels ready to retire."
Jefferson nodded. He'd voted for Adam Murphy for as long as he'd lived in Greenwich Village. He was starting to see where this was going, but he'd let Tobias continue. For one thing, he wasn't sure how to react if his intuition was right.
"You've been a generous supporter for many years, both financially and in terms of advocacy," Tobias said. "We all understand what's happened in your personal life over the past couple of years, but that does not discount your efforts and the connections you've made on our behalf."
For wanting to get to the point, Jefferson thought he was taking is time. The three Vice Chairs didn't seem to mind. Why were there three of them here anyway?
"Jefferson," Tobias said, "the party would like to know if you would be interested in running for the seat."
Despite this topic having suggested itself in his mind, Jefferson was still momentarily stunned. Sure, he'd been interested in politics since high school, but he'd never considered actually running for something. He'd been content with donating to and volunteering to support people who shared his ideas.
"Jefferson," Steven Esparza jumped in, "we could win the seat with almost anyone. We have kept it for decades. But we recognize the national tone. Despite everything that happened, recent Presidential elections have shown that voters don't want Washington insiders. Other elections have followed suit. When was the last time you were in Washington?"
Jefferson had to smile at this.
"A conference for Constitutional Law scholars three years ago," he replied.
"That was held at the Kennedy Center, right?" Denise Yang asked.
"Yes."
"Jefferson," Tobias said. "You have an appeal here. Sure, you have money, but who doesn't. The district's median income is six figures. But, people like you. You have ideas. You have a story."
"What about the primaries?" Jefferson queried, now understanding why Senator Forster wasn't here. As the Committee's elected leader, the man would not pick a favorite candidate anytime soon.
"We haven't decided whether to hold those or simply have our convention and pick the nominee there," Tobias explained. "This here will probably be our only serious talk about the idea until mid-November."
Knowing the mayoral election was heating up, Jefferson had been surprised the group had even asked him to come to this dinner. He'd considered their invitation having something to do with that, but he doubted it. He was already supporting Eric Adams and that election was just two months away.
"You're no stranger to politics," Tobias pointed out, "but no one can get away with calling you an insider. It won't be easy, especially if the party votes to hold a primary, but we think you can make it."
He then noticed the waitress approaching.
"Let's eat something," he suggested.
They placed their orders.
"I'll have the salmon," Jefferson said when the waitress prompted him for his order. At the moment, it was the only item he could recall. Good thing he enjoyed fish. He did wonder why it was simply called "Salmon". But he quickly focused on more important matters again.
"I need to talk to Monique," he said when the waitress was gone again. He wasn't even sure how many people at this table knew of Monique. Partially thanks to the pandemic, the number of events she'd attended with him could be counted on one hand. She voted, but she'd never had a strong interest in politics.
He also thought of the kids. They'd had plenty happen to them. Could he turn their lives upside-down again? How much would be expected of them? He'd have to talk to them as well.
"Of course," Tobias said. He was probably the only person here who could recall who Monique was. Or he'd done his research.
"There are a lot of things that need to be discussed with a lot of people," Robin added. "Like Tobias said, this is a preliminary discussion."
"You'd still like an answer from me sooner rather than later," Jefferson figured.
"Not tonight," Tobias said.
He halted the conversation again as their food came.
"Think of this as us planting the seed," he then elaborated. "As you can tell, we are taking this idea very seriously."
Jefferson wondered if this dinner would come to haunt them once anyone else made an attempt to get this nomination. The Republicans wouldn't care as they had the same quiet dealings going on in situations like this.
"What does Adam Murphy think of this?" Jefferson asked.
"Adam is ready to retire," Tobias replied. "I think he's already picked his favorite fishing spots upstate. If we present a suitable successor, he'll give his endorsement."
Jefferson was sure his name had not yet been presented to Adam Murphy, even if he had supported the man's campaign's in the past. That fact could sway the aging Congressman to his side.
"Let me think about it," he said, ready to focus on his fish.
â??
Author Notes
A sequel to "Par Angusta Ad Augusta".
Cast of Characters:
Jefferson Thomas: NYU law professor. Uncle/adopted father of Abigail, Taylor, and Matthew.
Monique Vasquez: Jefferson's girlfriend. Owns and manages a small bookstore in Greenwich Village in New York City.
Abigail Thomas: niece/adopted daughter of Jefferson. Twin sister of Taylor. Older sister of Matthew.
Taylor Thomas: niece/adopted daughter of Jefferson. Twin sister of Abigail. Older sister of Matthew.
Matthew Thomas: nephew/adopted son of Jefferson. Younger brother of Taylor and Abigail.
Anya Motkova: Jefferson's live-in nanny.
Eric Nelson: Jefferson's NYU colleague and best friend.
Amy Nelson: Eric's wife.
Feedback, especially recommendations for additions/subtractions/revisions are always welcome and appreciated. Enjoy!
|
|
