Part Twenty-Eight

Kelly Flinn was dressed in black.

"Kel, this must be a statement of some kind," said Peggy, looking up from her seat on the 5:20 ferry. She sat along the left aisle, with Raoul, pouring tea from her Thermos as the vessel motored out of Eagle Harbor. The morning sky was dramatic: patches of blue dotted with small orange clouds directly overhead, while to the east gray clouds hovered in layers over Puget Sound and the city of Seattle.

"I'm in mourning over the Supreme Court vacancy," said Kelly. "O'Connor was the voice of reason, and she provided some balance. But now I'm afraid we'd better brace for the worse. Her replacement is going to be as extremist as the rest of this administration."

Raoul looked up from his newspaper. "Did you see the rainbow last night?"

"I'm writing letters to all of my Congressional representatives," said Kelly.

"I would send email, if you can," said Peggy. "They say that paper letters take much longer to get through because of security measures."

"Everything is digital these days. I'm still analog."

"I got a pretty good shot of it from my yard," said Raoul, holding up a picture.



"Was there a pot of gold at the end of it?" said Kelly.

"I think you have to imagine that it's there or not there," said Raoul.

"Let's see, I can imagine a bubbling cauldron with Alberto Gonzalez in it," said Kelly.

"Is he wearing the robe of a Supreme Court justice?" asked Peggy.

"Yes. He's gloating over the prospect of a lifetime of interpreting the law in as conservative a manner as possible. That's the scary part. Long after this administration is gone, the new justice will continue the legacy."

Raoul shrugged. "Like everything else you have broad swings one way or the other. The court might become more conservative for a while, but then some other justices will retire and they might be replaced by a more liberal president and things will swing the other way."

"But in the meantime, an extremely conservative justice could do a lot of damage," said Peggy.

"It's simply an outcome of timing," said Raoul.

"That's little consolation to someone who's on the losing end of an important issue," said Peggy.

"So what do you propose? That we change the system? Maybe the justices should run for office and be elected by voters. Wouldn't that be a riot?"

Kelly snapped his fingers. "Raoul, I think you've got something there."

"It was a joke."

"No, not at all. You're making perfect sense. We should hold national elections to fill supreme court vacancies."

Raoul crumpled up his newspaper in frustration. "That's absurd. It would mean whoever raises the most money will get to be a supreme court justice. Intellectual qualifications would be a side issue."

Peggy said, "But how important are intellectual qualifications right now? Won't the president make a choice on ideological grounds?"

"You folks are missing the point."

"I think we get the point. You're defending the status quo."

"I'm only trying to explain that the current system of appointments is fair in the long run," said Raoul.

"Yeah, but you have to live for a hundred years to see the long run," said Kelly. "I don't think my social security will last that long."

"Not if Gonzalez has his way," said Peggy.

"I give up. This conversation is going nowhere," said Raoul.

Then Kelly perked up his ears. "You hear that? Someone's playing ukulele music."

"Yes," said Peggy. "And he's singing…"


Click on the image to hear Iz Kamakawiwo'ole on ukulele and vocals.