Part Sixty-Two

Peggy had a plan. She mulled it over as she boarded the 6:20 a.m. ferry, telling herself it had nothing to do with her fifty-ninth birthday, which was just a couple of weeks away. I'm not one of those people who seek immortality, she told herself.

"What were they thinking?" Kelly fumed as Peggy found her usual seat. Paula was there. Peggy wondered why Paula and Kelly hadn't caught the 5:20 ferry.

"Good morning," Paula said.

"Good morning. You guys sleep in today?" She sat with a flurry of activity as she zipped open her backpack to retrieve her tea Thermos and some papers she wanted to read.

"I have to work late so I decided to go in later," said Kelly.

Paula studied a thread that appeared to be out of place on her skirt. Hmm, thought Peggy, trouble in paradise.

"Who committed a blunder this time, Kel?" Peggy asked.

"The entire U.S. House of Representatives," Kelly said as he turned the pages of his newspaper. "I blame all of them for not getting their collective heads out of their arses."

She paused. "I can think of a couple of events recently that fit that description. Which one has got your attention?"

"Just last week, the House approved a bill, by two votes, that would make it easier for oil companies to build new refineries."

"Ah, that's a good one," said Peggy.

"There won't be as much environmental oversight, they will be allowed to eliminate some grades of gasoline, they can use federal lands, such as closed military installations, without local consent. The list goes on. Who in their right mind would vote for new refineries when there won't be anything for them to refine in a few years?"

"They had to do serious arm twisting just to get the two-vote margin," said Peggy. "That shows you how bad it was."

Paula had a stern expression as she said, "Some people simply aren't capable of seeing past next week. That's why they support idiotic projects like that."

"And would one of those people be…"

"Luke? You guessed it." She shook her head with exasperation. "I took him to see a film called the End of Suburbia (endofsuburbia.com), which tells the story of the growth of suburbs and how that whole way of life is totally dependent on cheap energy from fossil fuels. To me, and to anyone with half a brain, we need to get off of fossil fuels. Well, he must not meet the half-a-brain criteria because the first thing he starts talking about afterwards is how somebody has to do something about the price of gas." She slapped her high forehead. "Luke, wake up. There's not going to be any cheap gas. Those days are over. And then I told him my pet theory, that gasoline should really be, like, five dollars a gallon."

"Fine by me," said Kelly.

"And he thought I lost my marbles."

Peggy laughed.

Paula looked dejected. "We ended up having a big argument and, well, I must have scared him off or something because the very next evening he cancelled a date we had made. And guess where he went instead?"

"Back to Florence," said Peggy.

Paula's face looked like someone had carved it out of granite. "That woman must have some kind of radar that goes off whenever a man is even remotely available," she said.

This was a new side of her, Peggy realized; she had seemed a quiet and mild-mannered young lady who sewed herself a new skirt every weekend, but now she was on fire. It just shows that you don't really know people until something happens that really sets them off.

"I need to tell you about my secret plan," said Peggy.

Both Paula and Kelly looked at her with interest. It was still only half-formed in her mind, so she chose her words carefully.

"It's related to what you both are talking about. To me it's about how society is investing its resources. I got the idea while reading an article in yesterday's New York Times about the pumps that are used to keep floodwaters out of New Orleans. At one time it was a world class system of pumps and levees, but today they are still using pumps that were built in 1913. Oh, and by the way, some of the old pumps worked better than the new ones. So much for our engineering prowess. The real message in the article was how we are not investing in our infrastructure the way we once did."

"You can see that in the kinds of things cities spend money on these days," said Kelly.

"Exactly. They are more likely to spend money on some retail development project or new housing than on infrastructure," said Peggy.

"Infrastructure isn't sexy," said Paula.

"And it doesn't generate revenue," said Kelly.

"You've hit the nail on the head. It's all about revenue. It's all about bringing money in the door right now instead of investing in something with a long return on investment. Roads and schools and public transportation and alternative energy projects are all things that take a long time to pay off. But why is it our leaders have this near term mindset? Why are we so blinded by promises of increased revenue, usually from developers?"

Peggy felt herself tremble. She took a sip of her tea. They rode the ferry in silence, looking out of the window at the faint orange glow just appearing beyond the city.

"So what's the plan?" asked Kelly.

Peggy could hear the skepticism in his voice. "Honestly, I don't know. I have this vague notion of trying to change the culture. But I don't know how. I'm hoping Raoul will help me."

"Have you told him about it?" said Paula.

"Not really," said Peggy. "He was greatly affected by what we saw in New Orleans. His reaction has been to withdraw and play music and work in his garden. He's not the change-the-world type. He has a theory that people have a mid-life crisis every year after they turn fifty, and they dream of leaving their mark on the world."

Paula frowned. "That's kind of gloomy."

"I hope he's wrong." Peggy looked out of the window. This was one of those moments when she missed Taylor, her late husband. He would encourage her. Even if the task were hopeless, he would urge her to try. She felt a measure of strength from thinking of Taylor. She wanted to feel that same strength from Raoul.