Chapter 3 continued

    “Where do you get off asking a question like that? My personal life is none of your business.” Karen was really getting heavy.
    “Well, Mr. Genet, if marital problems are the cause of your lack of literary productivity, the public has a right to know.”
    “I told you my wife is negotiating with Somers over movie rights for You Are God. I also told you I have a new novel ready for publication. Aren’t you listening?”
    “The tabloids say you and your spouse are divorcing. Is that accurate, sir?”
    “Absolutely not! Why are you pursuing this line of questioning? I’m holding my four-year-old daughter in my arms.” I was shaking. My arms ached so that I feared I would drop Karen.
    The President came to my rescue. “That’s all for today, ladies and gentlemen.”
A reporter shouted, “Mr. President, regarding the controversy surrounding Mr. Genet that surfaced over the weekend, is it true that your staff was unaware of it until this morning, too late to cancel the ceremony this afternoon?”
    The President smiled and waved as he turned away but I saw his jaw clench when his back was to the cameras.
    Karen finally consented to let me put her down as the President guided us back inside the Oval Office.
    “Now you know what it means to be thrown to the lions,” he said.

“Daddy! Look, Daddy! Uncle Ben’s on TV.” Karen pointed to the monitor suspended from the ceiling in the airport VIP lounge as Ben, the kids, and I waited for our departure to New York.
    A newscaster appeared on the screen with a film clip of Ben in the background. “Ben Sachs—famous for his deconstruction of Hegel’s idea that opposites can be synthesized—was in Washington today to speak to a National Press Corps luncheon about his new book, Power Fiction, which has everyone in an uproar.
    “Why the controversy? Sachs says linear reality is ending. It will be replaced by a non-linear post-reality where all events occur simultaneously. In other words, instead of one event causing the next, each event will be seen to cause all other events instantly. Sachs says the world won’t change, but our way of looking at it will. Sachs claims we began our shift to the post-reality viewpoint when non-local quantum physics marginalized the local cause-and-effect world of classical physics.
    “Sound farfetched? Not to Sachs who says we enter post-reality whenever we experience déjà vu. Normally, we think of déjà vu as the strange feeling an event has happened before. What actually occurs during déjà vu, according to Sachs, is that we enter a paradigm where every event is always happening.
    “What’s delaying a complete paradigm shift into post-reality? Sachs says we’re waiting for someone to explain how all time and space can be one. Whoever presents a compelling solution to this riddle will tell the next Power Fiction and launch us into post-reality.
    “Does Sachs have someone in mind?” The TV screen cut to a film clip of Ben at the National Press Corps luncheon. “I know of only one person whose creative imagination is capable of generating the next Power Fiction—Paul Genet, author of You Are God.”
    A reporter asked Ben, “Have you changed your mind about Genet’s ability after Helen Johnson’s criticism of his work?”
    “Not at all. Paul has the most original mind of anyone writing today. He will recover fully.”
    The newscaster continued. “Meanwhile, Genet, winner of the world’s most prestigious literary award—the Seminal Prize for Literature—was across town at the White House to receive the Medal of Freedom. Instead of giving us a preview of the next Power Fiction, Genet embarrassed himself, and the President, when he lashed out at a reporter who asked him if the rumors were true that he and his spouse were divorcing.
    A film clip of my press conference appeared on the screen.
Karen said, “Daddy! I’m on TV. See, you’re holding me.”
    “Since You Are God was published, Genet has been under constant attack from religious leaders threatened by his “We Are God” philosophy. However, until today, he had a reputation for being cool under fire…”
    I said, “Can’t someone turn that thing off?”
    No one did, and the newscaster droned on. “In a related story, political opposition leaders renewed their attacks on the President’s judgment for awarding the Medal of Freedom to Genet…”
    The public address system interrupted the TV report. “Flight sixty-seven for New York City now boarding at Gate 10.”
    I said, “That’s us. Let’s go home.”

Sara was at home by the time the kids and I arrived. I was furious with her for not showing up at the White House.
    “I want an apology,” I said.
    She ignored me.
    “Mommy, I saw the President this close. No, this close.” Karen’s little hands started about two feet apart and closed to six inches.
    “I know, sweetheart.”
    “And I was on TV, too, Mommy.”
    “Yes, I saw you on TV.”
    “And Daddy got in a fight again. The lady on TV said so.”
    “Sara glared at me. “How could you lose your temper on national TV?”
    I said, “How could you humiliate me in front of the whole world by not being there?”
    “We’ll talk when the children are asleep.”
    I checked the answering service while Rob and Karen got ready for bed. There was a message from Maria saying she enjoyed meeting me, and she was sorry she couldn’t be with me in Washington. There were several messages for Sara, and a message from my lecture agent, Len Gardner, “Paul, your contract’s up. Stop by my office tomorrow.”
    When the kids were in bed, I began again. “I want an apology.”
    “You’re the one who should apologize. Your display of temper today will hurt your contract negotiations with Barton Roberts.”
    “Are you going to apologize?”
    “How much advance are you going to ask?”
    “Why? Didn’t you sign the Pentagon contract?”
    “No. How much are you going to ask?”
    “I don’t know. I’ll let him make an offer.”
    Sara threw up her hands. “You have to take the initiative, Paul. Ask $2 million.”
    “This new novel isn’t worth it.”
    “Paul, this isn’t about what it’s worth. It’s about what you can get.”
    “I can’t believe you didn’t sign the Pentagon deal.”
    “Pay attention, Paul. Roberts will lowball if you let him take the initiative, and you’ll have to react to his figure. You must force him on the defensive.”
    “I’m no good at these games.”
    “Then let me handle it. It’s what I do.”
    “Is it what you did at the Pentagon today?”
    “You can be such a child, Paul. Let me get somebody else if you don’t want me to handle the negotiation.”
    “Barton Roberts was able to start his publishing house on the strength of my book. He owes me.”
    “Don’t be naïve, Paul. This is business. You can’t just waltz into your meeting with Roberts tomorrow without a plan.”
    “Okay, okay. I’ll ask $2 million and it’ll be the first thing out of my mouth. Satisfied?”
    “No, you need to knock Roberts off stride first.”
Sara saw the novel, White Exit, on the coffee table. “This is perfect. Arrive early and be reading Victoria Aren’s best seller which Roberts would never have signed without your help. He will notice the book and have to acknowledge his debt to you, or at least acknowledge it to himself. That will give you an emotional edge. Then you ask for the advance.”

Chapter 4