By Silent Majority Page 9

  “What do we do now?”

  “We eat. There’s nothing going on.” She began to unwrap a sandwich.

  “How did you get this information from Lefkel?”

  “He just told me. Said he couldn’t do it himself. But, if some ambitious members of the Dade State Attorney’s office could recruit some help—”

  “He doesn’t know that we’re out here?”

  “I left a note on my desk telling them where they could start looking for our bodies if we don’t show up for work tomorrow.” Daniel rolled his eyes.

  “Great, what would June think?”

  “Who cares? You’d be dead.” Elana began to crack open the champagne.

  “This is a good brand, huh?” Daniel said.

  “That’s good vintage. It isn’t a cereal.”

  “Right. I knew that.”

  “Here’s to the cutest Senator in the State of Florida.” The two toasted. Daniel wondered if this girl was working him. Shouldn’t he be working her?

  “Thank you, Elana.” She was glad he didn’t make a funny or whimsical remark to her toast. She liked a man who could take a compliment as well as give one.

  “You know, I hope we don’t have to make a run for it anytime soon. I’m almost drunk.” Elana laughed.

  “I can’t run either.” Daniel said.

  “There aren’t that many accidents related to drunks driving. I mean, if you don’t speed. You won’t get a ticket. It happened to my uncle once. He was drunk after my cousin’s wedding and a cop made my aunt drive home. —Straighten up, look!” Daniel drew his binoculars.

  “Wow, there must be thirty of them. Look, more are pulling up.” Elana began snapping pictures. “You can see faces with this lens.”

  “Let’s wait. They’re not doing anything.”

  “Look, they are starting a fire.”

  “It’s eighty degrees out.”

  “I’m telling you it’s ritual. —Let’s go kill some Jew, and some niggers,” Elana began to sing.

  “You’re strange.”

  “One Jew over here. Hi.” She sang aloud.

  “Cut it out! Jesus. —Well wouldn’t you know.” Some men began to emerge from the trailer with Klan garb on. Elana continued to snap away.

  “Unpack another roll of film for me.” The fire began to grow. The night added a brilliant contrast to the flames. “Let’s move in closer. I’m losing the faces in the dark.”

  “Can you get a picture without a flash?”

  “Yeah, it’s special film.”

  “Jeez, not so close,” Daniel whispered.

  “Just a little more.”

  “Lie flat.” They both were on the ground. Daniel threw his tie over his shoulder, and stared through his binoculars. “I didn’t know they let women in the club.”

  “Somebody has to wash the sheets,” Elana answered. Daniel enjoyed the fact that Elana wasn’t always so serious, but he lost his sense of humor with every hard beat of his heart.

  The environment seemed insipid. Just a bunch of people in white sheets singing gospel songs.

  “Wait. It’s just getting started,” Elana said. “There’s Brett Forrest. The Grand Wizard of the Miami Klan.”

  “Who’s the starting Center?”

  “Shh. He’s going to speak through a megaphone.”

  “Miami, Miami is not going to be like Jew York.” Some applause was heard. “No, we must keep Miami from becoming the hell hole of desegration that other growing cities have become. My question to you lovely people is this: Do you want your children growing up in the wrong colored schools?”

  A woman came out of the trailer holding a baby in her arms. The baby is dressed in a tiny Klan outfit. The “awes” could be heard from the people. She stepped up to the megaphone while Brett Forrest held it to her mouth.

  “This is my baby, Christopher. And he ain’t going to grow up with New York values. Growing up in nigger schools. Touching nigger children. No, this boy is going to have Southern values. He’s going to lead the charge. If he has to die for it. Because we all have to fight the war. Mothers included. The war is getting them Federal Bureau of Integrators exposed and destroyed. So decent white folk can live in peace.”

  “Hey!” A voice rang out.

  “Oh, shit. Get up!” Daniel said.

  “Stop right there!” Two men yelled from around some nearby trees.

  “Run! Run!” Elana said leaving behind the picnic basket. Their hearts pounded as they sprinted with all their strength.

  “Don’t turn around, just run!” A shot was heard. Probably from a shogun. Daniel could swear some buck shot whizzed over his head. “Hurry up. Get in the car!”

  “Do you have the keys?” Elana asked.

  “Shit! You don’t have the fuckin’ keys!” Another blast was heard.

  “I’ve got them! I’ve got them.” She opened her side and hopped in the car. She popped open Daniel’s lock, and they sped off, but not without a trunk full of buckshot in it. They escaped alive.

  Elana pulled up to Daniel’s apartment. They both felt they could breathe again. She turned the engine off and smiled.

  “Bet you never had a first date like that before?” She began to laugh. So did Daniel. He could still feel the sweat on his finger as he held his head in his hands. Daniel went to unlock his seatbelt and realized that he never buckled it. He slouched down in the seat and sighed.

  “How did I ever get involved in this with you?” Daniel loosened his tie.

  “Here, why don’t you tie your ties like this?” Elana reached over and unwrapped his tie. She re-tied it in a half Windsor knot.

  “My grandfather would tie it like this. It gives the appearance of confidence because it’s a relaxed kind of knot. It’ll help you breathe. It’s not so tight around the neck.” Daniel liked the way the knot felt and decided that he would wear it from then on.

  “Daniel, tell me about June.”

  “What do you want to know?” Daniel didn’t like this type of conversation from someone he felt was infatuated with him.

  “You never talk about her. What does she look like?”

  “She has blonde hair. She’s cute.” Daniel nodded that he was finished.

  “That’s it. Say that you love her. Describe what type of person she is.”

  “She’s a lovely girl. She does a lot of charity work in the community and she cares about me.” Daniel didn’t like being quizzed about June.

  “Where did she go to college?”

  “She never went to college.” Daniel shifted in his seat.

  “She’s been married before?”

  “Yes, and she has two wonderful kids, Alan and Connie. I love them. I think they’re wonderful. They really love me too. Alan wants to be a pilot and Connie wants to be a Barbie doll model.” Daniel smiled. Elana pressed her lips together.

  “You’d make a wonderful father, Daniel.”

  “Thanks.” Elana reached over and kissed Daniel on the lips. He was shocked at her boldness.

  “Can’t you just steal the kids and be with me?”

  “Whoa, Elana.” He smiled and looked away to break the tension. “You’re a beautiful girl. And I mean that. You have a very compelling personality. Despite what you may think sometimes I like working with you. I have June. I can’t have someone on the side.”

  “I don’t want to be on the side! You make me happy. I enjoy watching you. I love the way you work. I love how you struggle to be a good guy in a slimy political world. You think you can make a difference.” Daniel blushed. “Don’t marry this girl just because she would be a proper wife. I know I care about you much more than she ever could.”

  “I can only say this and you probably won’t understand. I’ll never be able to make you understand. I can only love June the only way I know how. She can love me. I’d never
be the man you’d want me to be.”

  “We’d learn and grow and adjust. I know we could work out. Why make yourself marry someone I know you don’t love?”

  “June is right for me.”

  “You don’t act like you’re in love. You’re marrying for politics. My brother got engaged last year. His fiancé is the only thing he talks about. He talks volumes and volumes about how much he loves her.”

  Daniel smiled. “That’s wonderful. Talking about June is just not my style. Doesn’t mean I don’t love her.”

  “Woman’s intuition.”

  “Maybe you just are blinded by your feelings.” Again Elana kissed him slowly, pushing her tongue into his mouth. Daniel didn’t resist but he didn’t respond. She pulled away. She looked him in the eyes. He was pale and speechless. Her heart sank. She sensed he was vaguely repulsed. At that moment, she knew she couldn’t even be the side-woman.

  “Maybe I was wrong. Just go. I mean it. Just get out of my car, please. I’m sorry I was leading myself on.” Daniel opened the door and quietly left the car. He didn’t look behind.

  Peter Spark didn’t want to know how Daniel and Elana Goldstein got the pictures of the Klan rally, but knew that they would make some great front-page newspaper photos. He prepared them for a press conference.

  Brad Lefkel was taken off the “Acid Murders” because of his rookie status. Four veteran FBI agents were assigned to look into the motives of the deaths, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alex Giulianti, took charge of the investigation. Months later what turned up was a terrorist white supremist group, linked with the KKK, was categorically killing “uppity blacks.”

  One case, in 1960, Horace Medford, a black man joined an insurance company. Horace was killed, and the business was burned to the ground. In 1961, Jack Roosevelt, a Herald reporter wrote a progressive protest editorial about what he coined as Hate Crimes, and shortly after was murdered. Later that same year, Dr. Poindexter Manis, a college professor of Sociology, at the University of Miami was upgraded to associate professor. In 1962, Cory Rand, a successful businessman moved into an apartment on Brickell Avenue. A realtor named Eric Berman, in 1963 encouraged several black families to move into white neighborhoods, was murdered. He was the only white person in the group to be murdered. A local minister of a Baptist parish, Reverend Nathaniel Reed pressed to have the murder of Cory Rand investigated further, and was murdered himself. The last death was a young attorney, Stephan Mills, the first black with the Dade County Public Defender’s Office and was killed after the announcement of his first promotion.

  For political purposes U.S. Attorney Giulianti, offered up the microphone to Daniel Carlson, the lead attorney who would prosecute the case.

  “We sought and received indictments on several members of the Klan group called The Power. Including the leader of the group, Brett Forrest. This group is responsible for several deaths that Mr. Giulianti has spoken of and much more. This type of professional and systematic assassination is part of the destructive force that destroys the civil rights for all Americans.

  “This case would not have come together without the help of Elana Goldstein, Dade State Attorney’s Office, and Special Agent Brad Lefkel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Thank you.”

  Brad Lefkel tipped his imaginary hat at Daniel in appreciation, and left the courthouse. Elana was also waiting in the corner of the courthouse. Daniel approached her.

  “I just wanted to thank you for your work on this case.”

  “Thank you.” Elana sealed herself off from her hurt feelings. “I enjoyed working on it. Thanks for giving my office some of the credit.”

  “Listen, I really miss our friendship. You haven’t really called me about your end of the case. I got approval for you to be loaned to the DOJ for this case.”

  “I thought you were busy. I have a tendency to be pushy.”

  “I like your pushiness.”

  “You know, listen, if you’re buttering me up to work on your campaign—”

  “No, I’m not. I meant what I said. Please don’t be hurt. I really love our friendship. I wish romantic feelings toward you wouldn’t interfere.”

  “You’re ambivalent. I thought you were totally not interested.”

  “How could you think that? I have very strong feelings for you. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

  “I can accept that, Daniel. Let’s still be close.”

  “I’d love it.”

  “You looked really good during the press conference.”

  Suddenly, reporters surrounded Daniel again.

  “Do you believe that this case, if you win, will make you a likely candidate for your old boss’ seat in the Senate?”

  Peter responded, “Assistant Department of Justice Attorney Carlson hasn’t confirmed any plans to run for the Senate. His main concern is to prosecute these criminals to the full extent of the law.”

  “This case is definitely a landmark for civil rights in the DOJ. Since this is obviously your peak what other case could there be that could top it? What will be your next case then if you don’t run for the Senate this time around?” a reporter asked.

  For months preceding the trial, Daniel Carlson gave interviews to reporters and columnists throughout the State. He waxed poetic about the plague of racism in light of the birth of civil rights legislation. In one of those interviews, Daniel coined the phrase disgracism, when describing the phenomena of racism turning violent.

  It was March, and that month was filled with memories of death, for Daniel and the children. The temperature was cool and breezy enough in Florida to sit under the white gazebo in the backyard. The day signified the anniversary of Daniel’s mother’s death and the harbinger of the anniversary of his uncle’s death, which was in a few days. Daniel was thinking about them, especially his mother. He lit a candle that lasted a week for each of them. It was his family’s unexplained tradition. His mother did it for her parents, and Daniel just thought it was a nice remembrance.

  Sitting and drinking tea with the children seemed strangely formal, but it was a good way to spend time in silence. Alan and Daniel were dressed in suits, and Connie, a pink dress. It was Sunday, and they had just come from church. Daniel didn’t feel comfortable in church outside of being with the children. June was elsewhere after church, raising money for some politician running for a congressional seat in Dade County.

  Daniel would concentrate on what the minister says in church, he was an animated speaker; charismatic, a politician with his own agenda. Sometimes a seemingly narrow-minded hateful agenda. But he, like everyone else sitting there, turns off his brain and just sits. Daniel didn’t feel the spirit with the minister. It was, on the other hand, the right crowd who attended the church. Church is a good place to see people or better yet, to be seen. The Silent Majority goes to church. He could see them there. Now, Daniel Carlson was a church-goer. It translates to a good character. June and Daniel agreed on a Presbyterian church, even though he was raised Episcopalian, and she, a Catholic. June explained it as she felt religious but didn’t really want to do formal religious rituals outside of putting up a Christmas tree or making an Easter dinner. She privately referred to herself as C and E Christian, Christmas and Easter. Subscribing to certain religious events was another of June’s contradictions, according to her. She thought it made her interesting and complex. Daniel didn’t want to go round and round about the hypocrisy and the logic of religion.

  But his thoughts were focused on his mother, and his sight was hazy as if in a dream. He looked down at the children he would soon adopt, and took a moment to appreciate them. They responded to Daniel’s stillness. Alan asked him if anything was wrong. Daniel told him his mother died on this day many years ago, and he couldn’t believe he lived so long without her. Alan understood, with a compassion that most children feel, an unforced empathetic comprehension.

&n
bsp; “Our daddy died this month too, Daniel,” Connie mentioned.

  “And Uncle Sammy too,” Alan volunteered.

  “Imagine them all at a tea party—Dad, Uncle Sammy, and your mom, Daniel. What do you think they would talk about?” Connie wondered aloud.

  “That’s stupid, they wouldn’t talk about anything, they wouldn’t even know each other,” Alan was put off by Connie’s break with reality.

  “They are polite people. They would introduce themselves. Daniel’s mother would serve the tea, and Uncle Sammy would pass around the sugar cubes. They could talk about trips they’ve taken. They could talk about us, and how proud they are that we’ve grown up to be a lady and gentlemen. They would be most proud of Daniel. That he will be a Senator.”

  Daniel thought about having tea with his mother, and he ached to have a conversation again with her. She was the anti-majority. She was the voice of reason. He replayed one chat in his mind. He was unusually concerned for a child about what he would become. It was in the kitchen of the family home. Daniel was twelve years old, it was lunch time on a Saturday, and the phone finally stopped ringing for his father.

  “Daniel, special boys like you don’t do things they don’t want to do,” his mother answered the question, “What if I have a job I don’t like? I want people to listen to me. I could teach them about things they don’t know. I know how things work. I think that could be fun.”

  “Then you could be a professor. You need to go to a lot of school for that. But you like school, so that will be fun,” Daniel’s mother said. Daniel believed her for years after she said it. Daniel didn’t know the Silent Majority yet. Daniel was a precocious child. He could do anything. Passion could lead Daniel’s way. But she, his maternal angel, along with her foresight, relocated to a loftier plane, and the honest communication he had with himself led him to the disappointing conclusion—he couldn’t believe her anymore.

  CHAPTER 8

  The Making of the Man

  So decisions had been made and the wheels were in motion. Send D.C. to D.C. versus Phil Taylor who is Taylor made for the Senate.