O Body Swayed to Music
IV
In its Rawest Form
Marlena looked deep into his sun-damaged face, meeting his dead stare head-on, examining the lines and the crags, searching for any indication the outward might hold of the inward. She liked what she saw. She couldn’t deny that or that the strength she was sure she saw, but he refused to express, spoke to something in her. She meant to push him until he admitted to more depth than mere Nihilism. “That’s a dim view of humanity. Where did you learn it? If you held any significant experience in either the public or the private sector, my staff would have turned it up.”
If he held any cards, it was time to put them on the table.
He again gave that laugh she didn’t much like. “Every generation thinks they’re learning the lessons of humanity anew. Humanity is a constant. There’s nothing I’ve said you couldn’t get from Plutarch, Thucydides, or Homer.”
“Where were you educated?”
“In a tent in a snowstorm.”
He wasn’t saying, and for all she knew, his words might hold some element of truth. The only thing her staff had turned up was that he did hold several degrees from unremarkable state universities. He had not distinguished himself in those years.
