Master Guardian Angels

Harding was glad to answer him, “No.”

“How about a TV station?”

“No.”

“Radio?”

“No,” Harding sighed.

Bart was getting exasperated. “How about a decent gossip? Everybody knows at least one gossip.”

“Well, I don’t. That sort of busybody annoys me.” Harding thought a little more about that one, though, and an idea came to him. “Wait, I have heard of someone. He writes a gossip website. His name is Matt Drudge. But why do you ask?”

John said to Bart, “What if this gossip web site mentioned something about her and the President. Do you think that would get the ball rolling for you?”

“That depends,” Bart said. He asked Harding, “Does anyone read this web site? It won’t be helpful if no one reads it, you know.”

“He claims to have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of readers each day, but the mainstream media doesn’t really take him seriously.” They both looked dubious, so Harding made a suggestion. “How about if I drop him a hint about this Monica. He will put just about anything on his site, and that might be enough to get someone else to look into it. Then the ball starts rolling. But if it doesn’t work, then what have we lost? Maybe a week of time? Then we just look for another outlet to raise the public awareness of her.”

Harding thought that neither John nor Bart really believed the plan would work, but they agreed to try it anyway. He wasn’t sure about it, either, but he had nothing to lose. That settled, he wondered what they could talk about next, but then John told him that he and Bart needed to discuss some other matters without him. Harding can take a hint, even one delivered with a hammer. He said, “It has been my pleasure to meet the both of you, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.” Then he went and sat back down at the counter.

After he sat down, Miriam couldn’t contain her curiosity. As she gave him a fresh cup of coffee, she said, “That looked like a very interesting conversation. Do you know those two? I’ve seen them around, but I never got the chance to talk to them.” Harding couldn’t tell her the truth, at least not the complete truth. After all, he believed Bart when he said he would make sure he got the absolute worst guardian angel ever assigned to him. Harding didn’t want that.

“I’ve seen them around, too, and I finally got around to introducing myself. I’m glad I did, too. Did you know they are actors? They’re not famous, though. They like to do local theater.” Miriam didn’t really care for theater, so he felt safe that she would not check up on them. Then he thought out loud to her, “I think you would like them. I think I do. In fact, I think I just made two new friends.”