Episode 34: Travis and Castillo Confer

“I want to confer with Senator Castillo in private,” Senator Travis told his aide. “Pick up lunch, and I’ll meet you in the basement when we’re through.”

“Yes, sir.” Kim promptly departed.

“In private,” Senator Travis insisted, looking at Tony Tinelli.

Senator Castillo eyed her adversary thoughtfully. “Very well,” she turned to Tony. “Go get lunch for us.”

“Sure thing, Roxy,” he replied.

“Hey Acey,” Tony called out to get her attention as he rushed to catch up. “Where are you going to take me to lunch?” he asked as they went out the door.

The remaining crowd filed out.

“What’s this about?” Senator Castillo asked, once they had the empty courtroom to themselves.

“The presidency,” Senator Travis declared, returning her gaze, “and how I’m going to give it to you.”

“The presidency,” Senator Castillo frowned, “is not yours to bestow.”

“It could be,” Senator Travis countered, “if you had my endorsement.”

“Why would you endorse me?” Senator Castillo was skeptical.

“Our country is badly divided,” Senator Travis observed. “We could be heading toward a civil war. We need to find some common ground to keep us all together. This transgender craze. It’s hurting kids. It’s exploiting kids to try to score political points. It has to stop. Soften your position. You need ‘time to consider new information raised in this testimony.’ We need to ‘take a serious look at the impact it’s having on kids.’ We shouldn’t be ‘moving so quickly.’ You know the drill.”

“Will you get Andrews to apologize for misgendering his student?” Senator Castillo asked.

“No,” Senator Travis insisted. “He did nothing wrong. He has nothing to apologize for… I will, however, ask Andrews to consent to my asking the judge for a directed verdict against him. You can take the ‘win,’ for now. We’ll fight it out again on appeal.”

“I’m going to take it from you anyway,” Castillo claimed, “and Andrews needs to apologize.”

“Not likely,” Travis vowed. “Andrews is going the distance. We’re heading for a hung jury, if I’m any judge of it. There’s no way you’ll win if my witnesses’ testimony gets before them.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Castillo predicted. “Your endorsement is hardly a value to me. Hell, if you came out and endorsed me, and if I accepted it, it would probably COST me the nomination. All the power brokers and lobbyists would be convinced I sold them out... and they’d be right.”

“So, we wait until you have the nomination tied up,” Travis explained. “You make a pivot to the center. Find some common ground we can both live with. Common ground that includes backing away from this transgender nonsense. I express my surprised approval at your more reasonable moderation, culminating in an October surprise endorsement.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Castillo shook her head. “You people and your sexual hang-ups. Can’t stand the thought of anyone else choosing to live a different way. You’re all sexually frustrated and repressed, and you’re fixated on me, and on women, and on LGBT+ people in particular. You people need therapy and a dose of chill pills. You’re too ashamed to get the psychiatric care you need, so you use politics as the outlet to express your frustrations instead. You’re all just a bunch of weirdos.”

“We’re careening toward disaster,” Travis pointed out. “Our country is getting ever more deeply divided. You and I can work together to heal the divisions. We have an opportunity to play peacemaker.”

“You raped me once,” Senator Castillo replied coldly. “No way in hell will I allow you to do it again.”

“What the hell?” Senator Travis was genuinely baffled at that turn of the conversation. “Our relationship was entirely consensual.”

“You abused your power and took advantage of me,” Senator Castillo rose and put her hands defiantly on her hips. “You had no business taking advantage of your position as president of the Law Review to force yourself on me.”

“There was no ‘force’ involved at all,” a puzzled and confused Senator Travis replied. “I asked you out. You agreed. After dinner you came back to my place. One thing led to another and…”

“You raped me,” Senator Castillo insisted. “I didn’t want to jeopardize my position at the Law Review by turning you down.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Senator Travis maintained. “All you had to do was ‘just say no.’ I don’t recall any particular lack of enthusiasm on your part. Hell, I was afraid you’d bother the neighbors with all the noise you were making.”

“You STILL coerced me,” Senator Castillo asserted.

Senator Travis stood to face his one-time lover and now adversary. He shook his head. “You didn’t have the balls to ‘just say no.’ Did you? To stand up for yourself. So, you just let it happen. Now you want to change your mind after the fact. You want to rewrite the history of how it happened.”

“You abused your power,” she poked him in the chest.

“Power, ha,” Senator Travis replied. “You don’t know the meaning of the word, ‘power.’ You’re not a strong and powerful woman. You’re weak and cowardly. Too weak and cowardly to speak up for yourself and just say no.”

“Weak and cowardly?” Senator Castillo’s face reddened with fury. “You have no idea. Do you know what you did? Do you know what I did? Do you? You got me pregnant!”

“You had our baby?” Senator Travis’s jaw dropped. “Why didn’t you accept my proposal, then?”

“Drop out of law school?

“To have your baby?

“To assuage your male ego?

“To let your SEED grow in me?

“It’s MY body.

“YOU don’t get to do that… to ME.

“It’s MY choice.

“I’ll tell you what I did.

“I went to a clinic.

“And, I had them suck that miserable fucking clump of YOUR tissue right out of my stomach, and they threw it in the trash for me.”

For once in his long career, Senator Travis was left utterly speechless.

“So, don’t you DARE try to tell ME women are weak.” Senator Castillo picked up her bag. “You’re a dinosaur, Chad. I terminated your baby, and come next November, I’m going to be the meteor that terminates you, and your friends, and your archaic, retrograde thinking.

She took a deep breath to calm herself and strode purposefully out of the courtroom.

Senator Travis watched her leave.

He stood a long moment in silence.

Then, he pulled the yellow pencil out of his pocket and stared at it for another long moment.

In a sudden movement, he broke the pencil violently, and dropped the shattered pieces into the garbage can.

He gathered his things and left the courtroom.