The Heritage Paper

Chapter 5



The final battle of the morning would be to get Maggie to change her outfit. Politically based shirts were banned in school, and one trip to the principal’s office a week was Veronica’s limit. After a brief but spirited fight, Maggie relented, and returned in a simple head-to-toe black ensemble of sweater and jeans, perhaps mourning life in general.

Veronica threw a professional suit jacket over her concert shirt that she wore with stylish jeans and heeled boots. She had maintained enough Manhattan style to pull it off, but she still hadn’t got used to her new, short, blonde-bob hairstyle—a sharp departure from shoulder length style she’d worn since college. She figured if Jon Bon Jovi could cut off his hair, then so could Veronica Peterson.

But that change didn’t compare to moving back to Pleasantville. And while it was culture shock for everyone, Veronica was convinced that she’d made the right decision. It gave the kids a bigger yard to play in and the schools were quality. And of course, finances played a big role. Like a lot of thirty-something couples, she and Carsten hadn’t prepared for death. Carsten made good money as an executive at Sterling Publishing, but it was ‘own a Saab and take an exotic vacation once a year’ money, not ‘manage a hedge fund and own a villa in Italy’ type. So she quickly found out that raising two kids on the Upper East Side of Manhattan without a steady income caused their savings to hemorrhage.

And if those weren’t reasons enough, there was no shortage of built-in babysitting. Which reminded Veronica—her Uncle Phil had been feverishly campaigning to fill-in for Career Day, but Jamie ruled his pharmaceutical sales career as “too boring.” So they needed to get out of here before he realized that he’d been bumped by Eddie.

Veronica rounded up Maggie and Jamie, and headed off for school in their oversized Chevy Tahoe. Eddie had loose ends to tie-up concerning his dead drug dealer, and would meet Jamie at school. Mr. Charisma campaigned to ride in the “cool cop car,” but was turned down. While Eddie was the infantile jokester around Veronica and the kids, he was obsessively professional when it came to his police work. It was always interesting for Veronica to see that side of him.

She drove through their secluded neighborhood, known as Usonia. It was named for the modernist, open-style homes made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright—typically small, single story dwellings made of environmentally sustainable materials. They were green before it became trendy.

Veronica’s family had bought up many of the hillside homes off Bear Ridge Road back when they were built in 1948. This included the L-shaped Usonian that Veronica and the children now lived in, which was wrapped around a garden terrace at the rear of her mother’s house. Uncle Phil and Aunt Val lived two houses down from them.

They maneuvered through winding hills until they arrived at the busy Bedford Drive, which was the “main drag” in town. Veronica flipped on her play-list of 1980s power ballads.

Maggie was not a fan—probably not angry enough. “Mom, can we put the news on about tomorrow’s election?”

Maggie had carried on her father’s passion for politics, and sounded eerily like him when she debated complex topics that should be beyond kids her age.

The election was contentious, to say the least. And at the heart of it was a potential conflict brewing in the Middle East. If war broke out, many experts predicted that it would last for over a decade, which caused Veronica to have horrible nightmares about her children coming in contact with roadside bombs ten years from now. So she was voting for Theodore Baer, who opposed US involvement.

Maggie had a different idea, and it had a lot to do with one of her strongest ideals. It always came down to loyalty with her.

“Israel is our friend, and you and Dad always told me it’s right to stand up for our friends. Dad wouldn’t vote for Theodore Baer if he was here.”

That was a low blow. “Well, he’s not,” Veronica responded tersely.

Jamie decided to chime in, “If I was in a war I’d shoot everybody!” He then performed a machine-gun sound as he sprayed bullets around the backseat from his imaginary gun.

God help us all, Veronica thought with a shake of her head.

“If you have any thoughts of riding in Uncle Eddie’s police car, then you’ll be quiet. I’ll call him right now,” Veronica threatened. She picked up her phone and pretended to dial.

Jamie quieted, but Maggie moved on to her next point of angst. “I can’t believe you’re blowing off my presentation. Oma and I worked really hard on it.”

“Do you really think I’d rather meet Jamie’s principal than see your presentation?”

“If it was the other way around, I’m sure you’d reschedule it.”

“I had no choice. Your brother can’t participate in Career Day until I meet to discuss his punishment. So you can thank your brother and Mrs. Sweetney.”

“Whatever.”



Veronica knew appeasing Maggie’s surly attitude would set a bad precedent, but despite their many quarrels, she had a soft spot for her first-born. The fact that she brought up Carsten after not uttering his name in months, meant she was feeling very wounded. And Veronica wanted to reward her for the job she did on this project. Maggie would take the train to Chappaqua after school, a couple times a week to meet up with Ellen. They’d work until Veronica would pick her up after her night class at Pace, and she’d often have to drag Maggie home.

So she turned on the election news. The big story was centered on controversial comments made by Theodore Baer yesterday. With only one day to go, Baer was dropping like a rock in the polls. Seemed like Maggie might get her wish.

They pulled up to Underhill School, which was separated into two campuses—K-4 and the 5-8 middle school. The first drop-off was Maggie.

“I’ll try to make it back in time for your presentation, sweetie.”

“Whatever.”

Door slammed.

Maggie burst out of the car like it was on fire. She went straight for her one friend, fellow outcast TJ Chester.

As Veronica watched Maggie, a knock on her window startled her. It was TJ’s father, Zach. She rolled down the window and he handed her a Styrofoam cup of coffee.

“If you were up half the night finishing the Heritage Paper like us, then you’ll need this,” he said and flashed his perfect smile. His eyes matched his dark suit.

“Maggie wouldn’t let me near her project, which might have been a good thing,” she responded. “And thanks again for all the assistance TJ gave her with the video.”

He laughed. “Yeah, he spent more time on Maggie’s than his own—I think he has a crush on her. That’s why we were up half the night cutting and pasting the Chester family low-lights.”

Veronica glanced at Maggie in the distance, who sent back a disapproving look. She wasn’t sure if it was connected to her conspiring with her friend’s father, or because she might miss her presentation, or perhaps it was that she was twelve and her mother was her natural enemy. Probably a combination of the three.

“I’m sure TJ did a great job, he’s a smart boy.”

“We just left out the part about his mother being in jail. Sometimes I think family secrets are best left a secret for a reason.”

Veronica had heard the small town gossip about the good-looking journalist who moved to town without his imprisoned wife. But she never asked him about it. What was she supposed to say—I’ll pick up TJ and Maggie, and by the way, why is your wife in the joint? She knew the etiquette when it came to divorce or death … but jail?

“Are you coming?” Zach asked between sips of coffee.

“No, first I have to meet the principal over at the K-4.”

“The ex-lax thing?”

“Was it broadcast on the news?”

“Small town—everybody knows what color underwear everyone is wearing. I better go before they start gossiping about us,” he said with a smile and moved toward the school.

She watched as he headed off into a sea of pre-teens. “Thanks for the coffee,” she shouted, but he didn’t hear her.

One down, one to go. Veronica drove around the building to the K-4 area. She waved at Teri Burkhardt and her perfect daughter Haley, who didn’t poison other students. Jamie tried to make a run for it, to join Haley and the rest of his friends.

Veronica clicked the locks shut. “Don’t even think about it. You’re coming with me to meet with Mrs. Sweetney.”

“I don’t know why you’re calling her that, since she’s not more sweet than you, Mom.”

Yeah right.