07.30.2008 / EP. 27
Something to Steal
“What does Carrie think about the theft?” asked Pam.”She’s mystified.”"There was more money in the office than people think.”Uh-oh, thought Milly, pop goes the random burglar theory.Pam and Milly strolled down the rows of glass cases, Pam pausing occasionally to admire a face or dress.”I raise money for the Governor and there was a little cache I left with Arthur.”The room is sterile, thought Pam. Relics live here, avatars, painted images, whiletheir human counterparts moulder in a forgotten grave. The children who playedwith these dolls, the adults who admired the clothes they wore, every single one of them is dust. Pam saw the dolls reach for lovers they’d never see, touch,embrace. “What does triste bebe mean?” she asked.
“Sad,” said Milly. “Sad baby. It means the doll isn’t smiling.”Pam nodded. What illusion of Milly’s would it shatter to recognize that happinessdidn’t belong here? Girls played with dolls, but their role in this room was oddlyreversed. Dolls weren’t handled. They made the rules, and chief among themwere separation, isolation, prison in perpetuity. An odd immortality, thought Pam,to be caged forever behind glass, while the world tosses and turns outside.”There won’t be fingerprints,” she said of the burglary.
“I’m tired,” replied Milly. “You said a ‘little cache’. How little?”"Three cubic feet.”"Feet?”
“In cash, mainly hundreds.”"Amounting to …”"Between us girls, a few million, waiting to be declared.”Milly stared. “Millions in undeclared campaign contributions. The money doesn’t exist officially. Motive enough for a dozen burglaries. The question is – “” – whether to tell Carrie. Here’s the nub.” Pam placed her index fingers against her lips. “I collect money from donors to give the campaign. Until I give it, themoney’s mine.”"In trust, Pam.”"For the donors. But mine as trustee. And it was cash. A dollar is like every other dollar. I didn’t steal it. I didn’t put it in my sock drawer. I can give the money to thecampaign exactly as planned. Maybe not the hundred dollar bills I was given, butthe same total.”
“You have enough?”"And more. There’s nothing missing and nothing to tell Carrie.”
