Accidental Prophet by Bud Gundy

Author:Bud Gundy [Gundy, Bud]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635554533
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2019-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

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When Drew returned to the present, he was in the same spot where he’d watched Tom drive off, except Tisha and Althea were now in front of him. They each took an arm and gently led him inside.

16

Limitless Destiny, Fearless Dreams

June–July 1975

Dr. Stein refused to say more about the secret experiment or the mysterious space object. Always polite, he wouldn’t even name the astronomer who made the discovery. I restrained my intense impulse to casually ask others at NASA about it, fearful even a vague question to the wrong person might set off alarms. One of my regular sources in Cleveland was a superstar police detective who used to say a good interrogator knows when to go silent.

With the Apollo launch just a few weeks away, the hectic pace made it difficult to land interviews with anyone except politicians who spoke in banalities. In late June, we suddenly realized our taping schedule for the upcoming weekend was unexpectedly free.

Our production schedules were planned on the false assumption space shots had become an interesting routine, but the public was engrossed. Every day we scrambled to meet new deadlines, pushing us farther behind even as launch day loomed.

We were expected to provide two prime-time specials but barely had time to work on them. Tempers flared and arguments escalated. I worried more than I slept, and everyone else looked just as exhausted. I drew faint comfort from the equally dispirited faces of competing network crews also struggling to keep pace. We shared the unspoken, last-ditch hope of people heading for a communal failure, that the totality of the disaster might bestow individual absolution.

I needed a break as much as anyone else, so I shared in the jubilation when Rick and Colby announced everyone could take the weekend off, even though it seemed an inexcusable indulgence.

I called Arthur in New York, and he happily agreed to make a last-minute trip to Florida. I savored his obvious excitement to see me, tempered by what I might see in his face when I told him I was pregnant. I’d known for weeks.

I was leaning toward an abortion. As I write this from the perspective of the twenty-first century, it’s currently fashionable for busybodies to claim even an unmarried man involved in the pregnancy has a right to influence that choice, but the idea is unthinkable, maddening. Pregnancy changes everything for a woman, but a man often skates away. Why should he have input on such a major decision? Can an unmarried mother demand the man have a vasectomy or find a new career?

Marriage to Arthur would change the calculations dramatically, but the timing felt wrong with my career soaring, and I absolutely wouldn’t force his hand. Given all this, it might seem hypocritical or even perverse to tell him, but my instinct for honesty was too strong. Plus, I was sure the news would deepen our delicious sense of intimacy. Not for the first time, I wondered why I never seemed to form bonds with women who might provide some direction and advice.

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