The End of Men by Karen Rinaldi

Author:Karen Rinaldi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

APART FROM BEING the inspiration for the roundtable on motherhood, Beth hadn’t thought much about the protests earlier that summer. The fallout had simmered to an occasional outburst from individuals online, easy enough to ignore. Beth had relegated the events to a kind of ad hoc marketing effort with the net effect of an increase in awareness about what RHM had to offer.

RHM planned to launch its next series of ads now that marketing had found twins in a stunning tenured professor of mathematics at Harvard. Forty years old and having suffered three miscarriages, Dr. Rebecca Crane was fortunate enough to have naturally conceived twins, a boy and a girl. She was distinguished in her career, and she was game. They had a photo shoot with the professor at eighteen weeks, when she was just starting to show with a slight, sexy swell, and would have another at thirty-two weeks when she was nearly to term, then wait for the call to let them know when Dr. Crane went into labor. Photographers were at the ready, hoping to shoot Dr. Crane just before and right after she gave birth. Beth couldn’t wait to see what this new campaign would bring to RHM.

The Tuesday after Labor Day, Sacha walked into Beth’s office holding an envelope and piece of paper. All the color had drained from Sacha’s face. She handed the items over to Beth and stepped back as if from an explosive.

A manila envelope, addressed to “The Head of RHM, Beth Mack” (odd enough), contained a photocopy of Agnes Seymour from the previous ad campaign. Her breasts and belly and baby had been scribbled over violently with bright orange pen ink as if to erase them. On the reverse side, the sender had copied a centuries-old illustrated poem entitled “Ode to the Death of a Young Maiden.” The image lay askew on the page and the entire thing looked to have been created in haste. Beth thought back to that defaced print ad from the day of the protests and felt a jolt of recognition. Could this be from the same sick fuck?

“God, the world is populated by lunatics.” Beth ran her hands through her hair and held them there. “Let’s hope this is someone’s bad idea of a prank,” Beth said in an unsuccessful attempt to make them both feel better.

“Where did you find this?” Beth asked Sacha.

“It was sitting in my in-box. It looks like someone hand delivered it. There’s no postmark or address.”

“Did you show this to anyone else?” Beth held the paper gingerly.

“No, I brought it right to you,” Sacha told her. “What should we do with it?”

“Let’s take it down to security.”

Beth explained to the building guard about the magazine tear sheet from the day of the protests and handed over the new missive. She wished now she hadn’t been so dismissive about it. The guard looked at the note and nodded, telling Beth he would share it with his security company. The fact was there was really nothing to be done since the threat was not deemed overt or needing immediate action.

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