Page 69 of Pity Parade

He raises one eyebrow higher than the other. “You know there aren’t really all those secret passages behind the presidents, right?”

“That’s what they want you to think.”

He takes a sip of his iced tea before saying, “So, you’re planning on finding them while you’re there and unearthing some great conspiracy.” His eyes twinkle with amusement.

My gaze shifts from side-to side before confessing, “Maybe.”

Daniel smiles widely. “I’m in! When do you want to go?”

“You’d really do something like that?”

“Why not?” He leans forward slightly before telling me, “My favorite quote of all time is from Voltaire.” He makes quotation marks with his fingers as he recites, “‘Faith consists in believing when it’s beyond the power of reason to believe.’ I’m a big proponent of faith.”

“I like that,” I tell him. “I think it’s important to stay open to things that science can’t explain.” I consider telling him about the little alien girl I used to think about as a kid, but decide that kind of revelation might be better kept for another time. Even though I think aliens make all the sense in the world, not everyone is as open-minded.

Daniel tips his head to the side before saying, “I think there’s a lot more out there than we’ve been allowed to believe. For instance, in the late nineteen twenties, Admiral Byrd wrote about a time when he was flying over the North Pole. He couldn’t locate it because he wound up traveling seventeen hundred miles into some kind of tropical inner earth. He wrote that it was green and full of vegetation and a surprising seventy-four degrees.”

Shocked, I ask, “If that’s true, why didn’t that ever become public knowledge?”

Daniel shrugs. “Legend is that as soon as he told governmental officials about his findings, they threatened him to stay quiet by imprisoning a friend of his.”

“What? Why?” I want to know. “You’d think that would be the most important discovery of modern times.”

“Probably because people are easier to control if they don’t know everything there is to know.”

I’m inclined to agree with Daniel and am suddenly aware that if nothing else, we’d never be short of interesting conversation. “That’s a terrifying thought,” I tell him. “But as intriguing as the North Pole sounds, I think I’d still rather go to Mt. Rushmore. Less travel stress, you know?”

He laughs. “Euro-Disney is out then?”

“For now.”

“How about the Galapagos Islands? I hear there’s a fabulous bird watching opportunity there.” His eyes are bright with excitement as he adds, “There are fifty-six native types of birds there and forty-five of them only exist on the Galapagos. Nowhere else in the world.”

I try to remember what Daniel and I talked about back when we used to date, and I don’t recall conversations like this. I wonder why that is. “I don’t think you ever mentioned your bird watching interests to me when we were dating.”

He cringes. “That’s because my ex told me it was the most boring subject in the world. When she left, she told me that if I ever wanted to find another woman to go out with, I’d best keep that information to myself.”

“That’s mean.”

“Yes, well, we didn’t end on good terms.”

“Why did you break up?” That’s another thing I never found out before we called it quits.

“Ashley found someone who suited her better.”

“She cheated?” Of all the reasons people break up, this is the one I find most troublesome. In my opinion, cheaters aren’t worth the oxygen it takes to keep them alive. I understand how people can switch affection, but I don’t understand not having enough honor to end something with someone you once professed to love before starting a new relationship.

“When I found out, she’d already been seeing the other guy for a year. You can see how that messed with my head.”

“That’s why you were afraid to get serious with me.”

“Ashley did a real number on my self-esteem,” he confesses. “You can imagine how insecure I felt dating a beautiful television star.”

“While that’s very flattering,” I tell him, “surely you could see how much I liked you.”

Daniel picks up his napkin and wipes his mouth before responding. “When you spend three years with someone who works so hard to tear you down, you start to believe you’re not worthy of being loved.”

This is an insight into Daniel I didn’t expect. “I thought it was me,” I tell him.

---