two of actual class time in the mornings. The rest of the day, we were in the cornfields.” Fox, who has been taking care of nine-year-old Frederica Fairchild (daughter of Deputy Secretary of Education Malcolm Fairchild) since her arrival last week, adds, “This little girl was picking corn. Can you believe it? Picking corn. Like we don’t have machines for that.” Fox holds up the girl’s wrist. “You don’t pick fast enough, they make you. They have guards, see, and . . .”
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From Forbes Online, Tuesday, November 12, 10:00 AM EST
Spokespeople for the federal wonder-contractors Genics Institute, Inc., and its subsidiary WomanHealth, Inc., confirm that the companies will seek refuge under Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules. Earlier this year, Genics acquired the prenatal services company in what now appears to be a calculated effort to consolidate genetic testing and abortion services in accordance with the Fitter Family Campaign, a grassroots movement that many experts are now analogizing to the eugenics craze of the early twentieth century. Petra Peller, chairwoman and CEO of the Genics Institute, could not be reached for comment, but a source close to her says . . .
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From Sarah Green’s Facebook feed, Tuesday, November 12, 5:16 PM EST
I’ve had death threats and hate mail. I want them to stop. I am no longer associated in any way with the Fitter Family Campaign. This will be my last post. Thank you for bringing my daughter home.
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From the Washington Post, Wednesday, November 13
FAMILIES REUNITED—BUT AT WHAT COST?
by Bonita Hamilton
Sixteen-year-old Anne Fairchild should be planning for a homecoming dance this Saturday. Instead, she holds vigil in a hospital room while her mother lies in a critical state. “I knew something was wrong,” Fairchild says, wiping a tear from her eye. “So I installed a key tracker on my father’s laptop. When he found out, he sent me to Petra Peller’s house. All I wanted was to bring my mom and my sister back.” Also in the room is Anne’s great-grandmother, Maria Fischer. “I hope nothing like this happens again,” Fischer says. “But, of course, that is what we said the last time.” During this bittersweet family reunion, Fischer, who emigrated from Germany in her twenties and still works as an artist, explains . . .
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From CNN, Wednesday, November 13, 8:22 AM EST
BREAKING: SECRETARY OF EDUCATION RESIGNS
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From Twitter, Wednesday, November 13, 8:23 AM EST
Ding, dong, the bitch resigned! #BringThemBack #NoMoreYellow #NeverAgain
SEVENTY-FIVE
I’ve had my fifteen minutes of fame, and I’ve slept through all of them. Dad reads me the headlines from three days, hitting all the high points, while Mom tries to get micro sips of water into my body. I don’t know what withering sounds like, but it’s how I feel—dry, weakened, cracking into parts.
Oma’s got Freddie on her lap in the love seat near the window. She’s rocking her back and forth, singing lullabies in German. Freddie has tried to wriggle away a dozen times, but Oma holds her back. It’s been like this since my parents came in with both girls early this morning.
“Let her come if she wants to,” I say.
Freddie nearly flings herself on me, like she used to do as a toddler. Anne tries, and fails, to keep her off the bed. I used to push them away when they got too clingy, too needy, when I had paperwork sprawled over my lap and my patience had run out after a day of mothering. It wasn’t that I didn’t love them, but I could only love so much and for so long. Now, I wish I could love forever.
I don’t push Freddie off the way I used to do. I hold her and rock her and smooth her hair with unsteady hands. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” I tell her, but it doesn’t seem like enough to make up for any of the past week, or for any of the past years.
“You have the flu, Mommy?” she says.
“Maybe just a little fever,” I lie. My body is a furnace. When it gets tired of being a furnace, it becomes an icebox.
I wish for more time. I wish for a body that could hug back and walk out of this room. I