Fatherless: A Novel Read Online Free

high school sweetheart. “Any man who could snag Angie Greer can do anything!” Troy had said during the best-man toast.
     Few acquaintances were surprised to learn of Kevin Tolbert’s election as sixth district representative for the state of Colorado.
     Most of them had donated money and volunteered time to make it happen.
    Kevin glanced at the next item on the agenda. Census briefing .
    The group had tackled relatively simple topics before lunch, like taxes. Only two in the group supported Nicole Florea’s proposal
     to eliminate what remained of the dependent tax break, meager as it was.
    “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” she had argued and lost.
    Kevin’s persuasive opposition shifted the momentum, in part due to the cute picture of his own growing brood. “Look at these
     adorable faces,” he playfully pled. “Do you want to make it harder for me to create the next generation of taxpayers and politicians?”
     The warm laughter handed him control. It also foretold Florea’s decline.
    “If I can draw your attention to the top of page three, you will see our preliminary estimates.” Kyle Journeyman appeared
     nervous, like a child trying to explain a report card filled with D’s and F’s to parents he had assured would see A’s and
     B’s. He told the group he had given the same confidential briefing to five other Washington groups in his role as a strategy
     consultant to fiscal conservatives. The reaction must have been less than positive. “I should emphasize that these calculations
     will likely change as we fine-tune the numbers.”
    They had come to expect caveats and qualifiers from political consultants. Everyone knew that a string of overly optimistic
     projections had deepened the present crisis by blindsiding party leaders with a staggering deficit increase. Six years earlier
     the Western State Alliance had supported the president’s domestic spending agenda, expecting marked improvement. But they
     had used flawed projections. The party now found itself in damage control mode, trying to salvage what little credibility
     remained among angry voters fearing America could become the next economic domino to fall. The president had assured them
     they could avert the kind of trouble engulfing the rest of the world through courageous fiscal austerity. He had even managed
     to implement most of the controversial “Youth Initiative” proposals he promised would create a million jobs while reducing
     swelling entitlement spending. But none of it had been enough. The deficit snowball continued to grow.
    Kevin reached for the bound blue notebook that had been distributed during the break.
    CONFIDENTIAL BRIEFING PRELIMINARY REVISIONS FROM THE 2040 CENSUS
    As he flipped past the cover and introductory remarks his eyes landed on the chart embedded in the executive summary on page
     three. As Journeyman braced himself for reactions, Kevin joined the others absorbing the data with periodic outbursts of disbelief.
    “This can’t be right!”
    “Am I reading this correctly?”
    Solitary comments swelled into whispered commotion as the bewildered delegates leaned toward one another to unpack the implications
     of numbers more sobering than any had anticipated.
    Florea slowly rose from her chair, walking toward the podium with page three of the report still open before her wagging head.
     “Ladies and gentlemen,” she began, “please direct any questions to Mr. Journeyman and hold your comments for now. We have
     scheduled a solutions brainstorm session later this afternoon.”
    “Solutions?” muttered an older congressman from Arizona on the opposite end of the room. “Moving deck chairs on the Titanic .”
    “If I may?” Journeyman continued. “I’d like to draw your attention to several underlying trends that could prove useful as
     you explore policy options.”
    “Yes, please,” Florea responded eagerly.
    “We are all alarmed by the revised trend lines. New data coming out