Episode 44: An Unexpected Proposition

“It’s Acey Buchmann, Doc,” Deputy Martínez answered the knock at the door. “Should I tell her to go away?”

“No,” Mike declined the offer. “Please let her in, Ruy.”

“Hi, Mike,” Acey walked slowly over to his cell.

“Hi, Acey,” he surveyed her. “What happened to your hair?”

“I didn’t feel like dying it again,” she explained, stopping to look at him.

“It looks good,” Mike acknowledged cautiously.

Acey stood a moment looking at Mike and trying to summon the courage to say what she’d come to say.

“It’s funny,” she began.

“You wouldn’t apologize.

“You knew you were right.

“So, you wouldn’t apologize.

“No matter what.

“Even though I thought you should.

“Even though it would have been so much easier for me.

“And, easier for you, too.

“After last night,” she looked down at the ground, “after seeing how… they want to destroy you.

“Not for anything you did wrong.

“But just because you disagree with them.

“Because they want to make an example of you.

“If that’s what they stand for,” she said, “I don’t want to stand with them.”

Acey looked back up at Mike.

“It’s harder than I thought,” she smiled sheepishly, “to apologize. Isn’t it?

“I don’t want to,” she turned away from him, “even though… even though I know I was wrong.

“Even after all the horrible things I said to you.”

She faced him and glared. “And after the horrible things YOU said to ME.”

Acey turned away. “But I can’t just move on.

“I can’t stand to see what they’re trying to do to you.

“I can’t be part of it.

“Not anymore.

“Not after last night.

Acey turned to face Mike and looked him straight in the eyes. “So… here I am.

“I’m sorry, Mike.

“I love you.

“And… I hope you can forgive me?”

Mike smiled back at her.

“Only if you forgive me, too, Acey,” he offered. “What I said…

“I lost my temper. And… I’m sorry, too.”

Mike and Acey embraced through the bars.

Deputy Martínez smiled and turned away to let the couple have their privacy.

Finally, Mike let Acey go and took a step back from the bars. “You still want to spend the rest of your life molding the minds of children?”

“Yes?” Acey answered in a questioning tone, confused by Mike’s question.

“Then mold the minds of MY children,” Mike insisted.

“What?” Acey was confused.

“Amber Chakra Buchmann,” Mike got down on one knee. “Will you marry me?”

Acey’s jaw dropped. She took a step back.

“There’s no wrinkle between your eyebrows,” she observed. “You’re serious.”

“I am,” Mike confirmed, standing up.

“What?” Acey was confused. “How will we live?”

“I’m tired of playing within their system,” Mike faced her. “I’m tired of playing within their rules. They’ve set up a system that kills innovation, dissent, and creativity. Peer review ensures only incremental advances get funded and you have to be in the ‘in’ crowd to get picked. Challenge or disagree with the status quo, and your research goes nowhere. The only way to win against a rigged game is not to play. The only way to win is to throw away their rules and write your own.

“I’m going to rent a place out in the boonies somewhere. A few acres to start. I’ve got a line on a half-dozen likely places already. Grow my own food. Experiment with my plants to my heart’s desire. Maybe crowdfund some projects.

“They’ve made me notorious? Fine. I’ll use that notoriety to start my own biology classes. Online. Charge tuition. Maybe start with pre-med MCAT test prep classes. Test prep companies charge obscene tuition for that kind of thing. I can undercut them all and make a killing. Probably. Same thing with prep classes for AP Biology.

“I don’t know exactly yet what I’ll be doing, but I’ll be teaching, and I’ll be researching. I’ll be doing both on my own terms. Not begging permission from others. Not spending half my life writing grant applications and pleading for money and favors from people who hate me. Not living by another’s leave.

“I’m going to make it work.

“As soon as I get myself in a place where I can’t be cancelled and lose my livelihood? I’m going to be back. Write a book about what happened. Tell everyone what’s wrong with the GAIA Act and with their agenda.

“To hell with the superintendent, to hell with your mother, and to hell with anyone who wants to stand in our way. We don’t need any of them. I’m going to go my own way… but I WOULD like you to be a part of it.

“Come with me.”

Mike grabbed the bars that divided them. “Marry me.”

Acey looked back at him. “I don’t know, Mike,” she said.

“I’ve always wanted a proper wedding.” She took a step back and looked at him. “A REAL wedding. I want to do it right.” She smiled accusingly at him. “You’re not even offering me an engagement ring.”

Mike smiled back at her. He stepped back and removed a twist-tie from a bag of baked goods. “Come here,” he requested, “and give me your ring finger.”

Acey extended her hand into the cell.

Mike gently wound the wire around her ring finger and twisted it together. “I know it’s not a diamond,” he conceded, “but it’ll have to do under the circumstances.”

Acey pulled her hand back and looked at it, shaking her head. “I don’t know, Mike,” she said. “I really don’t know.”

“Ahem,” Deputy Martínez cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt you guys, but it’s about time I got you up to court, Doc.” He got up to open the door for Acey.

“You think on it,” Mike insisted. “Don’t make the wrong decision.”

She smiled at his echoing her command of the other day and turned to walk out the door.

“I suggest you decide quickly,” Mike called out to Acey as she left, “before I recover from my insanity and change my mind.”

“I can hear that wrinkle,” Acey said, “without even looking.”