“Really?” said Heather. It was like telling some kid you saw a long-dead rock star at their peak.

“Back home, in Houston.”

“Not with my dad.”

“Definitely not,” said Donny. “Though he’s more open-minded than you give him credit for, or at least was back then. But no, he was not a fan. I went with my girlfriend at the time, who was. And still is. You know Joyce. We met at your parents’ house that one night.”

“She’s more memorable than you. I even took her class.”

“The one on how the richer people are the more they live like nomads?”

Heather nodded. “I guess you weren’t converted the way Joyce was.”

Donny shrugged. “I don’t know. She was definitely better than the alternative, but I’m just not much of a joiner. I got tagged anyway. Lost my job just for going to that dang rally. Your dad knows all about it.”

She nodded. “He used to tell me I was going to cost him his job, when I was in school.”

“I’m sure you gave it your best shot. Which reminds me. He gave me something to give you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Come on,” said Donny. He opened his briefcase and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. “Check this out,” he said, holding up a bar of chocolate. Not just any chocolate. A Gold Bar, from the Johnson Head, the super-luxury artisanal English stuff made from rare small-batch cacao in British Honduras. Fair trade it was not.

You could see her suck in the smile.

“I don’t want that,” she said. “We have better stuff here.”

“Really?” said Donny.

“Do you know how they make that?”

“No idea. I just know your dad said this was your mom’s favorite as well as yours.”

He slid it across the table.

“No thanks,” she said. Her look turned mean.

“I know you didn’t do it, Heather. Your dad doesn’t think so either. You’re too much like her. You’re like who she really wanted to be. Healing the damage your forebears did with science and privilege.”

“How would you know,” said Heather, talking down to him now. “I just realized, you’re the guy that used to have those cheesy billboards. ‘I fought the law and you won’?”

“I know,” said Donny, sampling the chocolate. “But it worked. I was able to help a lot of people. Some of whom are here now, a lot freer than they were.”

“If you’re so woke, why are you helping Lecker?”

“Honestly? Because I have bills to pay. I spent the better part of a decade helping the cause, and all I have to show for it are unpaid debts and stopped watches. The other reason is this is the only way I could get to see you.”

“What do you want from me?”

“I thought maybe we could help each other.”