CHAPTER 29

August slipped into September.

What's happening with the hearing? Everyone was asking. No one had an answer.

Then the president of N.O.W, Ellie Smeal, came on campus to give a speech. The room was packed with women from all over campus. Afterwards, Esther saw Diana and went up to her.

"What is going on? Have you heard anything?" she inquired.

"You're the one on the committee. I haven't heard anything since the hearing ended. You guys told me a month, tops. Haven't you been writing the report?" Trenchant answered tersely. She was becoming increasingly strung out by the delay and by the obvious fact that the committee chair had once again lied to her.

"Oh," said Esther, alarm showing on her pudgy face, "I'm not supposed to talk about it. I haven't heard anything." She finished, walking away leaving Diana more in the dark than ever. . .and more apprehensive.

October dropped its leaves. November brought an early snow.

Christmas flashed brightly, dulled and stood aside for the start of a new year.

It had been nearly seven months since the hearing had ended but Henry had not been idle. After the debacle of the second meeting of the panel, The Pope and Henry had decided to send the material away for confirmation by another document examiner. The women on the panel were not privy to this information. "If they can't cooperate, leave them out in the cold," was Henry's decision.

"How many had you contacted before you found this one, Henry?" Frank Anuse had stopped by Henry's office in the administration building at Henry's invitation. A great deal of time had gone by and he had been getting edgy with all the questions aimed at him by concerned faculty. It was great to have some positive results. Even though he couldn't broadcast them, he could give his inquisitors a knowing look and indicate that it was in the bag.

"This makes the fourth. The bastards take forever to make up their minds. They say they are busy with other analyses, but you'd think with all we're paying them that. . ." Henry shook his head in disgust.

"And they all said the same thing. They didn't like to make a positive match using copies of the standards we sent?" Frank Anuse asked.

"That's it. They all wanted originals."

"The guy that has them now though, called and said essentially the same thing at first, except he thought if he could have a lot more standards, he could make a decision even if they were copies."

"And. . ."

"And, I sent off copies of everything in her personnel file."

"You mean forms and such like? Don't they have other people's writing on them besides Trenchant's?"

"Oh, yes, but that doesn't matter. The main thing is we got confirmation. The guy will testify to that and then those damn lady- professors are going to toe the line, or else."

"You've already sent Trenchant the copies and notice of the next hearing?"

"Yup. Did it this morning. Same mail as I sent it to the rest of the committee."

"Seems as though it would have been simpler just to have her write something in front of witnesses and use those originals instead of farting around all this time with copies," Anuse suggested. "This process has taken nearly a year already."

"There's reasons. Not something you and I have to know about, but there's reasons. Anyway, here's your copy. Enjoy."