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The professor made a big show of exhaling loudly. “Well,” he said. “You could join the movement officially. There are plenty of things to protest besides NASA.”

The idea of putting her energy towards anything else hadn’t even occurred to Maxine.

“Like what?”

“Oh, like racial inequality across the South. Like non-unionized factory jobs. Like women’s rights. You will be amazed at what sorts of injustices linger just below the surface once you start to peel back the layers. Trust me.”

Maxine looked around the modern, comfortable home she was living in with her children. Technically, Stardust Beach was a place meant for astronauts and their families. She was now officially just a hanger-on, given that she no longer had a husband who backed out of their driveway each morning and made his way to Cape Kennedy. Maxine and her children were superfluous. She had finally folded and signed the document given to her by Arvin North and the other suits at NASA, and the check she’d received was sitting in the bank, gathering interest.

In the end, Derek’s life had been worth $200,000. Maxine was also granted half of Derek’s annual salary each year, and with this money, she knew she could support herself and her children. She could leave this house in Stardust Beach, sell some of their belongings, and go where she needed to go.

“With three small children, you’ll have some obstacles that a lot of the rest of us don’t,” Professor Morse went on. “But I think you would be an excellent example for us of someone who did everything ‘right,’ but in the end, was ultimately wronged.”

Maxine chewed on the fleshy skin inside of her cheek as she listened to this. Until she met the protestors, she’d never really considered that she’d been “wronged” in any way. At first, it had seemed like just tragic bad luck, but with time, Maxine had grown to understand that Derek’s death had been a lie. And she was tired of supporting that lie. She couldn’t do it anymore.

“Okay,” she said, feeling stronger. “Okay,” she repeated. “I’ll join you all. Where are we off to first?”

Morse gave a happy laugh. “Well, there was just a big march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama. Let’s say we head that direction. Spread the word. Join the cause. Start making a difference.” His voice was laced with excitement and vigor. “You’ve just agreed to join a very important cause, Maxine. I’m proud of you.”

It had been a while since anyone said they were proud of Maxine. Her hands were full, and she was exhausted. Hearing the words caused her eyes to water.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for saying that.”

She hung up from the call and spent the rest of the evening imagining her new life: travel, adventure, purpose. Her children would see the injustices of the world and do something alongside her to change them. A part of her life had ended, sure, but a new seed had been planted, and she was ready to water it and watch it grow.

It was time to leave Stardust Beach.

CHAPTER20

Bill

"There'sno way that Derek would have been fine with this," Ed Maxwell says as he bites into a triangular section of a cheese sandwich during lunch break.

Bill, who has long since started eating with his coworkers again, shakes his head as he takes a bite of the leftover chili soup that Jo has put into a thermos for his lunch. "No," Bill agrees. "He would not have been fine with it."

Ed turns to Jay Donovan, who has just set his own lunch box on the table next to Bill. "Hey, what ever happened to your wife joining the civil rights crowd to register voters?" Ed asks out of the blue.

Jay laughs uncomfortably as he pulls out his chair and sits. "I mean, she'd love to be a part of something bigger than herself--that's just Carrie--but obviously she has two children and a husband and a home, so I think, at least for the time being, she's staying put."

"You know who isn't?" Ed lifts an eyebrow like he's holding the keys to a piece of hot gossip. "Maxine Trager. I hear she's taken up with that nutty professor who got fired from Yale for being too radical."

Bill frowns. "Who?"

"You know all those protestors who came out after the accident? He's like their guru. Their shaman."

"Are you trying to tell me that a professor from Yale turned into some kind of a cult leader and decided he had a bone to pick with NASA?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying." Ed shoves the rest of his cheese sandwich into his mouth and chews.

"And you're saying that Maxine is somehow involved with him?" Bill is dubious.

Vance, who has been flipping through the sports section of the newspaper while they talk, looks up. "Jude has been trying to talk to her for months, but it sounds like she's really getting in deep with this movement."

"So that meeting that North had with the women a few months back--they weren't able to get to her and talk sense?" Bill sets his spoon down and puts the thermos to his lips to drink the broth.

"Jude tried," Vance says. He folds the newspaper and pushes it aside. "She offered to watch the little ones if Maxine wanted to get out and spend an afternoon or two a week volunteering or something like Jo does." Vance nods at Bill. "That did good things for Jo, right, Bill?"

Bill nods and continues drinking his soup.