Kathy’s leg hurt. She read the bottle, counted out three of the pills, a maximum dose and took them. She needed something to get her mind off the pain in her leg.

“Can you get me the pictures from today? They really didn’t tell us anything and they avoided any discussion of what we went for. I know what is on the tape but we were just told that our interpretation of the tape is wrong. Actually they didn’t say that, they just said it may not be what it appeared to be. But if it is as it appears, the president’s wife just lied to us along with the hospital staff. I really didn’t think Mitzi would lie to me.”

“She didn’t. She told you she has casts on her legs. That is true. There just isn’t a leg in it. So let’s go with the story.”

“The White House will deny it. If Mitzi will deceive me so will the President. And if they both are deceiving the press and the country there must be some reason they think they must. Maybe we just don’t know enough to understand. Do we have the right to cause the country more pain?”

He shrugged. “I don’t believe this. I have a one-time sleaze reporter lecturing to me about responsibility. If we accept that, now what do we do?”

She glared at him. “I needed a job. Let’s try it her way. Let’s get solid proof and go back. Do you have any other pictures of Mitzi and the girls standing up like before the attack?”

“Why? Are you going to publish a story?”

“No. I want to know because I have to know. I don’t care about the story. I just want to know the truth for me. Maybe then I can understand why this charade. It would be a lot easier for me if I knew why. I would rather they had admitted it and told us to not publish. I could have lived with that even if the reason wasn’t solid. Do we have the pictures I want?”
“Sure, on the computer. Can you walk in there?”

She held her leg and winced, “Sure. I hate to complain but this hurts worse than it did when the bone was sticking out through the side of my leg at the accident. If it isn’t better by morning I go back to the hospital. It’s hurting worse now than before they set it.”

From the room he replied, “Wait there till I get this going. What does it feel like to break a leg?”

“It hurts, stupid.”

“No, I mean, they claim it hurts but it gets better when they set it.”

“That’s the worst, when they set it. When they snap it into place it is excruciating. After that it gets better, or I guess it’s supposed to. That’s where the term bite the bullet comes from. When they set a leg before anesthesia they gave a guy a bullet to bite on when they pulled the bone in place. That’s where the expression ‘bite the bullet’ came from. It really hurts when they do it. Today it really hurt till they set it and the pain of them pulling it into place was bad. Then there was relief. Now the pain is really coming back. Maybe the bone slipped out of place.” She reached down and touched her leg above the cast. “It feels really hot.”

She waited till he had the computer on and crutched into the office. He had pulled up a picture, a full shot of the whole first family. Kathy studied the picture for a while then started flipping through the pictures of that morning. “Here, the one with them standing, Mitzi is over an inch taller than then both Judi and Jaci. But in the picture here, she is Judi’s height.”

“Maybe it is how they are standing.”

“Look at the pictures, all three of them have sneakers in the old photo, here they are in casts. There shouldn’t be any real difference.”

She looked at the picture for a while. She took a flexible plastic ruler and laid it on the face of the screen at various levels. “Look at the old picture. From the waist to the top of her head, Mitzi and Judi are within a half inch in height, Judi is shorter. Judi’s legs are the same length as Mitzi’s.”

“And a pair of really nice legs too.” She glared at him, and he laughed.

“Now look at the picture today, from waist to top of head their height matches like before. But look at the legs, Mitzi’s are longer, by more than an inch.”

“So they stretched her legs, or she is standing different.”

“I saw something with Judi that has me wondering. She didn’t hold the leg right for its being in a cast. To be honest it didn’t seem as heavy as a cast looks and it looked too thin at the calf. I was watching you for comparison. And when she had her back to me I thought she was wearing a belt around her waist, and I saw a shadow of something, it looked like a strap to her cast, possibly from the belt.”

“I’ve never seen a cast that had to be strapped on. This one sure doesn’t have to be.”

“I have. There is a picture I saw on the INTERNET, it’s of a girl that’s an amputee, but they fixed a cast to fit over the end of her leg to make it look like she was in a cast.” She sat down and rubbed the cast, “If this hurts much more I’m going to cut it off to see what’s wrong.”

Kathy grabbed the pictures and started looking. “Her stump is what they call it. Can you find the pictures?”

“Should be able to, the guys at the pressroom had copies.”

“Print out the picture we just looked at and see if you can find the picture of the girl, one with the cast and one without it, with her in the closest position you can find and print them too.”

She continued to look at the pictures from that morning. It did look like Judi and Jaci were wearing belts under their gowns and there seemed to be a strap to the cast. She heard the printer start running and heard him as he browsed the net on his laptop.

The First Family: Chapter 1 – Introduction

The First Family 41: The White House Tries to Assess the Damage

The First Family 43: Kathy and Jason Learn the Truth