Backstory to the Wheelers, the Wheelers of Toronto, Ontario.
A DECADE AGO
Ryan Wheeler's phoned buzzed again, it was - again - his executive assistant in the outer office. As of today's date, Wheeler had never once 'blown off' his EA. However, today might be a first. The woman was essential to Wheeler's functioning as a senior vice-president of 'the firm', the name 'the firm' was all that Ryan and his wife Alanis had ever called it.
Given the turmoil broiling in the United States, most especially the insurrection against the US Capitol and the disruption of their Electoral College certification, Ryan Wheeler unexpectedly became a huge asset for 'the firm'. It was because he, Wheeler, was one of the few overtly 'religious' executives. When the US vice-President had been chased from the Senate chamber in D.C., 'the firm' suddenly found itself doing supply-chain 'damage control' from suppliers south of the 49th.
Ryan Wheeler became essential in managing the day to day, hour by hour machinations of a theonomic takeover of the United States! Unlike the other executives, he spoke 'religion'.
That was Wheeler's edge, one he possessed to vault him above other vice-presidents. (Not of the USA, but of the firm!) Wheeler was an elder at the largest Pentecostal Church church in the Greater Toronto Area. His church's pastor had preached a widely read, series of sermons against the Sons of Jacob and what they represented. From a Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAC) perspective, Sons of Jacob were heretics.
Whereas the PAC seemed to share many of the social goals of the Sons, they had never gone so far as to require the 'criminalization of women', as even the PAC pastor had called it. The sermon series used citations from Serena Joy Waterford's landmark publications - A Woman's Place, etc. - to demonstrate how the Sons of Jacob deviated from proper theological doctrine, as defined by the PAC.
Ok, enough of that stuff, Wheeler said to himself. He was still deciding whether or not to respond to his EA's buzzes from the outer office.
What was the real issue for him today? His wife, Alanis, she was in hospital. It was not commonly known, esp. in the firm, but Alanis had attempted suicide. The fertility crisis, it was hitting women as hard in Canada as it had been elsewhere. Alanis's sister had miraculously conceived - she had become a cause célèbre at the church, the one where Ryan was elder. His sister-in-law was proof, acc. to the pastor, that God was active in these difficult times, without the excesses of groups like The Sons of Jacob.
Then the baby was born. More properly, stillborn. Alanis's sister subsequently crashed into a depression. Unfortunate words had then been exchanged between the two. The sister had said, "what's the use of being fertile, when the result is exactly as the barren women, those like Alanis!"
Now Alanis was herself in hospital. She was going to make it, but Ryan dealt with it by throwing himself into work at the firm. Except today he wanted to be with Alanis, not there looking at his telephone, still buzzing.
He finally picked up. Exacerbated, the EA said quietly into the phone, "Mr. Wheeler, he's still here. He says he's not leaving."
Wheeler said in return, "I wish those Sons of Jacob nutcases would leave me alone. Surely that guy knows my views - my church's views." Wheeler looked over to the side door from his office, the one which led straight to the stairs. All he would need to do was go down a couple of floors, then take the Executive elevator to the lobby. Then go to the hospital…..
Instead, he found himself saying into the receiver, "Oh crap. Send him in."
Wheeler's main office door opened, and in the man strode. The man said, "Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Wheeler. My name is Shaw, Ezra Shaw." As Shaw shut the door behind, he stood with his hands neatly folded in front of him, "I first wish to offer my prayers to you and your family in this difficult time."
Wheeler remained seated when he said, "I know who you are. I know what you want from me. I should tell you, you Sons of Jacobs are heretics. If you people end up in control of the US Congress, not to mention its courts, that would be a disaster of Biblical proportions."
"That's why I am here, Mr. Wheeler. I wish no disrespect, especially towards a fellow Christian. A Christian as positioned as you are in your church - I admire a man with conviction like that."
Wheeler chuckled, "Ya, sure. You also know what our firm deals in - how we're concerned about supply chain issues in the States. You are here, my man," Wheeler accused, "because of us being a major military supplier to the US military. Because of our computer security technology that Uncle Sam purchases."
Ezra Shaw maintained his somewhat subordinate pose when he said, "with respect, Mr. Wheeler, we Sons of Jacob hope chiefly to follow God's dictates in relation to fertility. Women's rightful role in reversing what threatens all of mankind, that's what we're about."
Wheeler said, "so you're NOT after our firms wares?"
Shaw said, as subordinate as he had been, "we seek a sustainable government, one that will both reverse the liberal-slide of recent years, as well as be proactive about fertility."
Wheeler said, "Serena Joy Waterford? If you're peddling her books, you can count me out."
Shaw unfolded his hands and stood erect. "Mr Wheeler we're not talking about Mrs. Waterford. We're talking about your wife, Alanis Wheeler."
WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
The Wheeler's Pentecostal church had done a couple of 180s in the intervening time. The first one? Ten years ago, Ryan Wheeler had surprised everyone by leading a church-board rebellion against the, then, anti-Gilead pastor. The secular world and the secular press, they craved nothing more than a good church fight - to show the world what hypocrites they all were.
The church board, it overcompensated - badly. The new pastor, he could have himself been a Commander down in Gilead. It was the women of the PAC who had reacted badly to the unvarnished pro-Gilead series of sermons.
It was where Ryan Wheeler learned. Up until then he'd been a captain of industry, silently working behind the scenes to keep information flow and supply chains going. The rise of Gilead had been a major disruption - the world's largest economy was now fragmented.
Yet, no matter the pieces, those pieces which survived, it had just fallen to people like Wheeler to reposition the deck chairs on the Titanic. Once it was refloated with several smaller ships, Wheeler's firm was even more lucrative.
What he'd learned as an elder of the church was that the 'message' preached, it itself had to be tempered. That was especially true when the Canadian government had flirted with declaring Gilead to be a rogue, terrorist State. When that had happened, Wheeler had made an impassioned plea at the Church Council to be wise about its stance towards larger culture.
The first person to balk? The new pro-Gilead pastor. In another highly publicized church fight, the board fired him. The best thing about that? Ryan Wheeler's name had never surfaced. His Pentecostal congregation came out of it looking 'balanced' in relation to Gilead. Non judgemental. The people who went there even organized the occasional Gilead-rescue program, paying for refugees and their settlements into Canada. All the while, while being supportive of Gilead's social mission, especially to do with fertility.
WHEN IS IT MY TURN?
Dinner table conversation in the Wheeler home?
To say that Alanis Wheeler had spent the last years 'happy' would be a lie. The fertility crisis had hit her, and her family-of-origin hard. Her sister had got pregnant again, but had died before the fetus reached anything resembling viability.
The more that Ryan Wheeler claimed that his association with Gilead was to build God's righteous kingdom in Canada, as it had been built in the old-USA, the more that Alanis acted out.
The worst time? The Wheelers were entertaining the CEO of the firm, the man and his wife had come over. At the dinner table, Ryan had been in the middle of saying grace when Alanis interrupted. She had gone on a rant about God being cruel - God especially cruel towards women. "God must be male," she'd blurted out to the shock of everyone, "he certainly does not know how much women suffer in relation to the children, those children they cannot have."
She'd stood, threw her napkin into her plate, turned to Ryan and said, "you can take your God and show him the door."
Alanis had 'retired' upstairs, and the CEO and his wife made their excuses following dinner.
EZRA SHAW
The next day, Ryan Wheeler, senior vice-president for 'the firm', had a meeting with the very same Ezra Shaw, who was in town to 'problem solve'. Canada/Gilead border issues had just been exacerbated by the 'international incident' regarding High Commander Winslow's disappearance in Boston, as well as the capture in Canada of the legendary Waterford couple - Fred a Commander in his own right, and Serena Joy an architect of 'Women's Place' within Gilead.
Shaw was in Canada with diplomatic standing, to be honest, to avert war. Keeping the border open for trade would be a bonus - a big one, but one lesser than averting war.
Ever prepared, Shaw came into Wheeler's office with a binder - ways to keep cross-border infrastructure and supply moving. Complete with contingency plans in case the hawks on either side decided to lob bombs at each other. Indeed, the security-information infrastructure that 'the firm' specialized in, it just might be the one thing that could shut off a hot war.
But as he sat, Ezra Shaw never got the chance to even open the binder.
Ryan Wheeler said, "Mr. Shaw, I really have valued managing our mutual interests. Indeed, our firm is wealthier today than we ever were dealing with The United States. Me, I would have never predicted that."
Wheeler thought to himself that he was close to answering that perennial question: "how many yachts can you waterski behind?' Yet the Wheeler house, it was empty.
Shaw maintained an even facial expression. He said, "Aside from being a righteous State, Gilead turns out to be good for business, sir."
Wheeler paused, then said, "I have a question, then. It's not business, not per se, Mr. Shaw. In fact, it's fairly personal."
Shaw put the heavy binder down onto the floor in front of him. He said, "Mr. Wheeler, I'm here to make you happy. I'm serious about that. The Commanders in Gilead, they are particularly in your debt in how you have made your firm available to us." So, Shaw continued, he'd be happy to hear anything that might be on Wheeler's mind.
Wheeler paused. "I can't believe I'm asking, but hear me out." Shaw raised an eyebrow, about the most animated he ever had been in Wheeler's presence.
Wheeler spat out, "Your Handmaid program." Letting the words settle a bit, he continued, "the Bilhah stuff. My church, the church where I'm an elder, we've had various 'theological stands' over the years on that."
Shaw grew concerned and said, "sir, that is the most misunderstood part of Gilead. I can see why you would be concerned, your Canadian press has told many lies about us in that regard."
"No, no, no, no, no, no….. I wasn't clear." Wheeler paused again, then said, "What are the chances of a Handmaid being sent north?"
Ezra Shaw, not a man prone to emotional outbursts, said, "Holy Moses!" The two men sat in silence for a good minute.
Finally, Shaw said, "sir, I will take that under advisement. But we do need to get to this border-stuff, things are happening quickly. Commander Lawrence in New Gilead, he's barely able to convince the others to keep things open. We have to be quick."