Chapter 14: "Through the Looking Glass"

The conference in Canada was scheduled to last two weeks, and the other heads of state allowed me to hang around and eat at scheduled meals with them. I sensed genuine sorrow among them that I had been tossed out on my can in such an imperious fashion. I also sensed worry among them what the kidnapping of my vice-president actually meant. It was painfully obvious that no one was going to be arrested for that. The American security agencies were above the law and did whatever they pleased.

Putin often joined me in the lounge to watch events in the U.S. unfold on the TV and expressed the opinion that we might be watching the birth of history's next great revolution. I had an answer to that.

"As long as they keep their attention focused on the government, there will be no revolution. There might be changes of personnel, but no change in the system. If people start throwing molotov cocktails into the lobbies of banks and burning them to the ground, now that would mark the beginning of a revolution."

Putin did not reply to that and seemed lost in thought. I could almost see the gears turning in his mind.

At the end of the conference, I brought Cheshire with me and announced where I was going next. The Canadians had offered asylum as well and had also offered a passport. I had two options, it seemed, at that point: Canada or Russia. I chose a third option. I turned to my cat.

"Cheshire, I think it is time that I avail myself of our previously arranged first wish. My two suitcases in my White House bedroom that I always kept packed for a quick departure, if you please."

Cheshire held up a front paw with one claw extended to signify the first wish. He flicked his tail creating a swirling cloud of smoke and jumped through. Two packed suitcases thumped on the floor in front of the swirling cloud. Cheshire jumped through a moment later and flashed his trademark grin at the stupefied audience. I had three more wishes. Cheshire was more generous than most of his type.

"Cheshire, my second wish is to go to that mirror that the Alice in Disneyland in Orlando, Florida passed through. I want to go whereever it was that she went."

Cheshire flashed another grin and flicked his tail creating a larger swirling cloud of smoke that looked much like a door. He sat by the "door" waiting for me to step through.

I walked over to a table and got two clean glasses and an opened bottle of French red wine. I poured both glasses to the two-thirds mark and handed one to Putin.

"To the Soviet Union of the 1970s," I said. "Who would have ever guessed that it was a freer country then than the United States of the Obama era, which spies on everyone all the time and maintains a massive database of all communications of every single citizen. The Soviet Union of the 1970s was also far more egalitarian. Luxuries may have been few, but everyone had the necessities."

Putin raised his glass and clinked mine. He had caught hell when he claimed that the collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the greatest political catastrophes of the twentieth century. He had been right of course. The collapse of the only alternative economic system in the world took the pressure off capitalism to share at least some of its riches. Capitalism had since run amuck, and now the world was divided between rich and poor to the greatest extreme since the 1920s.

"To Soviet Union," said Putin. "It wasn't perfect, but after the death of Stalin, it always had potential to become something better." Putin downed his glass, and then I downed mine. The Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and the German Prime Minister Merkel watched quietly. I waved good-bye, picked up Cheshire and plopped him on my shoulder, picked up my two suitcases, and stepped through Cheshire's smoke cloud. It would be the beginning of a new adventure.

End of Chapter 14