Guilty Minds

31

Slander Sheet had become a laughingstock.

When we returned from dinner, I flipped from channel to channel on the hotel TV while Dorothy checked online. Even though the Claflin story never got any serious traction in the mainstream media, it had been splashed all over. It wasn’t just the story that had been discredited, it was the website itself, mocked and derided and lampooned.

On the Tonight Show on NBC, Jimmy Fallon opened his monologue with a photo of Vladimir Putin next to him. “Huge news today,” he said. “Russia’s Vladimir Putin is transitioning into a woman. That’s right.” Then the photo turned into a Photoshopped picture of Putin as a very butch-looking woman with lipstick and flowing tresses, in a low-cut dress. “It’s got to be true,” Fallon said with a straight face. “I just read it on Slander Sheet.”

On ABC, Jimmy Kimmel announced that his show was now number one in the time slot, and after the applause, added with a blank look, “It was on Slander Sheet, didn’t you see it?” Each of the late night hosts did some riff on Slander Sheet. Online, the ridicule was widespread.

Dorothy said, “You have to admit, this feels pretty good.”

I nodded. “Yeah,” I said tonelessly.

Gideon Parnell called me, profuse with gratitude. I didn’t know a man of his gravitas was capable of gushing, but he did. He’d put Claflin on the line, who was more restrained but still heartfelt in his thanks.

I should have been exultant. But something about this victory felt hollow.

Thoughts raced around in my brain that evening. I didn’t sleep well at all.