Chapter 130

“Rene was lucky the plan was implemented at the time it was,” I said. “I don’t know if that was merely fortuitous, or planned that way, but having a severe recession occur at the same time as a relaxation in worldwide political tensions cooked my goose. I had over a hundred thousand dollars of student loan debt and a brand new townhouse I’d just purchased because I had a good job. I planned to have my student loans paid for in five years, and I’d be doing all right fiscally. Instead I find myself out of a job with a debt load of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, anticipating being stone cold broke in three months.

“I desperately needed the money, but had I known the plight of wolves beforehand, I might still have been sympathetic. Not that I don’t think I should be compensated for lugging a puppy around for nine months. Men don’t understand what that’s like. As far as I’m concerned, men should completely butt out of any discussion of women’s reproductive rights. Until s