Boyd nodded. “Well,” he said, “you know this California thing?”
“Sure I do,” Malone said. “You’re looking into the resignation out there, aren’t you?”
“Senator Burley,” Boyd said. “That’s right. But Senator Burley’s resignation isn’t all of it, by any means.”
“It isn’t?” Malone said, trying to sound interested.
“Not at all,” Boyd said. “It goes a lot deeper than it looks on the surface. In the past year, Ken, five senators have announced their resignations from the Senate of the United States. It isn’t exactly a record—”
“It sounds like a record,” Malone said.
“Well,” Boyd said, “there was 1860 and the Civil War, when a whole lot of senators and representatives resigned all at once.”
“Oh,” Malone said. “But there isn’t any Civil War going on now. At least,” he added, “I haven’t heard of any.”
“That’s what makes it so funny,” Boyd said. “Of course, Senator Burley said it was ill health, and so did two others, while Senator Davidson said it was old age.”
“Well,” Malone said, “people do get old. And sick.”