Jane was a "closet" anti-vaxxer---not the sort of attribute one might expect in a high profile CEO of a large conglomerate of hotels and restaurant chains.  She worked in downtown L.A. and lived in Pasadena where her twin girls went to a private school---which had just sent them home because of a large measles outbreak in California.

The girls' father, Carl. was an IT specialist at a bank in San Francisco and he was furious when the twin girls called and told him they might be out of school for a month. He had called Jane and left a pile of increasingly nasty voice messages on her cell.

"Carl is wound up and I'm afraid he's going to fly down here and make a scene", Jane said to her friend, Beverly, "I don't want neighbors or people at the company knowing my personal business."  

Beverly lived back East. She and Jane talked daily by phone, usually late at night while they drank wine at opposite ends of the country and ripped up people they had had to deal with during the day. 

"Well, I'm happy to have the kids come here for a spell if that's what you want", said Beverly, "but doesn't Carl have a legal say in this, can't he just intervene?"  

"The agreement states that I'm responsible for their health care, but in fact Carl could make a mess of things", she said.

"Just let me know", Beverly said, settling into a wingback chair and retrieving a paperback mystery book.

Beverly had disliked Carl from day one when during the inaugural lunch he put down Jane's new promotion at work. But Carl remained in the picture. One night in New York the three of them met for dinner at Cafe des Artistes. On the way back to the hotel it didn't go well. After going out of his way to praise the waiter and seeming magnanimous all evening he now told Jane she had had too much to drink and followed that up with sarcastic remarks about how her dress was unflattering to her shoulders.

"Stop the cab", Beverly had yelled, "Carl, you are a judgmental asshole".

Jane reluctantly responded to Carl's trove of messages. "There is no reason for you to come down here. I'm making arrangements to take them back East till this blows over."

"Don't make me say unkind things to you", he said, "you're not taking them anywhere till they get shots. Do I have to come down there and enforce my rights?"

Given his overbearing demeanor, Carl might have been reincarnated from minor royalty of Victorian London. One night after too much wine Jane had told one of her key employees, "Carl failed at a sales job in computer software because he was too busy pontificating to write out an order. He can't manage people unless they are misfits who enjoy having an authoritarian parent like him who indulges and then criticizes them, or employs his special bank shot---praise an innocuous bystander and then kneecap you." 

Six years ago, after the New York trip, Jane had served Carl with divorce papers and since that time she had avoided the show-down which was now brewing. She took a few deep breaths, putting her phone between pillows while he ranted. Eventually she cut in.

"Carl, here's what I would like to do. They can stay at Beverly's for six weeks or until this epidemic blows over. I've lined up a math tutor from Dartmouth who is going to work with them on line. By the time they return their enhanced math skills will probably get them back into school. If not, I'll go from there. How does that sound?"

Jane thought that the planted reference to his alma mater would get him on board with her plan.

"Sounds like a stupid idea to me", he said, "I want them vaccinated."

"I don't want to go to the mat on this but I will if I have to". she said.

"What makes you so special that you think you can develop beliefs like this anti-vax thing", he yelled, "why can't you just get in line like everyone else and do the sensible, safe thing, especially as the learned CEO of a large company?"

"I don't have beliefs about vaccinations", she said, "but I have strong opinions. I know what I want to do with the girls and I'm going to do it as long as I can. And, in fact, my job informs my opinions about things people stuff into their bodies, including drugs. A pharmaceuticals PHD reports directly to me."

"O.K, you're always the expert. I'm calling my lawyer", he said.

"Go ahead", she said, "I have the wherewithal to protect my girls from both vaccines and measles and that's what I intend to do."

After a few hours of lawyer calls, Jane was on her way to Vermont with the twins and a conscripted next door neighbor. Life was not bad in an Escalade. They would switch off driving and the neighbor would fly back to California. An assistant had lined up rooms at hotels along the way. The buildings had already been debugged, fumigated and the rooms padlocked. No airports, minimum exposure.  She would stay a week in Vermont, return to L.A. and then fly the twins home charter when it was safe.

"Don't give Carl my address", Beverly said.

Six weeks later the epidemic was over and Jane' kids were back home being tutored. They would take entrance tests and apply for the next full year of school. 

"So, any repercussions from Carl?", asked Beverly in the evening phone call.

"I heard that he's traveled down here several times and joined a group at the school who want to make vaccinations mandatory. I can't control what he does on that front", said Jane.

"It's too bad about Carl", Beverly said, " but to tell you the truth, I agree with his position on vaccinations more than I do yours."

"Well, why don't you give him a call", said Jane, "I'm sure he can change your mind."

"Are you upset with me?"

"Not with you. I'm just angry that I still have to deal with Carl."

"Look at it this way", said Beverly, "Carl's important to those two kids."

"That rounds it up to three", Jane said.