"Best money we've spent all year."
Richard leaned back in his chair.
"Do you ever think about leaving operations?"
"Every Tuesday."
"I'm serious."
Naomi looked out at the runway through the executive-office window.
Aircraft moved in slow lines under morning light.
"Eventually."
"For what?"
She shrugged.
"Something where nobody calls me because a bag missed a connection."
"So retirement."
"Basically."
They both laughed.
Then Richard became serious.
"You changed this company."
Naomi shook her head.
"A lot of people changed it."
"You forced the issue."
"Rebecca forced the issue. Elijah exposed it. The passengers documented it. Marcus intervened. Paige told the truth about fear.
Janet refused to accept miles as an apology. Judge Park mapped the system. The board funded the changes. Thousands of employees did the boring part afterward."
Richard smiled.
"You always ruin a good hero story."
"Hero stories are usually terrible process design."
That afternoon, Naomi picked Elijah up from school.
He climbed into the car holding a blue ribbon from the science fair.
"Second place."
"Second?"
He frowned at her teasing.
"The volcano kid had actual smoke."
"Unfair advantage."
"Completely."
He buckled his seatbelt.
For several minutes they talked about galaxies.
Then, at a red light, Elijah said, "Mom?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think Rebecca is still racist?"
Naomi did not expect the question.
"I don't know."
"Didn't the court make her stop?"
"Courts can punish actions. They can't reach inside somebody's mind and rebuild it."
"Then what was the point?"
Naomi looked at him in the rearview mirror.
"The point was to stop her from using authority to hurt people without consequences. And to fix the system that kept ignoring the warnings. What she believes now is work only she can do."
Elijah thought about that.
"So justice doesn't make people good."
"No."
"It just makes rules matter?"