Astronaut

Chapter Fourteen: Harvey for President

Friday 30th September

The constant shrill ringing from the clock on his bedside cabinet makes him jolt awake and he bolts upright in bed and reaches over with his left hand to turn off the irritating noise. Getting up out of bed, he starts going about his usual morning routine before going downstairs to meet up with his family; with his backpack in his right hand, his Red Sox cap on his head and his tied shoes on both feet, he heads out of his bedroom and heads downstairs to find his dads and his brothers and sisters. Getting to the ground floor and seeing his siblings all ready to go with the three Secret Servicemen standing beside them, Clint is the first to notice him and chides him jokingly:

"Took you long enough, Harv!" Harvey rolls his eyes in response. Making their way out of the building, the nine of them head outside to where William and Kenny's cars are parked; Caroline, Harvey and John go into William's car and June, Rachel and LJ go into Kenny's with Clint not far behind. After all six siblings get dropped off at their respective locations with their assigned agents keeping a watchful eye on them, the school and kindergarten days can finally get underway. At Caroline, Harvey and John's elementary school where they're being looked after by Clint and Kenny, Harvey is currently seated at his desk in Miss Jones's classroom listening to her in-depth discussion about the upcoming student elections for class president.

"Each of you will cast your votes on who you think would be the best candidate to represent our class, and by the end of the following week I'll pick the nominee with the most votes," Harvey begins to imagine himself in the role.

The classroom begins to transform into his dad's Oval Office as he's picturing it in his mind, he then leans back in his seat, puts his hands on the back of his head, then lifts his right leg onto the desk that has transformed into the Resolute desk, followed by his left leg. He shuts his eyes as if to go to sleep but he is stopped by the appearance of Iain coming into the room, who walks towards the desk. Iain looks at him with a worried expression and says:

"We have a problem," he gets no response

"Harvey?"

Still nothing.

"Harvey?!"

Nothing.

Iain's voice suddenly changes to a more high-pitched feminine voice.

"Harvey?!" Opening his eyes, he sees Miss Jones standing at the front of the class glaring daggers at him, trying to get his attention. He looks up at her with confusion written all over his face as Miss Jones goes on to say:

"Have you been listening to anything that I've just said?"

"No?"

"Didn't think so. Get your feet off the desk!" He takes his feet off and puts them back down on the floor. He looks down at his desk that now has a list of all of his classmates who are wanting in on the chance of being elected class president; he picks his bag up from underneath his desk to get a pencil out so he can write his name down. With his pencil in his right hand, he begins to write his name down on the sheet of paper, underneath the already written seven names that have been put down so far.

Harvey Oswald-Kennedy

Staring at his written name, he contemplates changing it ever so slightly; turning his pencil upside down so that the eraser is at a straight downward angle, millimetres away from the page he grips the pencil again and begins to rub out his name and replace it with: