Chapter 3
(the gorgeous Dato Foland as my idea as Agent Mason Carter)
Jaxon
"Here you go Sir, make sure you drink this. You have three appearances today at local Elementary schools in Maryland. You'll be reading to two kindergarten classes and one first grade class. So you'll need the extra boost of Vitamin C to combat the precious little urchins and all the germs that comes with the darlings. We can't having you catching the flu like you did the last time." Chenille stated as she shoved a glass of berry flavored Emergen-C drink in my hand.
Walking around my desk in the Oval Office, I took my seat and made a face as I gulped down the gritty, tooth achingly sweet liquid until it was all gone and handed her back the empty glass. "I think you and Colin are in a conspiracy together with having me drink at these disgusting beverages that are supposedly healthy for me."
Chenille just shrugged her delicate shoulders and rattled off my schedule for the day. She handed me the iPad tablet I used for my meetings with the Secretary of Defense, she also informed me that she has allotted a hour before dinner for me to meet with Special Agent Knox and the current Director of Secret Services. I was going to come face to face with David's replacement later on this afternoon. I've had a little over two weeks to assimilate myself to the idea of my friend's impending retirement and to be honest, I still haven't come to terms fully with it yet despite David's reassurances that the candidate he has chosen is a perfect match and has met all his of his strict requirements.
Well I'll just have to suck it up and try my best to handle it the best I can. Socrates said it best after all, "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building on the new." I can only hope that whomever it is my friend has chosen to replace his irreplaceable shoes, I can build a cordial rapport with them since this person is going to become closer to me than my own shadow. I'm not only trusting this person with my life, but all of my personal and business issues as well. I have asked myself if living with kind of scrutiny over the years is even worth it?
Then I think about all the changes I have managed to work with Congress and pass into fruition in order to help the American people, then yes, it is worth it in that sense. In my political career, I can honestly say that I've been successful. I have fought for and won my seat as the President of the United States. My father who was a long time member of the House of Representatives, and my grandfather who served as a Vice President of this country had both lived long enough to see me take office. They had groomed me all throughout my life to become great according to them, and I have done everything I could possibly do to make them proud of me.
Would I do it all over again if I knew then what I know now? The answer to that question is a double edged sword because I'm not sure. I lost Heather after months and months of pounding the campaign trail. I'd spent valuable time away from her and our children not knowing how sick she was until I'd barely spent a year in office and losing her just mere months after the greatest victory in my life. I'd felt like I'd lost so much precious time with her while I was out there chasing a dream that's been implanted in me ever since I can remember. I wondered if I had been left alone to chose my own path in life, would I have chosen this for myself?
The more answers I sought also brought a multitude of other questions with them. Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the information Chenille was trying to have me commit to memory. Going along with most of what she was saying, I just nodded my head in all the appropriate places. I can already tell it was one of those days that's going to require me to put my game face on and fake until I make it.
Before I knew it, I made through most of my day. I've managed not to strangle David to death in front of the innocent little eyes of the school children we visited today. He took great pleasure out of my dilemma when I posed for several pictures with the teachers and the children. I've been sneezed on countless of times, used as a human hankie, been made to share soggy snacks held in moist fat little fists, and a have some seriously dubious stains that I refused to think about their origins all over my suit. But seeing the light in those same little eyes and the abundance of energy in those children, the sheer joy they showed by just meeting me, made me feel on top of the world.
YOU ARE READING
P.O.T.U.S. (manxman)**Short Story**
General FictionWhat do you do when you hold the highest office in the United States of America, a widower with two teenage children, a politician who is entering his second term as President of the United States, and a man who is slowly crumbling inside under the...