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On a Thursday, Hank Barton, candidate for City Council, Seventh District, broke down and explained himself. Well, tried to. At the last house on the street, an old man peeked out the curtain—he didn’t even open the door—and yelled through the glass point-blank, “Why should I vote for a murderer?”
Hank winced. When that reporter, that Ben Carlson, had followed up his headline CANDIDATE LISTENS TO VOICE OF GOD, THE PEOPLE with the equally questionable headline CANDIDATE LISTENS TO ORGANIZED CRIME TOO, Hank had fought savagely to hold his temper. Had struggled valiantly to not take a swing at yet another human being. (And, he had told himself secretly, to not get sucker-punched a second time.)
The previous story in that so-called newspaper was damaging enough. At that point, the challenge for Hank was how to avoid the death spiral of negative public opinion. He had the urge to explain he was not some religious nutcase who heard voices. (And yet, there was also the challenge to somehow explain himself in a way that did not offend that percentage of the constituency who thought hearing voices was perfectly normal. He had no wish to make the problem worse.)
But this new story in the Kansas City Blade, this CANDIDATE LISTENS TO ORGANIZED CRIME TOO, presented a now almost-insurmountable challenge: Reverend Daniel Glory’s murder was now hanging over his campaign like a black cloud. And candidate Hank Barton was caught without his umbrella.
When Hank had gone in and spoken with the authorities, it never occurred to him that somehow it would leak to the press. What about a citizen’s rights? What about being innocent until proven guilty?
Somehow, this so-called journalist Ben Carlson got wind of the whole thing. The article in the Blade connected the dots in a certain—and certainly damaging—way. Damaging to Hank Barton’s profession. Damaging to Hank Barton’s reputation.
Damaging to Hank Barton’s campaign.
His inner circle told him to ignore it. “Just power through,” Sven said. “Just stay on message.”
Hank was not so sure about that. “When your entire platform is about values, about integrity, about representing the rights of the forgotten,” he said, voice rising as his spirit was sinking, “the suggestion that I am in a mobster’s pocket and am now also involved in murder is somehow…”
“What?”
“It just seems antithetical to my entire campaign.”
When Hank and his volunteer—a young man this time—had reached yet another closed door, yet another pair of furtive eyes through a curtain, yet another voice telling him to go away, Hank Barton, candidate for City Council, Seventh District, could not just ignore the damage done.
Which is why he finally broke down and tried to explain himself. He got as far as “No, sir, the report in the newspaper was fraudulent—” before his uncaptive audience left the window and went back to his TV.
He glanced at his volunteer, who seemed to be preoccupied with something on his shoes. Hank sighed. Chose to power through. Chose to stay on message. “Let’s try the next one.”
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There are 70 chapters for Tribulation House. You can purchase the whole eBook from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, B&N, and more!
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Tribulation House: Reloaded
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