Political Science 101

Chapter Forty-Five

MITCH HAD never been much of a Hall & Oates fan, but he always grinned when he heard their song, "Sara Smile." And today, when it cycled through the random shuffle of songs on his iPhone music playlist, playing through his car stereo, he grinned again as he picked up his cell phone and dialed up his little sister, Sarah.

Sarah Bradley was considerably younger than Mitch — fifteen years younger, in fact. She had been an unplanned child for Mitch's parents, but they preferred to consider her a surprise rather than an accident or unplanned. And this surprise, arriving in Mitch's life during his sophomore year of high school, was somewhat off-putting to him since he'd spent his whole life enjoying the spoils of being an only-child.

But he adjusted. And throughout high school and into college, he grew to enjoy the prospect of having a little sister. He whole-heartedly embraced the big brother role, growing very protective of Sarah as she grew from a rambunctious little girl into a maturing young woman. Now, Mitch was well into his career and Sarah was a year-and-a-half from graduating from law school.

"Hey!" Sarah said cheerfully as she answered Mitch's call. She never said "Hello," ever. In fact, sometimes she would see who was calling her on her caller ID and just answer the phone and start talking. There were times when Mitch would call her and they would be on the phone for several minutes before Mitch could even say a single word. It was part of her charm. This time, however, "Hey!" afforded him the opportunity to speak immediately — an opportunity which he quickly seized. Typically, his chances of speaking immediately were about 50/50.

"Hey," Mitch said quickly, "what's new?" He had no real reason to call. She just always made him smile.

"Meh," she replied, sounding skeptically optimistic, "studying Contract Law." She signed a melodramatic sigh which made Mitch grin. "Oh, hey, crazy about Ray, you think?"

"What?" Mitch asked.

"You know," she said, "about him being up for that open Congress seat. I didn't even know he wanted that."

"Wait, what?" Mitch said again, his voice cracking under the weight of his own confusion. Mitch couldn't figure out what she was talking about. She and Ray obviously knew each other well, but he didn't think Ray would tell Sarah something and not tell him. "What are you talking about?" he asked, sound a little too stern.

"I don't really know," she said, now seeming unsure. "I just saw it on the news this morning about him being a possible nominee for the open seat of that congressman who got shot." She paused, hoping Mitch would respond. "I figured you knew all about it."

"Hm, nope," Mitch said dejectedly.

"Well, wasn't that you boys' ultimate goal, to get him elected to Congress?"

Mitch had no reply.

"Hey, are you there?" Sarah said, confused by Mitch's silence.

"Yeah," Mitch replied, breaking from his confused contemplation. "Hey, I need to call you back." He quickly ended his call without a customary phone farewell and quickly scrolled to Ray's cell phone number in his iPhone.

"Where are you?" Mitch asked quickly when Ray answered the call, not giving Ray a chance to say anything.

"What's wrong?" Ray replied.

"Congress?" Mitch rattled quickly. "Jenkins' seat? Were you ever going to tell me about this?"

"I was just—" he stammered and stopped.

"Just what?" Mitch said, interrupting his friend.

"No one was supposed to know. I don't know how it got leaked. I didn't mean to—"

"What?" Mitch said in a deep tone of annoyance, interrupting his friend again. "What am I missing? When we were at the bar the other day, you didn't say a single fucking word about this!" Mitch took a breath, realizing he sounded angrier than he was — he was just annoyed and confused.

"I know," Ray said calmly, "I was just—"

"No," Mitch said, interrupting a third time, "this isn't just something you forget to mention. What the hell, man?"

"How did you hear?" Ray asked. "N.P.R. or something?"

"No," Mitch fired back, growing slightly more irritated, "Sarah said she saw something about it on the news this morning. What the hell is going on?"

"Well," Ray said with an uncomfortable sight, "people are getting restless since the governor hasn't figured out what to do about the vacant seat yet and since he wants to appoint someone instead of having a 'special election,' someone offered to help get my name on the short list."

"Someone?" Mitch's tone immediately changed from confrontational to concerned — and worried. He knew how politics worked. No one simply offered to help. There's always a quid-pro-quo. "Who are we talking about?"

"Can we talk about this later?" Ray asked gently.

"What the fuck have you gotten yourself into?" Mitch asked apprehensively. He was now genuinely concerned about his best friend.

"I'll be fine," Ray replied with faux confidence.

"Somehow," Mitch said with a deep sigh, "I highly doubt that."

"I will."

A silent pause erupted loudly.

"Well," Mitch said after several moments, sounding defeated, "just tell me about this someone."

"This lady I met who leads a PAC," Ray said.

Mitch hung up.