Political Science 101

Chapter Forty-Seven

PULLING UP to the townhome of Mitch Bradley, Ana turned her car off, ending "Drops of Jupiter" in mid-song and looked up at herself in the rearview mirror. She smiled her Mitch Bradley smile, inhaled her Mitch Bradley personality, and exhaled a deep sigh of anything she didn't need or want Mitch Bradley to see or know. Her knees felt weak as she got out of her car and approached his townhome.

She inserted her key into Mitch's front door lock and turned it, feeling the loose turn, which told her the door was already unlocked. This seemed odd because Mitch was quite particular about locking his front door, even when he was home. But nonetheless, Ana walked in, just as she had for months.

She was greeted happily from the two occupants of Mitch's living room couch. Ashlynn spoke in her normal bubbly voice, as well as the unfamiliar voice of the woman sitting with her.

Ana immediately observed this mystery couch occupant, a modestly beautiful young woman in her twenties with deep blue eyes and shoulder-length dark-blonde hair. The smile of the woman's petite thin lips and perfect teeth made Ana think she was somehow trying to downplay how beautiful she really was, which made her momentarily nervous and uncomfortable because Ana was only a few years older than this woman, sitting on Mitch's couch, next to Mitch's daughter, on an evening Ana just happened to pop-in to Mitch's place, unannounced.

The young woman stood and extended a handshake of salutation; small and simple, as women do.

"Hey," the woman said, "you must be Ana."

"I am," Ana replied, realizing her inflection may have sounded like a question, as though she wasn't sure if she herself was Ana or not, but it actually was the unintentional inflection of utter confusion.

"I'm Sarah," the young woman replied, sensing Ana's confusion, "Mitch's little sister."

Ana felt part of herself deflate in relief. She'd been hearing all about Mitch's little sister but had never met her since she was attending law school and living in Kansas.

Ashlynn watched the greeting from the couch, sensing some sort of latent confusion — even slight tension — between the two, but said nothing. She simply observed their interaction with her normal smile, happy they'd finally met. And as the greeting handshake parted, Ana and Sarah sat down on opposite sides of Ashlynn.

Ashlynn's relationship with her Aunt Sarah was good, but wasn't as close as Mitch had always hoped. This was Mitch's first thought at that moment as he emerged through the front door of his townhome to see the three most important women in his life sitting side-by-side-by-side. For a very brief moment, a slightly awkward silence ensued as Mitch saw three of his worlds colliding on his living room couch. But he saw it as a serendipitous collision and he smiled a sentimental grin.

"Is this an intervention?" Mitch asked with the smile which could only accompany a cheesy joke.

"Ha, no," Sarah said, "but we do all love you very much." She grinned her own familiar smile which reminded Mitch why he loved his sister.

"I just got here," Ana said, her voice indicating her slight discomfort with the unfamiliarity of this new person. "I just wanted to stop by and say Hi." Ana was a fan of the pop-in.

"Oh, that's fine," Mitch replied, "and Ashlynn, you live here, which leaves you, Princess." Mitch raised an eyebrow at his sister. "What are you doing here?"

Sarah smiled a sarcastic grin, displaying her subtle disdain for this particular moniker, a nickname Mitch gave her when she was a little girl, but also a nickname which she felt she'd clearly outgrown.

Mitch gave the couch another sweeping glance. He wished he could see Marie sitting there. After all these years and all he'd been through since her death, he still ached for her. Sometimes he saw her out of the corner of his eye. Sometimes he smelled her perfume. Sometimes he could hear her laugh through the cacophony of a crowded soundscape.

Sometimes.

Mitch sat down comfortably in his recliner across from the couch in his living room and decided to try to bask in the light of the three beautiful smiles shining upon him.

"So," Mitch said in an introductory tone, "what's new?"

The three ladies looked to each other, wondering who would speak first. "Well," Sarah said, breaking the mildly-awkward silence, "Ashlynn and I were just talking about Ray."

"Ah, yes," Mitch replied in his college professor voice, "and what would your thoughts be on the matter?"

"What made him suddenly decide to do this?" Ashlynn inquired.

"Actually, I'm not sure," Mitch said, tensing his brow and crinkling his eyebrows. "He never said anything to me, but he said he talked to some lady who ran a PAC and he sounded like she convinced him to do it."

"What lady?" Sarah asked. "What PAC?"

"I'm not sure," Mitch replied. "I mean, Congress was our eventual goal anyway, but this isn't exactly the route I'd planned on us taking. At the very least, I expected him to keep me in the loop, but apparently that's not happening either. I don't know what the deal is with this."

Ana lowered her eyes. She pretended to scratch her nose as she subtly slipped another Vicodin into her mouth.