Joint Venture

by Tey Holden

  A lot of people took time to shake her hand and pat her on the back. Her friends came over and congratulated her. Alex was silently looking at both her moms.

  Karen approached Addy and stood in front of her. Addy had been greeting people, but she had also been watching Karen, following her with her eyes as she approached her. When Karen was finally standing in front of her, they smiled at each other and hugged.

  “M’Addy! You did great. If for nothing else, you’d always have my vote because you always know what to say to people. If they don’t vote for you, then they don’t deserve you. You are the best!” Alex hugged her and Addy’s eyes misted. She looked to Karen, but immediately avoided the green eyes.

  The drive home was quiet. Karen kept looking at Addy sensing that something was not right. As soon as they got home, Alex ran to her room to finish her homework and later she went to bed. Addy and Karen remained downstairs, but still Addy had not said much about the meeting. Later when they went to their bedroom, Addy got in bed first. Karen turned off the light and cuddled to her back. “Talk to me, brown eyes, what’s eating at you?” Addy immediately turned and crashed into her arms. She was trembling.

  “It’s going to be okay. Don’t pay attention to the few narrow-minded people from town.” Karen knew exactly what the trouble was.

  “Why?” Addy’s voice was quivering. “Why does it always come up? Why is it always an issue? It’s like the school thing that time. Why can’t people be accepted for who they are? Why do we have to justify our lives as if we were doing something wrong? It’s like, no matter how educated you are, no matter how successful you are, no matter how good you are, or what you do for others it always comes down to our lifestyle! Why should anyone care who the Council Chair sleeps with? For all we know Chair Hutton—.”

  “Sssh! Calm down, baby,” Karen caressed her back.

  “At least, you’ve only had to deal with it as an adult, and believe me it is much easier now. Imagine what it was like growing up feeling different and odd and people judging you and labeling you with names and wanting to change you because those feelings weren’t right?”

  “Oh, baby!” She kissed Karen.

  “One minute I was the popular girl in the room who everyone wanted to be with, and the next minute it was as if I had the bubonic plague, but you learn. You learn from the ones who preceded you. Like I remember once being at a club in London, I was in Oxford then, and I was alone at the bar waiting for a friend. When she arrived, she kissed me, nothing passionate or out of the ordinary, just an inconsequential kiss on the lips. The two women next to us scooted down, away from us. On my other side, behind me there was an older woman who had probably been checking me out, I suppose, waiting to see if I would have company or not that night to make her move. When she saw the other women scooting down the bar, after Kat arrived and kissed me, she told the women, ‘don’t worry girls, it’s not contagious, and as you can see the lady has a date which is more than I can say for either of you.’” Karen paused. “She smiled and then said ‘live and learn young ones.’ She threw a kiss at me and left. I remember giving her a thumbs up.”

  Addy was silent. “At least you’ve had training. I just felt like smacking the idiot!”

  “You can’t. You have to do what you did today. I’m proud of you. You told them ‘This is who I am, and I have a family just like you, and when you vote, vote for whoever you think is the better person for the job.’ You kept it professional and didn’t make it personal. You did an excellent job, Ms. Addy. I know who the best candidate is and you have my vote.”

  Addy smiled and Karen kissed her on the forehead. “Then I’ve already won. I have the one vote that matters most.” She kissed Karen back.

  ***

  Addy’s campaign meetings were very animated. She had a lot of the younger crowd on her side, and they too wanted to see Altee at twenty first century standards. The younger crowd was always ready to go door to door with flyers, and to give people information on Addy’s platform. The platform was simple. Addy wanted to bring better transportation and new services to the town. This included a plan to start a bus line to the city, a ride share system, road improvements including the purchase of proper equipment to clear the roads in case of inclement weather, and regulate sheep crossing locations (for obvious personal past reasons) by placing guard rails in certain areas of several roads.

  However, her most important issue was to bring better medical services to the region. Dr. Naylor’s clinic was the only medical facility in the area, and he was already in his seventies. If anyone had a serious injury or medical condition, they had to go to Edinburgh for treatment. There were no specialists or even an optometry shop where a pair of eyeglasses could be purchased, or repaired. The growing population required better medical services, and she wanted a regional hospital near their locality.

  In addition to the younger crowd, Alex and JP were on the campaign committee. Karen also joined them, as her work permitted. On one particular night, as the elections drew closer, they were talking about how to win more votes.

  “I think we should give out samples of Scotch at the door,” JP proposed. Karen gave him a menacing look, and he quickly stopped talking.

  Addy saw their interaction and immediately called on them. “JP and Karen, can we step outside for a minute?” They were in the Manor’s house rec room, which was the area of the house formerly occupied by the Inn’s restaurant. The rec room was a huge salon, with multiple sitting areas.

  Whining, as always, JP followed them out. “This better take only one minute, I’m not wearing my coat, and it’s cold outside.”

  “Suck it up, JP. A little fresh air may be good for your brain.” Karen had no mercy when it came to JP. She had totally lost her patience with him and Addy had to be constantly mediating matters.

  “Alright, the two of you need to end this childish quarrel, or you are not going back in there. I don’t know if you have noticed, but some of our campaign workers are young kids, and they need to see a good example, and not two bickering adults. And certainly not one suggesting we give free booze to voters! Are you out of your mind, JP? Booze for votes? Stop this, okay? It’s not funny.” Having said that, she walked back inside.

  “She’s right, JP. We need to be serious about this. Winning is important, Addy wants the medical services for the town, and we need to help her. We are not getting any younger and we need doctors in town.”

  “I guess she’s right. I will be a good camper. I will try, at least. Some of us cannot help to have extraordinary ideas that other people may find too common, or absurd. She’s something when she gets all mad, isn’t she? I guess I’m going to have to give you some credit for taking her on. She’s a ball of fire, so demanding. Is she like that in —.”

  “Stop talking before you put your foot in your mouth and maybe mine too from the kick I will give you, if you dare to continue.”

  “Okay, okay! There’s no fun around here anymore!” They went back inside.

  “I suppose free pony-rides for voters’ children are out of the question as well?”

  “Yes, JP, we can’t do that either,” Addy added.

  Everyone laughed at JP’s latest idea. “So what can we do?” A desperate JP asked.

  “This is going to have to be done the old-fashioned way, JP. I’m just going to go out there and talk to everyone.”

  “Social media! That’s the new thing,” JP added. “I’ll be tweeting everyone, that’s what I will do!” Everyone laughed again.

  “You can do that.” Karen commented. “You can tweet all you want to, except I don’t know how many older voters around here would even know what tweeting is about, or if they even have cell phones.”

  JP was really bummed out. “I guess we do need to improve things in this town. Maybe even start a social media class at the library.”

  Karen didn’t even bother to reply. She just looked at Addy, who knowing what was going through her mind, simply smiled prompting an immediate smile fr
om Karen.

  “So, my dearest, Adriana, how can I be of service to you, since nothing I say today appears to be acceptable?” JP pleaded.

  Everyone thought JP was funny and continued to laugh every time he opened his mouth. JP was naturally dramatic and flamboyant even a ‘good morning’ from him took an air of eccentricity. He also dressed flashy. In a subdued town like Altee, JP was like a billboard sign in Vegas. Today he was wearing neon green corduroy pants, a yellow sweater and a red scarf to protect what he called ‘his delicate throat’ from the ‘harsh winds of the North.’ Karen finally smiled, she liked the way he was able to communicate so well with the younger crowd and most especially how he adored and treated Alex.

  At least today, he was not wearing gloves, which he often wore to protect his hands from the ‘elements.’ When Alex was five, she asked Addy what were those ‘elements’ that Uncle JP was always talking about. She thought that he might be afraid of something and needed protection. Addy laughed and explained to her that he meant the weather.

  “Why can’t he just say ‘weather’ like everybody else?”

  “Honey, because he is Uncle JP, and if he doesn’t give things his own spin, it wouldn’t be him.”

  “He is weird sometimes, but very funny.” Alex’s proclamation made Addy laugh.

  Today, it was Alex who came to his rescue. She adored him just the same. To her JP was like another child. “You can help me assemble the buttons to pin on people.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Oh, alright! I don’t want some people saying that I was not cooperative.” He looked at Karen. “Besides, Alex, you are my favorite family member.” He looked at Addy. “Sorry, Addy. Out with the old, in with the new!” He waved his hand in the air. Alex looked at Addy and chuckled. Addy rolled her eyes and then spoke to the group.

  “By the way, for those of you who were not present at the first town hall meeting but might have heard what happened with Mr. Glass, I would like to make my position clear. We are not going to be confrontational regarding personal issues. We are going to remain focused on the issues of the campaign. If some of our citizens have a problem with my personal life, that is their problem. We are not going to make it ours.” She looked at JP and Alex when she made her last statement.

  Alex was thoughtful and quiet. “You okay, Alex?” Addy asked her later when she approached her.

  “Uhuh.” Somehow the answer was not too convincing.

  ***

  Election Day in Altee was pretty simple. The polls opened at seven in the morning and would remain open until seven in the evening, unless all registered voters were accounted for earlier. If that was the case, the polls would close immediately after the last vote was cast, and the counting would begin.

  It was manual voting and manual counting. There were two representatives from each of the candidates and Mrs. McKenzie and Chair Hutton were the ones in charge of overseeing the entire process. Mr. Potter was the one who would pull out each ballot and read it out loud. He was selected for this task because of his proper diction and communication skills. His many years calling Bingo at the church had established him as an excellent communicator.

  Once Mr. Potter pulled out the ballot, he would read it and pass it on to the representatives of the candidates who would then give it to Chair Hutton for confirmation, and he in turn would give it to Mrs. McKenzie to record it.

  When Addy learned how the process worked she was astonished. “Another thing we need to change. I cannot believe that in this day and age, we are still doing things like that! It’s going to take forever. I’m sure it will not be accomplished in one night.”

  She was right. The process was not completed until three days later. The count was delayed for many reasons. Even the matter of whether the ballots, once extracted from the box, should be passed left or right was an issue that took some time to be resolved. It was decided that because Mr. Potter was right handed, the ballots should move towards the right. That decision required that the room be rearranged so that all the representatives could sit on the right, and Chair Hutton and Mrs. McKenzie at the very end.

  Then the polls were not able to close until exactly seven in the evening because Mrs. Ulla could not leave her house until six thirty because she was waiting for the delivery of her new glasses in the mail. She claimed that without her glasses, she would not be able to read the ballot, and therefore could not exercise her right to vote. The polls closed at seven, and the polling group worked until eleven that night. At that time, the group was exhausted and broke for the night. The ballots and records were placed in the bank vault for security reasons.

  The next day, when they went to pick up the ballots at the bank, they were told that the power was out and the vault could not be opened until the power came back on. It took all morning for the power to come back. They weren’t able to start to count again, even after the power was restored, because it coincided with their lunch hour, a time that was wholeheartedly observed by all. At two in the afternoon they regrouped and continued counting.

  Around four o’clock that afternoon, the constable arrived to check on how the process was going. As he opened the door to enter the room, a wind gust blew the door open and the wind blew into the room scattering the ballots everywhere. An immediate commotion quickly followed.

  “Oh no!”

  “Shut the bloody door, you idiot!”

  “Hurry!”

  Mrs. Kempton, one of Ms. Simmons representatives, who was an elderly lady, was so startled by the gust of wind, the ballots flying everywhere, and the yelling, that she nearly passed out and required medical attention. It took Dr. Naylor forty minutes to walk the two blocks from his office to the Town Hall to come and check on her. She was diagnosed with a case of over excitement, and was declared to be fine to continue with her task. As Mrs. Kempton waited for medical attention, all others in the room rushed to pick up the scattered ballots. While they searched and picked up ballots, Mr. Thomas, who was Mr. Glass’ representative, cursed and demanded a recount of all votes, or to declare the election void. He claimed that the situation was one susceptible to foul play.

  Chair Hutton called for order, and all the ballots were gathered. They agreed to stop for the day to rest and to resume activities the next day when everyone had calmed down. Even with all the protests and ranting from the candidates’ representatives, on the third day, the count was completed.

  “Mrs. McKenzie would you, please, read out the numbers?” Chair Hutton requested.

  “Certainly. Let’s see. I have 120 votes for Mr. Glass. I have 145 for Ms. Simmons, and I have 435 votes for Ms. Marcos, for a grand total of 701 votes.” She had a weird look on her face.

  “What do you mean 701 bloody votes? How could that be? We only have 700 registered voters!” Mr. Howell proclaimed. He was Mr. Glass’ other representative.

  “So, what does that mean?” Mrs. Kempton, who was Ms. Simmons representative asked.

  “That means that someone voted twice and the election is flawed!” Mr. Thomas proclaimed shouting out loud. “I demand a recount!”

  “Now look Thomas, we’ve been here for the last three days counting votes. I am not about to spend another three just because we got one extra vote! No matter how you look at it, no recount is going to make up for the difference of either Simmons or Glass as compared to the over 250 votes that Ms. Marcos has on each one of them. I say we call it for Ms. Marcos, and leave it at that! So, I make a motion to declare Ms. Marcos the winner. Anyone here second the motion? James and Sarah both spoke up to second it, as they were Addy’s representatives. The other candidate’s representatives had no alternative but to agree with Chair Hutton’s point, and they also seconded the motion.

  “Mrs. McKenzie, would you please seal the election, and call Ms. Marcos to let her know that she has won?”

  “It will be my pleasure.” It was pretty obvious who had gotten Mrs. McKenzie’s vote. She immediately proceeded to make the call.

  Addy picked up the phone and upon ha
nging up, she euphorically made the announcement to her party of two. “I won!”

  “Yes!” Alex immediately jumped from her chair and ran to her mom to hug her. Together they twirled and jumped and screamed. Karen smiled and joined in for a group hug and a couple of kisses. Alex began to joke that the announcement should be made with a town crier like in the old days. “Behold, people of Altee, hear the name of your most beautiful and best Council Chair ever: Ms. Adriana Marcos Larsen!” Addy and Karen laughed watching Alex march up and down the family room making all kinds of gestures and announcements pretending to be the town crier.

  “It took three days to count 700 votes. It will take six months for everyone to know who the new Chair is.” Karen joked.

  Addy immediately exclaimed. “Oh no! I’ll have James call the town paper immediately and make sure they have that piece of information. Things are going to change around here!” James was her campaign manager.

  Karen laughed. “Good idea. I think this is the only place in the world where people have to call their newspaper to give them the news to print. Honeybunch, I’m afraid it might require a second term to bring Altee to twenty-first century standards.” Alex laughed when she heard her mom’s remark.

  ***

  Because the counting of the votes had taken so long, when the news announcing the winner finally came, there was no one to celebrate. The campaigners had gone home frustrated after midnight on the day of the election when they got word that the count would not be finished that night.

  However, after receiving the news, Addy called everyone to thank them for their contributions. The following day, the newspaper had the announcement on the front page. Addy was proclaimed the new Council Chair by a landslide, and soon after, she assumed her new job. There was not much of an inaugural ceremony, she was well known in town and stopping to chat with the ten public servants in town didn’t take all that long.

  The peaceful reception did not last for long. Controversy soon ensued when Mr. Glass claimed fraud and demanded a recount of the votes. Addy still took office, as the recount went on. This time it took three weeks, since some of the participants needed for the recount were reluctant to attend and were often late, or called in sick.