by Brian Cain
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
Friday the twenty-second of October, Jason waited outside the Governor General’s office, diary in hand. He had been invited to meet Sir Anthony Owers the Governor General. Jason noticed the decor was dated and the air had a musty tinge to it, as he knocked on the solid oak door bearing Sir Anthony’s name.
“Come in,” said a deep voice in a rather refined English accent. Jason found a small white haired man sitting in a padded chair behind an ornate wooden desk. Several pipes lay in a tray next to him, one still smouldering, emitting the strong odour that wafted through the room’s morning haze. The man looked over his gold rimmed glasses at Jason. “And you are Jason Brinkly I presume?”
“Yes sir,” replied Jason. Sir Anthony introduced himself, they shook hands.
“Please sit down,” asked Sir Anthony. Jason sat in the heavy elaborate chair in front of the desk. “I have asked you here so I could see for myself what all the fuss is about. I have met no person who would say a bad thing about you, in fact never have I seen so much adulation of one man in my entire seventy-two years. I have followed your progress with interest. Frankly, I can’t see how you have remained alive. Your policies on reform of the taxation system alone, which indeed are fair, will leave some powerful people in high places no option but to pay up. The industrial revolution taking place by your hand threatens the financial stability of the most powerful people in the world. I see that the filthy rich polluters of our world are at last under siege, but still you walk around with not so much as a single bodyguard. Now I am in your presence, I see things more clearly. In a few days, you I feel, will be the most powerful man in this country. Can you tell me what you will be doing with that responsibility?”
“I feel my goal is for mankind, I don’t know what it is, I haven’t been told. I want to serve the people, not just here but everywhere. If I am the head of this country, I can move amongst the people of the world. Somehow, I know that is where my destiny sits.”
Sir Anthony handed Jason a picture from his desk. “This is my wife and family. In the late sixties, I was minister for trade in the British government. I too had a yearning to serve the people. I found a massive drug ring working with the shipping industry throughout the world. Before I could bring it to justice, they got my family. I hid them at the end of the earth, they still found them, I have been alone ever since. People like me are left alive as an example to others, my story although not public, is well known. There are several like me, no doubt there have been for centuries; evil has never been defeated to any proportional degree. I think they died for nothing, however, those events brought me here. If I am ever able to help you, they may not have died in vain. You I know have suffered similar to me in the loss of your family, we are I feel, alike in some ways. Our goals are the same, you have my support. When I swear you in as Prime Minister, as I’m sure I will, it will be a sad day for evil.”
Saturday the thirtieth of October, Election Day, Jason and the APP had covered the country. No stone had been left unturned; no matter of public concern was treated with any disrespect. Voting turnout was early, no one was having second thoughts; the result was unanimous. Nine pm that evening Jason faced a media conference from the APP headquarters in Adelaide, to accept victory on behalf of his party. A handful of seats in the country had not been contested by the APP. These had gone to independents favoured by the APP, this saw two full blood indigenous members of the house. All other seats had gone to the APP. The Advance Party had suffered the biggest defeat in world democratic history. Jason paused in the silence that had fallen on the gathering, then spoke.
“From the very beginning of my move to serve the people, I have always said we, not I. Now that is truer than ever, we are as one in Australia. We are not only making history here, but all around the world. I thank you the people of the country for doing that, for as I lead, no order was given to follow, we just asked. Achieving what we set out to do will be so much easier, we will lead with the consent of the people. Government cabinet meetings will no longer be private affairs, the people governing the country will no longer abuse each other in the house, or display conduct that would be seen as unacceptable in a primary school. Taxes where due, will be paid, not by force, but willingly. If going to the beach and laying around all day is what you call living, then do so, but prepare to be judged by those around you. The young of this country now have a future; we will all want to be part of it. Evil will be tackled by all, not just those who have chosen to make it their life.
I have never confessed to being a conformist of outdated imperialistic ways that assist evil to reign. Now it is obvious that we don’t confess to that, the way of the family is back in style. The powers of the judiciary will be slashed, we have become a society that turns to someone else for an answer; we must show more responsibility. Together I am sure we can make the courts a place where only the evil will be judged, not the misguided or the innocent. We have endorsed all these suggestions, now we need make them work. We can thank each other, for what has happened here today.”
Jason was sworn in as Prime Minister by Sir Anthony Owers on November the first nineteen ninety-five, the fastest rise to power ever achieved in the history of time. A report on Jason Brinkly was presented to the United States President at the White House on the same day The President studied it with disbelief.
