by Carly White
There was a round of clapping and I knew that he had finished. I’d spaced out the last bit of it, but I was already getting a hand as well. It was a damn good speech and though no one would know it was my words, it was sweet enough.
“Miss Reynolds, will you stay after to speak to the Senator? He has a few questions about tomorrow’s speech in D.C.”
My boss Jerry was timid and his orders always sounded like questions. He was about the same age as the Senator, but instead of smart suits and a confident smile, Jerry was plagued with self-doubt and an appearance that screamed it.
“Sure Jerry. Do you think it went well?”
“You know it did Mag. I think the Senator’s chance of winning went up tenfold when we hired you to be his voice.”
I wasn’t the only writer, but mine were the ones that he chose to read. The fact that he had it in for me, I tried to ignore. I couldn’t help it if the old man had thoughts that his station would give him chances he would not normally have. But he had been in politics for a while and learned that most women were attracted to the power. I just wasn’t one of those women.
Fixing my hair in the mirror, I re-braided it and waited for the Senator to come out from his office. He had answered questions for a time and then when the cameras left, he retreated back to his office for a drink and a cigar. He was patting himself on the back for another job well done and I had to admit, he deserved it. I would have believed him too, if not for the fact that it was words out of my own head. No matter who said what though, Johnson would be the face of the nation if I had my way. His policies would bring the country back to the greatness that it once had.
“Maggie.”
I looked up from my desk at Carlton, the Senator’s body guard. He was calling for me and I was made to follow.
Getting up, I walked into his office and my nose instantly picked up the sweet smoke in the air. He was celebrating. “Would you like a drink Maggie?”
I shook my head that I wouldn’t. “Don’t really drink Sir, but thank you.”
“You don’t smoke or drink or date from what I gathered. What is it you do?”
“I write your words Sir and that seems to be enough. You sounded really good out there.”
I was trying to steer the direction away from where it was going. Men like him were typical and though he was a great politician, he was still a man.
“You are very judicious Maggie. So about the speech tomorrow, I was hoping to stay away from the more inflammatory opinions about healthcare.”
I sat back in the seat and looked at him for a minute. It looked like he was already starting to back off from the issues. “You have to Sir. All of your other opponents are and you have to make a stand one way or another. The stats show that where you stand has the most support. So Senator, you need to make your stand and stop toeing the line.”
Steve smiled and sat back in his chair. “That’s what I like about you Maggie. You give it to me straight.”
“That’s what you pay me for.”
He nodded at the reminder that he was paying me for a job. I saw him straighten up a little bit in his chair. “Yes, that’s right. I was hoping to give you a bit of a promotion. I am not even looking at what the others write anymore. I want you to be the head writer and travel with me, with the campaign.”
It was a dream come true. I had only been out of college six months and the offer of my dream job just didn’t seem real. “Of course Sir. I am here until you get to the white house.”
Steve smiled again, that look back that I tried to ignore. He thought that with more time and close quarters, it would change anything. I knew it wouldn’t, but there was no sense in telling him that. The Senator could think what he wanted, as long as I got to keep writing the speeches and get him where he should be.
“Great Maggie. I will let you get some things packed. We live in the morning. I hope you like to fly because we have 15 towns to hit in the next five days.”
I couldn’t help but feel the excitement for it. This is what I had been waiting for, the opportunity was more than I could have imagined. I guess it helped to go to an Ivy League school and to have connections, but I liked to think that some of it was my writing.
“Thank you Sir. You will not regret it.”
“I know I won’t. I will see you here tomorrow at eight. There will be a meeting with some of our larger donors after tomorrow’s speech in the capital. I was hoping you would come to that as well. Bring some formal clothes with you Maggie. I know you like your pants suits, but a little femininity can go along ways with the business men invited.”
I nodded, trying not to take it the sexist way it was implied. It was hard not to, but I had to be pragmatic. What he said was true and if wearing a gown helped him get to office, I would do what needed to be done.
“Of course Sir. I will see you in the morning.”
Chapter 2
I waited for the world to stop spinning. I couldn’t believe it and as I got ready to leave for the night, I packed up most of what was on my desk. I would not be needing it anymore, or at least not that much. Senator Johnson was from Ohio, but we would not be here that much anymore. It was coming down to the last year before elections and he would be traveling most of it, which meant, I would as well.
Trying to think of what I would wear to the formal events and fundraisers, I realized that I didn’t have much. My work clothes were all suits. The only way to be taken seriously, was to forgo showing too much skin in a world of men.
Getting home I told my roommate, Ana that I would be away for a while. She was excited about the promotion and wanted to go out to celebrate. The woman celebrated everything with a drink and I couldn’t help but go with her. It was going to be my last night of freedom for a while and going down to the pub sounded like a good idea.
“Sure Ana. Let me borrow that black dress though. I don’t have anything to wear that’s clean.’
She nodded and I thanked her. I had been gone too much and housekeeping had gone to the wayside. What I should have done was went shopping to get a few things, maybe even some laundry, but what sounded better than a night of drinking and dancing with Ana?
The bar was full of well-to-dos and I knew several people there. It was where I had once gotten job information, networking with some of my peers, but that night I didn’t need that anymore. I had the job I had aspired to and now, all I wanted to do was dance. I found a couple men that had great moves on the dance floor and one in particular was making me wish I had more time the next day. But it was two by the time I got out of there and with more packing to do, I opted to spend the night alone instead.
The next morning I felt horrible, but after a few minutes in the shower and enough makeup to hide the bags, I was ready to start out on my new stage in life. I was excited, knowing that it was going to be perfect.
There was a buzz at the door and when I asked who it was, it was the driver that the Senator had sent for me. Already, there were new perks to the job. I hollered at Ana that I was leaving and rent was on the table for the next couple of months. I didn’t know when I would be back and I looked back into the place I had called home for several years. I was going to miss it, but on to better things I told myself.
***
The morning was a blur. The car took me to a small airstrip that the Senator used from one of his big donors from Billings Technology. We were supposed to be going to his home later that evening for a private fundraiser and I used my time in the plane to reproof the speech for later that day and did a little investigation on George Billings.
Much that came up was about his love life and all of the parties that he had at his mansion. He had skyrocketed from a nobody about three years before, coming out with new technology that had the industry claiming he was the next big thing. Since his rise to fame George had branched out into many industries and it seemed only reasonable that he would be interested in politics. Big business always was, trying to change laws to help their business. Senator Joh
nson was a good candidate to back. He was republican and there for, a friend to big business.
I was surprised at how handsome the socialite billionaire was. He looked like he should have been a model or something of the like. Not a business savvy tech owner that was making a name for himself with virtual reality. I wondered what his angle was with the Senator, but more I worried about what his association with him would bring.
His record was not clean by any sense of the word. He had been arrested for a few minor things in his youth, stealing and fraud, but it seemed like he got his act together finally the last few years. At thirty-three, he was making a name for himself and tagging himself to the next President. That made him a very smart man.
“Doing your homework Maggie?”
I looked over at Steve and nodded. “How much do you know about this George Billings Sir?”
“Well he gives very large donations, more than anyone else.”
“He has a record, a past and his present leaves something to be desired. This man goes against all of the family values that you stand for.”
The Senator sat down next to me and took the laptop off of my lap. He positioned the screen so he could see it better. There were pictures up of George taking a shot from between a blonde woman’s naked chest. It was unseemly at best to associate himself to someone so different than what he stood for. It was dangerous at best. Disaster could strike if George decided to go off the deep end.
“I think that he is just blowing off some steam. He is actually the very principle that we are looking for. What can you find on him from ten years ago?”
I pulled up the arrest record that I had sent through and he whistled. “I knew that he had some back story. Do you know that he was born to a poor immigrant to this country and when he graduated from high school, he worked to support his ailing father? After he died, George changed his ways and became who he was. He is the American Dream in a nutshell. Something from nothing and all of that. What he does on his own time, is really none of my business.”
“How do you know so much about him Sir?”
“We grew up in the same area, my father worked with his at a coal plant. He is several years younger of course, but I remember even back then that he had drive. I know he may look a mess when the photographers get pictures like that, but the truth is that he is exactly the kind of people that we are trying to get on our side. Men like George Billings are who makes the country run Maggie. I want you to be nice to him this evening.”
“Of course Sir.”
He sighed that I wouldn’t use his name. It just seemed weird to and I didn’t want to give him any more familiarity to give him the idea that we would ever be anything more than we were then, colleagues.
The Senator got up and started to walk back up to his seat in the front. I looked at the pictures that I had been pouring over and I smiled to myself. While he may be a disaster waiting to happen, George was certainly a handsome one.
Chapter 3
The speech in D.C. went off flawlessly and there was a really good turnout. I was hoping to get some time to do more than sit on the sidelines, but the fundraiser was in Colorado and after another flight we were put in a hotel for the night. I had to get ready for the event, paying more attention to my appearance than I was used to. I would have liked to have said that it was because of what the Senator had said about the businessmen, but I knew that I had one in mind when I got dressed.
George Billings was not my type, in any sense of the word, but it was hard not to see those dark eyes and think of anything else. I had only brought two gowns with me and one was borrowed from a friend. I chose the red one because of an article I’d read about the color red and how it affected men. They were easier to deal with than the wives that would be there, so I didn’t dress for them.
There was a car out front when I got downstairs and the Senator was waiting for me. “My, my Maggie. You clean up nice.”
“Thank you Sir.”
I waited for him to slide over, but when he did, it wasn’t far enough. Our legs touched slightly, making me uncomfortable. I wonder if he did that on purpose. By the look in his eyes, I knew that it was on purpose. Instead of staying where I was, I moved to the other row of seats facing him.
“So flighty Maggie. I have to ask a favour of you.”
“Yes?” I had a feeling I was going to like the favor as much as I liked the way he was looking at me just then. He had a needy look in his eyes that I was going to have to get used to.
“I want you to pay attention to George, make him feel welcome.”
I sighed and nodded my head. He wanted me to flirt with the man in hopes of getting more money for his campaign. I knew it was part of the job, making it easier for the Senator, but I wasn’t sure if being his fluffer was part of it.
“You are okay with this, aren’t you?”
“I don’t see the point of the request. By the looks of things, he has plenty of women around him that wear less and are a lot younger than I am. It seems that he wouldn’t take a second look this way.”
Steve shook his head that he didn’t agree. “You are beautiful Maggie. I don’t think anyone is going to care about the scantily-clad bimbos that come to these things. In that red dress, no one will compare.”
I thank him for his kind words, but it made me a little nervous. Had I chosen the wrong dress?
We talked about the speeches for the two stops the next day in Montana and South Dakota. There would be a different feel to the speeches because of who the audience would be. People there would not be interested in gun control or anything to do with higher taxes. What they wanted was to know how we were going to get the economy jumpstarted and I thought it was a great time to roll out the new tax plan that we’d been talking about. It streamlined the complicated tax process and although the percentage taxed would not change for most, the ease would save millions in accounting and tax fees in general.
“Are you sure that we are ready for it?”
“Yes. The economists have gone over it several times. It is a valid plan and there are no tweaks to be made. It’s time and I think Montana is the place to do it. They have some of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, as well as more small business owners than anywhere else. They want to make tax time easier and I think you will get a great response.”
“I’m starting to think that we need you as a strategist instead of a writer Maggie.”
“Well with what you pay me Senator, you get my opinion for free. I am here because I believe in you Sir.”
“Please call me Steve, Maggie.”
“Steve, you shouldn’t be so timid. The polls say the voters like you for your strong opinions, so I think we should keep it going. You are what America needs.”
“I wish I was what you needed.”
I ignored his comment when the car stopped. I got out and went towards the huge house in front of me. It was going to be harder than I thought to put the Senator off. He was getting emboldened and it was the first time I worried about how long I would be there as the writer.
He called to me and I waited for him. Steve slipped my hand into the crook of his arm. I tried to smile as if it were nothing, but paired with the claimed look in his eyes, I knew that I was going to have a problem on my hands with him.
“Senator Johnson, so good to see you. Welcome.”
I looked up at the deep voice and my breath stopped in my throat. It was George and he looked far better in person than he did in the pictures. His large frame towered over us both and his dark eyes swept over my body, seeming to have missed nothing.
The two men shook hands, but soon the billionaire’s gaze was locked with mine. “George, I would like you to meet my speech writer, Maggie Reynolds.”
“So you wrote the speech in D.C.?”
“Yes Sir, did you like it?”
“Like it? I loved it. It had such conviction.”
He took my arm to lead me in, leaving the Senator to himself on the stairs. “That spee
ch was what I was thinking. Our country has turned into some kind of Socialist country and it is time to get back to what we know.”
“What we know? And what is that Sir?”
“Call me George, Maggie. Our country was founded on the idea that anyone can make it. That is capitalism and there is no room for socialist thinking.”
“Well we need some safeguards that came from that line of thinking, but yes I would agree that we have fallen to the wayside on our policies.”
“How long have you been with Steve?”
“I started working for him a month out of college, so about the time he put his name in the hat. I’d been watching him for a while and I think he will be the next one.”
“I do too. It seems we have a lot in common Maggie.” He had steered my to a bar that was set up, a young man behind it waiting for his order as he ignored the rest of the party goers. “What can I get for you Maggie?”
I wondered why he kept saying my name like that. It sounded practically seductive and I tried to ignore the way his arm held me to him. He was holding me as if I were his and though my body reacted appropriately, my mind told me to get as far away from him as possible. He was even more dangerous than the Senator.
“I don’t drink Sir, but thank you anyways.”
He looked puzzled like I had just told him that I grow horns out of my head on the weekends. “I’ve never met a college student that doesn’t drink.”
“Well I am not in college anymore and it is easier to just not drink at work events.”
“This isn’t work Maggie. We are here to have a good time, celebrate the Senators bid by the Republican party. Today is a big day and I think it deserves a little champagne, don’t you think?”
“Not really, but indulge. I have to speak to a few people. Thanks for your kind words Mr. Billings.”
I was walking away and looked back to see him still watching me. The dress was definitely doing its job, but when I turned back I ran right into another older man that I didn’t recognize. His wine spilled over the front of my dress and I cursed.
