Free Eddy's Current by Reed Sprague Page A

what I mean. Your listening problem just kicked in again. Anyway, he’s the front runner, and that’s an understatement. He’s bought and paid for the media. Those boobs have done what they always do wrong. They’ve jumped on board. He’s their boy. They can’t back down. He’s got them because they’ve demonstrated that they love and adore him. He’s their messiah. They’ve made him that, so if they back away, or if they even begin to act independent, they lose face. They’re not going to do that.”
    “So what does all that mean?”
    “What it means is that you have to engage him by challenging him, but again, you have to be very careful how you do that.”
    “Challenge him to a debate?”
    “Yes, but not right away. Eventually, yes. But not now. You don’t want him to take you seriously until it’s too late. You don’t challenge him directly, you do it through the media.
    “Our goal is not for you to trash him, it is for you to become the media’s new messiah. You see, if the media leave one messiah for another, they save face. It’s an even exchange. They can’t leave a messiah to side with a regular candidate, but they can exchange messiahs. If they should decide to exchange his messiahship for yours, they’ll do the dirty work for you.”
    “I have no interest in being a savior. I want to be elected because I want to do a good job of representing my constituents.”
    “Have I told you that you’re naive?”
    “Have you thought anymore about my offer?”
    “What offer?”
    “My offer to you to serve as my campaign manager.”
    “You didn’t make me an offer.”
    “That’s because I have nothing to give you in return for your services. I’m nearly broke, remember?”
    “And you need to remember that I’m no longer in politics.”
    “You can win, Mr. Dominici; you can still win. And you see that I have no idea what I’m doing, except that I want to win. I really do want to win.”
    “You can’t win. It’s just not possible.”
    “Do you have a family, Mr. Dominici?”
    “Do you have ears?”
    “Yes, I have ears. Do you have a family?”
    “I’m estranged from my daughter.”
    “Why? You’re so personable. I can’t imagine that there’s someone you don’t get along with. What’s the problem?”
    “Why are you prying?”
    “This is a job interview. I have to make sure that you have no personal skeletons before we agree that you’ll be my campaign manager.”
    “My wife, Joan, gave birth to my daughter, Kathy, late in our married lives. Joan died in the birthing room, just as my daughter was being born. I raised my daughter on my own. She’s a good girl, but somehow she blames me for bringing her into this world without a mother. She can’t forgive me for that and for leaving her with one sitter after another while I was on the road getting politicians elected to office. When she was only in the sixth grade, she suffered through the embarrassment and humiliation of the bribery accusations against me.
    “When she was little we were close. She adored me. Things changed after the bribery accusations. We haven’t had a close relationship since then, and now she holds me in absolute disdain and she believes that I feel that way about her. I don’t; I love her dearly, and I miss her. But she will not talk to me. She’s thirty–one now.”
    “I am so sorry to hear that you went through all of that, first with your wife and then having to raise your daughter on your own under those circumstances only to have your relationship with her sour. Will you ever speak to her again?”
    “I doubt it. Last I heard she’s doing well.”
    “Does she have a family?”
    “No. No family. Several broken relationships.”
    “Do you fear success again, Mr. Dominici?”
    “I fear nothing that I will not encounter. I will never face success again.”
    “I am absolutely serious about you managing my campaign. Would you?” Alex asked sincerely.
    “No. You need to win. The odds against