Free Second Term - A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 1) by John Price

to be named. After being left
at the altar, Hilde and her husband, former President Wilbur Jackson Calhoun,
were not amused.
    Vivian was the most
political of the three persons in the room. She had said after the election
returns confirmed that her boss would serve a second term that, “It’s getting
even time….every jerk who opposed us had better get ready, because it’s payback
time”. Vivian was no fan of the Calhouns, but she was a pragmatist who
understood, better than the President and his wife, how Washington really
worked. She would not oppose the selection of Hilde Calhoun, again.
    “Honey, you know I
agreed not to decide anything major unless we all three agreed. Why do you
think I called this meeting? Why are we all three here talkin’ about this?
Hunh?”
    Vivian decided it was
time to intervene in the first couple’s argument by addressing her comments to
the First Lady, “Stop. OK.? I only gave in back in August to picking Hilde
because I thought she would add votes. Larry convinced your husband otherwise.
So be it. Larry’s gone. God bless his cerebrally limited soul. Now, we gotta’
do the smart political thing and name Hilde. It’s really quite simple. We can’t
dump Hilde twice in one year or we will have so much…..”
    “Vivian…. You stop.
OK?” The President, realizing he wasn’t in this cat fight, folded his hands
across hischest, and leaned back in his chair. “I have only one reason that I don’t want Hilde Calhoun down the hall as Veep. You know what it
is….I raised it with you at the hospital, if you will recall.”
    Vivian was
temporarily puzzled by the First Lady’s response. Then she remembered. “Oh, you
mean when you asked if Hilde, or more likely, Wilbur, had anything to do with
the shootings in Dallas….Is that what you mean?”
    The President quickly
went from slightly bemused to intensely interested, “What? What? I haven’t heard
anything about….”
    “Your wife asked me
at the hospital if I thought that the Calhouns could have been involved in some
way with the shootings in Texas. I scoffed at the idea, but she’s still
paranoid about all those stories when they officed here that the Calhouns had
arranged to off several of their political enemies. Internet junk stuff.
Baloney. And that’s what I told her.”
    The First Lady looked
down at her hands, which were nervously wringing the ends of the decorative
scarf she was wearing. “You can both say I’m paranoid….maybe I am….but if the
Calhouns get into power again, they’d only be a heartbeat from moving down the
hall into this office. I’m just sayin’.”
    The President also
knew his wife well, and he knew when she had decided to give in on an argument,
even one in which she was fiercely engaged. He knew it was time to count the
votes and move on. “No one has ever proved anything even close to what you’re
raising, dear. Hey, it’s my hide that we’re talkin’ about here. If I had any
fears at all that Hilde and Wilbur would be a….problem….you
know….physically….for me, I would never pick her. She’ll be fine. I worked well
with her in the Cabinet. She’s smart politically. She’ll be a big help on the
Hill with those retrograde Congressmen that I can’t stand. She actually can
talk to them. Hilde’s my pick. Vivian?”
    “As you said, you
don’t have a true choice. It’s Hilde. Under the 25 th Amendment you
need to get her name up to the Senate so they can confirm her. Soon. We’ve got
a vacancy that needs to be filled, now.”
    The President didn’t
need to ask how his wife voted. That was obvious, but the First Lady had a
closing comment that she couldn’t restrain herself from making, “If I’m right,
dear, you won’t be here for me to say ‘I told you so’.”

 
    FIFTEEN
    Second
Campaign Blog Entry
    Well, I’ve been less
than diligent in updating my page. I’m obviously not going to be a daily
blogger. I just don’t have the time. Why you ask? I’ve had such