Beginnings
By Heidi L. Lane
Montpelier,
Vermont
Tuesday,
January 5, 1999 E.R.
7:15
A.M.
It
was her first day and she was late already.
Mister Cameron had said to arrive at seven o’clock and, owing to how
late her train had arrived the previous night, she’d overslept and now she was
late. “Great,” Beth muttered, brushing
a dark lock back out of her eyes as she dashed down the street, “First day and
I’m gonna be fired.” She bounded up the
steps, lifting her skirts up and out of her way.
She
entered the office building and went down the long corridor. Checking her directions again she went into
the third room on the left. Beth
glanced around the room, noting the “Franklin for President” signs, but not
seeing any people. “Where is
everyone? At least I know I’m in the
right place,” Beth said, sighing and sitting down. “‘Franklin for President’ now that’s original.”
“What
would you prefer, Miss…?” came a masculine voice from behind her.
Whirling
around Beth saw the source of the voice was a bearded man who looked to be in
his forties. “Sebohn, Beth,” she supplied, extending her hand.
“Well,
Beth. What would you put on the signs
of a prospective presidential candidate?”
The man prompted.
“I...don’t
know really. But, that seems
so...trite,” The man’s eyebrows inched up but he didn’t interrupt. “Well, we’re with the Reform Party. What about... ‘Franklin for a Change?’”
“Clever.” The man finally took her hand, which was
still within reach. “Jody
Darkforest. Lee mentioned you’d be
coming today. You’re a little
late.” Jody turned and moved towards a
door on the other side of the room.
After going several feet, he stopped and turned back to her. “Well, aren’t you coming?”
“Of
course. So... um what do you do around
here?” Beth asked as they went down a
short corridor.
“Speechwriter. I’ve been told you’re gonna help me.” Jody
chuckled, “When I first saw you I thought you were one of the secretaries
Miranda hired.”
Beth
grimaced, “Yeah.” After a moment she added, “Darkforest isn’t an Equisetan
name.”
“I’m
not from Equisetia,” Jody said, turning towards her momentarily. Then he shoved another door open. “Hey, Lee.
Do you really expect me to work with this little girl?”
“I’m
not a little girl. I’m a fully trained
Bard,” Beth said hotly at the same time as Jesse leapt to her defense.
“Give
her a chance, Jody, and you’ll find she’s at least as talented as you, if not
more so,” He said calmly, grinning.
“Alright,
folks,” The older man Jody had called Lee all but shouted as Jody started to
say something in reply to Jesse.
“That’s better.” He added into the silence that followed. “Now you’re all gonna work together. The sooner you get used to that the better.”
“Right,”
Jody said with a sigh. After a pause he
added, “Beth has an idea... about the signs.”
“What
about them? What’s wrong with
them? That’s what you usually see on a
candidate’s signage,” Jesse asked, curious.
“That’s
just it. It’s been done- over and over
and over again. We want people to
notice us. We don’t want to do the same
old thing,” Beth said excitedly.
“So...
what was your idea?” another man asked.
“Um...
‘Franklin for a Change,’ Mister...” Beth started, slightly embarrassed.
“I’m
C.J. Reed, media consultant,” Beth knew she’d looked puzzled, and was chagrined
by how easy she was to read, as he continued. “I get our message and platform
out to the press. I also help with
phrasing. That’s pretty clever. Reform candidate…for a change.”
“Oh,
thanks. Um…Jody thought so too.”
Jesse
looked shocked, “How do you know?”
“He
told me,” Beth answered, perplexed by the looks she was getting.
“I
got startled,” Jody explained in a flat voice.
“Boy,
you must have,” Jesse replied. Turning back to her he added, “Beth, he
doesn’t compliment people very often.
Don’t look now. I think you
impressed him,” Beth found herself grinning at his silliness.
“Yeah,
well…we’ll see,” Jody muttered.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Beth sat writing the speech that
Governor Franklin would be using that evening.
It was the first speech she’d written by herself, mostly anyway, for the
campaign and as a result Jody stood next to her, reading over her shoulder,
“Action verbs would probably help, Beth,” He said suddenly.
“It’s
called imagery. I’m painting a
picture,” Beth explained.
“Pretty.”
Jody said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “The voters want more than pretty
pictures though. What is our guy gonna
do about the picture you’re painting? You say here the literacy rate is sixty
percent. Some folks would say that’s
good. It’s more than half, after all.”
“Sixty
percent isn’t a good rate it’s a lousy rate.
It needs to go up!” Beth said vehemently.
“Why?”
Jody asked in his calmest voice.
“Why?!
Because there are farmers and ranchers and… lots of average people… who can’t
read. And they’ll never excel in life
without that skill.”
“Why
not? Their parents probably couldn’t
read either, and they did alright for themselves.”
“But
they could do better! They could be
more than farmers and ranchers.”
“Farming
and ranching was good enough for their parents, it’s good enough for them. Besides, we do sort of need farmers, and
ranchers for that matter.”
“Okay…”
Beth thought for a moment. “But they could be better farmers if they could
learn modern farming techniques. They
need to read to learn those.”
Jody
nodded, “That’s better. Write
that. Beth, it’s good to paint pictures
so people can see things that they never would with their own eyes, but there
are people in the East who don’t care that their servants and the people on
farms nearby can’t read. Heck, some of
them don’t care that their wives and daughters can’t read. It’s obvious to you and me that reading,
writing and mathematics are important.
But we have to convince them of that. And after we have them convinced,
we have to tell them what we plan on doing about it. So, what’s the plan?”
“More
schools. More teachers. Better educated teachers,” Beth said
succinctly.
“How?” Jody said, raising an eyebrow.
“We’ll
open schools for teachers, so they can be better educated. We could… have some kind of incentive for
people to become teachers- less expensive tertiary school courses or free room
and board. Schools need to be free for
all, not just those who can afford it.”
“Even
better. Now stop talking and start
writing. Start with notes- what needs
doing, why and, most importantly, how.
Take it one issue at a time.
Then flesh it out. That’ll be
the step you can go nuts painting pictures in.”
Jess
entered the room just as Beth started writing out her notes. He smiled at her and asked Jody softly,
“How’s she doing?”
“She’ll
do. She has a bit to learn, but she’ll
do.”
Jess grinned, “That’s good. I’ve known her for a while, ya know.”
“I
gathered that when she kept grinning at your foolishness and when you leapt to her defense so fast,” Jody said wryly.
“She
knew my sister. They went to the Bardic
Academy together.”
“Are
you two… serious?”
“What?”
Jess asked, startled. “Oh, no. We’re
just really good friends. She’s like a
sister to me, I don’t think of her that way. She was engaged for a while. She’s not now, but she won’t talk about
it. Even to me,” He seemed somewhat
saddened by that fact.
Jody
shrugged, “Don’t push her,” He advised.
“She’ll open up on her own.”
“How
are you an expert on ladies?” Jess
asked, teasingly.
“I
have two older sisters and I was married.
I think I learned a few things along the way.”
“What
are you two being so secretive about?” Beth called over to them. She grinned before continuing, “You’re not
talking about me behind my back, are you?”
“Only
good things, El-Nat,” Jess said, smiling.
Beth
rolled her eyes. “Jess, could you not
call me that? It’s a family thing, you
know?”
“Yeah,
Beth. I just love the look on your face
when I use it.”
“El-Nat?” Jody asked, cocking his head and raising an
eyebrow.
“Elizabeth
Natalie. My full name. But I grew up in California, some people
speak Spanish there.”
“Her
included,” Jesse interrupted.
“Yes,
me too. ‘El’ means ‘the’ and ‘Nat’…
doesn’t mean anything, but… well, it’s sort of a joke.”
“Oh,
I see. How’re you coming on this?” Jody asked, taking her notepad. “You’re
really coming along. Much better. I think you’re missing punctuation in a
couple of spots though. Here and here,
for example. There should be commas.”
Beth
nodded, “I know. I just didn’t put
them.”
“Well,
put them.”
“Alright,
alright. For crying out loud, what are
you a Language Master?”
“I
was,” Jody said, smiling. “Briefly.”
While Jesse and Beth stared at him in amazement, he took the package
Jesse had been carrying. “These the new buttons? ‘Franklin for a Change.’
Looks good. Here, kids. Put them on. Promote the candidate.”
As
they pinned the buttons on, Beth asked, “You used to teach?”
“Yeah. Briefly.
Too much stress.”
Jesse
chuckled, “Teaching was too stressful so you moved into politics? And people say I’m odd.”
“I
know Beth is new at this. When did you
get into politics?” Jody asked, turning
to him.
“Easier
to ask when wasn’t I in politics. Even
in school I helped my friends run for student council.”
“Wow,”
C.J. said, just entering the room. “I thought Jody had a history.”
“How
many campaigns have you been involved in, Jody?” Beth asked, curious about her new mentor’s history.
“Five.”
“How
many won?” Jesse asked.
Jody
chuckled, “I either have bad luck or the people I work for are bad candidates,
none. I think it might have helped some
of them to listen to me. But I’m just a
bard, what do I know?”
“Poor
Jody,” C.J. said, mock sympathetically.
“Now,
don’t tease him. Be nice,” Beth said,
grinning. Even Jody chuckled at that.
“Well,
this sounds better. It took almost a
month, but look, Lee, they’re getting along now,” Governor Franklin said
entering the room.
“Hello,
sir,” they chorused.
“Hello. Are you
getting along now?”
“Seems
like it,” Jesse replied.
“I’m
very friendly, if given half the chance, sir,” Beth said, grinning.
“Me
too,” C.J. said. “Jody, however…”
“I’ll
behave,” He said dryly over the others’ laughter.
“I
know you will,” Ben said. “I have to go see to a few things for the dinner
tonight. My speech will be ready in
time for me to look over it, I assume.”
“You’ll
have it in about an hour, sir,” Jody said confidently.
“He
will?” Beth asked in a soft voice.
“If
we get moving, he will,” Jody replied in an equally soft voice, as Lee and Ben
left.
“We’d
better leave you to your writing then,” C.J. said looking at Jesse pointedly.
“Right. Beth, about tonight... Don’t forget, you have to look… um…” Jesse
flushed, searching for the right word.
“Good?”
She supplied.
“Yeah.”
“Bustle
skirts?” She asked with dread.
“It
would be best to follow the current fashion,” Jesse said sympathetically. “I know you hate them, but…”
“Yeah,
I know. I have to have a big-“
“Beth!” Jesse interrupted.
“-bustle. Really, I am a lady, after all.” Beth
said, smirking.
“Get to work,” Jesse said as he
left, grinning.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Beth
carried her bowl of soup into the nearly deserted dining room. Even though it had been a dinner, most of
the campaign staff hadn’t really eaten, either because of nerves or the fact
that they were just too busy. Now they
were assembling to have a quiet meal and talk about the evening’s events. Glancing around, she saw her mentor sitting
alone at a corner table. “Hi,
Jody. So d’you think the speech went
over well?” Beth asked excitedly,
seating herself next to the older man.
“Looks
like. We’ll see. What we have to worry about is the
primary. That’ll tell us how the voters
really feel about the candidate.”
“Well,
of course, that makes sense,” Beth said as she rolled her eyes. “Jody, do you get excited about anything?”
“I
try not to. Saves me from disappointment
later,” He answered around a mouthful of soup.
“Dios
mío, that’s a pessimistic attitude,” Beth muttered, shaking her head.
“Dios
mío?” C.J. repeated, taking a seat at the table across from Beth.
“It
means ‘my God.’ C.J., what did the
press think of the speech?”
“It
peaked their interest. They’re calling
him ‘The Education Candidate.’”
“Wonderful!”
Beth exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her seat.
“Yeah,
isn’t it though?” Jesse said, seating himself next to Beth.
“You
don’t seem very excited, Jess,” Beth said, looking at her friend keenly.
“We’re
off to a good start. But remember, Beth
it’s only a start. We have to win in
the primaries and then get the nomination at the convention in order to become
the official candidate. Then we’ll need
to worry about the general election.”
“Between
you and Jody it’s a good thing we have Beth.
You two are so negative,” C.J. said pointing his spoon at the other men.
“I’ve
been disappointed too many times to get my hopes up,” Jody said, with a sigh.
Governor
Franklin chose that moment to enter. “With an attitude like that, no wonder
you’ve never been on the winning side.
Jody, try to be positive. Jesse,
how’re the polling figures looking?”
“Pretty
good, sir. We’re in the double digits,”
He replied, grinning.
“We
weren’t before?” Beth asked Jody softly.
“No,
but no one had heard of us before.
That’s why we have to go to the various provinces and have him make
speeches and hold debates. To get his name and face out there,” He explained in
an equally soft voice.
Beth
glanced around the room as Lee entered and sat on the other side of Jody. “So what’s our next step?” She asked.
“The
primary’s next week. We can either stay
here and gather more votes or move on to the next province.”
“Will
we pick up very many more votes in the next week?” The Governor asked.
“Not
a great many, sir,” Lee said. Jody
shrugged and Jess shook his head emphatically.
“So,
it’s best that we move on then.”
“Yes
sir.” Jesse said, glancing at Jody and Lee for approval.
“Alright
then. Get some sleep. We’ll have a busy day tomorrow. Good night,”
The meeting started breaking up, Beth signaled for Jesse to wait.
“Are
we actually gonna do this?” She asked when they were alone.
“We’ll
give it our best shot. But… he’s a good
man, Beth. Just the kind of man this
country needs running it. The public’ll
see that. I know we do.”
“Yeah,
I guess I’m just afraid, that’s all.”
“Afraid? Of what, Beth?” Jesse asked, shocked.
“Of
what’ll happen after November. Either
way it goes.” She blushed and looked
down. “Kinda silly, huh?”
“No.”
Jesse said taking her hand. “What’s wrong?
You gotta know that even if we don’t win there’ll be people beating down
your door. You’re a very highly skilled
young lady, Beth, and a beautiful one too.
And if we do win… well no doubt we’ll all be put on the new President’s
staff.”
“I
guess so. I hope so. But there are times you all seem so far
ahead of me. I mean, I’m not a
politically savvy person, Jess.”
“You’ll
learn. Besides, you’re a
speechwriter. You’re idealism and even
your naïveté; they contribute to making you such a good speechwriter. Don’t worry. Everything’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Good night, Jess.”
“Night,
El-Nat.” He heard her chucking as she
retreated to her rooms.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
2:30 A.M.
Thump,
thump, thump. “Beth!” Thump,
thump. “Wake up!” Beth groaned and opened her eyes. It was still dark in the room, which told
her nothing. She climbed out of bed and
padded across the room to the door.
“What?”
She asked, peering out into the hallway.
Noticing whom it was, she sighed.
“Jesse, do you know what time it is?
I didn’t get to bed until late.
Jody and I were writing the opening remarks for the debate with
Wilson. Why are you so excited?”
“We
won!”
“What? What did we win?”
“The
primary, silly. C’mon, we’re all
celebrating,” He replied, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the hallway.
“Jesse!
Wait!” Beth exclaimed, giggling. “I’m not dressed yet. I’m barely decent,” Her friend paused and looked
at what she was wearing.
“Beth!
What are you doing walking around like that?!” He asked blushing
furiously. “Put on a robe at least.”
“Well,
I was sleeping. Most women sleep in nightgowns, Jesse. You wait here, I’ll get dressed.”
- - - -
As
Beth entered the crowded dining room, C.J. asked in amazement, “Beth, are you
wearing pigtails?”
“Well,
Jesse got me out of bed and… well, yeah, I am,” She replied, feeling her face
grow hot.
“C.J.,
leave the poor girl alone. You’re
embarrassing her,” Mrs. Franklin mock scolded.
“My word, Beth, that’s certainly a lovely gown. I don’t think I recognize the style.”
“Oh,
it’s one of my older ones. We wore them
all the time back home.”
“Where
is home? I don’t think you ever told
me,” C.J. asked.
“California. You come from Tulsa, Oklahoma, right?”
“Yes,
how did you…?”
“Jody
told me. He said he met you there. The first time, I mean. But he didn’t say anything more about it.”
“Yeah,
Jody’s closed mouthed about his past.
I’ll fill in what I can. Want a
drink?” Beth shook her head and they took a seat in a quiet corner of the
room. “Well… he took the stage coach
from the coast to Tulsa- mostly because he was a bit motion sick by the time
they got there. I don’t think that was
where he was heading. I was in a tavern
with a few of my friend and he went to that very tavern after he got off the
stage. Everyone in the place turned and
stared at him the moment he entered the room.”
“They
stared at him? Why?”
“He
was wearing a, um… well, it looked like a short dress.”
“A
dress?”
“That’s
what it looked like. So, of course my
friends started teasing him. He just
kinda glared and looked away. I never
could stand people being judgmental like that, so I went over. He gave me the same glare and asked what I
wanted. I said that I was just being
friendly. He looked new in town and I
thought maybe he could use someone to show him around.”
“Then
what happened?” Beth asked. This was the most she’d learned about Jody
in the months of the campaign. She was
eager to learn more.
“I
showed him around town. But first I
took him to a clothing shop,” C.J. said, chuckling.
“Whyever
was he dressed like that? With the…
um…?”
“It
was a robe.” A familiar voice said from behind them.
“Hi,
Jody.” Beth said, cheerfully. “We won,
did you hear?”
“Yes
I heard, Jesse told me.”
“Why
were you wearing a robe, Jody?” Beth asked, curiously.
“Because
that’s how men dressed where I originally came from,” He answered with a shrug.
“Where
did you come from originally,
anyway? You never told me,” C.J. said.
“No,
I didn’t, did I?” Jody said and walked away.
“Has
he always been that mysterious, C.J.?”
Beth asked, looking up at the tall man.
“About
his past? Oh, my, yes.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
7:30 P.M.
“How are the numbers
looking?” Beth called to Jesse as she scurried into the crowded, bustling room.
“They
look pretty good,” Jesse said softly.
“What?”
Beth said. She shook her head to
indicate that she hadn’t heard him over the noise of the crowd of campaign
workers. He nodded and moved closer and
cleared his throat to repeat himself.
“I
said they look alright. I’d feel better
if we’d manage more of a lead though.”
“We’ll
do fine if we win New York.” C.J. said looking at a tally of numbers from
various states that had reported early counts.
“We have a half an hour until the polls close. At least on the coast, the states further inland have another
hour after that.”
“Every
time it seems like it takes longer,” Hayes drawled softly in Beth’s ear as he
came up behind her. “Of course that’s
probably because we get more states and more voters.”
“Yes,
sir,” Beth answered, turning to face him and remembering when the soft-spoken
southerner had become the vice presidential candidate.
She
wasn’t entirely certain that she was supposed to have been in the room; but at
the time she hadn’t been able to figure a way to leave without drawing
attention to herself. So, she’d
slouched down in her seat cursing the rest of the campaign staff who’d quietly
slipped out of the room and left her behind.
She’d been putting the finishing
touches on a speech when she noticed the sudden quiet in the room. She’d glanced up to find herself alone
except for the Governor and Senator Hayes, who stood across the room from her,
facing each other.
“Senator,” the Governor had begun,
“It’s been a good race so far.”
“Yes it has,” the Senator had said,
shaking his head as if to clear it.
“It was close a couple of times,
wasn’t it.”
“Yes, sir, at least at first. You really gained momentum.”
“Yes I suppose we did.”
“Did you ask me here for a reason or
did you just want to reminisce?”
The Governor looked down in thought,
“It looks like I’ll be chosen as the Reform Candidate for President,” he said
looking up finally. He smiled slightly,
“I would be honored if you’d consent to be my running mate though. I think that working together we’d get
places.”
“I could always run as a third party
candidate,” Hayes had drawled softly.
“But you won’t. You can’t. Not really.”
“I need to think about this.”
“I understand, don’t wait too long, though.” The senator had left shortly after that and the Governor had moved over to stand by the windows. He’d stood looking out the window for a long time.
Beth
shook her head, returning her thoughts to the present. She’d had the feeling that night that Hayes
had felt her presence in the room. But
she’d been sitting well down in her seat, there had been no way he could have
seen her. It certainly wasn’t possible
for him to have literally sensed her.
Things like that didn’t happen.
Yet there was the fact that he could sneak up on anyone. There was also the fact that he couldn’t
stand to be in crowds. Rumors were that
the Senator was agoraphobic. That when
his campaign staff had figured it out the heart had gone out of them. Who wanted to put a person in the office of
President who was afraid of crowds? She
glanced at the Senator and found him staring at her. He was uncanny in that way, it was like he could tell if you were
thinking about him. It was a fact that
had always unnerved her a little.
Suddenly, he shook his head and all but ran from the room.
She
cocked her head and followed him.
“Sir?” She called as she got out to the balcony. “Sir, are you alright?” She asked
approaching the quiet man.
“Yes,
I’m fine. It’s just too loud in there,
I guess.”
Beth
looked out over the city. She shook her
head and thought, I still don’t feel
comfortable in cities. So many people.
“I
feel the same way.” The Senator said in
a soft voice beside her. “I’m still a
country boy, I guess. It was a big
adjustment to make when I first became senator.”
Beth
cocked her head and thought rather than said, And maybe by the end of the night you’ll be Vice President.
“Maybe.”
Came the quiet voice again. “And you’ll probably end up serving in the
President’s senior staff.”
“I
hope so. Sir, how long have you been
able to do that?”
“Do
what?” He asked, suddenly wary.
“Read
minds. Telepathy, actually.”
“Oh.”
Beth could see him looking down. “That
started when I was— oh… fourteen or so.
At first I thought it was pretty amazing. But more recently it’s gotten to the point where I can’t be in
crowds. All those voices. And I’m not talking about the audible
ones.” He shook his head, “I must sound
crazy. My staff certainly thought I
did.”
Beth
grinned broadly and shook her head, “Sir, Jody and I are Bardic Mages. We don’t just play music and sing and
dance. We cast spells through music. Simple telepathy isn’t hard for me to believe
in. I could teach you to put up walls,
so you can block the voices out, if you’d like. It wouldn’t be very hard.”
“You’re
a very unusual young lady, Miss Sebohn. And I think I’ll take you up on that
offer. But we’d best go back
inside. We wouldn’t want to get the
Press Bards talking.”
Beth
giggled, “No sir, indeed we wouldn’t.”
“Hey,
Beth!” Jesse called as they entered the crowded room. “The polls for the coast have closed. Looks good for us. We won
New York and Pennsylvania and—.”
“Don’t
jinx it.” Jody called. “We still have
an hour until the last polls close.”
Beth
grinned and glanced at the prospective Vice President, who smiled at her. He looked more relaxed than he had in months
and Beth grinned back. Maybe this quiet
man from Tennessee wasn’t so bad after all.