"I hope you don't mind, Mr. Davis, that I brought a friend along," Madison said upon meeting the congressman for Ohio, Mr. Ralph Davis. She'd just shaken his hand and said hello. "He was very excited to meet you."
"Well, I'm sure it would be all right," he said.
"Okay. You can come in now!" The door opened and Zac walked in. Mr. Davis froze. Zac gave him a large smile and shook his hand. Madison continued to speak as the three of them sat down. "I told him I was meeting you and he was very eager to see you. Drove three hours from Detroit to get here."
"That was very nice of you, Mr. Hanson."
"Zac," he said, nodding to the man. "And we'll find out soon if that was very nice of me or not." Zac nodded to the camera on the other side of the room. "Did you inform Madison that this was to be taped? I never heard anything about it."
"No, I did not�"
"Then you have no right to do so without her permission. Hey, buddy, please leave us alone before we sue you for invasion of privacy, thank you very much." Mr. Davis put his hands up.
"It's not even on. I was planning on asking her when she got here. If she said no, I would have gladly had him leave."
"I'm sure you would," he said, giving the man a skeptical look. "But you still didn't ask so it has no right to even be in the room until she has granted you permission. So, if you'll kindly."
"I didn't mean it to exploit her in any way." Zac turned to Madison.
"Do you mind if this is recorded?" he asked her. She shook her head.
"No, I don't. Of course I'll have to brush my hair before we start, but no, I don't mind." Zac smiled.
"All right then. That's all there is to it. Let her brush her hair and we can begin." Madison quickly brushed her hair and turned to Zac for approval, who didn't care either way, and they began. Mr. Davis turned to the cameraman and had him start taping. He was about to speak when Zac beat him to it. "Why exactly are you here, Mr. Davis?"
"Madison�"
"Miss Ashton," Madison corrected, sending a smile to Zac's face. He stifled a laugh, seeing the perturbed look on the man's face.
"Miss Ashton had expressed her concern to me for quite some time. I finally gave him and agreed to meet her, unaware of her connections." He gave a piercing look to Zac. "I was not informed that you would be here."
"You said it didn't matter," Madison said. "But why now, Mr. Davis? Why not ten months ago when I began sending you letters?"
"The nation was in a state of crisis. I hadn't the time," he said. "But, if you don't mind, this isn't an interview. I came here to inform you that because of your constant concern and the state of power that Zac here is in, I am proposing to Congress a bill that will remove American troops from Korea and bring them safely home." Madison looked slightly astounded but Zac wasn't the same way.
"And when would this bill go into effect?"
"Well, first it'd have to be passed by Congress and after that go to the president for approval." Zac snapped his fingers. "But, of course, if it is vetoed, the House can override the veto, but it would take some time. It might be years before it would be passed, and by then the war could be over."
"What if the president doesn't veto it?" Zac asked. "How long would it take then?"
"A couple of months�no longer than a year." Zac stood up.
"As much as I'd like to stay here and discuss this further, I have a phone call to make. Nice meeting you, sir." Mr. Davis stood up as well and shook his hand. "I'll see you later," he said to Madison. He gave her a kiss and left. Once he was outside the room, he pulled out his cell phone and looked through his digital phone book for 'White House.' He'd been calling it a lot over the past couple of months, and although he never did get through to the president, he was getting closer.
"West Wing, this is Timothy," the familiar voice said mechanically into the phone.
"Hi Tim, it's Zac. How are you doing?"
"Mr. Hanson, the president isn't available for your call. I suggest you stop trying; he is a very busy man."
"You know what, Tim," Zac said, taking a seat. "I call nearly every day. It's taking a toll on my phone. I'm running out of minutes. The president is never available for my call. If he had the time to sit there and talk to me when I met him, he has time to spend five seconds on a phone with me. He's not that busy."
"Actually he is. You should see his schedule."
"I should. I'll come down tomorrow and check it out."
"No, Mr. Hanson, I don't think that would be such a good idea. You don't understand what it's like to be the president. He has to run a country, manage a war�"
"I'm trying to relieve him of one of his tasks! If he would pull our troops out of Korea, he wouldn't have to worry about that! Did you know that Mr. Davis from Ohio is thinking about proposing a bill that would do that?"
"Mr. Hanson, it won't be possible for you to speak to the president today�"
"I'm not! I'm talking to you! Did you know that?"
"No, I didn't."
"Well it's being done. Actually, I just spoke with the man. Look for it on the news later on. But you see, my only problem is that this bill will eventually have to end up at the hands of the president. If he approves it, we could have troops home by the end of the year. If not, it could be longer. You have a brother in Korea, don't you? Don't you want him home? Didn't it absolutely suck that he wasn't there for Christmas?"
"This isn't relevant, Mr. Hanson."
"He could be home! No more worrying, no more wondering what if, he'd be there, in the flesh." Timothy paused, making Zac smile and throw his free hand up in the air in celebration. He knew what that pause meant.
"I'll put you through."
"Thank you, Tim." Zac waited a moment.
"Yes?"
"Hello Mr. President," Zac said, the smile evident in his voice. "How are you doing this lovely Thursday? Wait, isn't Thursday the day I send you four hundred letters in the mail?"
"What do you want, Mr. Hanson? I'm a busy man."
"I just figured I could talk to you. I've only been calling every day since I saw you. Don't you think it's about damn time they put me through?" Zac paused. "Fine. I'll just cut to the chase. I heard through the grapevine that pretty soon Congress will be proposing a bill to get all of the American troops out of Korea, and I know that eventually that bill will come before you."
"And I will veto it as soon as it falls into my hands."
"You see, that's where we disagree. I think you should approve it."
"Mr. Hanson, you're getting nowhere with this. There is nothing you can do to convince me to sign that bill, even if Congress passes it. You may be alone on this. It might take years to get passed, and it'll take even longer to override my veto, if they choose to. I doubt your silly little bill will ever pass."
"Oh! Did you hear that my album reached the twenty million mark? Isn't that amazing? On Tuesday it was released in Korea and it already sold a good five million over there�"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"That's quite a few supporters rooting for me and not for you. Even if it takes so long for that bill to be passed, there's an election coming up the end of next year. What makes you think you're going to win, being as unpopular as you are now?"
"I'm a very busy man, Mr. Hanson, either finish up what you have to say soon or allow me to hang up on you." Zac huffed.
"You have to pass that bill, Mr. President."
"I don't think so."
"All right then. I'll call back tomorrow." Zac hung up the phone and ran his hands over his hair. The door opened and Madison walked out. She was surprised to see him there. "Hey, you."
"Hey, I'd thought you'd gone."
"No, I had to talk to someone. How'd it go in there? What'd he say?" Zac stood up and took her hand as they walked out together.
"Nothing really important," she said. "He explained what the bill would cover and how long it might take, depending on whether or not it was passed right away, how long it would take if the president vetoed it�I think he just likes hearing his own voice because he didn't tell me anything new."
"That's all right."
"Who did you talk to?" she asked, eyeing him.
"Oh, nobody special," he said, giving her a grin. They reached the door and he opened it for her. She stepped out and he followed. "I still have a little bit before I have to leave, do you want to go somewhere?"
"No," she said, turning to him. "I want to know who you were talking to."
"I told you! Nobody special!" She stared at him a moment before putting her arms around his waist. "I love you."
"I love you too," she whispered. She stood on her toes to kiss him, her hands sliding down his waist to his pockets. She quickly dug her hand into one and pulled out his cell phone.
"Madison!"
She ran off with it, looking through it to his last call. He caught up with her, toppling over her to get his phone, but she was good at keeping it from him and found what she was looking for quickly. She froze long enough for him to take it from her. "Ha!"
"You called the White House?" she asked, turning to him.
"Damn." He walked away quickly.
"Why'd you do that? You didn't talk to the president about that bill, did you?" Zac smiled innocently. "Zac! It hasn't even been proposed yet! He just said it now! Don't tell me you talked about it?"
"Well, sort of."
"Did you mention it was him?"
"No! I didn't say anything like that! I just said it was going to be proposed and I'm going to get him to sign it."
"Zac�"
"I'm just trying to make a difference, baby. That's all." She eyed him a moment, still skeptical, before she gave him a kiss and they ran off together.
Isaac let his eyes look over the piece of paper in his hands. His mother had written to him again. Another week, another letter�more good news from home. It seemed nothing bad happened anymore. Maybe she was just trying to avoid that so she could give him pleasant news. Zac was doing well, twenty million albums sold! Taylor was getting better but they were still afraid he wasn't doing well enough. Zac's girlfriend was meeting with her congressman on the issue of getting him home. When would he come home? When would he write with news?
After the first letter he couldn't stand lying to his family so he stopped writing altogether. It was harder and harder to find something good to write about with all the carnage about him. It was harder and harder to find something good around him. His friends were dead, his family was across the world, and he'd been in and out of the hospital so many times he didn't know when he would be fixed again. No, nothing serious. Bullet scraped the leg, bullet scraped the arm, bullet went through the arm. He'd been shot so many times he didn't know what to do with himself.
He'd heard Taylor had been shot in the leg. It gave him such psychosis they sent him home. Maybe he could try that�act crazy a bit so he could get a ticket out of this hellhole. It was cold and wet all of the time and he was losing buddies so fast�it'd gotten to a point where he doesn't even ask the new recruits anything. Doesn't want to learn their names, doesn't want to learn where they came from, just wants to forget the kind faces before they were forgotten for him by those damn communist bastards who only knew how to kill or be killed. Maybe he was just like them now. Kill or be killed. Kill or be killed. It was all he thought of now. Death. How morbid. Death and cigarettes. He'd always been taught to keep away from the damn things but they were the only thing that kept you warm when it gets below freezing in the winter months and you're trudging through water, snow, and the only thing that you find comfort in is the cancer sticks some of the boys have. Damn he wanted one right about now. There was nobody around. Just him and his trusted gun. Things would look up come morning, hopefully. Hope is one of those words he'd forgotten about but as long as he had his trusted gun he could still cling onto that.
Maybe�maybe things would be better if he just turned the gun on himself. Shoot himself this time instead of those damn communist bastards. Don't give him tempted pain like a scrape across the leg or a bullet in the arm. No, this one would be straight in the mouth. That would help�Taylor got to go home because they were afraid he would kill himself. Maybe it would be the same way for him. But then again�then again Taylor was in a different part of the country. He wasn't in the fighting. He wasn't near the border, where Isaac was and had been since he'd gotten there. Taylor was doing peacekeeping in Pusan, where people are civil towards one another and there's lots of down time. Here the only down time is when you dare to sleep. Hadn't slept right in months. Can't sleep right. Damn communist bastards will shoot you if you fall asleep. Damn he wanted a cigarette.
"What's with him?"
He heard it far away, in a distance that was actually only a few feet. Everyone was distanced from him. All of them. Can't get too close. They'll die before they tell you their name. They'll die before they tell you who they are, what they want, how much they miss home. Damn new recruits. Been here only a couple of days. He'd been there ten months. Fucking damn he needed a cigarette.
"Leave him be, he doesn't talk."
"Think he wants a cigarette?" Isaac smiled lightly to himself. He turned around.
"Hey, I'm Ike."