HERE TONIGHT
“That bodes well,” Josh remarked.
“We have four agents in the room, Josh,” Jed told him. “They didn’t throw themselves at me so we can safely assume that it was their plan to shut down the electricity.”
“Yes, sir,” Josh said reassured. “Okay, Toby, you can start.”
“Martha’s Vineyard with Andie. We could make a little picnic on the beach,” he said, making it short thus much more painless.
“Okay, for starters we will forget about how you can’t handle the cold, Toby, but I also thought you didn’t like the outdoors,” Jed remarked, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, I can’t stand the outdoors but the beach is nice, and Andie would be there. Also there would be pie in the picnic basket. And champagne,” Toby added with a chuckle. “Okay, Sam is next.”
“Oh, we play it that way?” Sam asked back a bit frightened. “Yeah, I have never been to New Orleans, so yeah, I would like to be there right now,” he rambled.
“You have never been to New Orleans?” Jed asked incredulously. “Sam, we were there during the campaign,” he added in a chuckle.
“Well, I think I was in Texas at that time, sir,” Sam reminded his boss.
“Yeah, Jed, the poor souls were trying to fix your ‘big hat’ joke at that time,” Abbey said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Okay, we don’t want to talk about Texas anymore,” Jed said. “Sam, please, continue.”
“I wouldn’t do anything big, just soak up the feeling,” Sam went on. “They say the milieu is incredible. I would like to be a part of it, even if it’s only for hours.”
“And with whom would you like to go?” Zoey asked when there was no sign that Sam wanted to divulge that information.
“I don’t know, someone fun,” Sam said.
“That would be me,” Josh piped up.
“Josh, Sam said someone fun,” Donna spoke up, leaving the rest of the group in stitches and Josh in a huff.
“I think I would take Donna, she is fun,” Sam said, earning an elbow from Josh. “What? You don’t think she is fun?” Sam asked in mock innocence.
“Of course she is,” Josh admitted in a whisper, “but still.”
“Okay, Sam, who goes next?” CJ said, and Zoey tried to make out her face in the dark. She was sure that CJ knew when to stop Josh before he made a complete foul of himself.
“Dr. Bartlet,” Sam said daringly.
“Oh, that’s sweet of you Sam,” Abbey said and then stayed silent for a while.
“We are bored here, honey,” Jed warned her.
“Shut it, Jethro, I’m thinking,” Abbey admonished him, making the rest of the group snicker.
“I’m making a mental list of those who snickered,” Jed warned his staff. “And right now only Leo escaped the list.”
“It was Toby who didn’t snicker, sir,” Leo confessed.
“You were snickering?” Jed asked back, and Zoey noticed that her father’s voice expressed his utter shock.
“I would like to be in Paris,” Abbey said, ignoring the bickering. “I was there once for a conference, but never for fun,” she added.
“Even if it’s January?” Jed asked. “You would rather be in Paris in January than someplace else like the Bermudas or something equally warm?”
“Big cities can be fun on New Year’s Eve,” Abbey said.
“And with whom would you like to be there, Mom?” Zoey asked her.
“Well, with your father, of course,” Abbey said.
“That was predictable,” Sam whispered to Zoey.
“Sam,” Abbey called out his name with a warning undertone.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Sam apologized. “Who is next?”
“Leo,” Abbey said.
“Oh, that’s easy, he would like to be downstairs, talking to senile DNC politicians,” Jed interrupted Leo.
“Jed, play nice or you can sleep on the couch tonight,” Abbey hissed at her husband, making the others snicker again.
“Leo, please,” Abbey asked Leo.
“Thanks, Abbey,” Leo said and then fidgeted for a moment before he spoke up. “Yeah, I would like to be downstairs, but actually I wouldn’t want to talk to senile DNC members but rather dance with my wife and daughter.”
“Your wife and daughter are here?” Sam asked taken aback.
“Yes,” Leo nodded. “Why would you ask?”
“Well, we never met them,” Sam said.
“And it’s likely that you won’t meet them this time either,” Leo retorted.
“I spoke to Jenny today,” Abbey told Leo. “She said your daughter had a beautiful dress.”
“I’d say that Leo orchestrated the lockdown,” Sam said. “Admit it; you didn’t want us to meet your wife and daughter.”
“Especially you, Sam,” Leo said. “You are never allowed to come anywhere near my daughter,” he added with a smirk, although Sam couldn’t possibly see that, but Zoey knew it was there. “Or my wife for that matter,” Leo finished his thought, earning a gale of laughter from the others and some huffing from Sam.
“Okay, who is next, Leo?” CJ asked.
“Zoey,” Leo said.
“Thank you, Leo,” Zoey said and then drew a deep breath. “I would like to be at a college party with friends,” she admitted.
“Let me be clear, Daughter…” Jed started but was cut short by Abbey.
“What kind of party?” she asked.
“A big one, maybe with a theme,” Zoey said.
“A theme?” Josh asked back.
“Yeah, like an ‘80s party or a ‘60s party,” Zoey explained. “Okay, CJ goes next,” she said then, not wanting to provoke another remark from her father.
“Well, you all had very nice ideas,” CJ acknowledged. “But I would like to be at home, talking to my father, drinking some champagne and then talk some more.”
“Really?” Jed asked. “Your father is a teacher, right, Claudia Jean?”
“Yes, sir,” CJ concurred.
“What would the two of you talk about?” Jed pressed on.
“Anything, everything, something,” CJ stammered.
“Oh, God, not you too!” Toby exclaimed.
“I mean,” CJ said, and Zoey was sure that she paused for a moment to glare at Toby, “we would talk about his pupils, my job, politics and probably barbecues.”
“Okay, who goes next?” Jed asked eagerly.
“You, sir,” CJ said.
“Well, I don’t play this game, CJ, so you can pick someone else,” Jed declined.
“You don’t play?” Zoey asked perplexed.
“Wouldn’t have any sense,” Toby inserted. “He is happy as it is. He wouldn’t want to be somewhere else. He enjoys himself here, torturing us, mocking us and making his little list,” he said with a smirk, and this time Zoey was sure that everybody noticed the smirk, although they were still sitting in the dark. “Isn’t that right, sir?”
“Yeah, as much as it pains me to admit it, Toby is right,” Jed confessed, eliciting a giggle from Zoey and Donna.
“Okay, but you could still say who goes next,” Zoey remarked.
“Good, Josh is next then,” Jed said, earning a groan from Josh.
“You didn’t think you could escape, did you, Josh?” Abbey asked him.
“No, ma’am,” Josh said meekly.
“And no lying, Harvard boy, you know I can see through you like glass,” CJ warned Josh.
“I don’t know why you thought I would be lying,” Josh said with clear indignation in his voice.
“Josh, you don’t like speaking about yourself,” CJ said quietly. “I understand and accept that. But this is such a game, and you agreed to play it. And we all knew that you were about to lie.”
“Really?” Josh asked, his question directed at the others.
“Yes, Josh, live with it,” Sam said. “Even if we don’t see your ‘poker face’ we are able to tell when you are lying,” he added.
“Really?” Zoey asked, thinking over what she heard. “I’m not a good observant then,” she admitted.
“Or he never lied to you,” Donna told her in a low voice.
“Really?” Zoey asked back.
“He is an honest man,” Donna said, and Zoey saw her nod. “Of course not so much with the Republicans, ‘cause then he can bluff like he was born that way” she added then with a chuckle.
“Thank you, Donatella,” Josh said, and Zoey was sure that his dimples were full in action.
“You are welcome, Joshua,” Donna said, patting his knee.
“Okay, Josh, tell us,” CJ spoke up, and Zoey had to admit that CJ really knew how to handle Josh.
“Well, I, on the other hand, would like to be somewhere warm,” he said matter-of-factly. “I would like to be on Hawaii, on a beach more precisely.”
“I thought you were also not an outdoorsman?” Jed asked him.
“Yeah, but the beach is nice, as my esteemed colleague put it, and it would be also warm there,” Josh added.
“And with whom?” Zoey asked, feeling her mother’s leg tense. She knew she was missing something because she also heard a sudden intake of breath from the direction of Toby.
“My future wife whoever that might be,” Josh said, and Zoey felt the tension dissipate in the room.
“Well, she certainly deserves Hawaii if she were ready to put up with you,” CJ remarked, sending the room into laughter again.
“CJ!” Josh whined but then joined the laughter too.
That’s when the door opened again, and Ron Butterfield, head of the presidential detail, entered the room.
GO TO PART FIVE