[email protected]
MY GUESTBOOK
�I got it,� I said, taking the Blackberry from a terrified and confused kid from earlier whose name I was pretty sure was Otto before going into Josh�s office.
�Otto gave you that? What are you scared to face me you little�� Josh said angrily.
�Josh,� I said, cutting him off and finding myself acting as the voice of reason, once again.
Josh was jumping he was so hopped up on a dangerous combination of caffeine, exhaustion, and stress. If I accomplished nothing else on this trip to DC I was going to make sure that Josh visited his cardiologist. Or make sure that Donna started getting after him again. The latter would probably be much easier for everyone. �I need that.�
�In a minute,� I said, slamming down a file on the TV before closing the door. The last thing Josh needed was his staff listening to what I was about to say to him. �I didn�t come here because you�re such a silver-tongued recruiter or �cause I got tired of summer in January. Santos may be the future of this country once. For all the partisan noises made on the margin we�re a country of centrists and he may just be the right man with the right message at the right time and if he is� I want to be a part of it. But he can�t do it without you. Liberal Democrats are going to try to force him left, Moderate Republicans are going to fence-sit as long as they can; you�re the one that�s got to make this go. Who�s gotta to cut through the reflexive demagoguery and timidity and make people do what they were sent here to do. Actually govern. Serve the voters interests� instead of striking poses and playing �gotcha�. It�s going to be next to impossible if you are at your best and, what may only be news to you, you are nowhere near your best. Take the vacation. I haven�t said I�m signing on but I can tell you this: I won�t stay unless you go. One of us is getting on a plane tonight. If it�s you, you�re back in a week. If it�s me, I�m gone, adios, for good.�
I put the blackberry down on top of Josh�s plexi-glass cube that housed a baseball autographed by the entire current line-up of the Mets. �Your call,� I said before walking out of Josh�s office and closing the door, leaving Josh to think about what I had said.
�Is he okay?� the woman who had earlier introduced herself as Ronna asked.
�Honestly I don�t know,� I admitted.
�Is this� Donna, um� Donna Moss� she told me to look for signs of something� she didn�t say why� I�ve heard rumours, but you never know about how much is truth, if there�s any truth at all, in gossip like this,� Ronna said.