Girl Power (15 page)

"Oh that? I was at the doctor's office."

"For four hours? How come your secretary didn't tell me?"

"I forgot to tell her. Is there something wrong with that?"

"I guess not. It's just that when I need to get a hold of you, I need to get a hold of you. Did you have your phone with you?"

"The sign said turn cell phones off and I forgot to turn it back on. Sorry.

What do you need?"

"Well since you were at the doctor, I guess you missed The Winfred Opry

Show."

"I told you I don't watch her. What about it?"

"We've got big problems."

"Why? Our super-PAC ads have worked like gold and we're ahead in the

polls."

"It's that women's group, SAFE. They've decided to run that Cummings

woman."

"For Mannogue's seat, I know."

"No, Crowe. She's going to run for president. This is serious."

"Yeah, it's a problem, but a minor one. She's an unknown in a brand new

party."

"Oh yeah? They announced on the show, they expect to have five million

members by the end of the month."

Hmm, that could be a problem.
"That's still only a tiny fraction of the electorate."

"Are you kidding? From zero to five million voting members in one month,

I'd say that's a problem. If you extrapolate that for the next seven months, that gives them over thirty million votes."

"Even if they signed up thirty million voters, that's still not enough to win."

"Maybe, I hope you're right, but there's no rule others—democrats,

independents even republicans—can't vote for her. Besides, you haven't heard

her vice president choice yet."

"Who?"

"It's Winfred Opry, herself. She may be the most universally known and

popular woman in the world. Christ, even our bigoted rubes love her. I think this is more than a minor problem. It's more like a major catastrophe."

Crowe paused while the news sunk in.
An all women presidential ticket with

Winfred Opry as VP.
"She can't do that, Boss. She has her TV show and network to run." "She's doing it. I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears.

Now, I wish we hadn't spent all that super-PAC money on smear ads against

Taylor. Cummings is probably a more dangerous challenger."

Crowe fought off a smidgen of glee at the thought they'd wasted hundreds

and hundreds of millions of dollars of billionaire riches smearing the wrong

candidate. "Yeah, it's a shame. Just go back to your moneymen and tell them the price of owning the most powerful country in the world has gone up."

"Yah, I'll have to, but if you go to the well too often, sooner or later, it runs dry." "Is it in danger of running dry?"

"Not yet, but if we lose this election with high unemployment and the

economy in our favor, they might have second thoughts in future elections."

Crowe sneered. "Well, we're not exactly running the greatest candidate in

the world with Cooper Richardson III."

"I agree, but Crowe, they don't care who we picked to run as long as he's

malleable."

"Well, Coop is certainly that."

"I know, and that is good. Our patrons are paying for candidates who agree

with their special needs. Candidates who pass and sign the bills for those needs into law."

Crowe shivered and scrunched his nose. He knew what some of those

special needs were. "Boss. Are you just venting or do you have something you want us to do?"

"Yes, I have something I want you to do. I'm still working the details out in my oversized head, but I think we should embed a mole inside their hierarchy.

Someone you'd trust with your life."

"I can do it, but it'll probably cost a bundle of money."

"Crowe, trust me, they may moan about it, but money is the least of our

problems, for now."

"Whatever you say, boss."

"Just be careful, if this ever got out, it could be very embarrassing for both of us—especially you. That is why no one, and I mean no one, must know about

this besides you and me."

"Yes boss."

"Good. Keep me informed and let me know when our mole is in place."

"I'll do that, sir, and when he's in place, I'll let you know who he is sir."

"Crowe, "Don't you think a female spy would be less conspicuous in a

women's organization?"

"Absolutely, sir."

"Good. I don't want to know who she is. I need deniability. I could get in

serious trouble for coordinating policy with you. I only want to know what our

spy reports."

"Yes sir. I'll get right on it."

Crowe waited for an answer, but heard silence. Karol Rogue had hung up.

~ * * ~

Crowe scratched his head.
Who can I get and how?
The spy has to be a

woman—one who's classy and reasonably smart.
Someone who doesn't have a

political history that can be checked.
Hmm, that leaves out anyone who works here.

Jesus, this was going to be an effing bitch. Someone loyal and trustworthy, who

believes in the cause. That's going to be harder than killing a zigzagging rabbit with a six-shooter.

God, it's hot in here.
Crowe loosened his tie.
I can't think here.
Crowe swiveled his chair around and gazed out the window wall. The sky was clear and the sun

shone brightly. I gotta get outta here. Crowe could see the top of the Washington Monument. I need to go home. He grabbed his smart phone, rose and headed out

the door, pausing at his secretary. "Priscilla, I have some things to do. I'll see you in the morning."

"All right Mr. Magnon."

~ * * ~

Sally, Lindy, and Lee, didn't get back to the SNC office until 5:30, but

instead of finding an empty office, they found another celebration underway.

Sally didn't know how they managed it, but a large banner presided over the

festivities, hung from the ceiling, 'WE LOVE PRESIDENT CUMMINGS'.

However, the three of them, especially Sally, didn't get much of a chance to

celebrate. The media descended on them. Word had spread.

From time to time, as she answered various correspondents' questions, Sally

spotted Brenda and Mickey Adams ogling each other or hugging or kissing.

Obviously, their romance was continuing nicely. When her eyes met Mickey's,

he smiled his corny smile, held up a notepad, then mouthed,
"interview?"

Sally, was almost finished answering questions from a Wolf News

correspondent. "Excuse me, there is something I must tend to." Without waiting for an answer, she took off.

I wonder how Wolf News will portray today's events? Crackpot Congresswoman to
run for President on all pink ticket. Winfred Opry loses her mind and agrees to be pink
VP
. Sally chuckled.

She gathered the young lovers up and herded them into her office. Locking

the door behind, her she turned to them. "I needed some peace and quiet,

anyway."

Easing up to them, she embraced both of them, then asked, "How have you

two been?"

"Fine. Mickey and I have decided to be exclusive for the time being."

Mickey wrapped an arm around Brenda. "Yeah, I really dig Brenda." With stars in their eyes, they gazed at each other. "We're sort of going together, aren't we?"
What a lovely couple.
Love can be so fleeting sometimes. I hope this lasts.
Sally would like to get nosy about her girl Friday's love life, but that could wait. Right now, she wanted to catch up on what happened in the two days they'd been

gone. "I think that's wonderful. Now, tell me about this party. Somebody said it wasn't just for the announcement on Winfred's show."

"That's right. About eleven o'clock, as expected, we hit three million

members. Like when we hit one million and two million, we planned to have a

small after work celebration—you know, wine or champagne with cheese and

crackers. However, that changed when you announced you would run for

President. What's more, within an hour, we'd picked up another million

members. The way it's going, we should hit
five
million members by noon tomorrow."

Sally's mouth dropped open. "Isn't that something?"

Mickey chuckled. "Yes, it is Ms. Cummings. You're in the big leagues now.

I'd love to get another interview from you, but it's getting late so for now I'd settle for a quote from the future President Cummings."

Sally smiled. "You got it. Got your pen and paper ready?"

He took his arm from around Brenda's shoulder and reached in his coat

pocket. "Let me get my recorder out. I have a feeling it's going to be long. Okay, go ahead."

"Not too long I hope, but I am ad-libbing." Sally took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes. Today, I announced my intention to run for the Presidency of the

United States of America. If you think that as the head of the newly formed

women's political party, 'Stand Aligned For Equality', my purpose in running is

to identify and protect women's rights, you would be half-right.

"Why only half? Because women comprise only half of the country's

population. If fortunate enough to be elected President, I intend to govern with equity, fairness, and compassion for men and women, for all the people of our

wonderful country."

Chapter Twelve – Week Five

There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make

laws and elect lawmakers." —
Susan B. Anthony

"Hello. This is Jenny Schmidt."

"Hi, Jenn. It's Lindy."

"Hi, Lindy. I heard the big news. I guess you'll be running a presidential

campaign."

"Looks that way. I might get some advice from Lee Casey from time to

time." "That should work out just fine. What can I do for you?"

"I need you and your workers to get Sally and Winfred signed up and on

the ballot in all fifty states and the territories."

"That'll be a major job."

"I know. Do what you can from Baltimore. If you need more help, Carla and

Brenda might be able to help. If you need boots on the ground, try to use our

candidates and members in the various states."

"It's a huge job, but we have over seven months before Election Day. I think we can handle it. I'll go after the states with the earliest deadlines first. Just get a list of candidates and members, by state and I'll start working on it."

"We have six million members now. It's too many to print, even by state.

Can I email the lists to you?"

"Yes, I'd prefer that."

~ * * ~

Millie rang Sally on the intercom. "Sally, Sally, Winfred Opry wants to

speak with you."

"Thanks, I'll take it." Sally placed the phone's handset to her ear. "Good morning, Win."

"Hi, Sally. I feel great this morning and you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I feel like I'm finally supporting a candidate who is beholden to no one and truly wants to serve all the people.

"So, did you get bombarded by journalists yet?"

Sally laughed. "Yes they ambushed me at our headquarters. What about

you?"

"More than I could count. I finally turned them over to Dillon and let him

speak for me. I'm actually finding this quite refreshing. I think I needed a

change—something new in my life. When do we start actually campaigning?"

Sally laughed again. "Sweetheart, you are campaigning. You need to be in

campaign mode from the time you wake until you go to sleep, seven days a

week. Now you have to weigh and worry about everything you say. There are

many pitfalls, but I'm sure if anyone can handle it, you can. As for stumping and speeches, that will come. There's a lot of time between now and the first Tuesday in November."

"True. Other than I like talking with you, the reason I called is, I would like to get daily tallies on membership. Is that doable?"

"Sure. Anything else?"

"Up-to-date candidate totals."

"No problem. I'll have, Brenda Morris, my 'girl Friday,' call you as soon as we're done. She's a doll. You'll like her.

"Great. Thank you. Another reason I called is I would like to host the

nucleus of your party on my show—not together, but one at a time. I'd also like

to host some of your major candidates. Dillon and I talked this over and we

realize it's going to be hard to keep the show going while I'm campaigning, so

we're going to start recording three or four shows a day."

"I think we could arrange that. Win, if we beat all odds and happen to win, what are you going to do about your show? You can't keep your show going and

be vice president."

"We can't? I thought Presidents and Vice Presidents could do anything," She snickered.

"Win really!"

She laughed. "Dillon and I talked about it. I'm sure we wouldn't have a

problem finding a capable replacement. Oh, one more thing. Let me know the

second you get the first polls that show you in the presidential race as a

candidate."

"Of course. Anything else you can think of?"

"Anything else. Let's see…God, my mind has been speeding a hundred

miles a minute since I agreed to run. Yes, there is something else. I was thinking of adding a political show into our lineup, Women in Politics. "What do you think?"

"Win, I love it. That's a great idea."

"Good, do you think any of your main people could host it?"

"I don't know. Two or three seem like they'd be talented TV hosts, but

you're in Chicago and we're in Maryland."

"Don't worry, we could handle that locally. We do it all the time. Any

suggestions for a host?"

"Kelly Cahill would be good. She reminds me of Kathie Lee Gifford. Also

our PR lady, Carla Mehlman, and our lawyer Jennifer Schmidt would be good.