Altered America by Ingham Martin T. & Kuhl Jackson & Gainor Dan & Lombardi Bruno & Wells Edmund & Kepfield Sam & Hafford Brad & Wallace Dusty & Morgan Owen & Dorr James S

Author:Ingham, Martin T. & Kuhl, Jackson & Gainor, Dan & Lombardi, Bruno & Wells, Edmund & Kepfield, Sam & Hafford, Brad & Wallace, Dusty & Morgan, Owen & Dorr, James S. [Ingham, Martin T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Martinus Publishing
Published: 2014-03-27T00:00:00+00:00

The Union Forever

by Sean Menken

There are times when a man deserves a drink, and there are times when a man needs a drink. Joseph Dalton thought he belonged in the first category, but as the night went on and more reports came in it was clear that he was in the second category. Everyone knew going into Election Day that it was going to be a close one, but it had seemed that he had managed to eke out a win for the National Party. Instead, the seats that were supposed to be safe had been closer to the margin, which didn’t bode well for the races that were supposed to be close.

His poor mood was compounded by the poor mood of everyone else at the party headquarters. The festivity had died down and now everyone was huddled around the wave receivers or phones waiting to hear the next result. The far end of the wall had a giant chalkboard that was keeping tally of the new government. There were still eight races that had yet to be called, and those eight races would determine the fate of the state. While the National Party and its coalition partners had managed to keep control of at least one branch of the government. The first disappointment of the night had been an early result in the governor’s race for the Liberty Party.

Another race was called, this one in Baltimore County for the Liberty Party. At this point Joseph stopped drinking—the way things were going he needed a clear head more than he needed something to comfort him. The Liberty Party only needed three more seats to take the legislature with a supermajority. He wasn’t the only one who needed to have a clear head and walked around the hotel ballroom to make sure that some others had stopped drinking as well.

Jimmy and Danny Bach were watching the vote board, no doubt trying to figure out if they could trade anything to keep the legislature. The two weren’t known for drinking prematurely—or drinking at all, for that matter—but Joseph still wanted to check on them to see if the results had pushed. “You two come up with anything?” he leaned in close to ask them, so as to not draw any unwanted attention.

“Not yet” Danny replied.

Without missing a beat Jimmy chimed in, “Everyone we could talk to lost, slim chance that we might be able to work something out, but it’s far more likely that we’ll have to rely upon your plan.”

The other person he needed to talk to was hoarding one of the phones near the wall and tapping his fingers on the table rhythmically. “How you holding up, Mario?”

He hadn’t even noticed Joseph approaching him and was broken out of his trance when he heard the question. “Oh you know... it’s the waiting I hate. Makes me think back to Havana and the Spanish. I’m guessing you came around to make sure I was still on board with that plan of yours? Don’t worry about me, you just give the word.