King of the Mountain:
Part 36


Lynn Jepsen


When I open my eyes, my wife and daughter are curled up in my arms. This
is.... This is so great. I mean, I might not be President, but I'm better
off now than eleven months ago when I embarked on this insanity. Then I
realize it's six am and someone is pounding on my bedroom door. I drag
myself out of bed, and crack the door enough to see Josh and Lily
standing outside with a bottle of champagne and a the early edition of
the Bee. I've had two hours of sleep. Go away. "Hey, Toby wanted to wake
you up an hour ago. Diana's polishing your speech." Can't I wait until,
say, tenish to concede? "Who's conceding, Mr. President?"

What the.... "Remember HR 56?" Vaguely. Wasn't that the one Glasscock
vetoed on the appropriations adjustments? "Yup. Guess what else was in
it?" It's six am. Don't make me guess. "The agriculture package. We won
Kansas." Josh keeps talking, rattling off information about percentages
and exit polls, but I'm feeling a little weak in the knees right now. I
think I'll sit down right here. Lily scrunches up her face, like she's
trying not to laugh at the image of me sitting on the floor, and I hear
Lisa calling my name when Josh wakes her up.

"Come on, sir, get dressed. We've got to get you downstairs." Lisa is
rummaging through the closet and I manage to convince the dynamic duo
that we can dress ourselves just fine. I'm not too confident about that,
but, hey, I'll give it a shot. Elle is trying to crawl off the edge of
the bed, and I grab her, and I tickle for a moment before Lisa starts
throwing clothes on the bed. I can think of one person who'll have an
easy job. The head of Elle's Secret Service detail's going to have to
take up knitting or something, because I'm guessing it's going to be easy
to keep tabs on a one-year old.

"Sam." Yeah? "You're the President-elect." Yeah. "We're going to the
White House." Yeah. "You're going to run the country." Yeah. "The free
world will look to you as an example." Yeah. "In shock?" Yeah. Lisa takes
Elle out of my arms then, and she kisses my forehead before disappearing
into the nursery. She tells me she'll meet me downstairs as the door
closes. Wow. I'm the President. What was I thinking?

When I walk downstairs, I find most of my staff gathered in my living
room. This is odd. This is a once in a lifetime experience. This is the
governor's mansion, and I'm moving to the White House. I think I'm going
to sit down again. Lisa comes down the stairs then, carrying Elle, and
Josh starts rattling off all the gory details of our slim victory. Let's
save that until later. Could someone point me in the direction of the
speech I'm supposed to be giving? Lisa slips her hand in mine as we step
out onto our lawn, which has disappeared beneath throngs of supporters.
Didn't anyone go home last night?

*

The only flaw in the celebration is the loud and volatile argument taking
place on the front stairs. Rachel and Josh are both fighting with my
sister, and I'm thinking this could get ugly. I mean, Josh fighting with
Sarah is bad enough - fights with exes are never bloodless, but Rachel
and Sarah fighting is brutal. That whole mother-daughter dimension makes
me fear Elle's teen years a little more than I thought possible.

I know what they're arguing about. It's the same thing they've been
arguing about since October. Rachel wants Sarah to let her graduate so
she can keep working for Josh. We're never homeschooling Elle. I'm sure
Lisa and I will argue enough about Elle's education without stuff like
that. I think Sarah's starting to waffle though. Last month she was
adamant. This month she's been solid. Now, she's starting to yell back
and forth with Josh and Rae, which is has got to be the death knell for
her argument. Mrs. Bartlet is hugging Lisa and I'm pretty sure they're
discussing Elle, but I'm too busy trying to keep up with Ramon's train of
thought. Leo's interrupting Josh's argument, and I've got to think
Sarah's in over her head now. Arguing with politicians is an acquired
skill. I don't think she's acquired it. That's why she and Josh didn't
work out.

"Mr. President, isn't this great!" Diana gushes as she glances around the
room. Yeah, and I liked the use of patriotism in the speech. She blushes
a bit at the compliment, and I'm sure we could talk for days about the
upcoming Inaugural address, but then Lisa is standing beside me, and
Diana makes a quick escape. What? Did I miss something?

King of the Mountain: Part 37

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