King of the Mountain:
Part 9


Lynn Jepsen


We've been in suspense all night.

They promised Lisa they'd come talk to her as soon as the tests were
finished. "Josh?" I don't bother to look up, just nod in the direction of
the voice. "Mark Reynolds is on the phone. He wants to speak with you at
your earliest possible convenience." I raise my head then. Rachel's
holding my cell phone away from her, covering the mouthpiece with one
hand. Sighing, I wave her over, and put the phone to my ear. Somehow, I
doubt I'm going to like this conversation.

"Good evening, Josh." What's so good about it, Mr. Speaker? There's
silence on the line then, and he apologizes quickly. "I don't mean to
bother you, Josh. I just wanted to extend my condolences." Condolences
aren't necessary. The governor will be fine. "Of course he will, Josh."
That patronizing tone of voice - I'm going to get hostile, I can feel it.
"I did want to talk to you about an endorsement. When the Governor
withdraws from the race, or, God forbid, worse, I was hoping on an
endorsement from your camp. Maybe a statement from Mrs. Seaborn,
yourself, the Bartlets, it doesn't have to be a big thing - one liberal
to another." Let's get something perfectly straight, Mark. There is no
way in hell I would have anything to do with electing you. Throw in the
fact that Mrs. Seaborn thinks of you as a slug, and I think you're
chances are pretty shot. Oh, and when we win the nomination, don't call
us - we'll call you... or not. Half the room jumps when I launch the
phone across the room. It breaks in half as it strikes the wall, and I
know someone will call the company eventually and get me another phone.

"Joshua." CJ's hand comes to rest on my arm, and I shake my head. I don't
want to hear it Claudia Jean. Brutus is sniffing my phone, and lumbers
over towards me. Great, I'm going to turn into dog chow. Just what I
don't need. Instead of barking or growling, or making me count my fingers
and toes just to make sure they're all attached, he plops down at my feet
and uses my shoes as a pillow. Great. Just what I need.

I can't believe I've been here all day. There are so many other things we
should have done today. Leigh called me earlier. The command center's
been set up, and everyone's operating under the assumption that this is
just a temporary set back. It sure as hell better be temporary. If it's
not, I'm going to call Mrs. Bartlet and ask to borrow her ouija board.
Don't think I'm not going to yell at you, Sam. No matter what, I'm going
to yell at you. What were you thinking?

"Come on Brutus, let's go for a walk." I don't believe it. Toby and
Brutus bonded! Not that that's so surprising. They do share a personality
after all. Brutus tags behind our balding and grumpy teddy bear and I
realize CJ and I are alone in the waiting room. Where is everyone?
"Rachel and Ramon went down to the cafeteria, and Paul took Meghan and
Evan to the airport. Diana and Sarah are flying in. Oh, and Margaret
drove down to the train station. Leo and the Bartlets are on their way."
Okay, but where's Lisa? CJ gives me this little confused look then.
"Actually, I don't know. Maybe she went back to headquarters with the
volunteers. Maybe she went for a walk...."

We didn't talk much during our period of aloneness. I really didn't have
anything to say, and I doubt CJ did either. The waiting room is starting
to bustle again though. Margaret brought the old guard back first. Leo
has already barked at every doctor in sight, with no more success than
I've had, and Mrs. Bartlet disappeared with Lisa almost twenty minutes
ago. Only Zoey and Charlie are still in the waiting room with us, and
Zoey looks positively sick. Don't we all.

"Josh?" CJ looks pretty damn surprised when I jump up and throw my arms
around Sarah. She feels a lot lighter than she did on Friday, and I
wonder how she's doing. "How is he?' I shake my head, and she chokes on a
sob. Nonononono, I didn't mean it that way. They're running some tests.
They're worried about a head injury or something. They said not to worry.
"Don't worry? Don't they understand how valuable that brain is?" I can
hear Ramon blowing through the door, and Rachel must have been close
behind, because Sarah let's go of me just enough to pull her daughter
into our hug. The twins throw their reservations out the window then, and
Sarah and I find ourselves in the middle of a bear hug.

*

"Hey buddy." Sam doesn't answer, but his eyes follow me around the room.
"You know, they're gonna take that tube out in a little while and you can
talk all you want." He blinks at me, and I get the sense that he's a
little foggy and a little irritated. "For now though, I get to talk, and
you get to listen.... What were you thinking? You do not get to go out at
five in the morning by yourself. Are we clear on that?" I pause long
enough to calm myself down and let him give a weak nod. "If you thought
Margaret was controlling before, you ain't seen nothing yet. We've been
going over your schedule ever since they told us your were gonna be
fine." Going over his schedule isn't the right description. We've managed
to assure he will have a keeper every moment for the next month. We're
still working on February, but I'm sure we'll manage to babysit him
properly from now on.

"Now, just in case you haven't noticed, you're going to have to take it
easy for a few weeks. Nothing that we can't work around." Lisa and Sarah
literally screamed with joy when they said there was no brain injury. Of
course, the broken leg and the broken ribs, and of course the concussion,
damped our enthusiasm, but it was good. "And we've alienated Reynolds
completely." He glares at me then, and I wonder what I ever did for him
to assume I was the one to alienate Reynolds. Okay, so I did actually
alienate Reynolds, but that was beside the point.

"Joshua." Lisa walks in then and reminds me that torturing the patient is
a bad idea. She kisses him on the cheek and evicts me from my seat.
"Josh, if you don't sleep, you're not going to be able to work tomorrow."
I have to work tomorrow? What happened? "Oh, and Leo's waiting for you."

Well, this ought to be interesting.

King of the Mountain: Part 10

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