Six months till the election and this little backwater burg was going to play an important role whether they wanted to or not. I had already decided that this would be one of the key districts, I know it had never been a deciding district, hell in most elections if this district had forgot to turn in its ballots no one would have even taken notice. This election however was going to be different. Voter turnout is going to be at an all time high, and this poor schmuck was going to make sure it happened. Of course he didn’t know yet how much he wanted a high voter turnout but soon he would be all enthusiastic about get out the vote.
It was Wednesday I no longer even remembered the name of the person I was here to influence; not that their name really mattered. I knew everything about them I needed to, ambitious, power hungry, morale corrupt, and always willing to do whatever it takes to turn a profit. Same story different town, but hey it gets the job done. And if he decides to find a backbone I know the weaknesses also, drugs, alcohol, perversion, one way or another they always see it my way before I head of to the next town on my list.
As he ordered his third martini, on my tab of course, I slid a manila envelope across to him. One look at the contents and he was sure to be on board. The look of absolute horror on his face was priceless, no matter how many times this scene replayed itself it was always priceless, people never expect their dirty little secrets to fall into the hands of someone like me.
On cue my phone rings, “yes sir we are on schedule”.
“We are very happy that you have freely decided to come on board for the campaign, now don’t forget the voter turnout will be at an all time high. You have a population that traditionally votes at about 20 percent, you are going to guarantee me at least 80 percent. Is this understood? Oh don’t worry about answering I can see the excitement on your face.”
“Mr. …… I’m sorry I don’t believe I caught your name” he said as I dropped a couple of bills on the table and headed for the door.
“I’ll be back closer to election time to see that the arrangements are satisfactory. Maybe then I’ll introduce myself.’
The door slid shut behind me as I sighed “ amateurs”
At the same time I exited the diner a car pulled arrived at the curb, pointing the wrong direction, I quickly jumped in the passenger’s side and we accelerated.
‘How did the meeting go boss” the driver asked
“Same as they all go; he is probably still sitting there with his jaw on the floor staring at that envelope afraid to let the contents be seen by any of his loving neighbors.” I replied
As we continued down what passed for Main Street in this little town I reached in my briefcase for the next file.
“Well it looks like we are due to stop in Jonesboro this afternoon.” I stated after skimming over the file. “Put some foot into it lets try to get there early enough to find a hotel that isn’t run by a toothless wonder”
“GOD I miss civilization!” I sighed “what about you Max? You ever miss spending your time in posh hotels with fine women and finer whiskey?”
“Well I can’t lie about it, I miss the whiskey” Max stated with a glimmer in his eye, “the problem with big cities is everyone thinks they are more important than they are. Hell only about one percent of the population of this whole planet does anything that actually makes them more valuable than the cattle.”
“WOW, Max, when did you become such the philosopher?” I asked the big man behind the wheel.
