“You’re the President?! Jesus!”
“That’s kind of what I’ve been saying. How are you doing? I’m sorry I didn’t call before this, but it’s been crazy,” I admitted.
“I’ll bet! How are Marilyn and the kids handling this?”
“Okay, so far. They’re back home today, but they’ll be there at the Capitol tonight for my swearing in. Charlie is coming up from Camp Lejeune, too.”
“Carl, what can I do to help?”
I snorted out a laugh. “Know anybody honest who wants to come to work for me?”
“That’s pretty much a contradiction in terms, isn’t it?” he replied.
“Like you wouldn’t believe! There are times I think Diogenes was an optimist!” Marty laughed at that, so I asked, “Want to come to work over here?”
“Doing what?”
“No idea. I can put you on the staff. I don’t think you’ve got the experience to run the CIA or FBI.”
“Yeah, I read about that. I heard a rumor that you had to have Wolfowitz dragged out of the building. What a fucking putz!”
“I can neither confirm nor deny any such tale,” I told him.
“Yeah, well you can’t afford me. My wife has expensive tastes.”
I had to laugh at that, because it was true. I gave him a Presidential Order to come over sometime soon and visit.
Late that afternoon the intercom buzzed and a secretary said, “Visitors, sir.” They knew I wasn’t on the phone, since it would have gone through them.
“Send them in.”
There was a knock on the door and it opened. Captain Miller came through the door with somebody behind him. “Captain Miller reporting for duty with a detail of one, sir.” He stepped to the side, and there was Charlie, dressed in a Marine Battle Dress Uniform (a camo version of the fatigues I would have worn in those days.) and looking a touch bewildered. However, Marine habits are strong, and when Captain Miller came to attention, though with a smile on his face, Charlie automatically snapped to attention.
I smiled at Miller and said, “As you were.” Miller automatically relaxed, though Charlie took a few seconds.
“Dad? What’s going on? Is this real?” came jumbling out.
“Charlie, it’s good to see you again. I’m glad they found you. Where were you, by the way?”
“I was out on the firing range! All of a sudden they shut the whole thing down and a chopper lands and the Captain, he orders me and the Gunny to get back to the barracks and pack my stuff. I didn’t even get a chance to hit the head and clean up! Then I got thrown back on the chopper and taken to New River, where I was thrown on an airplane and flown to Andrews. And now I’m here! What is going on!?”
I had to laugh at this. To Captain Miller I said, “Congratulations, you got him here.” I turned to Charlie and asked, “Did you ever get to the head?”
“Yes, sir, in New River.”
I nodded. “Good. The long and the short of it, Charlie, is that tonight I am being sworn in as the President of the United States. Your mother and sisters will be coming down from Hereford this afternoon, in fact they should be down any time now. We need you to be in a good uniform to be with them. I’ll get you back to your base tomorrow.”
“You told me that I wouldn’t be taken from my battalion for this sort of stuff,” he responded.
“And I meant it. It’s just that, tonight, for this, I need you here. I’ll get you back to where you need to be tomorrow. Alright?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay. The Captain here will see that you get to the house. We’re still in the Naval Observatory. I’ll come home for dinner before we head over to the Capitol. We still have your uniforms in your room. You get over there and let Stormy out and get cleaned up.”
He smiled at that. “The Monster? Is she going to be there tonight, too?” By the time Charlie had gotten home from the deployment he’d been on when we got Stormy, she was gigantic, and he had taken to calling her The Monster.
“That would be all we’d need!” I laughed. “No, I think she’ll stay home. Listen, I promise, I will talk with you about any changes when I get home.” I moved towards my office door and the other two moved with me.
Charlie stopped in the door and turned to face me. “Dad, who did this? When do we hit back?”
“We’re working on that.”
“I want in on it! All the guys do! We have to do something!”
“Like I said, we’re working on it. If I need the Marines, I know the address.” Not if I can help it!
“Yes, sir.” He headed out the door, and then stopped again. “Who could do something like that?”
“Monsters, Charlie. Monsters.” I said to Captain Miller, “See he gets to the house. Thank you.”
Monsters — like I had become.
I was the last of the family to make it to the Naval Observatory. Marilyn and the girls had flown down as soon as they got home from school. I walked in to find Charlie cleaned up and in an old BDU, sitting on the floor and brushing out Stormy’s coat. Stormy was writhing on the floor in delight. Meanwhile the girls informed me that one of the major topics of conversation around Hereford High was their status as daughters of the President. I told them that this gave the Secret Service authority to shoot boyfriends. “Not funny, Dad!” I was informed.
Marilyn asked me, “Are you ready for this?”
“As ready as I will ever be. I can’t back out now.”
“Then we’ll be ready, too.”
I laughed and said, “I know you said you’d stick around for better or worse. Is this the better or the worse?”
“Ask me this time next year!” she replied, and then gave me a hug. “You’ll be America’s greatest President. A hundred years from now, historians will be telling people that Washington and Lincoln would have wanted to be as good as you. Your birthday will be a national — no, an international! — holiday! Children will be named after you! Churches will…”
“All right, enough out of you. I just hope I don’t blow up the country! Now, what’s for dinner?”
“The cook has a glazed ham going. Whenever you want to eat, say the word.”
I smiled. “Sounds good. Let’s do this now. I can change after dinner.”
We left about a quarter after seven, with me in a dark suit, Charlie in a Marine Corps Class A Service Uniform, and the ladies in knee length dresses and heels. Security was tight, with a convoy of vehicles. We rode in an armored limo, but not the official Presidential limousine. That was buried in the parking lot under the World Trade Center. I knew the Secret Service wouldn’t be happy until we were actually living in the Residence portion of the White House, but that couldn’t happen until Laura and the girls moved out. I couldn’t push them out. That would be pretty tacky for a guy who killed Laura’s husband and the twins’ father.
At the Capitol we separated. Marilyn and the kids would be watching from the gallery, like they did last January during the State of the Union speech. I was directed towards the Speaker’s office, where Denny Hastert was sorting out the ceremony. We really didn’t have any precedent for this. It wasn’t an inauguration, which is just an excuse for a big party. Likewise, while everybody was present in the House chamber, it wouldn’t be all smiles and congratulations, like in a State of the Union Address. Denny told me that they were passing the word that everybody was supposed to be quiet and somber.
“I’ve got John and Dave telling everybody to behave. There is to be nobody reaching out to shake hands in the aisle or whatever when you come in,” he told me.
“Let’s do it one better. When the doors open, how about we have the House and Senate leadership, the Majority and Minority Leaders and Whips, the eight of them, march me down the aisle in a phalanx. You can already be at your seat. They need to be down front for the vote anyway. Is Ashcroft still planning on asking them to vote?” I asked.