The Vote

I sat in the newsstand as the committee came to order. “SHAME! SHAME!” the closed captioning read on the television on the wall. The owner of the stand, Doug, sat across the table from me. He hung his head in his hands like a man completely out of control of his own future. An older woman with teeth like caramel corn walked in. “I’ll take a cinnamon roll,” she said.

She came over to the table and took Doug’s seat.

“Let’s call it what it is,” she said, referring to the television.

“We no longer live in a democracy,” the barista answered as he steamed some milk.

Typing away on a new blog post, I half-watched the television screen from the corner of my eye. Nothing to do now. We were in God country.

“I can’t believe it,” the woman said with a little amused smile.

“You can’t?” I asked.

She watched the television like a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons and said, “It’s 2017, and we’re still talking about people’s right to health care.” Taking another bite of her pastry, she stared in awe at the political theatre.

I didn’t know what the year had to do with it, so i just smiled. Seems to me like 2017 was the perfect year for this sort of thing. If we can say anything about 2017, we can say that it was above all was a year of surprises.

Back on the television, an old man walked into the senate chamber and everyone broke into applause. It was John McCain from Arizona. News of his recent brain tumor diagnosis sat like a ton of bricks on everyone’s chest in the room and beyond. The camera caught his pale face. Aside from the black stitches and blue bruising atop his left eye, he appeared to be in good spirits. A lifetime of public service will do that to a man. Walking to the front of the room, he cast his vote in the affirmative and took his seat.

The final tally: 50–50, a tie with the tiebreaker going to the Vice president. “The bill would proceed to debate,” said the NBC announcer as the newsstand fell cold.

“Can I have a large latte,” a customer asked, unaware of the collective mourning.

“For here or to go,” said the barista.

“Whichever is easiest.”

Vintage Volvos, Podcasts, Martial Arts, Home Cooking, Investment, Masculinity, Smelly Italians. Find Me@ http://trevorkeatonpogue.wixsite.com/work

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