“Tickets! Tickets! Buy your raffle tickets over here!” Keisha shouted, waving a blue ream of tickets in the air. “Tickets!”
“You’re way too into this,” Tanya muttered tersely. She leaned forward in her metal fold-up chair and smacked absently at a mosquito that was landing on her bare leg. “God, it’s hot out here!” Tanya fanned herself with a flyer.
Keisha rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses and smiled. “It isn’t that bad, Tanya.”
“I guess you’re right,” Tanya muttered. “I’ve had root canals that were worse.”
At that, Keisha couldn’t help laughing.
Though Tanya was acting as if the day were her perfect imagining of hell on earth, Keisha couldn’t help walking around with a slight hop in her step. She was actually enjoying herself.
Today was the opening day of St. Mary’s County Fair and it seemed every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Betty Sue had shown up at the grand event. Keisha was happy with the turnout. She and Phil Levine, the campaign director, had long ago decided that Dr. Parker needed to get more face time in the more rural parts of the congressional district, and what better way to do that than to go to one of the county fairs and mingle with voters?
While Dr. Parker muddled his way through judging the baby calf 4-H contest, many of his staffers volunteered at a few fairground stands. Phil was sure it was a good way for them to better learn about the more rustic voters. But most of the staff, including Tanya, thought trying to appeal to the rural conservatives in the southern counties was a lost cause, and they weren’t too happy about spending the day in “the sticks.” Only Keisha had been excited at the idea. Having spent most of her life in the inner city, she had never seen a farm or been to a county fair. This was her first chance to do both.
“I’ll take a ticket,” a plump woman in a pink visor and fanny pack said as she waddled over to Keisha and Tanya’s picnic table. Keisha leaned down to rip off a ticket, pushing her hair out of her face as she did so, and grinned.
“That’ll be two dollars!” Keisha said.
She had foregone her emblematic chignon today, sparing herself the half an hour of toiling with the blow dryer to get her hair straight. Instead, Keisha had gone for a more casual look befitting a county fair. Her voluminous tresses were held back by a blue headband and casually fell over her shoulders and down her back. She had also traded in her normal clean-line suit for a crisp white button-down shirt, which was rolled up to her forearms and tied at the waist. Her denim shorts showed a lot more leg than she was used to, but it seemed suitable, considering the hot weather. Her casual look made her appear several years younger than her age. She seemed more likely to be a college volunteer or a staff intern than the deputy campaign manager.
“What do I win?” the portly woman asked.
“Well,” Keisha explained as she pointed to a wicker basket on the table, “if we draw your number you could win this lovely gift basket and these spa coupons. It’s a local business in Leonardtown and they’ll do a facial and massage for two at half price.”
The woman’s blue eyes widened. “Wooow, that sounds nice! Doesn’t it?”
“It does indeed,” Tanya said drolly.
Keisha cut her eyes at Tanya before regaining her grin and returning her attention to the woman in front of her. “So come back at 2 o’clock for the drawing and see if you won.”
“I sure will,” the woman replied, nodding eagerly. She gave a quick wave. “You girls have a nice day!”
“You, too,” Keisha and Tanya chimed.
Keisha glanced down at Tanya. “Could you try to look less bored?”
“Not without a lot of effort,” Tanya muttered as she tugged at her tank top, glancing over her shoulder. She gave the first genuine smile she had given all day. “They’re back!” she said as she nudged Keisha’s leg. “So how were the calves?” she called out.
“Adorable!” Kelly, Dr. Parker’s press secretary, answered as she walked over to the table. The petite blonde frowned. “Kind of makes me feel bad about the veal I ate last night.”
Behind her trailed Dr. Parker and Phil Levine, their balding campaign manager, who was currently barking into his cell phone. At Dr. Parker’s elbow was a photographer, who was furiously snapping pictures, and Javon Houston, a reporter from The Baltimore Sun. The newspaper was doing a profile on Parker and the reporter had been shadowing him for the past two days.
Keisha had been elated when she heard Kelly had talked to the Sun editors and set up the story. Once the profile was published and voters got to know Dr. Parker, Keisha was sure they would admire him just as much as she did.
“So how’d the contest go?” Tanya asked as she stood from the table.
Kelly shrugged. “Fine, I guess. This cute little brown calf won. They got a picture of Sydney feeding it with this big bottle,” she said in a baby voice. “It was adorable!”
“It’ll probably make a great shot above the fold,” Houston said with a laugh as he politely broke away from Dr. Parker and stepped forward. He was tall and dark-skinned with a nice smile and dreads that hung in his eyes. He couldn’t be more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old, judging from his baby face.
Keisha smiled up at him politely. “So how’s the piece coming, Houston?”
He grinned. “Good, so far. I think I’ve got everything I need…with the exception of one or two things.”
Keisha raised her eyebrows expectantly. “What one or two things?”
She watched as he glanced at Kelly. Kelly smiled tightly and anxiously cleared her throat.
“Actually,” he began as he stared down at his feet and then met Keisha’s eyes with a timid gaze, “I was wondering if we could talk.”
“You need more background info about Dr. Parker, more anecdotes?” Keisha asked with a smile. She gestured to the picnic table. “Pull up a chair. I’ll tell you whatever you need.”
“Well,” he said, licking his lips and giving a sly grin as he stepped closer to her, “I was hoping we could do it a little more…privately.”
“Privately?” Keisha frowned in confusion. She stood silently for several seconds before laughing and slowly nodding her head with comprehension. “Oh! Oh, yeah. It is a little noisy out here, isn’t it? Well, you can always call me at the office or—”
“Actually,” he said, “I was hoping for something a little bit more private than that.” He winked, making Keisha frown.
“Umm, Keisha,” Kelly interrupted. “Could I talk to you for a sec?” She abruptly turned to Houston. “Could you excuse us?”
Keisha’s frown deepened as Kelly cryptically leaned her head toward one of the stands several feet away before walking in that direction. She followed her while Tanya politely smiled at the reporter before turning and scurrying after them. By the time they all reached a popcorn stand, Tanya was almost hovering over Keisha’s shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Kelly?” Keisha asked quietly. She pushed her sunglasses to her crown. At this point she was more than just a little puzzled.
Kelly let out a puff of air that raised her bangs. She crossed her arms over her flat chest and frowned. “Look, just don’t get angry at me when I tell you this. It isn’t as bad as it sounds.”
Keisha’s eyes narrowed. “What isn’t as bad as it sounds?”
“Just hear me out.” Kelly held up her hands and sighed. “Look, I had a hard time pitching this story to the editors at the Sun and I knew we had a good relationship with Houston, so I asked if he could sell it to his editors for me.” She sighed. “He agreed to do it under one or two…stipulations.”
Tanya adjusted the straps of her tank top. “Oh, here it comes. There’s always a catch.” She frowned. “Let me guess. Everything’s on the record? He’s running it side-by-side with a profile about Dupré?”
“No, nothing like that. His requests have more to do with who he talks to than how it’s done,” Kelly insisted. “He wanted total access to Parker…”
Keisha nodded. “Well, that’s understandable. You can’t write a profile if you—”
“…and to you, Keisha,” Kelly said with a look of guilt in her eyes.
Keisha paused. She pointed at her chest. “To me?” she asked in bewilderment. “Why does he need total access to me? I’m not the one he’s profiling.” She glanced over at Houston, who was talking to Dr. Parker again. He turned to Keisha, Kelly, and Tanya, waved and smiled.
“I don’t know,” Kelly said with a helpless shrug. “I guess you made a good impression on him the last time you two talked. I told him tentatively yes, but I said I had to clear it with you first. But I forgot to ask you and I just really, really wanted him to do the profile, Keisha.” She flapped her arms. “I was hoping he would forget the request once he started the interviews but it…seems like…he hasn’t. I’m sorry.”
Keisha stared at her, dumbfounded, and Tanya shrugged. “That’s your big revelation?” She sucked her teeth and waved her hand dismissively. “Girl, I thought it was something that was serious.”
Keisha’s brows furrowed as she glowered at Tanya. “It is serious!” she shouted, finally regaining her words. She turned an angry gaze on Kelly. “So what’s he expecting? What did he mean by ‘total access’?”
“I have no idea! I was afraid to ask,” Kelly mumbled, twisting her hands together. “Keisha, please, please just do this for me! Do it for Sydney!” she begged.
“Do what?” Keisha exclaimed.
Tanya shrugged. “Girl, it’s not that big a deal. Hell, Keisha, maybe you’ll even get a free dinner out of this,” she said with a laugh. “Tell him you’ll only agree to do the interview at an expensive restaurant on his tab. Make sure he has a good time, though, if you know what I mean.” She winked. “We could use the good coverage.”
Keisha gritted her teeth, ignoring Tanya’s words. “Kelly, tell Houston that if he has any further questions after he talks to Phil, I’ll be more than happy to answer them by phone or at my office,” she said, taking on an officious tone. “But so far as ‘total access’ to me is concerned, he can forget it.” She then turned on her heel.
“What?” Kelly yelled after her, her face red and crumpling with dismay. “But what if he won’t finish the profile?”
“The story is about Dr. Parker, Kelly,” Keisha said over her shoulder. “Not about me. And I don’t appreciate anyone attaching conditions like that to his profile. If Houston wants another interview, he should talk to Dr. Parker and Phil. If he’s just trolling for a date, I’m not interested.”
“But, Keisha…” Kelly begged.
“Where are you going?” Tanya yelled after her.
“To the bathroom!” Keisha shouted back, but that was a lie. She was fuming and wanted to be left alone.
Houston caught her eye as she walked by him. He smiled. She frowned grimly in return.
Men, she thought angrily as she stomped her way through the crowd. This was why she had decided to keep them at arm’s length during the campaign, and for most of her life for that matter. Some of them can be so damn sneaky, she thought with frustration. They were always trying to get something out of her. If it wasn’t William Blake trying to get into her head, it was this guy Houston trying to get into her…
“Total access,” she muttered as she pushed up her shirt sleeves against the heat. The day seemed to have gotten warmer.
And Keisha could only imagine what “total access” meant. No man had gotten “total access” to her since she was a naïve seventeen-year-old college freshman who had slept with the school basketball team’s point guard. She lost her virginity because he had played her emotions off those of another girl and made it seem like the only way Keisha could have him was if she had slept with him. But a week later, he still left her. The experience had been both physically and emotional painful and humiliating, but, more importantly, eye-opening for Keisha. That night when she limped home alone from his dorm room, she had promised she would never allow herself to be manipulated by any man again, and so far she had stayed true to her promise.
Keisha’s mother thought she was “inexperienced”, but, quite frankly, Keisha had chosen not to be very experienced. Of course, she dated men. She’d even kiss them. But that was where the intimacy always ended. She had never found one with whom she was willing to go past that point, willing to trust and let in again.