Chapter Forty-Five

Natalie sat at her desk in the National Patriots HQ, her fingers merrily clicking away at the keyboard.

Kurt was sitting near her and marveled as in front on his gaze a strictly organized list of bullet points for Mister Eberstark’s forthcoming interview took shape in a matter of minutes.

Tomorrow Eberstark would be a guest in the morning Opinion Hour show, which claimed to be watched by half the nation.

The host, Rachel Feist, was a shrewd journalist. While she wasn’t likely to attack Eberstark, she would certainly make him sweat as she nit-picked what her monitoring team prepared from the available info concerning the National Patriot agenda.

So now, Natalie prepared the likely questions which Rachel would ask and the answers which Eberstark must give. Alternatively, when that was impossible, at least the general framework within which he should improvise.

Question: You say that the government spends too much money on wars. Do you believe that the budget for the army should be smaller?

Answer: Evade this trap by saying: I have the deepest respect for our fighting men and women and realize that they deserve the best equipment, training and living conditions which money can buy. I do believe that at least the mainstream arms deals must be opened to public scrutiny and therefore public control.

Likewise, I am certain that an unbiased audit would show how costs in the army can be reduced without the need to inconvenience our brave soldiers. True honesty, transparency, and accountability, will certainly help make our army better.

Question: Do you think that failing big businesses and banks should not be bailed out by the government?

Answer: You’ve already committed yourself, so you can’t evade the issue. Say that helping big businesses must be done in a more transparent way, with greater control and with direct responsibility.

Possible topic: Pensions—say that retirement age must be dropped immediately back to seventy, and that a committee must be formed, to figure out how to make possible bringing it down even further .

General position: Ignore any presented facts and go for pathos. When the welfare and dignity of our honest and hard working citizens is concerned, we must not say “It’s impossible”, we must ask: “How do we make it possible?” Nothing is impossible for our great nation, as we have proved time and time again, and it is most emphatically not impossible to allow dignity and comfort for our deserving fathers and mothers.

Kurt grinned at Natalie. He had found her quite attractive initially, but now she looked even more attractive.

Beyond attractive.

There was an air of self-confident leisure in her every movement, and when she talked her eyes looked into the eye of the other person, but without any challenge, just making contact.

He was supposed to be working with her, but she obviously didn’t need him and only listened to his comments and ideas out of politeness.

“I’ll go get us some chocolate,” he said and stood up. At least he could make himself useful by purchasing something to feed the beautiful mind inside this beautiful head.

The beautiful head turned to him for a second. “Yes that we great Kurt,” she said curtly, “and a coffee please. Cream, no sugar.”

Kurt nodded with a smile, but all that was wasted, because Natalie was already re-submerged, continuing her typing.