‘Can I have a word, Mr. President?’
‘Sure.’ John Woods sat in the Oval Office, finishing tying up his shoelaces before turning to look at Teddy. ‘Is it me, or is it this sofa…? Can you feel it? It’s like leaning on a goddamn corkscrew.’
‘You often do that?’
‘I do now.’
Teddy pressed the back cushion of the cream floral couch. ‘Yeah, okay… I feel it. Think it’s a spring. I’ll get June to speak to maintenance.’
‘Thanks… Anyway, what’s up?’
‘I know this is off schedule, but I need to run something by you.’
Naomi Tyler, an honours graduate of the University of Kentucky and a former communications director of the vice president, who’d been recently appointed as the newest of John Woods’s senior advisors, clutched her mobile. ‘Sorry, Teddy, you’ll have to make this later. We’ve got a bi-partisan meeting on the Clean Power Plan, with only a five minute window before the Women in Science conference begins, plus we’ve then got an out of towner – West Virginia – regarding the epidemic of prescription drug abuse in America.’
‘Remind me, why West Virginia?’
‘Because it’s the state that’s home to the highest rate of overdose deaths in the nation… It’s all in the speech, sir. There’s time to look over it on the way there, but bear in mind we’ve also got to facilitate your call to the president of Uruguay, which should’ve happened last week. We’ll have approximately twenty-five minutes, but of course that’s rounded off, which means…’
Teddy interrupted. ‘Jesus, Naomi. By the time you’ve gone through the whole schedule, I could’ve had the conversation.’
‘You can’t do a walk and talk?’
Teddy Adleman stared in dismay. ‘Naomi, if I’d wanted to do that, don’t you think I would do…? Mr. President, help me out here.’
‘Can’t it wait?’
Teddy said, ‘I don’t think it should.’
‘Okay… Naomi, give us a moment.’
‘Mr. President, we really can’t afford the time.’
Woods put his hand on Naomi’s shoulder. ‘Naomi, I tell you what, why don’t you go get yourself a sandwich and whilst you’re at it, try and relax.’
Naomi Tyler visibly jerked. Her smooth black skin beginning to patch from stress.
‘Mr. President that just isn’t possible. By the time I go and get it and then get back here, even if I ran, the schedule will be out by… at least eighteen minutes.’
‘Naomi… Naomi. Breathe. Calm down. I was joking, okay. I know there’s no time to go, I just love your reaction. Listen, wait outside the office. I’ll be with you in a minute.’
Naomi gazed down at her phone. Then at Woods. ‘Mr. President, would that be a literal minute, or…’
‘Naomi, just go.’
*
Listening to Teddy, Woods gulped back his milky white nothing-fancy coffee.
‘I’ve had a few interesting conversations with Donald Parker.’
‘Recap.’
‘He owns Nadbury Electronics.’
‘Yeah, of course. At the fundraiser. Interesting guy.’
‘More than that. He’s a great supporter of yours, and the administration. I’ve spoken to a few people and he also had a good rep when it came to supporting Obama’s administration. Fundraising and campaign donations. He’s been around for quite a while and there’s a lot of respect for him within the party. There are number of senators who owe their seat to him through his funding of their campaigns. And therefore he has a lot of favors he’s able to pull in when it matters.’
As Woods listened, it struck him how Teddy had noticeably aged from when they first set out on the presidential trail a couple of years ago. His neat, relaxed, short hair, once a fine afro, had receded and thinned and grayed dramatically. Though in fairness to Teddy, he wasn’t the only one. All of them, himself included, seemed to have been afflicted with the more-salt-than-pepper hair pandemic seemingly associated with the presidential office.
‘I know it’s not the usual way to do things, but I wouldn’t suggest you speaking to him if I didn’t think it might be of use to us. It seems he could really be helpful.’
‘How so?’
‘If you don’t mind, I’d rather not brief you on what he’s got to say.’
‘You been drinking Teddy? Because, apart from Naomi, I don’t know one other person who likes to brief as much as you do. Right down to the last semi-colon.’
Teddy smiled. Adjusted the buckle of his belt. ‘I know, maybe I’m totally off-road here, but for some reason I really want you to hear what Donald Parker has to say first-hand. See what your initial reaction is.’
Woods swirled round his coffee, wanting to drink the last visible drops but at the same time wanting to avoid drawing up the skin of milk encircling the inside of the cup.
‘Okay. Let’s do it.’
Teddy pressed the intercom on the desk. ‘Joan, get Mr. Parker on the line. It was the number I gave you when I came in this morning. Oh, and tell Naomi not to have a coronary. The president will be out in a couple of minutes. But, say to her, I can’t guarantee them being literal ones.’