Tom tugged at the collar of his dress shirt in distress.
"Remind me again why I'm attending this snobby nonsense?" he asked.
"Because A, I finally got the nerve to introduce you to my parents, B, a dinner party gives us an excuse to hide in a crowd if needed, C because this white dress looks amazing on me, and D because you look even more amazing than usual in that tux," Sydney said, readjusting his tie. "Now for God's sake, try to keep your politics somewhat moderate tonight."
She gave his cheek a kiss then rang the doorbell.
Tom fiddled with his tie before muttering, "I make no promises". The door was answered by Alan, who was also dressed in a tuxedo in lieu of the baggy attire he walked around the dorm halls with.
"Well, if it isn't my widdle sister!" he said in a snarky tone "And there's the commie himself! C'mon in, Mom and Dad have been wanting to see the two of you!" The house was filled with buffet tables and lit chandeliers. Various big-wigs of the political and economic spheres of society chatted each other up, sipping champagne and laughing.
Sydney grasped Tom's hand and said quietly, "Just for the night, OK?" Tom sighed and nodded, continuing to walk forward as Alan lead the way upstairs. Tom's eyes twitched at the sight of all the decadence. Whilst these spoiled, pampered, and privileged few enjoyed fine wines and lobster, there were thousands of their fellow human beings worldwide deprived and made to suffer indignity.
"No no, stay calm. For Sydney" he thought "Just for one night. Just one night." Alan lead the pair to a large room on the third floor of the house, where a small group of people sat at a long table sipping cognac and smoking cigars.
"Oh mother!" Alan called out. A woman at the right-end of the table, with a full glass of wine got up. She was just around her 60s, in a dark blue blazer with a small gold necklace, and a poofy, faded blonde haircut. She rushed excitedly from the table and embraced the siblings.
"Oh, Alan, Sydney! So good to see you again!" she said. She turned to Tom and shook his hand with great intensity. "Oh, and this must be Tom! So nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you as well, Senator Brednar." Tom said nervously.
"Oh, I'm away from the office, you can call me Mrs. Brednar," she said "Come, come, have a seat. As I understand from Alan you're quite the political thinker. I do like to talk shop when I'm not stuck in an office".
Sydney looked nervously at Tom, who in turn shrugged. The three took a seat down at the end of the table, near Mrs. Brednar. Alan wore a tremendous smirk and eyed Sydney. Sydney looked away in frustration, then gave a nervous look to Tom.
"Please don't sound like an extremist." she thought repeatedly to herself.
Underneath the table, her fists were clenched and she was trembling.
"So Tom," Mrs. Brednar said "Alan tells me you're a union man. I assume the Democratic Party can count on your vote in the coming midterms then? You know I'm up for re-election soon and we need all the help we can get. Perhaps your union could give some support?".
Tom paused, looked to Sydney, then looked back at Mrs. Brednar, who was smiling with the falsest grin one could conceive.
"The IWW doesn't endorse politicians, it's in our constitution. As for me, I vote for a candidate if they can convince me they'll do some good locally/" Tom said coolly.
"Well, surely you don't want a Republican in the Senate? I mean, have you seen them lately?"
"Mrs. Brednar, with all due respect, lesser of two evils isn't much of an argument for me."
"Well, the Democratic Party's always supported the unions!"
"The Democrats have given small gestures of support to the AFL-CIO. And even then they bent over backwards for neoliberal economic policy in the '90s, from which they never really turned back."
"Well, the UAW supported Hillary!"
"Yeah, and we all know how she felt about the unions. With all due respect, Mrs. Brednar, if you'd like my vote, or kind words to other IWW members, I'd need an actual convin-"
He stopped mid-sentence as he could feel Sydney's foot nudge nervously against his. She looked at him with a combination of frustration and nervousness. He took a deep breath and resumed his sentence in a much calmer manner.
"-I'd need to be convinced that you could do some good here for the community. I don't vote Democrat by default, nor does anyone in the union."
"You know mother, I think Tom wants more Republicans in power." Alan said slyly. Sydney gave him a death stare, but couldn't act on it since he was on the other end of the table and out of her foot's reach.
"I want no such thing." Tom said coldly.
"Well, who would you want in power?" Alan said in an escalating tone, with a devilish grin. Then Sydney realized it. Alan hadn't told their mother about Tom's politics. He wanted a reaction out of him. He wanted Tom to look bad.
"That prick!" she thought "Oh God, he's gonna get that reaction. Oh God Oh God Oh Go-"
"I want people in power," Tom said with a straight face "I believe those in power should be the people and nothing but. Nothing south of democracy, and nothing south of doing the most good for the community. And the truth of the matter is, no one person knows what's best for the people. No small clique either. It's the people or nothing". Sydney smiled. No matter how many times Tom talked about his ideals, there was always that beautiful, calming flicker of justice in his eyes. Her mother looked at him puzzled.
They continued their political debate for a solid half hour, between various dishes. Tom's tone never reached a boiling point, and nothing explicitly radical came out. The vast majority of the conversation revolved around policy and ideals. Alan's grin faded after a while, realizing he wasn't going to be able to make Sydney's evening miserable.
"I don't get it," he thought "This freaking loser was supposed to crack. What's going on?"
"-and to that I say, a modest alteration of the standing budget would do just fine." Tom said chuckling a bit. Mrs. Brednar gave him a wheezy laugh.
"Oh Tom, you are quite the comedian! And in such a man of opinion and conviction! Sydney, I tell you when your father gets back, him and Tom simply must meet!"
Alan's eyes widened, and his snarky grin returned. Sydney went pale.
"Oh Jesus, he doesn't even know," she thought "Oh Jesus Christ".
"I'll go get him, mother! I believe he's downstairs in the parlor shooting pool!" Alan said, springing into action.
Tom swirled a glass of cognac that had been brought to him earlier, then leaned into Sydney's ear and whispered, "I hope I'm performing alright. Feel free to break the tension whenever".
Alan returned with a man around the same age as Mrs. Brednar. He was quite fat and on the shorter side, with greying red hair, and a small scar across the right end of his lips, balancing part of his weight on a particularly thick cane.
"Oh, so this is the mystery man." Mr. Brednar said, approaching Tom, who rose up to accept a firm vice grip of a handshake "Eddie Brednar, CEO of Bluesteel Incorporated."
"Father, Tom here's a union man!" Alan said with a devilish grin.
"Oh ho ho, is he now? I assume you've heard of me then." said Mr. Brednar.
"Yes actually, as I understand it Bluesteel's had it's fair share of labor disputes," Tom said, continuing his straight face "Which on a side note Mr. Brednar, I have been sitting at this table discussing politics with Sydney's wonderful mother for the past forty-five minutes and my legs are just aching for some activity. I don't suppose we could walk and talk?"
"Oh ho ho, that'll be fine. Truth be told I should probably be doing some of that anyway."
The two vanished for the better part of twenty minutes. Sydney walked around the house trying to run into them. Her union boyfriend and her anti-labor father in the same conversation couldn't possibly end well. Finally, after about ten minutes of looking, she saw them standing near one of the buffet tables, with her father sipping some wine and paying close attention to Tom. She ran up and caught him at the tail end of a sentence.
"-and so Mr. Brednar, in the long run it actually suits you just fine to re-organize it into such a thing".
"Well Tom, I have to hand it to you, it's a bit liberal for my tastes, but I like the way you think. This idea would be a hard sell to the board, but it sounds intriguing all the same." said Mr. Brednar. The two men clinked their glasses together.
"Well, the two of you look like you're having a good time." Sydney said. They turned to her.
"Ah, Sydney! I tell ya, I didn't expect to like your boyfriend this much, but he's quite witty. He was just telling me about this thing ah-"
"Co-operative, Mr. Brednar"
"Co-operative, thank you, weird word. Worker owned business, never heard of the thing before, but your boyfriend makes a good argument for it. And I have to say, he has quite the quick wit. You've found a real winner here."
"Well thank you Dad." Sydney said, smiling at the two of them. Mr. Brednar turned to Tom.
