Senator Bruce Reingold of Indiana sat listening as Senator Gary Harris of California, a fellow member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, droned on with his normal rhetorical tirade against the American way of life. "...SUVs have got to go, there is no earthly reason for any sane person to own or drive one. Their gas mileage is an abomination; their safety record worse than any other vehicle, the cost shamefully high, and the arrogance of their owners knows no bounds. They have got to go."
Harris continued, slamming his fist down on the table, "People must be forced to cut back on their energy use for the common good. They must turn those thermostats up in the summer and down in the winter. As the government, we should mandate settings and require the manufacturers to build thermostats with minimum and maximum seasonal settings that will guarantee less energy use..."
Tuning him out, Bruce thought back to his first few months in Congress, he was delighted to be appointed to the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee. Besides being a farmer, he thought of himself as an environmentalist. It only took three or four hearings before he realized that the committees were far from impartial: the factory farming voice controlled what happened in the Agriculture committee, his constituents, the small farmers, were barely heard; zealots controlled the Environment committee, their agenda was to place the environment before everything else. People and their jobs didn't seem to matter. It was almost like people were not part of nature; that they were some alien life form that intruded upon it. He knew that he was naive, but he believed they were there to represent the people. He was having a hard time coming to grips with reality. The Special Interest groups really did control Congress.
During his first year on the Environmental committee, he had stood up for his principles and what he thought made the most sense for the country. He couldn't believe it, but the majority of the committee members seemed to discount any evidence that contradicted the radical environmental line; in this committee there weren't two sides to an issue, an opposing view was considered anti-environment.
Harris droned on, "… no reason why anyone should own a house with more than one bedroom per person. Now," he glared at his fellow committee members, "I'm being too generous, really. Do you know…how much energy is wasted cooling and heated the extravagance that has become the average American home?" He slammed his fist on the table again, "Two people living in a house with four bedrooms and three baths is—just wrong!"
Looking around the room, Bruce realized that he wasn't the only one that felt that way. There were several others who also looked either stressed, if they were paying attention, or were oblivious to the ranting of Harris.
There is something terribly wrong here. We're supposed to represent the people and we're not even reacting to what's going on.
Frustrated, he leaned back in his chair and looked across at Kathy Ahern, an intern from Mississippi, sitting behind Harris with the other interns. She looked over at him and smiled before turning her attention back to the speaker. Her smile brought him out of his funk. He grinned and continued to watch her.
The Interns basically did what the paid administrative help didn't want to do. Kathy had been an intern for about five months. Bruce had liked her from her first day on the job. He found her eager to help and he would seek her out whenever he needed assistance. The two exchanged glances during the rest of the meeting, improving his morale considerably. He smiled to himself.
A little innocent flirtation is just what I needed today.
When the committee meeting ended, the chairman, Senator William Spencer of Nevada called Bruce aside. "I know this is short notice, but the State Department wants us to entertain a delegation from Kenya tomorrow. I'll do the presentation in the morning, we'll take them to lunch and then I want you to give them a tour of the capital building in the afternoon."
Bruce looked down at his watch.
Damn, it's five o'clock on Friday afternoon and I'm getting this.
The irritation on his face was evident when he looked up.
Spencer nodded, "I know. I would blame the State Department but the head of the delegation is the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. He wants to see us."
"Shit," Bruce said, "I told my staff that nothing was going on this weekend."
"I'll help."
Both senators turned towards the cordial voice of the intern. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I'm not doing anything tomorrow. I can set up the briefing room, make the reservations for lunch and ride herd while you two do your thing."
Bruce smiled brightly, "Well, thank you. I know two of my staff will be relieved."
"You know you don't have to do this, Kathy," Spencer said.
"I know. Tomorrow is another football Saturday. My roommate and her boyfriend will be glued to the TV; I don't have any other plans."
"Okay," the chairman said, smiling at the young intern. "I've got a few things to do, let's meet in my office in an hour. We'll lay out the plan for tomorrow then."
Bruce nodded at him and Kathy said, "I'll be there."
As the chairman walked off Bruce turned to her and said, "You want to get something to eat? We might be here for awhile."
"Let's do, I didn't eat much for lunch, I'm starving."
The two went to the Senate dining room in the basement. The place was nearly deserted, there were only three other patrons and they were sitting across the room. Bruce knew what he wanted to order so he watched her as she looked over the menu. She projected an air of innocence. Her face wasn't beautiful but it lit up when she smiled; she had high cheekbones; beautiful green eyes; blond hair that fell to her shoulders; and lips that were, well, pouty. It was hard to tell about her body, her clothing didn't reveal much. She normally wore loose fitting slacks and blouses or sweaters that could only be described as business-like but feminine.
She looked up, fully aware that he had been watching her. "I'd like a Rueben," she said, placing the menu on the table.
After giving the waitress their order Bruce said, "I don't think we've ever had a conversation that didn't deal with a pending bill. Am I right?"
She nodded and smiled, "I don't think we've ever sat down together before."
"Well then, Miss Ahern, tell me about yourself."
She blushed and said, "Senator, I'm a small town girl from Mississippi. Got an intern appointment after I graduated."
"Where did you go to college?"
"Ole Miss," she replied.
