First Lady, First Lady

[Rhoda]

As a city, Washington DC seemed to beam. As the monument’s point split the sun, shadows from nearby kites cast shadows on the picture-perfect grass. You didn’t have to be in the fountain to cool down either, as the gentle spray was just enough. Although it was late afternoon, summer offered a certain balance where bars would open and let people soak up the rays as well as light, refreshing beer. You couldn’t get this idyllic pleasure in New York City – the urban jungle seems to strangle what little life out of the sun there was left. This was why Anna was pleased to have come to Washington DC for business instead of Chicago. However, seeing as though this was a personal business of sorts, she could have gone where she pleased. Because of this, she could afford to stop off for a quick beer.

 

Anna chose a bar neighbouring the ESPN Zone. Somehow the thin veil of glass drowned out the noise of football echoing from deep within the building. Inside, a fan trundled lazily in an effort to keep the customers cool. Anna felt the benefit right away, and while her nerves dissolved upon on its easing caress, things started to flare up again when a good looking bartender tossed a napkin and a receipt for one Corona in her direction. Fortunately, the napkin provided a pleasing distraction – whenever she became nervous, her secret hobby blossomed, and Anna soon began folding it in curious angles. The fact she was the only person in there made it worse. The first customer in a bar? That’s borderline alcoholic territory. Regardless, she sipped her beer and carried on folding. The sweat on her palms seemed to make the task of folding a napkin twice as difficult, but eventually sat in front of her was a crudely made swan. Origami had kept her busy on planes before, but she never thought it would get her through a job like this one. She’d need a box of tissues to make enough swans for that.

 

“Nervous?”

Anna’s stomach did back-flips as she realised the bartender was talking to her. Her thoughts were racing, almost in an attempt to convince her heart he didn’t know anything.

“You could say that, yeah”, Anna managed to speak finally, a nervous chuckle and a brief wipe-down of her now drenched hands on her jeans.

Classy, Anna, real classy.

“Let me guess,” the bartender paused, squinted and cocked the fingers on one hand like a gun, “business? Interview?”

“First one.”

Maybe it was the smile or the demeanour, but Anna felt herself relaxing in his company. This was of course good news.

“I thought so,” he said, flinging a rag over his shoulder, “I see a lot of them – strong, already successful women on their way to make bankers tremble? I salute you, miss”.

She said nothing at first, choosing only to look at her beer instead. All of a sudden the condensation seemed a lot more soothing.

“Oh sh*t,” he said to correct himself, “you’re a banker aren’t you?”

“No no,” the words came out a little too fast, “I’m not a banker, it’s... ah... a personal trip. I’m here to see the man I’m having an affair with, if you must know.”

Rather than judge her, the bartender didn’t break eye contact and merely uttered “are you sure you aren’t here to see the wife? I can keep a secret you know. I keep enough of them.”

Anna chuckled again, “I’m not saying anymore”.

The bartender looked sheepish for the second time in 30 seconds and mumbled, which made Anna chuckle even more.

Why does a beautiful woman in a suit make men gabber more than a million dollars, tax-free?

 

“So what’s his story then?”

Anna looked up, and realised it’d been a couple of minutes before either of them said anything.

“Oh,” Anna began, “I don’t know what to tell you. I’d rather talk about the wife?”

“Unusual choice, but okay, go ahead, I could use the material”.

Again, Anna unleashed a trademark wry grin.

“Well, Harvard chick you know? Had a lot going for her, sure, but the bitch knew that if she could get her talons into someone rich and powerful she’d be set for life. That was just it, she was brilliant but so damn lazy you could smell her bedroom on her.”

“Be careful, you’ll scare her off,” the bartender said in a joking tone, leaning over the counter.

“Very funny, I’m sure she comes here. This is my kind of place, but she wouldn’t look twice at having any fun and it made him miserable so I came along to show him what a blonde piece of ass can do.”

“Kids?”

“A few. You know how it is. It isn’t enough that she’s the ball-and-chain. She has to add children to the mix.”

The bartender again kept quiet. He obviously had more clientele suffering with the same problem than he was comfortable with. A roar from the TV’s football game cut the tension and Anna cleared her throat as she took a deeper gulp of Corona. By this point she was halfway through and already she knew she had made a mistake.

 

“I’m sorry, I have to go, thank you for the chat”, she murmured.

“No problem. I hope to see you again anyway, maybe after you’ve finished doing what you have to do?”

Anna chuckled louder than she had ever since she walked in.

“Come visit me. By the time I’ve killed Michelle Obama, I’ll be in prison”.

 

[Typhus]

Interesting story, mate. And with a Hell of a twist to boot, it actually seemed like a long, elaborate joke rather than something seriously menacing. Which one would perhaps assume of a political assassination story. It's the kind of thing that comes along every so often for an important, memorable figure. I didn't ask myself the same old trite questions after reading this, you know, Was Anna really just some nut who made up the whole thing?

It's far simpler than that, in my opinion. It's just a nice, funny piece of political satire. You had a tough theme but you've pulled something good from it, well done

[Rhoda]

Thanks Typhus. Truth is, it's as simple as it looks, haha.

[Eminence]

I feel like I can't experience/appreciate this one fully to be honest, given the fact that I already knew what the twist was from our conversations.

 

With that in mind, though, the whole buildup worked really well, I thought. The way it strayed from being lighthearted to tense and back again just seemed to click, especially given some of the suggestive similes thrown in for good measure.

 

One thing that seemed a little forced/unnatural was the way you tried to hide the twist. It's necessary, obviously, but some of it came through a little clunkily. Like the line 'maybe after you’ve finished doing what you have to do?' - it just didn't strike me as natural.

[Rhoda]

In hindsight, I wish I'd have used just another 100 words to make things come together a little more naturally, but I honestly struggled with how to do the "big reveal". Thanks for the comments though.

[anglee]

[mark-2007]

Good feedback there buddy.

 

I liked parts of it, but the ending really felt a bit cheap. If you'd left it hanging, then there was more than enough for the reader to go off of and still grasp who the target was. The dialogue seemed a bit forced and unnatural to me, and she goes from being kinda up-tight about telling the guy much to uncovering her plan as well. It lacked subtlety, I guess, but I reckon it's a hard theme to go off and this wasn't a bad effort overall.