Congressman Eric Vasquez sat behind a barren office desk.
The desk used to be covered in paper work, manila file
folders, yellow post notes, mail, his pc, two cell phones, and a dozen pictures
of his wife and two children. The janitor turned out the lights in the office
without checking to see if it was occupied first. Congressman Vasquez could
only see the office with the light from the city coming through the window
behind him. He sat slumped in his chair like a corpse but, despite how he might
have felt at the moment, he was not dead. All the objects that once took up space
on Vasquez's desk and around his office were boxed up and stacked next to the
door. The only object in the room that wasn't furniture was the office phone
which sat directly in the middle of the desk. As Vasquez sat and took shallow
breathes, he would glance at the phone from time to time.
Fuck
what a horrible week, Vasquez thought to himself. He looked
at the phone, just ring already. Just
fucking ring! Vasquez was waiting for a phone call from his team of lawyers
who were themselves waiting for a call from the congressional committee ruling
over Vasquez's scandal. The Justice Attorney took the role of plaintiff and it
had just been revealed that there was substantial evidence put in play. The
evidence was believed to be a series of photos taken of Vasquez having sex with
a stripper in exchange for money. The allegations had already been made. One of
the members of the bachelor party that Vasquez attended claimed to have seen
Vasquez giving money to a bouncer at the Damsel Strip Club and then going in to
a private room. He then claims to have witnessed Vasquez and the stripper
having sex.
The Congressman had spent the last week
fighting to clear his name. He confessed to receiving a lap dance from a
stripper at the club but argued that he did not pay for it and they did not
have sex. The allegations couldn't have come at worse time with elections over
his new policies that were voted into office were not being worked on so that
he could focus on clearing his name. After a week of protest, Vasquez agreed to
take a vacation until the verdict was in. The things in his office were packed
so that if he was found guilty he could move swiftly out.
The week's deliberations seemed to be
going in Vasquez's favor but took a turn when the announcement of picture
evidence had been revealed.
So Vasquez went through with packing up
his office. He sat while they boxed everything up. He sat while the janitor
turned off his light. His wife called once, but he just sat and let it go to
voicemail. Mrs. Vasquez was strong and stood by her husband, at least when the
camera were on. But when it was just the two of them, she couldn't bear to look
him in the face.
Two weeks ago the new president called
Vasquez about a possible position in his new cabinet. Vasquez turned the chair
slowly so that he could look out the window without moving his head. The sky is black, he thought, just like my future.
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