Fun With Politicians: Daughter's Prank Gets Her a Meeting With the Governor

There are many types of solicitors going door to door for many worthy causes. It is a thankless job that requires one to keep a positive outlook. Doors are slammed in their faces. They are chastised for being annoying. And sometimes, they become the mark of a very naughty little girl.

"Excuse me, sweetie. May I have a moment to speak with your parents?" When my daughter is being naughty, I can see this in her eyes.  She has many well rehearsed plays for nearly every type of door to door solicitor. "Sir, may I tell my father your business?"

This particular solicitor was a political volunteer for someone running for state legislature. My daughter peered out the door over the gentleman's shoulder. She inquired if the person running for office had joined him. The nice gentleman informed my daughter that he was only a representative of the person running for office. My daughter smiled and shook the man's hand stating that she was a representative of her father.

The visitor chuckled asking you she was old enough to vote. She stated her father was concerned for the needs of young people and issues related to education. If the volunteer could win her vote a father would certainly follow. However, if a person running for office cared little to hear the voice of young people how could he be trusted to represent them in office? The volunteers agreed.

He spent the next 10 minutes discussing the values of young people with my daughter. She shook the man's hand again informing him he had won her vote. She would convince her father to back him in the upcoming election.

My daughter returned to the living room and sat down on the couch beside me to watch the game. I inquired who was at the door. She shrugged her shoulders and said it was just some political volunteer seeking our vote or something. We did not discuss the visit further. Weeks later we received an invite in the mail.

The invite was hidden among the junk mail and my daughter nearly tossed it in the trash. I saw the invite had her name on it. My daughter had been invited to attend a campaign rally for the soon to be governor, Haley Barbour. I asked my daughter what this was all about. She shrugged her shoulders.

Inside the envelope was a plastic card listing my daughter as a special guest. The following weekend we attended the rally. My daughter showed her card to the man at the door who led us to our seats near the front.

The governor elect came to the stage to an applauding crowd. He began a speech about the values of young people and how important education was to the state. He praised the young people of Mississippi for taking an active interest in state government. He shared a story about a 13 year old girl who is deeply concerned about the future of education in her state. I turned to look at my daughter sitting beside me. Each of the governor's talking points coincided with my daughter's routine to harass door to door political volunteers. My daughter kept her eyes forward and nervously fidgeted in her seat.

Mr. Haley Barbour called my daughter to the stage. With his arm around her shoulder he promised the young people of Mississippi would not be left behind. My daughter smiled brightly for the crowd and waved her hand beside the governor elect.

The political volunteer who had come to our door spoke to us after the rally. He thanked my daughter for accepting the invitation and being so kind upon their last meeting. He mentioned my daughter should consider becoming a political volunteer when she is older. I informed him it would be a long time before she was allowed to answer the door again. He laughed and smiled knowingly at my daughter. "Yes, I suspect it will."

Previously Posted on FullofKnowlege.com

Friend me on Facebook! www.facebook.com

Sins of the Father

"You're not my real father." My voice was not harsh but my intent was to cut him. His eyes stared into me. I had seen grown men turned into stuttering idiots in the gaze of his icy blue eyes. I now stood nearly as tall and I no longer feared him. I was still too young to know better. My older brother came up from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He took me out the front door and tossed me in the truck. I was getting too old to be in his shadow. We all were; I was just the only one to say it.

I blamed him for the break up. He could have tried harder to make it work and keep our family together. My mother had remained single for a year hoping they would reconcile. She never stopped loving him. Separated from half of my family, I felt like a visiting stranger in my own life. I was no longer a child and no longer holding my anger inside. My younger brother was the only one still in school while my older brother and I seemed to be in a horse race toward our graves. When they finally ended it, my father told me, "You are not pretending to be my son. And I don't pretend to be your father. Nothing that happens in this world is going to change what you are to me."

My parents still kept in touch and the sons switched often between the two houses. My mom took a job behind the counter of a convenience store. I tried to keep my activities as secret as possible. Things were as normal as they seemed they would ever get. I had come in late with my older brother and saw our father sitting at the table with my mother. We had given up hope that these talks would ever result in our family being whole again. We were bitter at them still. We walked by without a word to either of them and went to our room but eavesdropped through the wall.

A man approached my mother at her job. We heard fear in her voice as she explained what had happened. He said he wanted money from her and if she didn't give it to him he would take her son. My eyes widened and my older brother stared at me. I was fifteen and often carrying a weapon. No one was going to take me anywhere I didn't want to go. Even the police brought back up when they had issues with the brothers. Our father stepped in and warned us about coming home late. We asked about what we had heard. His eyes went stone cold as he pointed at our beds. Since we both were not in school we had backbreaking work to do everyday on our father's property. Our father raised and sold horses and we did everything else. My older brother and I were too stubborn to admit school was much easier.

We had come in late again and expected to be reprimanded but mom was easier to handle than our father. When we entered our mom was crying at the table. A letter had come in the mail from the court. My older brother rushed over and took the letter. He read it aloud and then looked at me. "It's your real dad. He's trying to get custody of you by claiming mom is unfit."

I thought of the argument I had with my father now. I had said he wasn't my real father. I felt that somehow I was being punished for saying those words. I didn't mean what I had said. I shook my head as my brother and I drove to deliver the letter to our father. How could a judge let the man take me? I literally had never seen him. I had been so angry at my parents for splitting our family between two houses. Now I felt somehow responsible for this. I could lose everything unless my mom gave him money to go away.

When we arrived at our father's house there were more cars in the drive than we recognized. We had to park on the roadside. We live in a region of the county designated for farming and livestock so we had no close neighbors out here. Friends and family visited often but never this late at night. When we walked toward the house our younger brother met us. His eyes were wide and scared.

Our younger brother took us to where he had been spying on the events inside. From a cracked window in the living room we could see into the kitchen. Our father was sitting at the table facing our direction. Several large men were standing in the kitchen as well. A man sat across from our father facing away from us. There was a glass of bourbon beside him. When he reached for it we could see his hand shaking. A drop of blood fell from the man's brow on the table beside his drink. He turned his head and we could see more of his features. He had been beaten about his face and head so badly he didn't look human. I felt my older brother grasping my arm tightly.

"I understand what you think you are trying to do. But she doesn't have the kind of money you want from her. As for this threat, you aren't the man you need to be. And no judge will ever hear your case." Our father's eyes were again like ice blue stones and his face without expression. It was difficult to conceive he was speaking so casually with a man so badly beaten. We stared into the window frozen like deer in headlights. Our father calmly spoke again. "Trust me. You are not strong enough to be his father. Don't ever come near my son again."

We took our younger brother and drove back to our mother's house. It was near daylight but she was still awake. The three of us entered the living room pale as ghosts. Her eyes seemed to know what we had seen. She outstretched her arms and we went to her. She embraced us tightly. It was the first time we had let her hold us since the separation.

Previously Posted on FullofKnowlege.com

Friend me on Facebook! www.facebook.com