“Mr. President, are you ready?”
John Renton was not a conventional leader. In fact, he defied the rules of conformity, choosing to act on principle, rather than on the general consensus – a move too risky for most politicians. But he was not like most politicians, and for this, he had become the most respected and most popular president the nation had ever known. So much so, that the terms of the twenty-second amendment were unanimously nullified, in order to allow for him to continue serving in the capacity he had effectively maintained for well over twelve years.
Indeed, his presidency was unprecedented. As were the problems he was presently facing.
“Yes, I’m ready,” he said, slowly opening his clear blue eyes. Stepping away from the wall on which he had been leaning he ran his hands through his dark brown hair, fixed his tie, buttoned the jacket of his double-breasted suit, and then proceeded to follow Vice President Azad Turan down the very quiet hall to the door that led to the press room, noticing as he did, the sounds of their footfalls.
“I’ll be here,” Azad said, as he reached for the lever that would open the door. “Good luck, John.”
At once, the quiet hallway became flooded with sound as the noise of almost one hundred shouting voices filled the air.
Walking to where Press Secretary Anna Sanchez stood fielding questions as best she was able, John said, “Thank you, Anna.” Then taking control of the podium he addressed the crowd. “My fellow Americans, it is with a very heavy heart that I stand before you this afternoon, with the lamentable task of having to inform you that the world as you know it to be…as we’ve always known it to be…is about to end.”
The room became still and very silent. Only the barely detectable hum of the fifty remote news cameras that hovered the required twenty feet from the president, could be heard.
“As you all know, over the last week, I, and several other world leaders, have been meeting with the World Committee to discuss the manifold problems facing our world today. Obviously, from my first statement, you can see that this meeting failed. Those favoring apostasy, in other words, those who support radical independence from the world community far outnumbered those of us who oppose this ideology. Therefore their proposed plan, the Global Reorganization Plan, has been approved.”
(c) 2011 Monica S. Grimm. All rights reserved.
