Something to write your adventures in

If you are reading this I’m either missing or dead
Alex blew on the script, dated it and closed the smooth wooden cover.

The journal was a gift from her sister.

Alex and her sister Meri each moved to a large city at the same time. Having left their hometown time and time again (as many young girls do) Alex was sure that this time there would be no moving back. It felt different. After a week of showing up at Meri’s to routinely help her sort for storage and moving she could tell it was the same for Meri.
The gift exchange hadn’t been planned but being sisters, and sisters being what they are, they had bought each other gifts. When Alex found out that Meri was moving, following a job to become a chef, she went out and bought her a set of Sabatier knives. It sat at Alex’s feet in a bag by the Formica table where they had coffee every morning before packing.

“Stop calling me that. I’m not a chef. I’m working for a chef. I’m just a cook”

Alex sighed exhaling smoke “Chef”. She looked at the steam trying to form a skin on her coffee and blew on it breaking it apart. “It’s all in the title. To us laymen you both do the same thing” She watched the steam creep back turning her coffee into a nighttime pond.
“It’s not the same” Meri said her humility teetering on the edge of deprecation like her spoon on the edge of her cup. “What if I were to call you a…” She paused looking through Alex’s smoke “What are you going to do?”
“I guess I’ll have an adventure” Alex stood, elbow on hip coffee in hand watching Meri sort and thought about the interview. She wasn’t quite sure what she would call herself either. “Ah, well you know politics equals crime so…a jail bird? I guess I’m a consultant of sorts”
Meri smiled with a sisterly knowledge as she plucked the cigarette from between Alex’s lips “Wanna help or just watch?”
“Fine” Alex pulled a box out of the bag by the table “where do I pack this?” and handed it to Meri. “A present for the chef”
“Funny" Meri began pealing back the wrapping paper, carefully not to tear it. She shot Alex a look. It was another form of sisterly torture and Alex knew it was her cue for the age old impatience to be exhibited like a 6 year old. “Just OPEN it!”
“But it’s such NICE wrapping paper…ooooh” She didn’t even have to open the box. For someone who was “not-a-chef” she knew her tools. At her last job she brought her own to work in a toolbox. Labeled and locked Meri had some of the most coveted knives and utensils in the kitchen. “Would a carpenter or painter use whatever was handy, whatever stock someone else provided?” Not a chef, just an artist.
Well wait” Meri bounced out of the room into the bedroom and returned with a Birdseye maple box. She handed it to Alex.
“What is this” As she admired the soft yellow wood with long loops and little winks her hand found the indented side and realizes it was a book.
“Something to write your adventures in”

As Alex is shown into the corner office on the 44th floor the man on the phone looks up: smiles and nods, never breaking stride in his conversation. The office is decorated in an industrial style. Almost everything is glass: from the large desk and table in the corner to the two giant windows facing north and east. The rest is black leather and chrome.
She stands just far enough into the office that the door closes behind her. Still on the phone, but without missing a beat, he waves to a chair. “Get the deposition and file the motion and be done with the whole thing. They’ll back down once they realize how much money we are talking about.” He looks over and smiles at Alex as if he just shared some secret and important knowledge with her. Alex smiled back and turned to look out the window.
INSERT VIEW HERE
Great to meet you Alex
You too Sir
Please, call me Terry. I need to make some fundraising calls today. Lets do that between 1:30 and 3:00. Can you have some names and numbers together for me by then?
Alex blinked looking stunned and a bit green. It’s hard to keep your composure when you’ve been thrown into a boiling stew pot, ask any lobster. “Who do you want to target first?”
Terry smiled at her as if she had just passed a test “Good. We can start with my Rolodex first. I’ll have my assistant set you up in my system so you have access. We’re going to get some campaign office software for you so you can keep track of the money and the FEC report. I’m glad you joined the team. I was hoping to have a campaign manager by now but there’s still over a year before the primary.”
He paused, taking a breath for what seemed like the first time, and pushed a button “Yes Terry” a voice came into the room
I’m gonna send Alex out to you and you get her set up with some space and whatever else she needs to win me this election” he winked at Alex.
Alex left Terry’s office shaken and stirred. What had she gotten herself into? What did she know about campaigning or filing an FEC report? Setting up events for fundraising, sure who couldn’t do that. She had enough connections in the state to cultivate some support, but she thought she’d be working with someone. Somebody had to bring something else to the table.
Terry’s assistant Erin showed Alex to an empty office around the corner. She looked Alex up and down. “I read your resume”
“oh?”
“I’m surprised you wanted a job in politics”
“I wasn’t looking for one. It just found me”
Erin shifted her gaze but still gave Alex a sidelong look “I was doing it for a while, but it’s just too much with his law practice. I can only wear so many hats”
“Oh sure” Alex agreed, “So then you can fill me in. Do you regularly do call time with him?”
“Well here and there. I mean he’ll have me get someone on the phone, and occasionally I’ll know it’s a money call”
‘How much has he raised?”
“I’m not sure. I’d have to check the account.”
“Have you done any fundraisers with him?”
“No”
“Does he have any other backing to draw from?”
“Well” she paused her mouth formed something between a smile and a smirk and Alex wondered which it was supposed to be. “There is the Law Firm. Employs 400, has 8 Sr. Partners, 20 Jr’s, about triple that in specialists, and then there are always summers.”
“Summers?”
“Interns”
“So he’s already hit up everyone in his firm then?”
“First thing” Erin interjected grinning so wide Alex wondered if it hadn’t been Erin’s idea, which made her flinch as she continued
“That may cause problems down the road”
“No. They are all really supportive about him running for office”
“That’s great, but it may be cause for review later on, or at least some cattiness from opponents.”
Erin stopped opening and closing drawers. Her eyes darted over the desk, her fingers scurried across the back of the chair, up to her necklace landing about the edges of her face like moths to her burning cheeks. Alex suddenly felt sorry for her “It’s not likely to happen though” Erin moved her eyes back to Alex’s “Well I guess that’s why he hired you” Alex watched Erin walk out as she set her folio down on the desk: looked around the bare office. Terry’s had seemed bare, not vacant, not exactly empty, but untouched like Alex’s apartment.

The excitement of the first day landed on top of her like a wet blanket as she sat at the computer creating call sheets from Terry’s Rolodex.
Name, company, work number, Cell number, call time, amount to request, amount agreed to, follow up date, amount received.
After about 50 Alex had to take a break. She looked at the floor plan “What I need is some coffee” she muttered to herself as she left her office in search of this floor’s break room. Left, straight, right? She found herself in front of Erin’s desk “Well you are definitely not the break room” Erin looked at her. “I, I was looking for the coffee” Alex stammered trying to regain her composure from failed humor. “You turned right too soon” Erin said and returned her head to behind the computer screen.
“Well as long as I’m here, do you have the campaign financials?”
Erin peaked around the edge “You’ll have to ask Terry for those”
“Okay. Thanks.”
The rest of the trip to get coffee and return to her desk was as uneventful as the rest of the morning. As Alex gathered the call sheets into a binder she realized it was 12:45. Being unfamiliar with the area and unwilling to explore so close to call time Alex realized she had to skip lunch. There was a little time left so she logged onto the Internet to look for potential donors. The Internet is an amazing resource if you know how to use it, and looking over others past FEC reports not only gets you an amazing amount of information it is also a good start for learning how to do them.
There was knock at her open door. Alex looked up and saw it was Erin. “Terry’s ready for you”. Alex glanced at her watch “I’ll be right there” She gathered up her stuff and followed behind Erin. Terry’s door was open and Erin stood outside motioning for Alex to go in. He was not on the phone this time but had someone in his office. There was the distinct feeling of a meeting at its end, and the telltale signs of a conversation meandering and becoming social. Alex stood for a moment “Sir” she interjected.
“Come in Alex, and please call me Terry. Tom I want you to meet Alex, she’s the latest addition to the campaign. Alex, Tom is one of my partners” "Great to meet you Tom" He eyed her like a hungry cat who played college football Well if she can't get money for you Terry, no one can". Tom had a laugh like Peter Lori on Helium. Much higher than a man over 40 should have, making him seem like a little girl letch. Alex laughed at the image. Terry joined in and Tom's laugh pitched higher and more panicked and creepy. Alex wondered at Terrys laugh. Did he have the same image or was it her laugh. She glanced at him. "I hope so we are about to make some calls Tom's helium villain laugh ended abruptly "Well I'll be off then” Tom began laughing again as he crossed the room to Erin.” I’ve prepared some call sheets. But I was hoping I could get familiar with the finances too. Establish a base and a goal. Terry looked towards Erin and she closed the door behind them. 'Sure as much as you can" Terry took the folder from Alex and began flipping through it. "This is good. Very good" Alex blushed for his pleasure at simple tasks. "I will eventually bind it but I had enough trouble finding the break room. "Supplies are on the 47th floor. I'll have Erin take you there later. Let's make some calls" He took out the first sheet and handed it to her. "See if you can get him on the phone. Then while I'm talking to him you go on to the next." Two hours passed that way. Alex calling on behalf of Terry: Terry asking for money: Alex writing it down to collect on later. She suddenly realized what a bookie must feel like and that politics and gambling are more of a simile then a metaphor. She was taking bets on her candidate. It was 4:15 when they finished. Terry flipped through the 'calls still to be made' pile and put down the phone “Well I've still got business to check on" You follow through on these tomorrow and see if we can collect any of that. I'll have Erin show you the mailroom and the supply room but for now why don't you call it a day. Your new to the city" He had his finger on the button to Erin "Alex is going but show her the mail room and supply room. Give her the tour." He paused a second and breathed. He was a born politician. They don't need air, their full of it. Alex gathered up the papers as Erin opened the door to show her the way.