No Hope

I had the idea for this story before the inauguration, but for obvious reasons, I didn't want to publish it beforehand. On top of that, the real-world experience added some details to the story that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

"Honey do you know where my red tie is?"
"No, I haven't seen it, why?"
"I've got to pack it. The Congressman said we might be able to get tickets to the Inaugural Ball."
"Wow, the big one?"
"Yes, so I want to pack my best clothes."
"Honey, if we're going to the Inaugural Ball, you're renting a tux."
"Seriously?"
"Of course, have you ever seen one of these things on TV? Everybody is dressed to the max. Your blue blazer and red tie aren't going to cut it."
"Oh."
"Seriously, it's almost like you haven't even been paying attention to anything all this time you've been working in politics."
"What?"
"Never mind."
* * *
"Ricky. Ricky! Dammit, boy! Don't you ever take them damn headphones off?
"It's like you don't even live in the world outside those things. You know there are real people you could talk to, you don't have to spend all your time listening to strangers say dirty things about ladies and shooting people.
"Are you even listening to me? Can you even hear me?
"You know when we get on the plane they're going to make you take them off. I don't understand why, if the damn plane will break down because you're listening to your damn headphones, that doesn't make me feel very comfortable about flying, does it? How crappy are these planes, anyway?
"What would your gramma think about that crap you are listening to? Really? You would break her heart.
"I think that after we see Obama, we'll go see the Lincoln statue. I also want to stand on the spot that Dr. King stood on when he dreamed that dream. I wouldn't mind getting over to the JFK memorial, too. Do they have a JFK memorial? If not, they should. He was a great man. He wasn't no Dr. King or anything like the boys from Illinois, but he was still great.
"You ain't even listening, are you?
"Well, you better believe you're not going to have them damn things on when the president is talking. I'll take them off my damn self if you even try. This is important, son, and what kind of momma would I be if I let you miss it. This is the first black president. The first. If only your gramma lived long enough to see this. It would've almost made up for all the crap she went through back in the days.
"Did you hear a word I said? Well, take them off, it's time to get on the damn plane."
* * *
"Will you be checking in, sir?"
"Of course I will, boy, what the hell else would I be doing in this Godforsaken place? I'll have to be coming up here a lot now, but that won't make me liked the damned place!"
"Sir, is there a problem with the hotel?"
"What? No. No, boy, not the damned hotel. The damned city! I hate this swamp!"
"Are you here for the inauguration?"
"Of course I am. Wouldn't come to this hellhole if I didn't have to! Now I gotta be here for most of the next two years -- four if they actually vote me back in."
"Vote you in? You work in Congress sir?"
"Hell, yes! It wasn't my idea but the chairwoman said she needed me to do it after that damned pedophile got the boot last time. Can you believe what kind of sick people run for office in this country?"
"No, sir, I can't. Where are you coming from?"
"Boy I am now the junior House member from the great state of...."
"Congressman! Congressman. Welcome to our fine establishment!"
"And who the hell are you?"
"I am the manager of the hotel, sir."
"About time I got some VIP treatment around here! I mean this boy was fine, but I would think a member of the United States Congress could get a little bit more personalized service!"
"Of course, sir. Bobby, call the bellhop -- I think Marcus is working tonight -- and send him to get the Congressman's bags. Sir, we have your reservation set and the house tailor will be in your room about 9 a.m. to measure you for your tuxedo."
"Nine in the morning, Washington already start this early, son?"
"Is that a little bit to early for you?"
"Hell, yes! Especially after how much I plan on...embibing...at Dick Lugar's party tonight."
"Yes, sir, I'll change the appointment to noon, you can eat your lunch while the tailor takes care of you."
"That sounds a little better. Now, how's about we get a scotch. What's the house brand in your little bar over there."
* * *
"Hey, Sarah, I'm about to head out to the big concert. I wanted to call you and say hi before I headed out.
"Yeah, I don't know who all will be there, but I keep hearing different names thrown out -- the Boss, Jay-Z, Kanye, Puffy, Sheryl Crow.
"I don't really like her, either. I liked that one song, the one where was sitting on the beach in the video.
"Yeah, that's the one. Her other stuff doesn't do too much for me, though. I do like the Boss, though. There was that one time that he told Reagan that he couldn't use 'Born in the USA', but then he allowed 2 Live Crew to use it. That was hilarious.
"What?
"Oh, I'm in the purple section. It's pretty close to the front.
"I didn't get it myself. I probably couldn't get a ticket at all. I got it from one of the bloggers I met in Denver.
"Yeah, at the Big Tent. Did I tell you about all the free beer?
"That was a crazy time. Fun, but there was just too much going on.
"Yeah, I got both the regular digital camera and the flip video. I should be able to get some really good stuff for the blog. I'll also be livetweeting the whole thing. Although they've been saying that signals might not get through since so many people will be down there with mobile phones.
"Hopefully. I'll blog about it after I get back to the hotel room, but I'd love to get some live posts up from the site.
"Yeah, I hear it'll be under 30 degrees. I don't know how I'm going to type with gloves on.
"I think it's Robert Gates. Kind of strange that the only person they'd leave out in case of a terrorist attack is a Republican. If something like that happens, we're fucked.
"No, there's no reason to worry about anything like that. Didn't you see Cloverfield? I have a camera, of course I'll survive, the camera operator always makes it.
"Okay, maybe that's true.
"Yeah, well Blair Witch sucked, so I wouldn't even count that. Too much hype that didn't deliver. Now Snakes on a Plane, that delivered. And I hear Samuel L. Jackson will be here. I'd love to see him give Obama a terrorist fist bump. That would be the shit!
"Okay, gotta go get ready.
"I love you, too.
"Bye."
* * *
"Can you believe this shit?"
"Nope. Fuckin' McCain."
"Damned Rino. I can't believe he beat Huckabee. Huckabee wouldn't have lost to no brother."
"True, true."
"Hell, if we didn't live here, I wouldn't be nowhere near D.C. for that boy's inauguration."
"Me neither. I'd love to have been there for McCain's, though."
"What the hell for?"
"Palin, dude, Palin! She would've been the first VPILF!"
"True. Hand me another beer."
"You want Bud or Busch."
"Better give me a Busch, you know, for old times sake."
"Hey we'll get another Bush in four years, if we're still speaking English then instead of Arabic."
"No way, in four years it'll be Palin. Count on it."
"Yeah, could be. Now we're stuck with that prick for four years and there's nothing we can do about it."
"You and I both know there's something we could do about it."
"Yeah, I wish."
"Crap, we better pick up a lot of beers for tomorrow, during the inauguration."
"Yeah, we can do a drinking game -- every time someone says 'hope' or 'change' we have to drink."
"Ha! We'll both die from liver poisoning."
"Yeah, I'm so tired of hearing those damned words. They don't even mean nothing."
"Stupid fucking Democrats."
"Yeah."
* * *
"Baby, that was Jamie, the Congressman's personal assistant."
"Yeah, did we get them?"
"Yep, we'll be spending the evening tonight with President Obama and thousands of his closest friends."
"Awesome! You really think that many people will be there?"
"No idea. Probably. We waited in the line for several hours. I don't even think some of those people in line behind will make it in before the swearing in. That'll suck."
"I can't wait to see Hillary. She kind of got gipped in the election."
"Are you serious? She got gipped because more people voted for Obama in the election?"
"He only won because she's a woman."
"Again, are you kidding me? He's black. Who faces more discrimination than black people?"
"Obviously, you've never been a woman before."
"Well, there was that one time in college. But I was young and needed the money."
"Oooh, you have any pictures?"
"No, I was just kidding. That's gross!"
"I know. A woman can dream, though, can't she."
"Not if she's dreaming about that. Hey, who are those kids? They sound like crap. What the hell are they singing?"
* * *
"Ricky, put those damn headphones away. All kinds of people are coming on the stage and you should pay attention.
"I said put them away or I'm going to take them away.
"That's better. Every couple of minutes somebody knew comes on and you should pay attention, these are important people. These are the people who run our country, for better or for worse.
"Whoever that is, you better stop pushing! My eleven-year-old son is here and I don't want him to get hurt.
"I'm not pushing, people are pushing me!"
"I felt you pushing me, so don't give me no crap."
"Save the fighting for the afternoon, people, this is Barack's day."
"I ain't fighting nobody, I just don't want to be crushed out here. It's cold enough as it is, don't need to be crushed, too.
"Who is that on stage?"
"Howard Dean. He ran for president four years ago. Everybody thought he was going to win, but did that whole 'byeaah!' scream thing and he lost."
"He was also chairman of the Democrats since then."
"And who is that?"
"Al Pacino!"
"That's not Pacino, you moron, that's Dustin Hoffman."
"Ricky, don't listen to these people, let's just keep watching the screen and hope somebody doesn't crush us."
* * *
"Where'd you say you were from, boy?"
"Nebraska."
"I didn't know there were no damned Democrats from...what is it...the Cornhusker state?"
"Yes, that's us. We have a few Dems in office."
"What, exactly, the hell is a Cornhusker?"
"It doesn't really matter."
"You aren't one of those 'liberals' are you?"
"Sir, I really don't think...."
"Is that Newt? I've always wanted to meet Newt. I know he's a Republican, but he really has some good ideas."
"Yes, I think...."
"I'm going to go over and talk to him. I hope the 'show' doesn't start before I can talk to him. I really like what that boy has to say."
"Okay, sir...."
"Hey, Newt! It's me, Congressman...."
"Prick."
* * *
"Hey, Sarah. Just wanted to leave you a quick message. Apparently Aretha's about to sing the anthem or something.
"This whole thing was kind of a clusterfuck! The lines were backed up for miles, even in the purple section, which was supposed to be a VIP section.
"Anyway, the section was supposed to be reserved, but apparently the whole thing fell apart and the cops started letting anyone in. I think some of the people with tickets couldn't even get in. That's crazy. People came from hundreds, thousands, of miles and couldn't get in. I'd be pissed.
"Some of them were even calling it the 'Purple Tunnel of Doom'. We had to go in this tunnel under the street to get in. It'd be the exact kind of place you wouldn't want to be in a zombie apocalypse, especially if it's the fast zombies. Either way this whole thing was poorly planned. A lot of people are going to be very angry. What's happening on stage is fine, but getting in sucked and it looks like people are littering all over the mall and getting out of here will be even worse. I imagine a lot of bloggers are going to write some bad things about the way this thing was run.
"Oooh! I gotta go, Aretha's coming on. What the hell kind of hat is she wearing? Oh well, she's still a goddess! Love you, talk to you later."
* * *
"I can't believe he's walking out with that Nancy Pelosi bitch."
"Yeah, she really is a communist sympathizer and I'll bet she hates black people anyway. Most Democrats do, despite what they say. Byrd was in the Klan."
"Hypocrite. Plus, they all love welfare and affirmative action, which just keep black people down."
"Makes them lazy and turns them into...."
"What the hell happened to the picture? Hit the remote, change the channel."
"No, look, when I flip over to ESPN, everything's okay. It must've been that channel."
"Turn it up, what're they saying? They cut away from the game."
"Something about the inauguration. Wait, let me listen."
"Did they just say what I thought they said?"
"I think so."
"Washington, D.C. is gone? The whole thing?"
"Wow, is that a mushroom cloud?"
"Hey, you know what that means?"
"Yeah, we dodged a bullet. Gates is president."
"Yeah, now maybe he can do something about those damned terrorists."
"Good. Hey, get me another beer."
"Sure, I need one, too."