William's Tale (3 page)

Making her way to the office, she wasn’t surprised to see an armed guard carrying a metal detector wand. The entire hallway had been blocked off, making the only entrance into the school through the main office and it’s side door that led into the hallway to the library. The female guard waved her over and instructed her to place her bags on the table. Next, Jackie lifted her arms and the wand traveled across her body, quietly humming as it scanned her for any weapons. Once her bags were checked, Jackie showed her ID, signed in, and was instructed to go to the library.

Jackie was now certain. The President was coming.

Jackie tried to catch her breath, but found the task too overwhelming. The President. Here. Just moments away. It seemed almost too much to take in. But, if what everyone was saying proved to be true, the man would be here soon.

What a day to be sub at a school! From what Jackie could tell, none of the staff was informed ahead of time. Based upon the panicked expression on the principal’s face, Jackie even doubted the principal knew of the President’s arrival. Though he may have just been nervous.

Jackie didn’t particularly approve of this President. Heck, she hadn’t even voted for the man. But she was about to meet the most powerful man in the free world. She now felt butterflies in her stomach and swallowed the lump growing in her throat. She couldn’t wait to share this with her father later.

She stood in the library with a dozen teachers and school staff huddled in one corner. From her last subbing job at this school, she knew more teachers worked here than were accounted for in the library. She figured the numbers had been kept small for security reasons, which made her feel doubly blessed to have been selected to meet the man.

Her gaze darted over to the four men in black suits, each with a com unit in their ears standing formidably at the exits. Were they Secret Service? Maybe NSA or CIA. Whatever the case, the situation fascinated her.

A fifth agent led some children into the room one by one and arranged them in a circle on the floor. At the center of the circle sat a large wooden chair – obviously for the big man himself whenever he arrived.

Jackie took a deep breath. School was about to begin, and she had not made her way to her appointed classroom. How would she be able to tell which children were her responsibility for the day? She knew she subbed for a second grade class, but wasn’t sure what to do next. Fortunately, she didn’t have to decide on her own. A Secret Service agent waved her over and told her where to stand since she had been selected to shake the President’s hand.

Her heart skipped a beat.
“Shake his hand?”
she thought as the biggest smile crossed her face. Hell, yeah! She definitely wanted to do that.

She stood away from the circle and the wooden chair, but close to the library door itself. She wished she could be closer to where the President would be sitting, but wasn’t about to complain since she would get her own moment with the man. Regardless, she still had a good view of where he would be sitting from this angle. She just hoped she wouldn’t be too nervous when he approached her.

Ok, now her hands began to sweat, and she realized she was holding her breath. She dug her fingernails into the palm of her hands. Come on, girl. Get it together. He's a man like everyone else. He probably does this stuff all the time.

Maybe.

Something felt eerie to her. The agent who had brought the kids in took a post near the door and seemed to have stopped fetching more children. Another agent, who stood impressively tall and had the build of a linebacker, now approached the circle of kids. He looked from one child to the other, as though memorizing their faces. All in all, about thirty kids sat on the floor. All remained quiet.

The amount of children wasn’t the school’s complete complement, but not all of them would fit in the library of course. Perhaps the President would walk from classroom to classroom later. All the children, as well as the teachers, deserved a chance to meet the man.

Wait a minute. Jackie scanned the circle of children. Over half of them were children of color, with the white children sitting the farthest from where the President would be seated. Normally, not an odd sight, but this school must be at least ninety percent white, making most of the children on the floor a subpopulation of the school, with fewer than ten percent representation.

Yes, the subpopulations were all
well
represented on
that
floor.

Very well represented, indeed.

She studied the agent towering over them — a tall African–American man, perhaps in his fifties. A Hispanic agent had led the children into the room. And, of course, there was the female agent who ran the metal detector. She appeared to be Asian. The only white agent had been the blond man who told her where to stand.

Yeah, the token white-boy in the room.

Jackie didn’t know the percentage of diversity for the Secret Service, but this room certainly seemed stacked to favor minorities. With perception being reality, she began putting two–and–two together. The President needed to appear in favor of education, as well as minority issues. She rolled her eyes. Standing there, she wasn’t part of the solution — she was a part of the problem!

She suddenly heard chatter from the hallway, and then two more agents entered with members of the press. The press then positioned themselves around the room for the best camera angles. One reporter stood close to Jackie and did a sound check for her cameraman.

Her jaw tightened. How dare they use her in such a ruse!

The Secret Service must have rounded up every child matching a certain criterion and hauled them into the library so the President could put on a show for the press. Her cheeks flushed as she grew angrier at the possibility that she may be right. How come no one in the press saw through this hoax?

Well, she had seen through it. When the President walked through the door, she wasn’t going to play the puppet in his show. She would give him a piece of her mind. As she waited for the President to arrive, she mentally rehearsed what she planned to say to the man. She wanted to be firm with him and to point out to the press the obvious game he was playing.

And then the moment arrived. Her hands balled into fists, her eyes focused on the door, and her breathing became even. She was determined to be a force to be reckoned with, and he would rue the day he messed with the education system and underprivileged kids.

More noise came from the hallway, and when the door opened, Jackie felt the wind beneath her wings disappear and her anger leave her body. Her muscles relaxed and she felt her legs go weak as noodles. The man who stood guard outside the school, the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on, had walked through that door. Damn. He looked good.

He stood a good six feet in height, had ebony skin like hers, with piercing brown eyes that appeared soulful and kind. His suit, not black, but a darker grey, fit him well. It made him look powerful and in charge. She watched as he spoke into a com unit, perhaps giving orders to the other agents standing nearby.

Taking a deep breath, she thought he was the most beautiful man in the world. She had even forgotten the President was coming for a visit.

*******

With the press corps already escorted into the library, William now walked ahead of the President to get him safely into position. At first glance, William confirmed what Ben had already told him through the com units — no vampires were in the room and a human agent named Juan had positioned the children, with Ben now guarding their moods. Everything was a go.

It surprised William how quietly the group of children sat on the floor. Ben had a special gift. Not all vampires had one, and William was one vampire to prove the rule. Ben could read the auras of humans and vampires. He could even alter the mood of humans, which was evident by the angelic children circling the wooden chair.

The President walked behind William and two other agents. Another three agents followed him. The first step on the tour was to shake hands with a teacher at the school. If the plan remained intact, that teacher would be standing just to his left.

William’s eyes wandered in the appointed direction. It was her. The beautiful woman from outside earlier that day. His job earlier was to carefully watch everyone who left the blocked off parking area and walked towards the school, confirming they were not a vampire. He had noticed her immediately. She was a curvy human woman, standing at an average height — gorgeous, with a smile which could light up heaven. Her bluish–green suit gave her a well polished, professional appearance, and her simple jewelry complemented her dark wavy, shoulder length hair. She appeared as a vision of loveliness.

The President nearly crashed into William, so he stepped aside and allowed the President to continue his journey to the designated spot. A man, whom William assumed to be the principal, joined them. Polite, cordial words were exchanged, and a photographer leaned in and took a picture of the President shaking not just the principal’s hand, but also the teacher’s hand as he made his way into the room.

It wasn’t as though William focused on any of the pleasantries. He had stood security for the President plenty of times in the past, and had learned to focus on merely security issues. But then, he heard something, something liltingly beautiful. It was the beautiful woman’s laugh. He focused on her gracious smile, not knowing what the President had said to make her so joyful. William found himself smiling back to her, although he remained cautious not to show his fangs.

The most important piece of information William gathered from the photo op was the angel’s name — Jackie Pearlman.

It became a name now permanently etched into his memory.

Dry, chapped hands.

The President’s dire need of hand lotion surprised Jackie. She sighed heavily as she followed the man with her eyes. She watched as the handsome agent led the President through the library to the crowd of children waiting for him.

She had planned to tell the President he had no right to create this charade. She figured she couldn’t outright yell at the man, but a knowing smile and a whispered, “I know what you’re doing,” would have been subtle enough to please her.

But no. She grinned like an idiot from ear to ear and even laughed when he made a joke about needing to be extra quiet since they were in the library.

A backbone. She wished she had one.

Watching the President talk with the children made her skin crawl. He smiled, he laughed, he even talked with them. But as he looked in their eyes, did he understand what the kids were saying? What they needed? What they hoped their future would be like?

Now needing an antacid, she realized she needed to change her attitude. For the most part, second and third graders found it thrilling to be meeting the President, and they had every right to meet the man who had neglected equal rights in their country. Oh, the man wasn’t racist — at least not overtly so. But he had canceled many bills which would have supported inner–city funding for schools, rec centers, and even planned parenthood facilities. Naturally, his religious upbringing gave him concerns over the latter one. No need to help children who were sixteen and already had baby–daddys and baby–mamas in their lives. Or,
not
in their lives as was usually the case.

Jackie unclenched her hands, which had balled into fists. She tried to shake off her pending rage, but it proved hard to do as she watched the President talking to the future generation of America.

*******

William stood at attention, but couldn’t take his eyes off Jackie. He watched as her chest rose and fell with each breath she took; how often her eyes blinked; and he noticed she wore no ring on her finger, which was always a good sign. He liked the fire he saw in her eyes. She embodied sexiness, in a pissed off, please–me–now sort of way.

His eyes traveled from her dark hair and flushed cheeks to her full bosom. Her outfit, although conservative, did have a slight, plunging neckline which showed off her cleavage.

Staying on course, his eyes wandered down to her legs. The woman had legs ‘til Tuesday. From his current location, he couldn’t see how firm her bottom was but suspected she was blessed in all the right areas.

Yes. She was near perfection. The type of woman he had searched decades for. William's body now tingled with excitement. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips firmly against his extended fangs.

Oh God. Not here. Not now.

Sporting an erection in front of children, and on camera, was not putting his best foot forward. His pants became tighter as his length hardened, so he subtly confirmed his suit jacket was buttoned in front to provide some protection.

He took a deep breath and focused on his job and on the President. Honestly, looking at the old man was like splashing cold water on his libido. Nothing was sexy about a sixty–three year old man pretending to laugh with children he probably didn’t care anything about.

Of course, the press went crazy. Cameras snapped pictures left and right. Pictures that now, thanks to the digital age, would show crisp and sharp images of both him and Ben. William had turned his head so he would not face the cameras head–on, which proved difficult since the press stood everywhere. He noticed Ben looking directly at the kids, obviously still controlling their behavior and moods. Every once in a while, Ben would scan the room, but his focus remained clearly on the kids.