“For a really smart guy you are overlooking the obvious,” Ivan pointed out.
“How’s that Ivan?”
“Itsy, we couldn’t let Itsy get hurt feelings at being left behind. She is one of us and her pain is our pain.”
“Ah, OK I see your point,” Madd admitted.
“Duh, finally he gets it,” said Real.
“Thanks guys, I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything, just go talk to Itsy when we are done here, so we can talk to our girls. Let’s get this done.”
“Fine Ivan, but you don’t have to make it sound like a troop movement.”
The cousins snapped off a salute and Hey started calling cadence as if they were on the parade grounds.
“Sheesh, you guys are unbelievable!” Madd did his best to sound exasperated, but the smile on his face ruined his effort.
“Not to switch subjects, but it’s finally happened, uncle Roy is going to get me into the council.”
Always one to get directly to the heart of any situation, Ivan spoke first. “Are there going to be enough votes?”
“Should be, Uncle Billy is ready. He has been sandbagging for some time. Jack believes him to be on his side. Everyone on the council including Uncle Roy thinks he is one of the ones obstructing progress. Uncle Roy believes those close to him will vote me in just to please him. I don’t think so.”
None of the others believed it either.
“They will vote for me if they think there is no way for me to actually get on the council, just so they don’t offend Uncle Roy. Voting is secret but they use white and black stones dropped into a box to get the count. If only one white stone were to come out then Uncle Roy would know who is against him. If they are mostly white, but not enough to vote me in, then they figure Uncle Roy won’t know who is who. They are going to think Uncle Billy will vote against me. They won’t want to blow their cover to Uncle Roy. With Uncle Billy’s vote we will have just enough votes if what I just said turns out to be a fact. On the up side, with it being a secret vote, no one will know who helped vote me in. Once I am in, I am going to call for an immediate vote on Ivan.
“They have been short one seat on the council for six months and there have not been any strong candidates everyone could agree on. There were not enough votes to force any one particular candidate onto the board over everyone else’s objections. Since I was gone Uncle Roy had no reason to push for a vote or to try to get everyone to agree on the various possible candidates, since he wanted me on the council. They are going to be under a lot of pressure to fill that seat because for years the understanding was I would be on the council by necessity. The war leader has to be a member of the council, according to the bylaws. My taking a seat will fill up the council seat that has been the last traditional seat. I am counting on Uncle Jack wanting to add another seat to counteract me, someone he is bound to feel will dilute his power base. Uncle Jack believes he can control Ivan so has been maneuvering for years to place him in line for a seat. They all believe he is on the same page as those holding us back. They will vote him in to counteract my vote and the new threat they might think I will be. With Ivan on the council they will believe anyone progressive will be outvoted.
“Doc Shultz has been after Uncle Nathan for a long time to get off the council. Doc believes that Uncle Nathan will retire soon, maybe as soon as four months, for health reasons. That will give us a place to start when we get back. With the two of us on the council they won’t be able to fill his seat while we are gone as long as we withhold our votes.”
“Sounds good Madd, but what if Uncle Nathan decides to stay?” asked Real.
“On the way back from Uncle Roy’s I stopped to see Doc Shultz. As soon as I laid things out for him he headed over to Nathan’s. He is going to put a scare into him. Since Doc has been hounding him to retire for more than a year, it won’t seem unusual for him to drop by Nathan’s. Tink is next on the list as having been groomed for the council. If Uncle Nathan retires in four months we will try and vote Tink into the council via Skype. If things should go our way tonight that would be even better. I will call for an immediate vote if I can. If we get Tink added to the council we will hold enough votes to run things, for the most part.”
“Madd I am up for it, but I love all these older guys. They are the people we all looked up to as kids. I hope they won’t feel like we are shafting them,” Tinker said.
All around the room you could see that everyone felt the same as Tinker, but this needed to be done. Still, they were sad it had come down to this.
Madd wasn’t all that thrilled either. “To be frank, I’m not as comfortable with this as I would like. But I don’t see we have a choice. You guys want to go ahead with this or should we give it up for now and try to change things later? Ivan, what do you say?”
Ivan hated to be the one to say it but it needed to be said. “Time is our enemy. Who can say when the conditions might be right again to straighten things out? What happens to the family if the members who stand in the way of progress find a way to vote people with the same old mind set onto the council while we are gone? Then there won’t be any empty seats for years to come and our chances of changing things go out the window. At least if Madd and I get on the council now, two seats are locked in. If we get killed it will open two seats for you other guys. If we don’t move now I’m afraid we are all going to be screwed.”
“I was talking to Uncle Billy earlier. You all know our cousin John. He is a heck of a nice guy and interesting as all get out to talk to. He has been going to school for the last five years and is finally finished. His degree is in ancient dead religions, with a minor in Latin. The family has been helping him financially. He wants to go on to get his doctorate in the same subjects. Uncle Jack likes him and thinks that the family should continue to help pay for John’s schooling. I like the guy, but I figure tens of thousands of dollars in preps is a lot more important than being able to understand Latin. So, I’m with you Madd,” Hey told them.
“Good deal Ivan, so everyone is on board with making our moves while we’re home?”
Everyone agreed it had to be done.
“OK. Ivan, meet me here and we will go up to Uncle Roy’s just before 7pm. We need to be there on hand to make sure things proceed as quickly as possible. I don’t want to give anyone on the council time to really think. The rest of you stay close in case we need to call you in for any reason. With that settled I think we all have some females to talk to. Let’s adjourn and get to it.”
Finally making it back to his house Madd called, “Itsy, you here?”
“Be right there, just finishing the dishes.”
Taking her hands, Madd kissed her and sat her up on the counter top so they were more eye to eye.
“Itsy, you know I have loved you for a long time and can’t imagine life without you.”
“Oh,” was all she could get out around the flood of emotions spilling out of her; she started softly crying.
“I have to ask honey, do you still feel the way you did that day in front of the council when you declared for me?”
“No not the same, I feel it and mean it ten times more! I knew what I was doing then, but with time I have grown to love you even more, you fill my whole life with joy.” By now tears were streaming down her checks.
“Honey, I need to say some things that have to be discussed.”
“Yes?”
“It looks like I might be voted onto the council tonight.”
“That’s wonderful, just wonderful, I’m so happy!”
“I am not sure it’s wonderful sweetness, but I am sure that I have to get onto the council. What we want as individuals can’t stand in the way of what must be done. I would rather someone else had the burden, but they don’t.”
Itsy was having a hard time sitting still, she wanted to run and shout out the news to anyone that would listen. Even so, Madd sounded so serious she had to say, “I don’t understand. Why it would be a bad t
hing?”
“Because the cousins and I are going to have to shake things up, and a lot of the family won’t be happy. We don’t have time to stroke anyone’s ego so there are some people who aren’t going to be all that happy. If you are with me that means they will look at you differently and might be a little cool towards you. Some may take being forced out graciously, but I’m positive that one or two are going to be really ticked off.”
“I am fine with that, I am used to dealing with groups of young girls and they are not always sweetness and light.” That made Madd laugh.
“Something else. I will be in the public eye more than ever and anyone who is in my family will have their behavior scrutinized minutely. You have always been the perfect diplomat, or the iron fist in the velvet glove when it is called for. I want you to understand the pressure being in my household will put you under to be a good role model.”
“I was the youngest girl to declare for a man in family history. I bucked the council and talked back to them. I doubt anyone will look at me any harder than they already have. Besides, I am a good girl.” The last was said with a sly grin.
“I had no idea things would be moving forward this fast. I thought when you were discharged from the army we could work on forming our relationship as a group. Now it seems I need to discuss some things with you,” Itsy told him.
“Don’t look so serious Itsy. What’s up, sweetness?”
“It’s about Caroline. With what you just said I am having second thoughts about her being in our household. Caroline is a sweet person, but I didn’t pick her because of a serious emotional attachment. To be frank, when I chose her for you to get to know better she was interesting, but that was three years ago. She has not become the person I was hoping for. As it turns out we don’t have as much common ground after three years of schooling as I had hoped.”
“I agree sweetness, Annie is much more like us. How does Caroline feel about the situation?”
“She has her eye on someone and she will be relieved to know that we wish her well and good luck in her new choices. You have been gone more than a year but has anyone come to mind as a practical addition to our family?”
“Itsy, I have been more concerned with avoiding being shot. Originally I thought all this could be handled when I had fulfilled my contract, so I am at a loss for a suggestion. Do we actually need to go any further? Can’t the three of us flesh out all the skills we might need?”
“Two things come to mind. First, as you pointed out to me, our new family will be scrutinized. As a family group we will need to be the best example we can be. Second, Caroline was chosen for a specific educational track that we might need. Since she is no longer a contender, we have lost that track.
“We could possibly have let that slide if you weren’t going to be a council member, but not now. In my opinion we have little choice. We have to not only talk the talk, we are going to need to walk the walk.”
Itsy was one of the sharpest people around and all business when it was called for. One of the many things Madd loved about her.
“All valid points. Especially as things are about to get real interesting. I can’t be seen as being less prepared than any other family member. Just one of the many reasons I love you Itsy, your ability to cut to the chase. Suggestions about who would make a strong addition to the family?”
“I’m getting the laptop,” said Itsy. “No point in considering anyone that isn’t going to be genetically acceptable. Running the search function with your name entered as primary and mine as secondary should give us a list from most acceptable to barely acceptable.”
It took less than two minutes for the search results to be displayed.
“The software has picked out the best matches, genetically speaking. All of girls on the best match list approached me while you were gone to say they were interested in joining your family. Obviously they too have run the genetics program and got the same results as we just did.”
“That seems odd to say the least, even unlikely; I don’t get it.”
“No sir, it is perfectly logical. Every young person knew you would be the leader, maybe not this soon, but one day. If things happen the way we all fear, you will be War Leader of the whole clan, with power and position. It doesn’t take a good education or intelligence to seek out the alpha male for the strongest possible survival chance.
“The chance to have strong, well-placed children is a pretty strong attraction for a woman as well. Being intelligent people they did exactly what I just did. They ran the computer software to see if they were a match for you. When they found out they were genetically a good match they approached me. What politicians would call throwing one’s hat into the ring,” said Itsy.
“Hun, I don’t feel comfortable with that. I know to outsiders we may seem a little too calculating in our relationships. What you just described even sounds that way to me.”
“Yes it does, I know that. It doesn’t change the fact that it makes the most sense from a survival aspect. Didn’t you ever wonder why I declared at such a young age?”
Itsy’s eyes were beautiful and something that always fascinated him. When she was particularly intense about something she had a way of focusing them on him that made him feel very special. She was doing that now.
“I thought it a little odd you didn’t wait, but other than that I didn’t think that much about it. I suppose I was too flattered to look closely at such a gift.”
“I declared because I knew that if I did, the word would get around. It might derail others and keep several girls older than myself from declaring for you. Several were just days away from doing so, so I had to beat them to it.”
“Say what?” Madd was close to speechless for one of the first times in his life.
“I loved you so much and I wanted you so badly. I found out through third parties that three other girls had designs on you, so I couldn’t wait. I am sorry if that was underhanded, but I just couldn’t let them get ahead of me.”
Madd just took her in his arms and held her.
“Are you angry with me?”
“Not at all, there is nothing wrong with knowing what you want and being smart enough to know when and how to go after it.”
This seemed like the perfect time for some serious kissing, so Madd did just that.
“This is great, but we aren’t getting much done and I have to be up at Uncle Roy’s in a while, so let’s get back to the subject at hand. Maybe we should just let this hang for a while.”
Itsy wasn’t having any of that. When she was on the track of something she thought important she could be single minded to the point of obsession.
“Incidentally, the three girls I hurried to get in front of the day I declared are also among those that approached me while you were gone and are on the list we just ran. Isn’t there anyone on the list you find attractive or have considered even in passing?” Itsy seemed to be trying to draw out an answer with an intense stare and force of will.
“Maybe not considered. I admit I’ve noticed several from time to time. But there is more to this than just being physically attracted to them. Unfortunately there are some political considerations on top of every other thing. It’s true we need to look at their schooling and training to see which ones have valuable skills to add to the family, since that has suddenly become a big issue. Besides that though, we have to make sure that anyone we might chose isn’t a political time bomb as well.”
Pointing to the screen Madd said, “This one has had her father approached by one of the family who is trying to get his permission to pursue the girl. This one isn’t that well-mannered and she is rather loud. This one, Susie, is Uncle Jack’s granddaughter. According to this she is she is old enough, genetically correct and I actually like her. Not only that, you have pointed her out before as being vivacious and friendly. Unfortunately our choosing her is exactly the type of political time bomb I mentioned. Jack would flip if he thought she was joining the family of one of his chief
rivals.”
“Yes, I really like her and she is one of those who approached me while you were gone. Not just once mind you but many, many times. We have been in a number of work groups and she is smart and a hard worker. Let me run her educational background through the data base.”
Pointing, Itsy drew his attention to her records. As she suspected, the girl would make a good match from that standpoint. As she looked at Susie’s educational path it seemed to jump out at her. Susie had approached her first a long time ago and the educational track she had chosen from that time till now seemed to fit like a glove with both Itsy’s and Madd’s choices. Itsy began to suspect the girl had chosen her path carefully and with the sole purpose of making herself a desirable addition to Madd’s family group.
Regardless of his personal feelings, Madd had to consider political ramifications at this juncture.
“Unfortunately I would be making a lifelong enemy out of Jack if we were to pursue her. He has someone specific in mind for her already. By the time I am done he will probably hate me; trying to bring his granddaughter into our family would turn simple hate into something else altogether. Right now isn’t the time to get on his bad side any more than I can help.”
Itsy decided it might be time to share her discovery with Madd.
“Wow, Itsy. That seems almost impossible. Talk about long term planning and pure, unadulterated calculation! I don’t know if we should be flattered or frightened that anyone would spend three plus years just to join one specific household.”
With a laugh Itsy said, “Isn’t that exactly what I did?”
“Sure, but you were in love and I was in love with you; I just hadn’t realized it yet.”
“Sir, you are the man I wanted and love to the very bottom of my soul, but what makes you think I am the only one in the whole universe that could love you?”
“Ahh…hmm...guess I don’t actually have an answer for that one. It is extremely flattering and could give a guy a severe case of Inflatous Egous to say the least. It still doesn’t change the fact that Jack would flip.”
So, You Want to Live Past Next Tuesday Page 13