The Nothing (13 page)

Bob felt like he had a right to that Maserati.
He decided to buy the painting, but it will go in the attic. He had to shut Max up so he could get to the dealership, which was closed. Precious antiquity or not, it was too old and worn to be seen on any wall of his. He bought it mainly because he didn’t want to alienate Max, one of his best supporters. Later in his office, Bob admired the décor and how supporters gave half of it to him. The other half he bought. Bob loved feeling like a king.

Sometimes, I just want to buy shit.

“Senator, line one.”

“Thank you Beverly.”
Bob decided to wait one minute. He knew it was but had other more important things on his mind. Plus President Moore was expecting him in Washington the next morning. But with so much on his plate, there had been no time to pack and he had forgotten to ask Beverly to arrange the plane ticket.
Why did I volunteer for that stupid committee? I am supposed to be working for my people in Texas and they want us to sign up for committees? Who has the time?
The Committee on Consumerism Practices and Spending sounded simple and easy. Bob found out quickly that simple and easy wasn’t the case. He feels like he was asleep when he was appointed chairman as well. Bob hated being in Washington. He was required to maintain a residence there so he rented a cheap apartment on the outskirts of the city.

For the last few weeks there has been
a tug-o-war with a professor named Dr. Zachariah Abernathy, who was conducting a large study for the President and the committee from the Endonite Institute of Human Behavior and Practices. The Doctor had been hounding the committee with requests for additional funds and personnel. Specific forms are used for those requests and are to be filled out in their entirety. But Dr. Abernathy would skip parts and send incomplete forms. The committee clerk would send them back only to have them returned again. Senator Austin has had his secretary, several clerks, and even himself, send emails and make phone calls to the Endonite Institute. On the few occasions that they got a hold of someone, conversations were short and evasive, or they were put on hold. When it is time for Dr. Abernathy to brief the committee, he would stall or use excuses such as he had new data and that he needed a couple of more months. Everyone in Washington decided that it was time to have the Doctor come to Washington so they could get the updates they were asking for. Over the phone or through email wasn’t working.

Beverly walked into B
ob’s office with the look of a mother who was tired of asking her little boy to clean his room. “Bob, answer the phone. He is acting like an ass!” Bob picked up the phone and pushed line one.

“This is Bob Austin.”

“Bob, its Pastor Nick. How ya doin' buddy?”

“Umm ok I guess.
Getting ready to fly out of here to D.C for a couple of days. What’s up?”

“Just checking on my pal.
Listen, I am having some important people over this evening. Why don’t you stop by?” Bob always gets a knot in his stomach when Nick wants him to meet someone. He never knows if it was someone that needs something done under the table with the help of a politician, or to return a favor for their vote. Bob originally jumped on board headfirst when Nick Simmons, Pastor of Houston Baptist Ministries, offered support for his campaign. What started as a small endorsement one Sunday from the pulpit turned into Nick financing exhaustive travels across the state. “Spare no expense Senator, God gave me the resources to help you get elected. It is your destiny. How much we are spending is irrelevant. It is God’s will.” Soon Bob was being introduced to all sorts of people through the church. “This is Randall, he is going to investigate your opponents for you. Anything you want to know, Randall will find out or invent. And this is Carl. Carl will address any bad press that may happen and make it go away. Over there is Tony. Tony is from New Jersey and is going to be your right hand man when it comes to dealing with the county commissioners. Even though you’re not elected yet, he knows how to get commitments!”

Bob at times felt like he was in the mob.
But he liked it. It was exciting. Originally he was going to have to spend so much time fundraising. But with Nick, he was able to focus on swaying the voters.
This Pastor Nick seems to know everyone. Not your typical preacher. Outside of church, he never mentions Jesus or God. It is always something to do with business or sports.

“
Hey Nick, is there any way to postpone? I really need to pack and get going. I should be back in a couple of days.”

“Aww it won’t take too long Bob.
If you want, I can send a few men to your house to pack for you and take you to the airport. You know I hate taking no for an answer big boy!”
No way out. Just for a few hours. I will always owe him.

“No that’s ok Nick.
I’ll be there. What time?”

“Six on the dot.”

“See you then Pastor. Oh, and can you do me a favor?”

“I will if I can buddy.”

Though Bob was only asking for amusement.
“Pray for a lady named Martha. She is a custodian that works in the building where my office is and I found out she has a son stationed in Afghanistan. She doesn’t have much money and is really having a hard time.”

“Does she go to my church?”

“I don’t think so Nick. I think she goes to Pastor Ben’s House of Worship.”

“Well
, to support her I would need her to be there for Houston Baptist Ministries. There she will get what she needs to survive. You scratch my back and I scratch yours kind of thing. Isn’t that how God really works? I will pray for her if I can remember, I am kind of busy. Plus her son chose to go and fight. A glorious death isn’t so bad. Tell her about our membership drive in a couple of weeks. Otherwise she is Pastor Ben’s problem, not mine.”

“Ok Nick, I will see you in a bit.”

It is like being in bed with the devil. Worse because he is on top and makes you sleep on the wet spot. Nick is not your typical pastor. What can I do to get away? I have a feeling that it wouldn’t be easy or safe. I am a United States Senator for God’s sake. Isn’t he supposed to be afraid of me?

Beverly had
spoken of Martha to Bob before. She sees Martha everyday and would make small talk in the hallway. “She seems so sweet and humble. She would never ask for money from anyone. Martha is just struggling right now. She floats on air for days when she gets to talk on the phone with her son. Maybe that Pastor friend of yours can do something for her. But he seems like a horses ass filled to capacity.”
If this is the lady I am thinking of, then she is a hottie. She is maybe 45 to 55 but do-able. So what if I am married. Won’t be the first, won’t be the last.

***

It was a hot August evening as Bob turned into the Houston Baptist Ministries V.I.P. parking area. A valet surprised Bob by offering to park his vehicle. Usually valets only worked during church functions.
How big of a meeting is this?
One thing he did know was that the Oval office was not even half as glamorous as Nick’s office. It is located in the brass dome, which sits on the highest point of the church and can be seen for miles. The view from Nick’s office is the envy of anyone who goes in. Nick claims most of the furnishings are donated and that the placement of the office in the dome was his wife’s idea. Two bathrooms were on opposite ends of the office. One for guests, which had a large walk in shower and Jacuzzi tub, and one for Nick which had a walk in shower that had four showerheads and could easily fit ten people. The tub was marble trimmed with brass fixtures. There were three sinks and a walk in closet.
Maybe I should have been a pastor! What does he need all those sinks and showerheads for? What kind of guest needs a shower or a bath when visiting their pastor’s office? I know; I just don’t want to say it. He also has a nice six-bedroom house with that Asian wife no one ever sees.

Bob counted five other cars besides his.
One was a Maserati similar to the one he wanted. The others were Mercedes and BMWs. He walked in the special entrance and was greeted by another valet, who led him to the elevator that goes to Nick’s office.
You know, I don’t recognize any of these valet guys. They are dressed pretty fancy too. Usually it’s knit shirts and khakis. But today they have on tuxedos.

“Senator Austin, welcome!”
Nick shook Bob’s hand and exhaled scents of beer and marijuana in his face. “Wow Nick, what are we celebrating here?”

“Oh nothing Bob.
Hey I want you to meet some people.” Bob counted ten men in the room, some dressed like mobsters with cigars. Nick showed him to one guy who Bob had seen in commercials for several big used car dealerships in town. “This is Manny Trejo. If there is a used car on the road, then he probably sold it. If there is a broke down car on the road, he probably sold that one too! Just kidding Manny!” Manny had a face that looked like a prune after being out in the sun too much. And an expression that said it was time to get to business.

“
This right here is someone who works with the Harris County Commissioner. His name is Job Sampson.” Job had the same anxious look as Manny. “Senator, it is nice to meet you. Call me Job. Pastor Nick lets save the introductions until later and get this going shall we?”

Other
faces in the room looked familiar to Bob. He was thinking maybe they had been on TV or in and around the church. He only wanted to get this done so he can get packed for Washington.

“Ok Gentlemen, we will save the intros for later.
The reason we have all gathered is that there are issues of a sensitive nature that affects all of us. For me to continue doing God’s work, for you to continue making money, we have to figure things out. What I am mainly trying to say is that small issues turn into big issues. I like to fix things before they get big or encourage other issues to get big.”

Oh damn, what kind of scandal do we have here.
I bet it has something to do with drugs, prostitutes or money. This should be interesting.

“Pastor Ben’s House of Worship.
Each of you feels a certain emotion when that name is mentioned. Apparently he has gone from being a man of God to a thorn in our ass. Son of a bitch wants to be an activist; change the fucking world. Pardon my language, but there is a point to be made here. He wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for me. Yeah I put a new roof on his church. But I am here to tell you what else I have done for that ungrateful bastard. I signed him up for an energy company that would not only supply him with electricity, but an income too. I offered partnership. I have offered assistance to his members who were in need. Ben never has money to help people; otherwise there wouldn’t be so many poor people in his community. I have too much money, but he has too much pride. Others have tried to help him too. Manny gave him a new car two weeks ago. Manny didn’t ask for much, only for Pastor Ben to bless his dealerships in his commercials. The car sits unmoved in the church parking lot and Ben hasn’t returned any phone calls. He attempted to have the car towed back to Manny’s dealership but Manny is like, ‘it was a gift you son of a bitch!’ That Pastor is a prideful man who won’t admit that he can’t handle the responsibility of that church. Someone like me needs to jump in and take care of things since he can’t. I explore every option to serve the people who need help. Even options that aren’t pretty. He may have ran that church so far into the ground that it is more of a burden on society than a benefit. I have closed churches before. It was a hard decision every time. But people need a place to put down roots and feel safe, to know that their church is looking out for them. Usually when I close a church, another business opens up like a grocery store or shopping center that would serve the community’s needs better. Maybe even a car dealership like Manny’s. Hell I opened the first grocery store in the Navigation area. Before, there was that church called the Sacred Mary that was falling apart. Houston Baptist Ministries got two hundred new members from that place. We even provided the buses.”

Bob was pretty sure where this was going.
It was a bash Pastor Ben session and these guys aren’t smiling.

“Manny, tell th
e guys what your problem is and how Pastor Ben won’t even open his heart to you.”

“Well gentlemen, some of you know that I was arrested on two charges of indecency with a minor.
My wife believes me, but the people are saying some bad shit about me online and to the media. Most are calling me a child molester. It was a thirteen-year-old girl that looked eighteen. I also gave her money and that might soon come out on the news as well. People from the media have approached me wanting a statement. But Pastor Nick has advised me against it and to strategize. I want to make a statement with Pastor Nick, who apparently is white; and Pastor Ben who is black. I need a legitimate backing and this Ben guy is not being a team player. All I want him to do when the cameras are rolling is stand there and smile. I also want him to speak of me in my commercials and say I am a great person, father, husband and all that shit. It is not asking for much and one thing I hate is when you give so much to someone who doesn’t reciprocate. I am even willing to give him more than market value for the property that his church occupies. That is of course, if Nick finds it necessary to close it down. We all hope that things work out well for everyone. I wish Pastor Ben felt the same way.”