The Prodigal Daughter (63 page)

Florentya found
herself impressed by the work Ralph Brooks had put in before the briefing and
could appreciate why Parkin had become so reliant on him. For the next hour
Brooks answered queries- that arose from his plan and agreement was reached on
their basic strategy for the campaign.

At twelvethirty
the Vice President and Florentyna walked on to the north portico of the White
House to speak to the press. Ralph Brooks seemed to have statistics for
everything: The press, he warned them, was divided like everyone else. One
hundred and fifty papers with twenty-two million readers werc already
supporting the Democrats, while one hundred and f4ty-two with twentyone point
seven million readers were backing the Republicans. If they needed to know, he
added, he could supply the relevant facts for any paper in the country.

Florentyna
looked out across the lawn at Lafayette Square, dotted with lunchtime strollers
and picnickers. If elected, she would rarely again be able to visit
Washington’s parks and memorials. Not unaccompanied, anyway. Parkin escorted
her back to the Vice President’s office when the press had asked all the usual
questions and received the usual answers.

When they
returned to the office they found that Parkin’s Filipino stewards had set up
lunch on the conference table. Florentyna came away from the meeting feeling a
lot better about how matters were working out, especially since the Vice
President had twice in the hearing of Brooks referred to their earlier agreement
concerning 1996. Still Florentyna thought it would be a long time before she
could totally trust Parkin.

On September 7
she, flew into Chicago to start her part of the election campaign but found
that even though the press was still hard put to keep up with the daily routine
she put herself through, she lacked the drive that had been a trademark of her
earlier campaigning.

The Brooks plan
ran smoothly for the first few days as Florentyna traveled through Illinois,
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. She met with no surprises until she arrived in
New York, where the press was waiting in large numbers at the Albany airport.
They wanted to know her views about Pete Parkin’s treatment of Chicanos.
Florentyna confessed that she didn’t know what they were talking about, so they
told her that the candidatt had said that he had never had any trouble with
Chicanos on his ranch; they were like his own children. Civil rights leaders
were up in arms all over the country and all Florentyna could think of to say
was, “I am sure he has been misunderstood orelse his words have been takenoutof
context.”

Russell Warner,
the Republican candidate, said there could be no misunderstanding. Pete Parkin
was simply a racist. Florentyna kept repudiating these statements although she
suspected they were rooted in truth. Both Florentyna and Pete Parkin had to
break off from their scheduled plans to fly to Alabama and attend the funeral
of Ralph Abernathy. Ralph Brooks described the death to an aide as timely. When
Florentyna heard what he had said she nearly swore at him in front of the
press.

Florentyna
continued her travels through Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, before
going on to California, where she was joined by Edward.

Bella and Claude
took them out to a restaurant in Chinatown. The
manager gave
them a corner alcove where no one could see them or, more importantly, hear
them, but the relaxed break only lasted for a few hours before Florentyna had
to fly on to Los Angeles.

The press was
becoming bored with the petty squabbles between Parkin and Warner over
everything except real issues, and when the two candidates appeared together on
a television debate in Pittsburgh, the universal opinion was that they both
lost and that the only person of Presidential stature in the whole campaign was
turning out to be Senator Kane. Many journalists expressed the view that it was
a tragedy that Senator Kane had ever let it be known she was willing to be Pete
Parkin’s running mate.

“I’ll write what
really happened in my memoirs,” she told Edward. “Only by then who will care?”

“In truth, no
one,” replied Edward. “How many Americans could tell you the name of Harry
Truman’s Vice President?”

The next day,
Pete Parkin flew into Los Angeles to join Florentyna for one of their few joint
appearances. She met him at the airport. He walked off Air Force 11 holding up
Missouri’s Unterrified Democrat, the only paper that had run as its headline
“Parkin Wins Debate”: Florentyna had to admire the way he could make a
rhinoceros look thin-skinned.

California was
to be the last stop before they returned to their own states and they held a
final rally in the Rose Bowl. Parkin and Florentyna were surrounded by stars,
half of whom were on stage for the free publicity they were guaranteed
whichever candidate was in town.

Along with
Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino and Jane Fonda, Florentyna spent most of her time
signing autographs. She didn’t know what to say to the girl who, puzzled by her
signature, asked: “Which was your last movie?”

The following
morning, Florentyna flew back to Chicago while Pete Parkin left for Texas. As
soon as Florentyna’s 707 touched down in the Windy City, she was greeted by a
crowd of over thirty thousand people, the biggest any candidate had had on the
campaign trail.

On the morning
of the election she voted at the elementary school in the Ninth District, in
the presence of the usual group of reporters from the networks and the press.
She smiled for them, knowing she would be forgotten news within a week if the
Democrats lost. She spent the day going from committee room to polling places
to television studio, and ended up back at her suite in the Chicago Baron a few
minutes after the polls had closed.

Florentyna
indulged herself with her first really long hot bath in over five months and a change
of clothes that was not affected by whom she was spending the evening with.
Then she was joined by William, Joanna, Annabel and Richard, who, at the age of
seven, was being allowed to watch his first election. Edward arrived just after
ten-thirty and for the first time in his life saw Florentyna with her shoes off
and her feet propped up on a table.

“Miss Tredgold
wouldn’t have approved.”

“Miss Tredgold
never had to do seven months of campaigning without a break,” she replied.

In a room full
of food, drink, family and friends, Florentyna watched the results come in from
the East Coast. It was obvious from the moment that New Hampshire went to the
Democrats and Massachusetts to the Republicans that they were all in for a long
night. Florentyna was delighted that the weather had been dry riFht across the
nation that day. She had never forgotten Theodore H. White telling her that
America always voted Republican until 5 P.m. on Election Day. From that time
on, working men and women on their way home decide whether to stop at the
polls; if they do and ontv if they do, the country will go Democratic. It
looked as though a lot of them had stopped by, but she wondered if it would
turn out to be enough. By midnight, the Democrats had taken Illinois and Texas
but lost Ohio and Pennsylvania and when the voting machines closed down in
California,
three hours after New York, America still hadn’t
elected a President. The private polls conducted outside the voting places
proved only that the nation’s largest state wasn’t wild about either candidate.

At the George
Novak Suite in the Chicago Baron, some ate, some drank,
some
slept. But Florentyna remained wide awake throughout the whole proceedings and
at two thirty-three, CBS announced the result she had been waiting for:
California had been won by the Democrats, the returns showing 50.2 to 49.8, a
margin of a mere 332,000 votes, giving the election to Parkin. Florentyna
picked up the phone by her side.

“Are you calling
the President-elect to congratulate him?” asked Edward.

“No,” said
Florentyna. “I’m calling Bella to thank her for putting him there.”

Florentyna spent
the next few days in Cape Cod having a total rest, only to find she kept waking
at six each morning with nothing to do except wait for the morning papers. She
was delighted when Edward joined her on Wednesday but couldn’t get used to his
affectionately addressing her as ‘P.’

Pete Parkin had
already called a press conference at his Texas ranch to say he would not be
naming his cabinet until the New Year. Florentyna returned to Washington on
November 14, for the lameduck session of Congress, and prepared for her move
from the Russell Building to the White House. Although her time was fully
occupied in the Senate and Illinois, it came as a surprise to her that she
spoke to the President-elect only two or three times a week and then on the
phone. Congress ackjourned two weeks after Thanksgiving, and Florentyna
returned to Cape Cod for a family Christmas with a grandson who kept calling
her Grannie President.

“Not yet,” she
told him.

On January 9 the
President-elect arrived in Washington and held a press conference to announce
his cabinet. Although Florentyna had not been consulted on his appointments, no
one was expecting any real surprises:

Charles Lee was
made Secretary of Defense and would have been everyone’s choice. Paul Rowe
retained his position as director of the CIA. Pierre Levale became attorney
general, and Michael Brewer, national secutity advisor. Florentyna didn’t raise
an eyebrow until Parkin came to his choice for Secretary of State. She sat in
disbelief when the President declared:

“Chicago can
rightly be proud of having produced the Vice President as well as the Secretary
of State.”

By Inauguration
Day, Florentyna’s personal belongings in the Baron had been packed up and were
all ready for delivery to the Vice President’s official residence on
Observatory Circle. The huge Victorian house seemed grotesquely large for a
family of one.

For this
inauguration, Florentyna’s whole family sat in seats one row behind Pete
Parkin’s wife and daughters, while Florentyna sat on one side of the President
and Ralph Brooks sat immediately behind him. When she stepped forward to take
the oath of office, her only thought was to wish that Richard were there by her
side to remind her she was getting closer and closer. Glancing sideways at Pete
Parkin, she concluded that Richard would still ha.ve voted
Republican.,
Chief Justice William Rehnquist gave her a warm smile as she repeated after him
the oath of office for the Vice President.

“‘I do solemnly
swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic... “‘

“‘I do solemnly
swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic...”‘

Florentyna’s
words had sounded clear and confident, perhaps because she had learned the oath
by heart. Annabel winked at her as she returned to her seat amid deafening
applause.

After the Chief
Justice administered the Presidential oath to Parkin, Florentyna listened
intently as America’s new Chief Executive delivered his inaugural address. She
had not been consulted about it and she hadn’t even seen its final draft until
the night before. Once again Parkin referred to her as the greatest littic lady
in the land.

After the
inauguration ceremony was over, Parkin, Brooks and Florentyna joined
congressional leaders for lunch in the Capitol. Her Senate colleagues gave
Florentyna a warm welcome when she took her place on the dais. After lunch they
climbed into limousines for the drive down Pennsylvania Avenue that would lead
the inaugural parade.
Sitting in the enclosed viewing stand
in front of the White House, Florentyna.
watched
floats, marching bands and assorted governors roll by, representing every one
of the fifty states. She stood and applauded when the farmers of Illinois
saluted her, and later after making a token visit to every one of the inaugural
balls, she spent her first night in the Vice President’s house and realized the
closer she got to the top, the more alone she became.

The next
morning, the President held his first cabinet meeting. This time Ralph Brooks
sat on his right-hand side. The group, visibly tired from the seven inaugural
balls the night before, assembled in the Cabinet Room. Florentyna sat at the
far end of the long oval table, surrounded by men with whose views she had
rarely been in accord in the past, aware that she was going to have to spend
four years battling against them before she could hope to forrn her own
cabinet. She wondered how many of them knew about her deal with Parkin.

As soon as
Florentyna had settled into her wing of the White House, she appointed Janet
Brown as head of her personal office. Many of the positions left vacant by
Parkin’s staff she also filled with her old team from the campaign and Senate
days.

Of the
rentaining staff she inherited, she quickly learned how valuable their skills
and special qualifications would have been had they not disappeared one by one
as the President offered them executive jobs.

Within three
months, Parkin had denuded her office of all the most competent staff, taking
first the middle-ranking campaign operatives and then some of the inner circle
ol’advisors.