Phantom Voice

(This is a fiction written in answer to the challenge Alan made to me.)

I got out of the taxi and headed into the large building in front of me. It was raining and all I had was today’s newspaper to cover my head. I unfolded it quickly and caught a glimpse of the person I was about to meet. He always had a funny look on his face. I put the newspaper over my head and stepped around the puddles on the sidewalk leading up to the building.

Once inside, I was greeted warmly by a woman in a black business suit. She looked to be in her forties. Her skin was showing the wrinkles but her beauty still existed.

“He’ll be ready to see you in a moment.”

“Thanks,” I said as I followed her.

She walked me through the maze of a building until we reached the door to a room I had never been in and had always wanted to see. When she opened the door it was like the gates of Heaven opening as the light peeked out of the edges of the doorway. My eyes, of course, were playing tricks on me. It was probably my reverence of the place that made me see such a bright light. It faded quickly and I looked closer at the supple leather and old wood furniture behind the door.

“Go on in and have a seat. He’ll be with you shortly.”

I could only manage a nod. I was baffled that I had come this far to meet this person and be in this room. I went to a long leather couch in the middle of the room and sat down. I placed my briefcase on the table in front of me. A couple of books dropped off the table, so I rushed to pick them up, scared I had made a huge mistake. I was quite proud of what I saw. They were books that most men in his position should read.

One was titled “Why We Want to Kill You.” It was written by an ex-terrorist by the name of Walid Shoebat. It tells of the true nature of the Islamic fundamentalists. It is a great book to understand the mind of terrorists being as the author was of the rare breed of a reformed terrorist himself. Very honest and open.

Another was “Understanding Iraq” written by William Polk. This was a complete history of Iraq with detailed information on not only the geography of the land and shifts in borders, but also history of famous leaders such as Genghis Khan.

The door suddenly opened, and in walked the Texan to the oval shaped room I sat in. I jumped up like I used to when I was in the military, before I became a journalist. My hand almost saluted until I remembered I was a civilian.

“Mr. President,” I said.

“Nice to meet you son,” he said as he held out his political handshake. It was a good firm handshake. “Have a seat and we’ll get down to having that interview I promised you.”

“Thank you Mr. President,” I said as we both sat down on opposite sides of the table with the books and my briefcase. “Before we get started, I’d like to ask how you liked these books.” I held up the two books I had been studying earlier.

“Sorry son, I haven’t read those,” he said in his Texan drawl. “I just don’t have the time. Off the record, between you, me, and the can of sardines, those are for looks.”

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am and is filed under Short Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.