Chapter 1

The TV audio was still ringing in my ears, “With 62% of the precincts in, WSYX-TV predicts 25-year-old Businessman David Anthony will win the City Council race in Springfield, with 79% of the vote!”

Springfield – the county seat of Clark County in Ohio, with over 140,000 people. So, 79% of 140,000 is 110,000 – Wow! That many people voted for me! Hot Damn – NO, that’s 79% of all of those people who voted, so if we had 50% of the registered voters, that’s still ... ugh, a shitload of people!

As I was watching the results, my significant other Liz, short for Elizabeth, came up behind me and said, “We won, Davey!”

I turned around and said to her, “Yes we did, babe – what’s that old expression, ‘Be careful what you wish for?’”

I stopped and looked at this remarkable woman in my arms as we put our lips on each other, kissing in joy of the victory.

I was the second son and third child born to Richard Anthony and Katherine Briggsdale Anthony. I had an older brother named John, an older sister named Lynn, and a younger sister named Elizabeth – yep, the same one as above.

This isn’t so much a political story, more of a ‘what the hell happened’ story!

The family started in Denver Colorado, where John and Lynn were born, then the family moved to Brighton when mom was pregnant with me.

When I was born, John was 12 and Lynn was 10, and three years later mom had Elizabeth. John and Lynn were away at college and beyond, when I turned 10 years old and Lizzie was a very cute 7-year-old!

Just like Mom, my sisters are blondes with blue eyes, while my brother and I came out with brown hair and brown eyes, obviously getting that from our ruggedly handsome father.

Being the oldest at home, although only 10, I had been expected to look after my little sister, who over the next 8 years turned into quite the looker, now with longer blonde hair, to her butt; and quite the curves both front and back. I took my responsibility to look after her, to include ‘looking at her’ as well.

She had the occasional boyfriend along the way, but never for too long. I had the same problem with girls, not really a problem, but the relationship never lasted longer than three or four dates.

At that point I was 18, a Senior and a track athlete at Prairie View High School, while Lizzie was nearly 16 and a Sophomore at the same school.

Less than two years later, she had met, fallen in love and married her high school sweetheart, Ken Mendenhall. Everyone came back to Brighton for the wedding, including me, who had gone off to college to Ohio State University.

When I met Ken for the first time, back when they were both 15, I had a visceral dislike for him, although I was unsure why? Did I dislike him for anything other than he took my little sister from me? She’d always been my shadow, going with me places, like to sports events and sometimes we even went to the movies together.