Chapter 7

We freshened up and met our house staff, mostly Navy personnel, as they introduced themselves to us in the first floor Sitting Room. I tried nobly to remember names and connect every name to a face and job, but feared I was failing miserably. Samantha, always the press secretary, whipped out a notepad and created a list, complete with description of everyone I met with.

Things had happened so quickly, that I barely noted the immense amount of security around us as we moved about the Vice Presidential Residence at One Observatory Circle. It was built for the Secretary of the Naval Observatory and designated as the official Vice Presidential residence in seventy-four, for newly appointed Vice President, Gerald Ford. Ford was soon to become president, and his successor, Nelson Rockefeller already owned a home in DC. He had no desire to move, so only used the residence for entertaining foreign guests, and dignitaries. The first Vice Presidential resident was Walter Mondale, who moved in after being sworn in in January seventy-seven.

We arrived late and had had a full day. It was well after midnight when our staff let us sneak away to bed in a magnificent second floor master suite that reeked of one-hundred years ago. The bed was soft and warm, in all the right ways, and it was no time before my wristwatch alarm woke us at six.

Samantha opted to rest, while I was full of energy, unable to imagine what the day of a Vice President consisted of beyond briefings and appearances. My temporary Chief-of-Staff, Jason Whittaker, had set an itemized itinerary on a table just outside the bedroom door, and the cook had delivered a pot of piping hot coffee, a selection of pastries, along with fresh fruit and other tempting delights.

Rather than keep Samantha awake, I picked up the big tray and carried it down to the rear of the house to the study, where I could eat, check out the morning news reports, and find out who, what, where, when, and why, before tackling it all.

Jason waited a decent amount of time to let me eat, and then knocked before interrupting my moment of quiet. "Mr. Vice President. The President asked me to personally deliver this to you this morning," and he handed over an envelope. Inside was a hand written note from Charles, thanking me for accepting the post, and asking if I might come to the Oval Office in time for a cabinet meeting at ten.

I folded the note, put it in the inside pocket of my blazer, and said to Jason, "Please call the White House and let the appropriate person know I will be there for the cabinet meeting. Then make whatever arrangements needed to defeat Washington traffic and be at the White House by ten."

Jason smiled, and I realized my mistake. "Mr. Vice President. Sir, you are no longer a regular guy. When you need to go to the White House, or pretty much anywhere else, we'll get you a bird and fly you there. That's why we call your chopper Marine Two. Three choppers exist only to move you where you need to go.

"However, Sir, I will arrange your departure for nine-forty-five A.M. Please let me know if there is anything else you'll be needing. Your private secretary will have your notes, documents, schedule, and she'll keep up with things as they change. One of the challenges to your office, Sir, is the frequency you'll be called upon to represent President Thornton here and abroad. We are rather well trained in taking care of our President and Vice President, and I promise you that we will move Heaven and Earth to see to it that your time is not wasted. There will never be enough of it, so we knock ourselves out trying to make things as easy for you as is possible."

I thanked him and went back to channel surfing.

FOXNEWS got Meghan Kelly up early to cover the change in Vice Presidents, and she was in rare form.

"Who saw THIS coming? At nine o'clock last night, FOXNEWS gets notified of an emergency briefing to take place in THREE separate places. The Vice President had a statement to make, and we were all warned, rather sternly, that he would not be taking questions. Then the President was to address the nation immediately after, but wait, we're not done. THEN we are informed that an emergency joint session Congress was called and would begin with a joint statement by the Speaker of the House, and Senate Majority Leader.

"As you good folks know, we are in the news gathering business, and our sources were a dry hole. No one was saying a word about anything, which had to mean that no one knew what the heck was going on.

"Ordinarily, that might mean some terrible news that none of us would want to hear, but not this time. Vice President Val Buena walks to a microphone in an empty room, and boom, he resigns without notice.

"We wanted more from our Vice President, newly elected by the largest majority since Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, in nineteen-eighty, but it was not to be. The President was at his podium in the White House, so there was no time to follow anything up before he hit us with the next bombshell.

"Apparently the President met with many members of the house and senate and they – according to our sources – DEMANDED that the President appoint recently retired, Kansas Governor, John Gray, as Val Buena's replacement. Now you all know the story about Governor John Gray. He's the one that threw himself in front of a speeding car to save Senator Thornton's daughter and granddaughter.

"For his heroism, the Governor received serious injuries, but shrugged them off to continue to campaign for Senator Thornton all the way to Election Day.

"Well folks, the story starts to get stranger here. Governor Gray returned home to wrap up his duties as Governor since he was termed out. His successor had already been elected and was soon to be sworn in. While Gray finished out his term, President Elect Charles Thornton appointed cabinet secretaries, under-secretaries, and a plethora of other offices.