Chapter 15

It took far longer than a month before the swelling went down, and I knitted back together inside. Constance was my constant companion, living up to her name like a trooper. On the day I was released from Bethesda, Hawk and Polly arrived to take me home in Marine One. The flight was mercifully short, and there was no reception planned for me. The idea was to let me come home, settle in, and find out if I was truly recovered.

The mirror had ceased to be my mortal enemy about two weeks before I went home.

After the problem last time the doctors were determined to be certain I was actually healed, before allowing me to reenter my life at the White House. Polly had prepared me for changes in the staff, because Shane Victorello had decided that loyalty, or no loyalty, his White House leadership team had let him down one time too many.

Marine One circled to land, and I saw another chopper out the side window. I tugged on Hawk's sleeve and pointed. He bent to look past me and saw our companion chopper, then looked a little closer, waved to them, and said, "That's the Vice President, Angela. He and I have some business to attend to this afternoon, so I invited him to join the three of us for lunch. Is that Ok with you?"

His smile told me he was playing, not serious, and I nodded seriously and said, "As long as you two don't run off to some seedy bar and pick up cheap women."

That got a laugh from Hawk and a snort from Polly. I'd never heard her snort before, and my eyes must have seemed as large as dinner plates, because she poked me in the arm and said, "I told you I wasn't any different than the rest of you girls, so stop thinking I'm too stuck up to have fun."

We were met by a large contingent of agents, and that made me look around to see if we were in some kind of danger. Polly caught my look, took Hawk's arm, and quietly said, "She's still scared, honey. Put your arm around her and see if that comforts her a little."

Hawk pulled me in under his arm and kissed the top of my head, saying, "There's nothing going on, little one. After the last difficulty we had around here, these guys are part of the new protocol for us. One good thing came of it, though. Once Shane put a new team in place, the first thing they did was reevaluate every single White House employee, test them for drugs, behavior problems, background issues, and debt, and he was able to identify more people who might have become a problem for us. "They are all out of government service, and their personal files are marked as potential troublemakers. They will never be allowed anywhere near us again, so that is a load off of our minds, huh?"

What I was thinking was, 'Famous last words.'

Sam Brownback caught up to us as we walked slowly towards the south lawn entrance, and Hawk spoke to him as he closed in. "Good morning Sam. How's the Vice President today?"

Brownback stopped like he was shocked at the manner in which Hawk spoke to him. "It's Ok," Hawk said. This is our adopted one, Angela. Angela, this is the Vice President, Sam Brownback. He used to be a US Congressman, then a US Senator, from Kansas, before he was their Governor, and now he's Vice President." Hawk sounded quite proud to introduce the man he appointed to the Vice Presidency, so I laid it on a little myself. "Good morning, Mr. Vice President. It is an honor to meet you. My father speaks very highly of you, and I am happy to put a face with the name and all the complimentary descriptions."

I felt Hawk squeeze me just bit tighter to him, as I tried to make his appointee feel important. He looked down at me and smiled like I had hit a home run to win the World Series.

The Vice President seemed taken aback to be greeted with so much formality, but quickly recovered, reached to shake my hand, and did so, saying, "Mr. President, where did you find such a composed and polite young lady? Surely you paid an enormous price to buy her from the daughter store, right?" They traded quips all the way to the front entrance of the White House, and I noticed that the metal detectors were nowhere in sight as we walked in. That concerned me, but Hawk anticipated my reaction, saying to Brownback, "Angela is confused by the lack of metal detectors and bomb scanning equipment at the entrance, Mr. Vice President. I think I need to explain some of the new security protocols. You will remember that she was badly injured upstairs not so long ago and right now is concerned about our safety a bit more than usual.

"Sweetheart, he said to Polly, "I need to talk with Angela for little while. You are absolutely welcome to join us in the Oval Office, but if you need time with your staff, we both will understand."

He pointed me towards his office, and everyone parted to let us go by. Polly decided to join us, which I think, was his intent in how he asked, but I needed to watch and learn to be more certain I was reading the signs correctly. As we approached the Oval Office, I saw a deliberate security presence, that literally surrounded us as we walked. Nobody could have stepped up to the President and exchanged words without doing so around the shoulders of Secret Service Agents, and beyond them I could see Capitol Police, military personnel, and what I guessed to be either FBI or DHS. The White House had gone hard core locked down. I wondered if it was all a show for me, or if this was the new normal. I had a suspicion that it wouldn't take long to find out.

Hawk and Polly explained that there were newer, faster, more effective, and less visible security measures in place that measured each visitor's body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and sought to anticipate extreme emotional reactions that might be the forerunner of a violent, or criminal intent. The metal detectors and sniffers were replaced by newer, better, and more all encompassing scans that were far more effective in keeping people out that shouldn't be granted access to the White House.

As we stood just outside the Oval Office, I could see lots of changes to the entry area, and figured that all had to be part of the security upgrade, also. The Oval Office was still imposing, just as it must have been to every visitor since it was built. I tried to remember everything I'd been taught about the Oval Office.

The "elliptic salon" at the center of the White House was a feature of the architect's original plan. An oval interior space was a Baroque concept that was adapted by Neoclassicism. Oval rooms became popular in eighteenth century neoclassical architecture.

In November 1800, John Adams became the first President to occupy the White House. He and his successor, President Thomas Jefferson, used Hoban's oval rooms in the same ceremonial manner that Washington had used the Bow Window, standing before the three windows at the south end to receive guests.

During the 19th century, a number of presidents used the White House's second-floor Yellow Oval Room as a private office or library. The West Wing (Executive Office Building) was the idea of President Theodore Roosevelt, brought about by his wife's opinion that the second floor of the White House, then shared between bedrooms and offices, should be just a domestic space.

The one-story Executive Office Building was intended to be a temporary structure, for use until a permanent building was erected either on that site or elsewhere. Building it to the west of the White House allowed the removal of a vast, dilapidated set of pre-Civil War greenhouses that had been constructed by President James Buchanan. Roosevelt moved the offices of the executive branch to the newly constructed wing in 1902. His workspace was a two-room suite consisting of the Executive Office and Cabinet Room, located just west of the present Cabinet Room.

President William Howard Taft made the West Wing a permanent building, expanding it southward, doubling its size, and building the first Oval Office. Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth and completed in 1909, the office was centered on the south side of the building, much as the oval rooms in the White House are. Taft intended it to be the hub of his administration, and by locating it in the center of the West Wing, he could be more involved with the day-to-day operation of his presidency.