Chapter 52

“Mr. President. How is it possible that you and former President Dryden work so well with former President Brownbock? Isn’t it impossible for three men who are so used to being the top dog to agree on anything?”

It was a fair question. Sam Brownbock had sailed through his heart transplant. On his first official visit to the White House since he resigned to deal with his heart problem, and after recovering from the trauma of the surgery, he came to spend a few days and see his old friends. It was in the Oval Office, where we were shooting the breeze late in the afternoon, that he asked, how I was going working with our former boss.

“Mr. President,” I said, deferentially. “President Dryden is having the time of his life cleaning out the trash over at State. I can’t imagine appointing a new Secretary, because it might hurt his feelings. Anyone I did appoint would never achieve or be able to maintain the positive changes that he has wrought.

“People over there are terrified of him, because he has no interest in moving up. I understand he is filthy rich, so bribery or promises of riches isn’t going to make bit of difference to him, and he never has to worry about having me get in his road.

“It’s the perfect place for him to play until he decides to retire for real.”

Sam looked at me with such uncertainty, that I had to ask. “Mr. President. What’s going on?”

Sam looked almost afraid to speak. Then he seemed to screw up his courage and plunge in. “Thomas. Is there any way I can come back? Is there another problem like you have Dryden working on that I can jump in and help?

“To tell you the truth, once I got over the transplant, I’ve been so bored that I’m afraid it will kill me. There’s nothing I want to do more than grab onto something and shake it until the broken pieces fall out, so I can start fixing the rest...” His smile was partly embarrassment over having to ask to be allowed back in, and part fear that I would reject him without thinking it through.

It had to be the Universe moving pieces around to fix something coming up. My lives had been full of uncommon things, but I never imagined having both of my old bosses working for me. However, Agriculture was still a problem, and I kept Defense right where he was because he had things so well in hand, so why not?

Why not...

“Mr. President. Would you be willing to take over at Agriculture and see if you can kick start that bloated mess into high gear, and keep it running instead of falling apart and dragging everything else down with it?”

The wheels were turning full speed inside his head. Somehow, someway, Sam Brownbock was going to convince himself that Ag was a great spot to make his comeback. It occurred to me that he might also be positioning himself to replace me in six years. If so, my first thought was, ‘God bless him.’ He’d need all the help he could find, including God’s help.

Sam came to his decision. He stood up, offered me his hand, and asked, “How do you want to handle notifications and the media?”

The special phone was right beside me. “Stacy, I need you, right now.”

It took no time and Stacy was in with her ever present notepad. “How may I help you Mr. President ... and hello to you, Mr. President?” They wore nearly identical smiles. Sam was delighted to be back in and Stacy was as loyal and true as could be imagined.

“Please have the Vice President choppered over here, as soon as humanly possible. Make arrangements with the Service while I call him.”

She got busy and I pressed number three on my speed dial. One was Jennifer. Two was Stacy and three rang the Vice President. As expected, he answered on the first ring. We never called each other during business hours unless it was truly important. He knew if he looked down and saw it was me, that we NEEDED to talk.

“Yes, Mr. President. How may I help you?”

“Good afternoon, Mr. President, right back at you. Stacy is talking to your detail leaders. I need you over at The Cottage right now. You will like what is about to go down but I need you to help me pull it off. Please get your people moving and reschedule everything for the rest of the night. You’ll see why when you arrive.” We both hung up without worrying about formalities. It was just that way with us.

“Mr. President.” Sam gave his full attention. “President Dryden is headed here, as you heard. The three of us will put our noses to the grindstone and figure out the best way to get this done. Please stay while I issue some instructions, and by the time that’s done, the three of us can get busy and spin some gold out of our partnership.”

Sam quietly spoke by phone to some of his former staff, no doubt lining up his inner circle. It was clear to me that he would need to clean the house top to bottom, like Hawk was doing, before he could even begin to make things look like a well-run ship over there. Bringing back loyal, competent subordinates was a great way to start.

When I picked up my phone Stacy answered, not one of my secretaries. Her bright and cheerful, “Yes Mr. President?” nearly made my day. I loved hearing a smile in her voice, and she rarely disappointed me.

“Stacy. We are going to get very busy in a few minutes. We will need serious food and cold drinks quickly and you will need to hand off everything you are doing and get in here with us. Thank everybody out there for helping you finish whatever is still hanging, but you are going to be very tied up for the next four to five hours, minimum.

“Please tell the kitchen that we are feeding Presidents Dryden and Brownbock. I want them to deliver those things that the two men like best and we’ll want it soon. Thank you.”