"Charlie, don't be rude to your sisters..."
"Hi, Dad!"
"Is your mother there?"
Needless to say, the next thing I heard was him dropping the phone, probably on the kitchen counter, and yelling at the top of his lungs, "MOM! IT'S FOR YOU!"
I muttered to myself, and a minute later there was the sound of the phone being picked up. "Hello?"
"Mrs. Buckman, this is the National Center for Youth Telephone Discipline. Do you have time for a survey?"
"Very funny! Let me kill your son for you, and I'll tell you all about it. What's up?"
"My schedule's changed. I'll be staying here tonight. I'll come home tomorrow night and make a long weekend. Sorry about this, but it just came up."
"That's okay." Marilyn had learned my schedule needed some flexibility. "What's up?"
"I need to have dinner and drinks with an old friend who I just reconnected with.", I told her.
"Male or female?", she teased.
I glanced over at Marty. "It's either an ugly guy, or a really ugly girl. I'll tell you about it tomorrow."
Marty flipped me the bird, making me laugh. Marilyn just said, "You can take me to an expensive dinner, and not the special at the Westminster Diner, either."
I laughed some more and told her to make reservations for Saturday night, and then told her to tell the kids I loved them. Before I hung up, I asked, "Do me a favor and call Tyrell I won't need a pickup tonight or tomorrow morning, please." Tyrell Washington was the helicopter pilot for the LongRanger. Marilyn agreed, and I flipped my phone shut and stuck it back in my pocket. "Let the drinking begin!"
Mindy stuck her head in a little later. "Anything I can do, Congressman? Chuck asked me to look in on you."
I snorted. "We're fine. Do me a favor. Call around and make reservations for dinner somewhere, something nice. Morton's would be good if you can manage it. Ruth's Chris, too. Tell my driver, too."
Mindy excused herself and closed the door again, and Marty and I got back to swapping lies and talking about the old days, and how we ended up where we were. At six, Mindy knocked and came back in. "I've got your reservations at Morton's at half past, and if you go downstairs now, your car should be waiting for you when you get there."
"Mindy, you are an angel. Don't let Marilyn know how you run my life, because she'll only get jealous! We're going. You should go home, too." The girl blushed and waved good-bye.
The limo waiting for us when we got down to the lobby, the security guy standing there holding the door for us. Marty climbed in and then I climbed in after him. He smiled as he looked around. "Pretty swanky compared to the old days, huh?"
I laughed. "Marty, you have no idea! Listen, you doing anything this weekend? I'd love to take you home and reintroduce you to Marilyn."
"Sorry, not this weekend. Next weekend is open, though."
"Perfect. Bring a bag or a suitcase over here next Friday and prepare to be surprised.", I told him.
He gave me a curious look. "Going to show me your castle?"
"No castle, but trust me, you'll be surprised."
"It's crazy, you know. I knew about the billionaire who bought himself a Congressional seat, but I never figured it was my little brother from the frat house. You're really a billionaire?", he asked.
I held up two fingers in a V. "Somewhere between one-and-a-half and two. And I wish I could have bought it! It would have been so much simpler than putting up with Andy Stewart!"
"Talk to me! He's been a scumbag since before he ever made it to Washington. What happened with you?"
We talked over the campaign for awhile, taking care of the ride over and getting our table and through the appetizers. It was a touch early in the evening, and Wednesday isn't a big 'power dinner' day, so we didn't have to wait. Marty loved the whole election mess; me, I was less than thrilled with it! "I'm glad you're enjoying this. I could have done without it. So, if I have to tell you the sordid truth about my election, you have to tell me the sordid truth about your marriages. What happened?"
He shrugged and sighed. "My first marriage? She didn't handle being overseas very well. She started sleeping around, and I walked in on them one night."
"Okay, that pretty much sucks.", I agreed. "What about Number Two?"
He shrugged. "I guess I was on the rebound. It just didn't work out. Maybe I'm just not the marrying kind. Anyway, screw that! I want to hear how you are conquering Washington!"
I snorted at that. "Conquering Washington? I'm not even sure I'm conquering my office! So far I am not riding to glory."
"What's wrong?", he asked.
By now our steaks had arrived and we started cutting them up. Happy cows! I savored a bite, and then answered. "I think it's my chief of staff. I don't think he has a clue what he's doing. I need somebody who knows what he's doing, since I certainly don't, and he ain't cutting it. He spends all his time trying to line up campaign contributions and no time trying to help anybody get anything done."
"So fire him! Get somebody new. Where'd you get him anyway?"
"Gingrich recommended him, but I don't know if he knew the guy all that well. He had been an assistant chief of staff to somebody who just lost his seat. Either Newt didn't know the guy, or Newt is trying to sink me. Now, he's probably perfectly capable of doing that, but I can't see what motive he would have. He hasn't known me long enough to hate me yet!"
Marty gave a wry smile and nodded. "Well, at least you're not a total babe in the woods. I know some guys who wouldn't consider a knife in the back. Still, you're right. Newt Gingrich would slit your throat if he thought it was a good idea, but his big plan right now is building the numbers of Republicans up and getting control of the House. If he slits your throat, it won't be until after he does that. The guy is probably just a good assistant and a lousy boss. We've all seen that before."
"True, so true. I remember one battalion exec who was brilliant, right until the day the battalion commander had to go to Fort Sill for a week and left him in command. The guy was a miserable clusterfuck when left to his own devices."
"Right.", agreed Marty. "So fire this asshole and get somebody decent."
"You know anybody any good?" That just earned me a shrug. "I don't want to go back to Gingrich, and the only others I really know are newbies like me. Hell, you know this town, you'd be better than what I'll find on my own!"
Marty laughed hard enough to start coughing, which got me to laughing as well. "Then he said, "Carl, even if I wanted to work for you, you can't afford me!"
"Is that the only issue? The money? Do you like being a lobbyist that much?", I asked.
He looked at me seriously. "No, but I like being in this town and I like being near power, and I really like the money. I make more than what your chief of staff makes! I like you, Carl, but I don't like you that much!"
I nodded in agreement, and we kept talking through dinner. After dinner, we eschewed dessert, but we did order coffee (tea for me) and cognacs. Marty ordered a Remy Martin, but I said, "You know, I'm not big on cognac. Can I just get some whiskey instead?"