Champ walks through the Senate office building saying hi to everyone one along the way. The sign on the door he comes to says “Senator, Robert Montgomery, New York.” He walks in like he owns the place. The young woman at the reception desk seems overjoyed to see him. “Bret, Mr. Douglas, is waiting on you,” she says.
He hands her a box of donuts. “Pass ‘em around.”
He then knocks on a office door and walks right in. “Bret, Carol Simmons, nice to meet you,” he says without missing a beat.
An older man, looking out the window, his back to the room, more a military figure than a diplomat, doesn’t bother to turn around.
“Most people call me Champ. Not gonna lie, was a bit surprised when I heard Robert brought you in. It was a hard campaign, not that you were there, but I’ve heard a lot about you. You know Washington.”
The man turns around. “You can call me Bret. You’re Joe and Jackie Simmons boy?”
“That’s right.” Champ holds out his hand.
“Well invested trust funds from your grandparents, University of Michigan quarterback and class president, and that smile all work well on the campaign trail. Even being the grandson of Dominique Deveraux helps there, but not here. Graduating summa cum laude in public policy from Gerald R. Ford, that’s why you’re here.”
Champ pulls back his hand. “Fair enough. You’ve been at this a long while with Senators Dowling, both of them. I’m new to Washington. I grew up in and around New York, much different climate. BA in public policy, as you noted. JD in law from Harvard. Worked for the law firm Robinson, Dole and Tanimura in Detroit and Manhattan, mostly paper work. But, I’ve been involved in politics most of my life.”
“Like I said, your mother’s Jacqueline Boydston, I get you know politics. Tell me something I don’t know.”
Taking from his jacket pocket he hands the man a thick envelop.
Mattie walks into Dia’s art studio. Dia is naked, covered in paint and rolling around on giant canvases. Mattie says, “Damn. Look at you.”
Dia is startled and covers his genitals. “Mattie. I didn’t . . .”
“I know. I know. But I’m here checking on you.” He smirks. “Can I watch?”
“No you can’t.”
“Why be shy? You aren’t going back to being straight are your?”
“You know I don’t buy into that.”
“No. No you don’t. Anyway, Matheson-Winston just bought a large share of BendX.”
“So?”
“Your dad’s An-Li Chi, he controls Matheson-Winston.”
Dia sits up, “The family does. But still. So? Is he like trying to take over BendX or something?”
“No. I don’t think so. How many shares of Matheson-Winston do you own?”
“I don’t know.”
“Richard Channing, Ellie’s uncle, the Seer of ‘Cisco, he bought a lot of shares too, through ChanningSumner.”
“Isn’t that what you want, investors? I mean it’s a social media company, isn’t it a good investment?”
“Of course it is. Your father and Ellie’s uncle know each other.”
“Richard’s mother, Angela Channing, took care of my father’s uncle, Choa-Li. They know each other well.”
“Matheson-Winston is a Hong Kong company.”
“And London too. But, I don’t really have anything to do with business. Why are you asking me?”
“Can you introduce me to Richard Channing and your father?”
“I suppose I could.”
“I don’t get why you don’t have anything to do with your family’s business. Are Buddhists not allowed to be in business?”
“Well it’s not a rule but some choose to focus more on achieving enlightenment than others, like my Uncle Choa-Li who was a wondering monk until he meet Angela Channing and helped raise her children, absent their father. Anyway, isn’t your father a large shareholder in ChanningSumner too? Can’t he introduce you?”
Not at all. He was bought out when his shares were put into a blind trust, when he became a senator. And my mom sold her shares first chance.”
“You don’t have much to do with your dad.”
“He didn’t want children.”
“Yeah my dad and I don’t get along either. I have a learning disability and dropped out of college and well.”
“I get it. I dropped out too, after starting BendX.”
“Why’d you move the company to Baltimore anyway?”
“A lot of my tech guys were coming out of John Hopkins.”
“Then you move yourself closer to Washington. With your dad here, I mean you’re bound to run into him. Bo said he’s on a committee with his Aunt Donna and his brother’s friend, Senator Judith Ryland.”
“I don’t know. I don’t keep tabs on him.”
“Yeah but the Commerce Committee is pretty big to you isn’t it? You know the whole reason Bo’s here is his brother sent him here to work on networking. Like his Aunt Donna was Secretary of Energy. The pull that family has in this town. That’s who you should be talking to.”
“He’s hot isn’t he, Bo?”
“I don’t know. I don’t look at people that way. Ellie and he had a thing for a while. Well Ellie had a thing with Champ too.”
“Of I’m so freaking jealous. Imagine the two of them together. You’re good friends with Ellie.”
“I don’t imagine people like that.”
“How can’t you? You mean if they were all over you, you’d say no.”
“Of course I would.”
“I sure as hell wouldn’t. Of course if you were interested I wouldn’t say no either.” Mattie begins to undress.
“What are you doing?”
“Joining your art work.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Naked he gets down on the floor with Dia. “Aren’t you at least curious of what we’d turn out.” Mattie grabs him and rolls around in the paint.
Ellie walks into Senator Montgomery’s office and holds out her hand. “Bret, I heard you were chief of staff. Just thought I’d drop in to say congratulations.”
“Thanks Ellie. Good to see you. How have you been?”
“Excellent. Glad another election is over.”
“Always good to be on this side of things. Say, you’re friends with Carol Simmons, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I heard he’s working for you. I’ve known Champ for a long time. He went to Carton and I went to Miss Haversham’s in Connecticut.”
“Oh I see. But you grew up in California.”
“My father went to Carton. My grandmother went to Miss Haversham’s, and my great grandmother and her mother too.”
“Oh I see. So you and Carol are good friends?”
“For a long time.”
“So I heard your father, Lance Cumson, gave you ten percent of Gioberti Family Estates. You’ve been working hard for the family. And now you’re a lobbyist for the Intoxicants Manufactures Association. I’m sure we can be of great help to each other.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. I’ve got a bill we need to discuss.”
“So tell me, when your two little ones grow up, will they attend Carton and Miss Haversham’s.”
“Of course, like my sister and her children. It’s what we do.”
“Tradition’s a wonderful thing. I have no doubt one day you’ll be running the family wineries. But it must be difficult. As a single mother I mean.”
“I have some advantages.”
“Certainly. Well, come into my office, I want to look at that bill you’re concerned about. You know, my grandson, he’s also single again.”
“I’ve heard.”
“I’ll let you know the next time he’s in town.”
“Please do.”
Two men walk off a sub way in D. C. chatting. “You just can’t blow off Bo Ewing,” the one says.
“Tell me why I should take this kid from nowhere Florida serious.”
“He’s John Ross Ewing’s brother. He owns forty-two percent of Ewing Industries . . .”
“If he had control over his trust, I’d say maybe you had a point.”
“Ewing Industries is a privately held conglomerate. He shares control of it with his brother. With it they own Ewing Oil, Ewing Alternative, Wentworth Tool and Die, Barnes Global, Ryland Trade and Transport, CyberByte, CMBC, Rio Blanco, Branch Water . . .”
“I get the list, and again, if he had any control, I’d take him serious.”
“But his brother does. And his brother sent him here to help with the Ewing Network, a growing organization of libertarian and conservative think tanks, and candidates supported by the Ewing’s. And he’s friends with Mattie Sumner. The guy has influence. And he’s not difficult to get at. For instance, Bo Ewing loves pretty women.”
“So you’re thinking about arranging for him to meet a pretty woman of our choosing?”
“For right now. Trust me, we want him on our side.”
“From the Ewing Network, it sounds like he already is.”
“That’s his brother and father’s doing. Bo Ewing is more malleable. He’s also friends with Malika Ahmed.”
“Tell me more about her.”
“They meet when his brother put him on an arms deal.”
“For Ryland Trade and Transport?”
“Exactly. Her father is Malik Ahmed, the arms dealer who’s father, Farouk Ahmed, was involved in oil. She’s on the board of the The Ahmed Group, their former Senior V. P. of international affairs, a serial entrepreneur on her own, and she is now President of the Ahmed Family Foundation here in Washington. The main goal seems to be to clean up the Ahmed family reputation. They’re also very conservative, socially, but in many ways liberal, liberal enough to oppose you.”
