Political Science 101

Chapter Nineteen

OVER THE YEARS, Ray Doyle had grown accustomed to burning the midnight oil as a top-notch civil rights attorney. For nearly a decade, he made a habit of working late into the night; his wife and son always made it work, bringing dinner to him at his downtown St. Louis law office. As a family, they'd always managed to make life work.

This, however, was an entirely different situation. Ray's wife Samantha and their only son Will were not with him in Jefferson City. Through a mutual decision (with the hopes of easing stress, eliminating inconveniences, and allowing Will to remain in his current school), they decided to keep the family in St. Charles while Ray rented a modest apartment near the Capitol building where he would stay during legislative terms or when work was to be done; he planned to make the trip home on most weekends.

Ray didn't have the loving touch of Samantha, but he did have the all-in, get-the-job-done attitude of his administrative assistant, the young and adventurous Amber Green. The 24-year-old recent graduate from the University of Kansas often flaunted her political savvy in front of Ray as she assisted him in making sense of the typhoon which seemed to strike his desk on a daily basis.

After graduating with degrees in anthropology and political science, Amber took an entry-level administrative job at the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City; she felt it would give her an inside look at the political process, "beyond the textbooks," as she thought. She aimed to do the office work while eventually earning her master's degree in political science and perhaps seeking political office herself. She'd been a very out-spoken Conservative Republican during high school, but spending twelve semesters and two full-time summer terms at the University of Kansas managed to turn her into a middle-of-the-road Moderate. However, she shocked her parents in the previous election by announcing to them that she'd just voted as a registered Democrat.

Ray Doyle appreciated her deep-seeded motivation and her desire to ask questions; she sought to learn the inside functionality of state-level politics, but also wanted to be a competent assistant. But both knew, on some level, that Ray was learning along the way as well. Often, he would have to wing-it on a few answers to Amber's queries, but he was confident in the preparatory work he and Mitch had done in the months prior; Mitch was a solid teacher and Ray was a quick learner. But regardless, Ray and Amber developed a team mentality beyond the interactions he had with the rest of the shared office staff in the Capitol offices, each earning mutual respect from the other.

Amber saw Ray as a sort of political Indiana Jones, flying by the seat of his pants and diving into new adventures, whether he was adequately prepared or not. Ray volunteered for the State Finance Committee, the State Reps Education Council, and had recently sought selection for the governor-appointed State Legislature Oversight Committee for a project beginning soon in Missouri involving the installation of a natural gas pipeline. He took this particular initiative at the urging of his friend, Mitch Bradley, but also at the behest of both his assistant, Amber, and his wife, Samantha. Regardless. Ray was reasonably (but quietly) certain he would not be chosen for the committee due to his lack of experience and his political affiliation (since the current good-ole-boy Republican governor who shunned inexperience and rarely sought the input of Democrats).

It was after 9PM on a Friday night when Ray and Amber embarked on their final task of the evening: the daily mail.

"Seriously, why don't you go home?" Ray asked in a sympathetic tone. "It's Friday night. Shouldn't you be at a bar or a club or something with your friends?"

"They can wait," she replied without looking up from her sorting of envelopes.

"This is mostly constituency mail anyway," he said, trying to get to look up. "They're just writing about the usual public outcry issues." Ray paused and looked at Amber as she sorted the mail, smiling at her persistent resolve at even the most menial of tasks.