Madame President - Tara Sue Me Page 0,41
the current situation.
By the time the executives stand up to leave, I’m more impressed with Anna than before. The nursing director is going to give her a tour, and for a few minutes the only people in the room are Anna, me, the Press Pool photographer, and a Secret Service agent. Anna moves to stand at my side. “Mr. Hazar,” she says. “It didn’t occur to me until we were about ten minutes into discussions that this might be a difficult topic for you.”
She has managed once again to catch me completely off-guard. “Thank you, Madame President, it’s very thoughtful of you to consider my wellbeing, but I assure you I’m fine.”
She nods. “Will you be okay to go on the tour?”
“Yes,” I reply. “And in case you might be thinking I’m only giving you lip service, I volunteer at a cancer center in New York once a week. Or, I did.”
This time it’s my turn to shock her. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. It makes my week to know I’ve rendered Anna speechless.
“Believe it or not, Madame President, there are people who don’t think I’m a complete dick,” I enjoy telling her. “And a good number of them like me.”
She looks like she’s getting ready to say something, but before she can get a word out, the door opens, and one of the executives Anna spoke with earlier is back. This time there’s a woman with him—the nursing director, I assume. After the appropriate introductions are made, the nursing director looks over to where the photographer and I are standing.
“Gentlemen,” she says. “If you’re going to be part of the tour, come on up here so you can hear what’s being said.”
Roger, the photographer, has been propped against the back wall since we first walked in. I look at him and his face has lost all color.
“Roger?” I ask, and my tone must give away more than I think because in less than two seconds, he’s being helped into a chair by the nursing director.
Once she has him sitting down, I tell her to go on with the tour and one or both of us will catch up in a few minutes. She agrees, and it doesn’t take long for her to get everyone out of the conference room and into the hall.
I grab a cold bottle of water from an ice bucket sitting on a beverage cart brought in for the first meeting, and hand it to Roger. He gulps down about half the bottle before speaking.
“Thanks, man,” he says.
I take a seat next to him. He’s trembling. “Are you okay?”
He looks at the table and shakes his head. “I can’t do hospitals. I can’t.”
There’s no further explanation given, but I’m not going to leave it at that. “Why did you agree to today knowing we were coming to a hospital?”
“Because the Press Pool needed someone to take pictures today and my supervisor told me he didn’t care what I had to do, I was going to be the one doing it.”
“And what happens if you return with nothing?” I’m not sure who his boss is, but I’m damn well going to find out.
“I’ll be let go.” He shrugs. “I tried. I was fine until they brought up the tour. I knew then I couldn’t do it…. My niece… she….”
I stand up and put my hand on his shoulders. “No explanation needed. Give me your camera.”
His head shoots up. “What?”
“You’re not being fired today. Give me your camera and I’ll take some pictures.”
“You would do that?”
“Contrary to the rumor mill, I’m actually only an ass eighty-five percent of the time.”
He snorts, but takes his camera out of the bag by his side and hands it to me. “Do you know how to use one like that?”
I hold it carefully while I look it over. Photography is one of Gabe’s hobbies and he’s roped me a time or two into going on what he calls a wilderness discovery hike. Turns out it’s less like a hike and more of me following behind him as he searches out things to photograph.
“I’ve used one similar,” I tell Roger. “But not this exact model.”
Satisfied I’m not going to break his equipment, he smiles. “Thank you so much, Navin. I really appreciate this.”
“Might want to wait until you see my pictures before thanking me,” I joke, pleased some of the color has returned to his cheeks.
I leave Roger in the conference room, telling him to drink some