The Candidate
Brian took another hit and leaned back against the couch. He knew he needed to get up and get on with his life, but it all seemed like too much effort. Since he had been fired from Vangard, he had holed up in the loft. He hardly saw anyone except Justin and rarely even him. He had tolerated the odd visit from Debbie or Michael at the beginning, but then had refused to answer the phone or the door. They had got the message and left him alone. They had done their best to cheer him up and tell him he had done the right thing. Fuck the right thing! He was unemployed and ostracized from everything and everyone that meant something to him.
He had made the grand gesture of smashing the lock off the backroom at
He took another draw on the marijuana and let it sift through his system. He needed to focus, but it still hurt too much. Debbie was right. Money and power were very important to him. Somehow he had managed to fuck himself out of both of those valuable commodities. He sighed and stared at the ceiling. He glanced at the shit in his hand and wondered why it wasn't making him feel a whole hell of a lot better.
The buzzer screaming at him brought him back to reality. Who the fuck had come to console him now? He didn't want their pity or help. He slowly pushed himself up from the floor, as the buzzer kept up its annoying sound.
"What?" he barked into the intercom.
"Brian Kinney?" a voice said.
"Who wants to know?" Brian asked with annoyance.
"My name is Charles Langdon."
"And who's he when he's at home?" Brian asked with a barely suppressed
giggle. He remembered one of
his father's uncles using that expression way back when.
"I represent a group of concerned citizens. I'd really like to come up and talk to you about something rather important."
"Such as?" Brian could only imagine
what a group of concerned citizens would want with
him. He wondered if tarring and
feathering was still popular.
"Could we do this face to face?" the man requested.
"I don't want to be disturbed," Brian replied and walked away from the
intercom. He had taken only a
few steps when it started buzzing again.
"Fuck!" he shouted at the empty
loft. He retraced his steps and
hit the intercom button. "This
fucking better be good," he shouted and hit the release button for the front
door. He pulled the loft door
back and leaned against it. He
heard the elevator engage and begin its rise to his
floor. As it came into view he
could see a head with salt and pepper gray hair and what looked like a lean
body wearing a very nice suit.
"Some middle aged asshole with money!" Brian thought. "He should be home taking Viagra and fucking his wife."
The gate went up and Brian had to rethink his first
impression. The man was late
forties or early fifties, but he was still a very trim and handsome
man. He definitely gave off a
gay vibe that Brian could feel as the man held out his
hand. Brian shook it reassessing
who he was dealing with.
"I appreciate your time," Mr. Langdon said. "I'll try not to waste it."
"Come in," Brian said wondering what the hell this man could want with him.
Brian suddenly wished that he hadn't left the makings of his toke on the coffee table, but there was nothing he could do about that now.
"Would you like something to drink?" Brian asked.
"No, thank you. If I may, I'd like to get right to the point."
"Have a seat and let's get started," Brian said.
The man sat down on the couch taking cursory notice of the drug paraphernalia in front of him. Brian smiled inwardly. He liked this guy. Nothing fazed him. He was getting more and more curious about why this elegant man was here and what he wanted with an unemployed ad exec.
"I'd like to congratulate you for your stand against Stockwell," the man began.
"Stand? I was his PR man. What are you talking about?"
"I know you brought his numbers way up when you took over his campaign, but
I also know that you brought him down."
"And how would you know that?" Brian asked. His role in the GLC fiasco was not widely known and he wanted it kept that way.
"I know a lot about what goes on in the gay circles of
"I don't think that I've ever seen you around," Brian said puzzled.
"I'm not into the club scene anymore."
"Does that mean that you once were?"
"Yes, eons ago, but I still have friends who are into that and they keep
me informed. You're pretty famous
on
"No shit!"
"No shit. Although what you're famous for is another story."
Brian snorted. He knew only too well what he was famous for, and he didn't think he wanted to be discussing that with Charles Langdon. "So why are you here? A discussion of my infamy hardly seems grounds for a visit."
It was Charles' turn to snort. He
surveyed this man that he had decided to
approach. He still had grave
misgivings about what he was going to do.
However, he decided he liked the man, arrogant son of a bitch that
he seemed to be. He obviously
did some drugs, but he showed none of the signs of being a chronic
user. He had a blatant honesty
that was rather refreshing. He
was very good looking, oozing sexuality that he believed would appeal to
all people, male or female, gay or straight.
"Mr. Langdon?" Brian said. "I asked you why you are here."
"Excuse me. I was lost in
thought."
"I could tell."
"As I said to you on the intercom, I represent a group of concerned citizens. I'm here to make you a proposal."
"I don't believe in marriage, but thanks for the offer."
Charles chuckled. "Not that kind of proposal."
"Then what kind?" Brian asked truly mystified by what this man was driving at.
"We want you to run for public office."
"Yeah, right! Is this Mikey's idea of a joke? Because if it is, it isn't fucking funny!"
"This is no joke. We think
you should be the next mayor of
Brian didn't know whether to laugh or cry or slit his
wrists. What the hell was going
on? Maybe that shit he had been
smoking was stronger than he thought.
Had he somehow slipped into the Twilight Zone without
noticing? "Are you on drugs or
just fucking insane?" he asked incredulously.
"Neither, I hope."
"But you can't be serious."
"Oh, but I am."
Brian closed his mouth realizing that he had been gaping at this man for
the last minute or two. "I think
you better leave now or I'll have to call the police and have you removed."
"Don't do that. Please, listen to me. I'm serious about this. There is a group of influential people who are prepared to back you in this attempt."
"But what about Stockwell and the incumbent mayor? There's less than a month left before the election." Brian was stunned, first by the proposition and secondly that this man seemed so serious about it. It couldn't be for real.
"Actually there will be a full month of campaigning starting the beginning of next week."
"Why? The scheduled elections
are in three weeks."
"Not anymore."
"Are you and your friends overthrowing the current government and setting
up your own rules for elections?"
"Where have you been the last two weeks?
Don't you know what's been going on?"
"I've been busy," Brian replied a little sheepishly. He had cut himself off from everything including the news. "What's happened?"
"Stockwell dropped out of the race.
His numbers fell so low and he started getting other dissatisfied
voters showing up at his photo ops, asking embarrassing questions and heckling
him. Seems you started a
trend."
"Shit! He quit?"
"Yeah, sent in his request to be taken off the ballot five days ago."
"Sweet!"
"We thought so too. It meant that Mayor Deakins was in by acclamation and we can live with his limited brand of liberalism. But then the unthinkable happened."
"What?" Brian asked knowing it must be something big.
"The day after Stockwell resigned Deakins was out jogging, collapsed from a heart attack and died in the hospital."
"Holy shit! I really have been
out of the picture."
"The deputy mayor is running the city for now and plans to try his luck in
the mayoralty race. The only
problem is, he isn't nearly as liberal as
Deakins. In fact he is a hell
of a lot like Stockwell. We don't
want him winning the election. The
deadline for entries to run for mayor is day after
tomorrow. Then there will be
one month of campaigning. We
need a strong candidate to put up against
him. We think that candidate
is you."
"How in the fuck did you come up with me?"
"As I said, we have our eyes and ears watching the political
scene. We hate the way things
have been drifting into a police state since Bush took
office. We don't want that kind
of climate here in
"Why didn't you try to stop Stockwell?"
"We did, but you were doing such a fine job of promoting him that we weren't
making much headway. Then those
posters started popping up. They
seemed to rattle Stockwell at first, but then he came out with that "one
of my close friends and advisors" speech.
When we realized who this close friend and advisor was, we decided
we had to take action. Before
we could come up with a plan, the GLC thing
happened. We heard rumblings
that you were behind it. Then
the incident of opening the backroom at
"If I can switch sides so easily, why would you want a fickle son of a bitch
like me to be running the city? I
might decide to have every pizza parlor shut down, or every strip
joint. You have no idea what
I might do."
"You're far too smart for dumb acts like that."
"How do you know? I could be a crazed killer or a latent Republican for all you know."
"As I said, we've been investigating and
watching. We think you have a
certain liberal mentality and laissez-faire attitude that would be good for
business and culture in our city."
Brian studied the man. He was still having a hard time believing that he was serious about all this. "I don't have the best reputation in these parts, as you alluded to before. Wouldn't that come up in an election? The straight people would have a fit and my opponent would have a field day with it."
"We considered that. You have an honesty that can be disarming. I'm sure you could handle it."
"You have more fucking faith in my abilities than I do."
"I don't think that's true. You have quite a bit of faith in yourself or you wouldn't have risen as far as you did in the advertising business."
"And now I'm back at the bottom. So
how can that be a plus?"
"You are out of work. I'm offering
you the potential of a great new job where you can have some real influence
and shape the future of this city."
Brian scowled. He hated
"Brian, I'm not taking no for an answer. I want you to think about this tonight. Maybe talk to some of your friends or family. See what they think. I'll call you tomorrow for your answer, and I'll respect that answer whichever way it goes."
"Either you've been hallucinating or I am!" Brian said.
Charles chuckled. "No. I have all my faculties and I still want you."
He rose and held out his hand to shake Brian's. Brian took it tentatively and felt the firmness and commitment in that simple gesture. This guy was for real.
"I'll think about what you've said, but I hope you have an alternative lined up because we both know what my answer's going to be."
"Do we?" Charles asked as he walked to the
door. "Don't be too
sure. I'll talk to you
tomorrow."
"Sure," Brian said as he pulled the door closed behind his guest.
What the fuck had that all been about?
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