Governor's Daughter (A Mush Meyers Love Story)

Chapter 12: A Choice

I walked home later that day. There were news reporters outside of my house. They all ran to me when they saw me standing on the sidewalk. I pushed through them to the front door of my house. I opened front door and slammed it in their faces. I could still hear them asking me questions from the other side of the door.

                “Mind explaining this to me?” I heard my father’s voice say.

                I turned around and he was standing at the foot of the stairs. He did not look happy. I took a deep breath. “Hi, Daddy.”

                “Don’t play around with me, Anna. What is it I’m hearing about you and this newsboy having a fling?”

                “It’s not want you think, Daddy. Mush is nice and he’s sweet and I really like him. He’s not a bad person. He’s just…”

                “He’s a newsie. He’s bad news. You don’t know what he and his rat pack of friends could make you do.”

                “How can you say that? You defended them.”

                “Of course I did. How would it have looked if I didn’t? The governor refusing to help a group of orphaned children? I couldn’t just sit there. That’s doesn’t mean I don’t think their troublemakers.”

                “Why can’t you just trust me to do the right thing? I never wanted any of this to get out.”

                “But it did. And now our whole family is paying the price for it, especially me. People think I’m a bad father because I let you hang around those children.”

                “But Daddy…”

                “Anna, I’m only going to say this once. You break up with that boy and never see him again or I’m sending you to boarding school in California.”

                “Boarding school?”

                “That’s my final word. You can choose which you would rather do.”

                With that, he stalked off to his office and shut the door. I ran up to my room and slammed the door shut. I knocked all the stuff off my dresser in anger. How could he do this? How could he not trust me? I loved Mush and he loved me. How could he not see I was happy with him? I lied down on my bed wishing I had been born into a different family. One where my father wasn’t the mayor. Jane opened the door to my room. She walked inside quietly.

                “I heard you and Daddy arguing,” she said.

                “Call the papers,” I said sarcastically, “Better yet, step right outside. I’m sure they would love to hear that story.”

                Jane sat down on the bed. “I’m not here to argue with you.”

                “Then why are you here?”

                “To say, I’m sorry. I know how you feel about that Newsie. You really love him. It’s all over your face. You’re even willing to take all of this press business to be with him, but sometimes you have to so things that will make your life easier, not harder.”

                “So you’re saying I should break up with Mush?”

                “It might not be what you want to do, but it’ll make all of this go away and your life will go back to normal.”

                “Normal is boring.”

                “Normal is safe.”

                She stroked my hair once before walking out of the room. I continued to lay there. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to go to boarding school. I would never see Mush again if I did. I didn’t want to break up with Mush either. It would break his heart, it would break mine. But what was best for both of us? All this press and harassment. Neither one of us wanted it. My father sure didn’t want it. I looked out the window at the sun setting on the horizon turning a bright day into a starless night.

*People keep telling me to write another Spot Conlon story with Les. I want to do it, but I honestly don't have an idea for a plot line. If any of you have an idea, please tell me. I really need one :-/*