The American Fallacy

Chapter Eleven

Jackie and Jackie had made several more successful campaign stops around the country, and the more campaigns Jackie went on, the more and more she realized how much she absolutely detested them.  

They were all more or less the same.  The two would fly either the night before or the morning of the event, follow a jam-packed schedule, which usually consisted of speeches, walks, and going from place to place to interview and inspire workers in order to give them hope for a better tomorrow.  Nights often would be filled with dinner parties with the governors and other political figures from the state they were in, doing everything they possibly could to scrounge over every last little scrap of support that they could find.  After that, the two would somehow find enough energy to get to their hotel rooms around one in the morning to collapse into bed, only to do it all over again in the morning.

The two rarely spoke with each other in private, unless it strictly had to do with the campaign.  Especially with the jam-packed days and nights, the two would often get irritated with each other over some of the most trivial complaints.

Their nights often went the same, Jackie getting ready for bed and laying out some clothing for the next day, while Jack would talk with Pierre and would go over the itinerary for the next day.  Jack would enter the room again, hand Jackie the plans for the next day, and would amble off into the bathroom.  The two seemed to live this way for seemingly weeks, being shuffled from state to state.

Jackie had managed to change out of her evening dress and let out a yawn before moving towards her bed.  She was exhausted, just as she had been every other day that the two had been campaigning. 

Who would've thought that this would be so draining?  

Jackie moved to look out the window, admiring the skyline when Jack entered the room.  Jackie gave a small look over her shoulder as a sign of greeting, before turning around to focus on the hub of the city lights in front of her.  

"We have another big day ahead of us tomorrow."  Jack responded, before putting a small stack of papers down on a table.  

Jackie turned around, not saying anything, but moving over to grab the itinerary.  

"Where are we going tomorrow?"  She asked, and began to flip through the pages.  

"A few places."  Jack responded, before adding, "We're going to Nevada and ending up in Texas. El Paso, to be precise." 

Jackie nodded, before putting the papers down and moved towards the window, wrapping her arms around herself.  

A relative silence grew over the two of them, and Jack broke the silence by asking, "Do you speak Spanish?"  

Jackie didn't turn around on his question, but she shrugged her shoulders. "I know a decent amount of Spanish."  

"Well."  Jack ran a hand through his hair, grabbing a pencil on the table.  "Can I ask a favor from you?"  

"Which is?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow.  

"Can you speak some Spanish at a few of the stops tomorrow?"  Jack asked.  

Jackie let out a small laugh.  "Absolutely not."  

Jack had already shrugged out of his suit, and rolled up his sleeves, leaning on the table.  "Why not?"  

"Because I said so.  I was promised by not only you, but by your father, that I wouldn't do anything that I didn't want to do.  And I don't want to do this.  I promised that I'd campaign by your side, participate in campaign events, and travel the country with you.  I never promised you anything of speaking in front of large crowds for you."