You Must Remember This

Chapter 28: A Modest Proposal

Behrooz frantically adjusted his tie backstage while Alan peered out at the building crowd.

"Looks like a lot of people," Alan observed, looking for friendly faces.

"Well, of course, the elections are mandatory." When two weeks ago, he had turned in his paperwork to officially launch his bid for class council, and when immediately afterward Alan shook his hand vigorously and offered "their" support, Behrooz hadn't quite expected the full display of posters and advertisements that culminated in one beautiful sham of an election. He knew that the four of them were the only ones running for office that anyone had ever heard of (a straggler persisted for the presidential position, who clearly had misjudged her odds), but he did not quite expect a political rally.

"Is everyone ready to take their positions? Don't forget your cue for the musical number during my concluding remarks—remember, it's 'I have one last thing to say.' Your own speeches had better be good too. We're going to need to do this twice more for the other classes, but I want to start off strong," Frank explained, tapping his microphone just to ensure it was there. "Anyway, it's time."

Frank emerged from the curtains to a roaring thrum of noise that astonished even him. He signaled for silence, and began reading, maintaining eye contact with the audience despite not having memorized his speech:

"Community. Identity. Stability. Three things all of us hold dear. Three things all of you ought to hold dear. In the interests of time, we all will keep our remarks brief, since we all know that this is a mere formality with an inevitable outcome—sorry, Kayla, but your chance at stardom is over. Over the last few years, I have built a thriving community here at Heller based upon nothing more than a few philosophical ideas I hold dear. Simple things, good old-fashioned values, many of which are familiar to all of you. I want to make one thing abundantly clear. I am the author. You are the audience. I outrank you—at least on merits of good person philosophy, which I think a good portion of us would consider the only philosophy of any merit. Through this sense of community, we create identity. A cohesive identity, but one with many complexities. We are all Tigers burning bright in the forest of the night. We are all familiar with the eye of the Tiger and the name of the fight. We are all crouching Tigers and hidden dragons. We are all so many things, each and every one of us, but above all, we are Tigers. By electing us, you are reaffirming your identity as Tigers, and your resistance is futile. Stability. The world is a scary place—in the last year, we have seen many changes. We have lost one of the great sages of our school. Some of us were caught in a drug sting which I officially cannot comment on further. College applications loom on the horizon, and will occupy much of our summers. So given all that, all I can promise you is stability. Reliability. Faces you can trust. Vote for me, and all will be well. Next up, Juliet Wong."

Juliet took the podium and cleared her throat a few times off-mic before beginning:

"Wow, so many people! Our future president really covered most of what I would have said, so I'll talk about myself a little. At the beginning of my time at Heller, people knew me as a cheerleader, little more. Maybe they recognized my face, maybe they didn't. It's all irrelevant now. But now, you all know me as a philosopher-in-training. I believe I have changed over the last three years, mainly thanks to Frank and his leadership. For the better, believe it or not. I cannot promise the same epiphany to all of you, but I can promise that if you listen to what this man has to say, whom I consider a friend of mine, a mentor, an inspiration, and so much more, all of you will become better people. And through that, we make the school a better place. I remember at the very first club meeting, he said 'where we go one, we go all.' I think that holds especially true today. Vote for us, and we will all improve." Juliet concluded on the verge of tears, not noticing Tom's chuckle at her concluding note—out of all the phrases Juliet could have remembered, she remembered the fascist motto Frank had co-opted. How fitting for a brainwashed maniac, he thought. Alan took the stage next and stood on his tip-toes to speak into the microphone before Frank ran backstage to grab a stepstool.