@Cicada3300 autifully carved exterior as they played at his feet. For President Chang, it was the purpose for the whole room and in a way had a voice of its own. Sometimes wishing it would speak aloud. Oh, the stories they would share. The fact was it had been a character in almost every State of the Union address back to time immemorial. Thank God for Jimmy Carter bringing it back and glad that none of Nixon’s toxic smarm had ever defiled it. The idea of a simple Chinaman from a poor family now sitting behind it had him imagining those men as well as its benefactor Queen Victoria “rolling in their graves.”
He wished out loud that the outside world would just go away and leave them be. There was enough to worry about already for Christ’s sake. Slowly, he shambled over to the tall mirror, adjusted the stiff collar on an uncomfortable starched shirt, fixed his tie, checked the golden cufflinks, made sure his thinning hairs were straight, smiled, and walked calmly and coolly over to the vibrating door. Putting an ear against the door first to see what could be heard in between the outburst of different poundings. Despite the thickness of the reinforced synthetic door, a little could actually be heard. Thoughts of excuses surfaced. He was startled and it reminded him of a childhood with no privacy. He stilled himself, reminding his inner child who he was now. Focusing on the door, actually hating it and all that it represented. It had been carefully reinstalled years after the rough era of the Conservative Party's quasi-fascist rule. A time in which riots ran rampant and this once sacred office had been ransacked by zealots more than once. Of course, not much of anything could be heard, at least nothing useful.