'Mr. Marshall.'
'Clint. Please, have a seat.'
Jesse sat and declined Clint's offer of lunch.
'Doctor, I know you're a busy man, so I'll get right to the point. We want you to run for governor. We want you to be the face of the Democratic Party in Texas. The future of the party. With the growth of the Latino population here, the opportunity for a Latino to win the Governor's Mansion has never been better. You can make history.'
'Governor Bonner is unbeatable.'
'Have you seen the latest polls?'
'What polls?'
'Texas polls. You're gaining fast on the governor.'
'But I am not a candidate.'
'Doesn't matter. Your name is out there. Mayor Gutierrez, he's a one-man campaign machine-and a formidable one. His Mexican Mafia, all the press you've gotten lately, you're a hot ticket. How many followers do you have?'
Jesse glanced around.
'No one is following me.'
'No. On Twitter.'
'Twitter?'
'You don't have a Twitter account?'
'Uh, no, I do not have that.'
'Well, you need one if you're going to be governor.'
'I do?'
'Yes.'
'Why?'
'People want to know what you're doing.'
'I am working. Treating patients.'
'No, no. That's too boring. You've got to make it sound exciting, like a pickup truck commercial.'
'A pickup truck commercial?'
'You want be governor, social media's the ticket.'
'But I do not want that.'
'A Twitter account?'
'To be governor.'
'Why the hell not?'
'Because I am a doctor.'
'Who can be governor. The national Democratic Party has pledged as much money as it takes to beat Bode Bonner in Texas.'
'Why? Why would they care what happens in Texas?'
'Because Texas is the future of the Democratic Party in America. Once Latinos become the majority here and take Texas back for the Democrats, the other red states will fall like dominoes. Latinos are moving north, turning red states brown.'
'Why do the Democrats want so desperately to win this election in Texas?'
'Simple: If you keep Bode Bonner out of the Governor's Mansion, we keep him out of the White House.'
The governor of Texas sat behind his desk and gazed across at the Professor.
'You ready to come out of exile?' Jim Bob said.
'Yep.'
'You've been moping around the Mansion for a month.'
Bode wasn't about to disclose his religious epiphany to Jim Bob.
'I'll schedule a press conference and get a 'Bode Bonner for President' organization set up in the early primary states, start hiring staff-'
'This early?'
'You mean, this late? Romney and the others, they've already got staff up and running in Iowa, New Hampshire… Time to shift this thing into gear, Bode. If you want to be president.'
'I do.'
'Good.'
Jim Bob placed a stack of papers on the desk. Bode grabbed his signing pen.
'First item, pardon of DeSean Washington.'
'I hate pardons. I let someone out of prison, I'm soft on crime.'
'This guy served twenty years for a crime he didn't commit. Exonerated by DNA.'
'Another Dallas case?'
'Yep.'
'How many is this?'
'Fifty statewide, twenty-five from Dallas.'
'What were they doing in Dallas back then, putting every black man in the city in prison?'
'Apparently.'
Bode signed the pardon.
'Item two, you're appointing Hoot Pickens as Chairman of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.'
'Hoot's an oil man.'
'Refinery.'
'Won't the press complain?'
'So? Now, item three…'
Jim Bob did not push paper across the desk. Bode had his signing pen at the ready, but he had nothing to sign.
'What's item three?'
'Mandy.'
'What about her?'
'It's over.'
'She's quitting?'
'You're quitting her.'
'You want me to fire her?'
'No. Just stop screwing her.'
'Why?'
'You want to be president?'
'Yeah.'
'That's why.'
'It's never been a problem before.'
'You never wanted to be president before. Look, you can have an affair with a goat and I can still get you reelected governor of Texas. But you get caught having an affair with a girl who looks like Mandy, even I won't be able to get you elected president. It's a different set of voters. You've got to clean up your act.'
'Quit sex?'
'At least until you're elected.'
'That'll be, what, almost two years? Damn, Jim Bob… I mean, darn, I haven't gone that long without sex since I was fifteen.'
'You had sex when you were fifteen?'
Bode nodded. 'The varsity cheerleaders.'
'But they were seniors.'
'Yep.'
'Which one?'
