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Chapter 16
The weeks leading up to the
announcement at the High School were not uneventful.
In fact, the events were so profound in my own experiences it
solidified my decision to run for office.
The monies kept pouring in, as well as letters.
With the exception of the rare negative slam one would expect, they
were full of compliments, support, encouragement, even a couple of notable
small change contributions that came from penny banks of children, who
heard that I could fix things after their fathers lost their jobs in
manufacturing. The children
were feeling the stress of the changing times too.
Many knew what their parents were discussing, even though the
parents didn’t notice their children’s level of interest and
attention. The money coming in had astonishingly topped the million dollar
mark, and that huge sum of money in our experiences was enough for us to
go all the way. With
Margie’s support, it was a “no brain-er”, or was it?
We had been spending our time setting up, candidate account now
open and monies deposited, Margie heading up the “Golden Simms for
President, by the friends of Golden Simms” committee.
Margie was really upbeat about it all.
She would say, “We always wanted to travel, and now can travel
all 50 states and visit, and you can be a speaker at venues.
It is like you get to tell everyone your ideas, sort of a
professional speaker.” When
she put it like that, it did make it fun.
It was incredible to have a woman behind you like that. The RV was
also packed up for the grand tour of our lives.
She had bought new things that made you feel pretty rich.
For not a lot of money, we had new towels, some new but simple
dishes, new silverware, new underwear and socks, and one of the new suits
she bought for me cost as much as all other RV household items combined.
We had the Cell Phone and Satellite TV with a laptop for me,
desktop computer for Margie, and mobile satellite internet access.
That was something we sprung for; as an information conduit for
ourselves. It provided
entertainment too. The RV was
really cool. It was not an
expensive model, just a trailer hitch type, but pretty well appointed for
our needs. It already came
with everything when we bought it a few years back to travel in, another
one of my nearly new but used bargains.
Actually it had hardly been used by us or the previous owners so it
looked new. It had oak
cabinets, fancy wall paper, but that mattress was aweful!
We got a new one. Everything
else was great! From there, a
simple website with email and our cell phone number, and we were in
business without a physical office. People
could write us, call us, or contact us through that simple website anytime
they wanted to take a look. It
also included our Post Office Box mailing address which we had forwarded
to wherever we were at. For a
residence, we used Dwayne’s address, as he was always my home away from
home. Guess you have to be
“from somewhere”, now-a-days. Ya
just can’t say, “I don’t live anywhere specifically!”
It is tough to do anything without an address, credit card, and
driver’s license, rent a car, run for President and even purchase
something at Radio Shack! Everything
anymore requires an address. “What
if I don’t have an address?” I ask.
“I can’t help you sir” I would get as a reply.
Getting that a couple of times, we decided to make his address our
official address. Besides, if
something did come to his house that was important, we could trust him to
confidentially take care of it. We
did think of the threats, the fires. I
bought a separate house insurance policy in my name as a renter in the
basement apartment and paid it up in advance for a couple of years.
We left a few things down there so that we had items there to make
it official. It was where we
stayed in the non travel times anyway, but most importantly if the same
thing happened to him that happened to me such as a fire, he would at
least be financially OK. We
discussed that at length one night, and he was committed enough to me as a
friend, that he too was willing to risk material things.
Dwayne was pretty big and athletic, and if he needed to go through
a wall, all he had to do was kick it down.
Barb was no little lady either.
I always imagined she could hold her own in a multiple person
assault, kicking and scratching their eyes out.
She didn’t come across that way, but saw her one night with
Dwayne, and he backed down in a heart beat.
He knew not to go where Barb did not want him to go. It
was from there I could only imagine what she could do if she got mad.
Dwayne approaches me with the phone. “It is for you Goldie.”
“Who is it Dwayne?” “I
don’t know, some lady from the office of a Ben Noble.
“Ben Noble, I thought, that is the Senate Majority Leader.
He would be a strong candidate for the ailing Republican Party for
President. What could he want
from me? I took the phone and
listened a second as it was quiet on the other end.
“Hello?”
My voice cracked as I spoke. I
hadn’t talked to anyone in the past hour, packing and getting everything
organized. I had really been
lost in thought. This made me
nervous. This would be a first
time that I would actually talk to a person in the arena I was about to
enter after my announcement to run as President.
I had my moments at the department store parking lot with Senator
Douglas a few weeks back, but this was different.
I was going to have a one-on-one conversation with him, or his
office, about politics. It had
to be. What else would this be
about? His assistant spoke.
“Mr. Golden Simms?” “Yes”,
I replied. “This is Fran
Reeder, secretary for Senate Majority Leader, Ben Noble.
How are you doing today?” “Fine Ms. Reeder, and you?”
She was just as anxious to get to the point as I was.
It seemed like long how-do-you-dos.
“Very good Mr. Simms, sir. Senator
Noble has requested your presence in his office at your convenience.
Would that be acceptable with you Mr. Simms?”
My mind started racing. This
was one powerful guy, probably second to the President, more powerful than
the Vice President in terms of influence to policy.
He was the most influential Senator in the entire nation, a
probable presidential candidate in my eyes; although he never spoke of
running that I had heard. There
were a lot of senators in the Republican Party that were being
investigated at this time, and the Republican Presidential Whitehouse
staff wasn’t fairing so well either.
It was a tough time for the Republican Party over all, so someone
had to run with the ball for them pretty soon.
It was going to be a difficult time over the next upcoming
elections and years for that matter, for the Republicans to have the
numbers to influence decisions for the country of any significance.
It was cyclical that the Republicans had it for a while, then the
Democrats. After almost 8
years with Republicans in control of the Whitehouse and Senate, it
appeared that the tide was about to turn.
I always figured this would be that guy.
“Of course I would be honored Ms. Reeder”.
I stand for ideas and what a great place to start.
“Next week Monday would be great.
I look forward to it. 11:00
am? Duly noted Ms. Reader.
Thank you very much. Looking
forward to it. Um Hmm.”
Hanging up Dwayne asked, “Who is that guy?”
“I replied, only the second highest influential person in
government, second to the President. That
was Senate Majority Leader Ben Noble of
Texas
, the most powerful Senator in the nation.
He wants to have a meeting with me, Goldie Simms, this average
Joe.”
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