Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 09 Read Free Page B

of the United States .
                 “Therefore,
since there is a big ceremony with a lot of people and a lot of things that can
conceivably go wrong between here and the official swearing-in ...” he paused
slightly—they were very late already, so this was certainly a case of one of
“those things that can conceivably go wrong”—“... it is customary to administer
the oath of office before the public ceremony, so that at the moment your term
of office does officially commence, you will have already been sworn in and we
avoid any constitutional questions. I'm confident you will have no objection to
taking the oath twice.” Thorn just smiled that peaceful, confident half-smile,
the one that helped power him past an incumbent Republican, President Kevin
Martindale, and a nationally recognized Democratic front-runner and all the way
into the White House. “Very good. You have the Bible, I see. Mrs. Thorn. Let's
proceed,”
                 Amelia
Thom held out an antique Bible, one that could be traced back to President
Thomas Jefferson's family, in the direction of the chief justice's voice.
Amelia Thorn had been blind since an early age, the result of childhood
diabetes, but hers was a true story of perseverance and strength: she was an
experienced jurist, a mother of five, and had held a seat on the New Hampshire
State Supreme Court before resigning to help in her husband's presidential
campaign. “Please place your left hand on the Bible, Governor Thom, raise your
right hand, and repeat after me: ‘I, Thomas Nathaniel Thorn, do solemnly swear
. . .” Thom recited the oath of office flawlessly, passionately, with his
eyes on his wife, and hers on him, lifted toward the sound of his voice. The
task was repeated with Lester Busick, with his wife Martha holding the antique
Bible open to a passage in the Book of Isaiah,
                 “Thank
you. Governor Thom, Senator Busick.” The chief justice could still not legally
call them “Mr. President” or “Mr. Vice President” yet, but he shook their hands
and congratulated them nonetheless. “I wish you the best of luck and the
prayers of a nation. Now, I think we should be on our way, or else the producers
and directors choreographing the show today will all be very angry at us.”
                “We’re not ready yet,” Thom said.
                 Hie
chief justice looked aghast. “Excuse me, Governor?”
                 “We’re
not ready.” Thorn motioned to the seats arranged in front of the huge fireplace
in the hotel suite, and quickly but quietly, Busick and his family and Thom’s
family sat down and joined hands. “We have one task to perform before we leave.
You are welcome to join us, or you can observe, or you can make your way to the
Capitol.” He led his wife to the love seat facing the fireplace, the White
House visible across the street through the windows flanking it, then sat down
and nodded to those around him. “Close the eyes, please.”
                 To
Chief Justice Thompson’s great surprise, they all closed their eyes and fell
silent, hands joined, heads bowed. He looked at his cleric, then at his watch,
then at the amazing spectacle before him. “What... what are they doing?” he
whispered to a Secret Service agent assigned to the family. “Are they praying?”
                 “I
don’t think so, sir,” the agent replied quietly. “I think they’re meditating.”
                 “Meditating? Now? The man’s going to be sworn in as president of the United States in less than a half hour! How can he think
about meditating at a time like this?”
                 “They
do this twice a day, Your Honor, every day,” the agent said matter-of-factly.
“Twenty minutes. Exactly twenty minutes. All of them.”
                 It
was then that the chief justice realized that all the stories he had heard
about Thomas