"I got 4 Republicans, 6 Democrats and 3 undecided. What'd you get, Annie?"
Ignoring her, I continued talking into the phone, "Really? I like long walks on the beach too! Your ex girlfriend did what? I can't believe that! Well, it was her loss"
Waving her arms frantically and waving a big political poster of Ronald Reagan with a post it note on it that said Remember him? The person we are campaigning for?" I reluctantly hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Tracey asked
"I don't know, but he sounded so nice." I answered dreamily.
"Annie, Madge (the chairman of the Republican party) is going to kill you! We have all these people to survey", showing me the huge stack of people to be called, "and you know we are only supposed to ask if they are voting for Carter/Mondale or Reagan/Bush and then get to the next call! We aren't supposed to make friends with the people we are surveying! Besides that," Tracey continued "you can't just talk to every Tom, Dick and Harry like they were your long lost friend."
"I don't think his name was Tom or Harry," I said. "Maybe Richard, but I can't remember for sure"
Everyday, when we got off of work we rushed to the Republican Headquarters to do our part to campaign for Ronald Reagan. (And since we had just come home from college it seemed like as good a place as any to meet guys.)
We spent endless hours at the headquarters. We spent hours decorating a red white and blue cake shaped like an elephant and organizing a grand opening for a photo op in the local news paper. We worked diligently. We found out he was coming to Texas but he would be in Dallasa 10 hour drive if you were speeding. We wouldn't be able to make it to Dallas. We tried to be good sports and did our part, calling from the phone bank and passing out signs.
One particularly exhausting day, Madge walked up to us. She was always so nice and encouraging, "Terry, Angie, (she never , remembered our names and she had called us by the wrong names for so long it would be a little uncomfortable to correct her now!)Did you hear the big news? Oh! This is so excitingOh my, we have so much to do, I need to go get my hair done, I wonder if Blanche is booked? Oh, well, if she is maybe she can just squeeze me in"
"Madge, What is it? What is so exciting?" I asked, snapping her back to the subject at hand.
Oh, yes, Well, you will never believe it, but Ronald Reagan decided to make a stop right here in our town! He's coming on Tuesday. I have to tell Verna. This is more exciting than when the minister" she suddenly stopped and patted me on the arm and said "Wellnever you mind, I'll tell you about that some other time, maybe when your older." And with that she scurried off.
Tracey and I looked at each other grabbed on to each other and jumped up and down in a circle. Then in unison we yelled "Reagan's coming to town!"
We had so much to do. We had to find out what time he was coming to town, what route he was taking, where he would be speaking and mainly what we should wear. Not being members of the "Blue haired bunch" we didn't have to go see Blanche. I decided that we should wear sashes across our dresses to make us look more official. Maybe that would give us an edge and allow us to get closer to our Presidential hopeful.
Tuesday, arrived and we found out the exact path his caravan was taking and where it would end up; At Las Palmas Park. Tracey and I decided to get there early so we could get a good view. We were jittery with anticipation. We got to the park before Reagan's plane even touched ground but there were already several thousand people at the park. Well, we might not get to stand up close but at least we would see him, and hear him speak.
Tracey and I were fidgeting and waiting for the show to get underway when we heard Madge's familiar voice through the crowd.
"Terry, Angie! Over here girls! After all the work that you two have done, you get to stand up front in the V.I.P. section. Here, just crawl under this rope, Oh, and don't let anyone unauthorized in this section. If they haven't worked at the headquarters they shouldn't be in here. This is a secured area."
"Tracey! We are in the secured are! We might actually get to meet Ronald Reagan!"
My head was light with anticipation (or maybe it was the heat) and Tracey looked like she had just won the lottery.
We stood proudly at the front of the V.I.P. area. When the band started playing the Star Spangled Banner we were teary eyed. This was History. And we were a part of it. That's when I heard it
"Annie! Annie!"
I heard a voice from my past scream out. I looked at Tracey. She looked at me. Then we saw him. Marcus Cook was crawling right under the rope. "Hey. Annie, could you give me a hand here? It's a little hard to crawl under this rope, and it's really strung up tight."
I started to tell him that it was a restricted area and only those of us who had worked at the headquarters got to stand there, but he wasn't listening and besides what could it hurt? Plus, I chickened out.
Marcus was nice, in a big mouth kind of way. He had been my friend since the third grade. Marcus was a bit of a loose canon. He was the kind of guy that was fine at a foot ball game, but the truth was, no one, not even Marcus, knew what was going to pop out of his mouth. Besides, the crowd was so loud , so excited, how much trouble could he cause?
As the band continued to play, the air was electric. Planted firmly in the front row, Tracey and I craned our necks to see who would be walking past us to the stage. First, was the Governor of Texas? Next was a Texas Congressman. Grabbing onto one another we saw her at the same time.
"Oh! Look Tracey! Here comes Nancy! Oh! Look how classy she looks, and she's tiny..."
We were giddy with excitement. We just saw Nancy Reagan!
Then Roger Staubach, one of the best Dallas Cowboy Quarterbacks ever to live, came strolling by. Next we saw the guys in dark suits. They were wearing headsets and dark glasses and looked very solemn and serious. Ronald Reagan came down the walk next. Smiling, waving, and stopping to shake hands, he made his way to the podium. Everyone was cheering and shouting. Even in the midst of the deafening cheering, one voice was louder than all of the rest. Marcus had quite a set of lungs on him and no one was going to out do him when it came to his vocal prowess. Well, it wasn't that bad. Everyone was excited. We were all cheering.
Ronald Reagan made his way to the podium and everyone got quiet. Reagan had been speaking for about five minutes. We were all listening with rapt attention. Everyone except Marcus. I don't know why he did it. I don't think Marcus knows why he did it. Apropos of nothingnothing that Ronald Reagan was talking about Marcus interrupted the "Great Communicator's" speech, screaming the words that are imprinted on my memory forever,
"Save us, Reagan! Save us!"
Ronald Reagan stopped his speech. The serious men in dark suits jumped up and looked as if they were about to open fire in our direction. Roger Stabauch looked like he might be set to tackle one of us. In the slowest of motion, Ronald Reagan turned and looked right at Tracey, Marcus and Me. The three of us stood there in silence, frozen.
Bowing her head so low that her chin was tucked into her chest, and bringing her hand to her face to hide behind it, Tracey shuffled sideways next to me. (Maybe Tracey thought if she couldn't see anyone else, they couldn't see her.) She was so close that if she were any closer we would've been sharing the dress I was wearing. I just looked around as if I was wondering who had made such a scene. All fifty thousand people; one hundred thousand eyes were on us. The most obvious of which were Ronald Reagan's.
The good news is, we weren't frisked by the Secret Service. We weren't kicked out of the republican party. Nothing went on our rcords, well at least they are sealed.
Every four years Tracey and I go to visit Marcus. The nice men in white suits even let him take a little stroll outside with us. As long as we have him back in time for his medication, and of course, the next election.