Bobby Akart - First Strike

“Is it a jellyfish?” she asked.

“No, better. Let me introduce you to a stargazer.”

“Where?” Erin asked as she gingerly inched forward and bent over to see what he was referring to.

Hank knelt down and drew a semicircle in the sand when the water receded. Erin looked closer until the water lapped over the space again. He redrew the line in the sand.

“Do you see it?” he asked as he waved for her to come closer.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and bent over at the waist. “Well, I’ll be damned. It is a fish.”

“A stargazer. It’s very unusual, but we happen to get them all the time on this desolate stretch of beach. Look closer. You can see that its eyes, gill slits, nostrils and most of its mouth are on top of its body.”

Erin studied the twenty-inch-long fish that was half-submerged. It’s dark blackish-brown body blended in perfectly with the wet sand.

“How did you see it from back there?”

“After living here for all my life, you notice slight variations in the sand. Most people might think it’s a rock or something under the surface. Until, of course, they step on it. These guys are stout, and they have a special organ just behind their eyes that produces an electric shock for anyone who unknowingly grabs it.”

“Or steps on it,” added Erin.

Hank nodded, and the two of them stood upright to study the unusual creature. “May I join you? I usually walk along the beach in the mornings, you know, just to get ready to do battle with hostile and ornery hotel guests.”

Erin let out a hearty laugh. “You mean like my sisters?”

Hank had no intention of his joking remark to be associated with her three older sisters. “No, not at all. And I was just kidding. Only rarely do we have a guest we simply cannot please. It happens. Not everybody gives out five-star reviews.”

“Don’t I know it. I’m in politics, remember. You piss off half your constituents. Initially, you please the other half until at some point you piss most of them off as well. By the time your career in public service is over, most everybody is mad at you, making you wonder why you bothered.”

“Why did you? Bother, I mean.”

They continued to study the interesting stargazer.

“It wasn’t my idea,” she replied casually. “My ex was politically connected, but he made too much money as a personal injury lawyer to seek public office. He made a living out of suing the wrong people, corporate giants, for example. Therefore, he had a résumé that was easy to shoot at. Instead, at a dinner party one night, he offered me up as a better candidate.”

“Were you surprised?”

Erin laughed. “Well, we’d discussed it, but nothing serious. Because of my degree in public administration, I had an aptitude for the operations of government. My minor in transportation and work with Florida’s highway commission as a lobbyist made me an ideal candidate for a transportation position.”

“Not agriculture?” Hank asked a logical question considering her current position.

“Well, that came later. The governor appointed me to head the Florida Department of Transportation. When the commissioner of agriculture became embroiled in a sex scandal, the governor looked to a familiar face with no skeletons in the closet to fill the post. As a result, with only a year of public service under my belt, I became one of four members of the Florida cabinet behind the lieutenant governor, attorney general, and the state’s chief financial officer.”

“Wow. You moved fast.”

Erin looked down shyly and smiled. “Well, the temporary appointment was easy. Running in the special election is what got me put on the so-called political radar as a proverbial up-and-comer.”

Hank shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I don’t follow politics, really. I vote for president, and that’s about it.”

“That’s okay. Ordinarily, I would’ve been one of those down-ballot candidates that folks fill in the circle next to because it was on a certain side of the page. As it happened, my first campaign was in an off-year election cycle where the race was the most prominent in the state. Hell, we had debates. Mudslinging. Outside money pouring in. All the hallmarks of a gubernatorial race except it was for Ag commissioner.”

“And you won.”

“Decidedly so in an evenly divided state.”

“I bet your husband was proud of you.”

Erin laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. She glanced up at the cloudless sky and smiled. “One would think, but alas, no. It led to our divorce.”

“Why?” asked Hank, hesitating to pry but doing so anyway.

“He became jealous of my success and notoriety. He tried to take credit for my win until one day, during a press conference, a reporter set him straight. He took his anger out on me, and our marriage was over.”

“I’m sorry,” said Hank.

Erin shrugged and smiled nervously. “You know, it probably should’ve happened long before. He never supported me or encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams. He wanted me on his arm at social gatherings or as a smiling face for his television commercials.”

Erin was talkative, and Hank enjoyed listening to her, so he decided to take the conversation further. “How long were you in Tallahassee? You must’ve impressed some important people to reach the top of the totem pole.”

“Well, I actually did a lot of things for Florida farmers and orange growers in particular. But more importantly, I built coalitions with both parties to get things done. I won my second election by a landslide. When the president began his campaign a couple of years ago, I pledged my support even though we were in opposite parties.”

“I bet that was awkward,” said Hank with a smile. “Didn’t you piss off your side of the aisle?”

“Like I said, eventually you make everyone mad.”

“Obviously, that bold step was appreciated by the president.”

“Okay. I’m gonna toot my own horn for a moment. The fact is, I practically delivered Florida for him on election day. My statewide campaign team worked tirelessly to get out the vote for the president. Without Florida, he couldn’t have been elected. Anyway, our efforts didn’t go unnoticed, so he rewarded me with secretary of agriculture. I’m the only one in the cabinet who isn’t in the president’s party.”

Hank was impressed. She was a politician, yet she wasn’t. She was a straight talker, a rarity in Washington, Tallahassee, or the Florida Keys, for that matter. He still sensed she was troubled.

“I didn’t see you yesterday, so I thought you’d returned to Washington.”

“No. Sadly, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, they don’t need me up there. If I were leading transportation, then certainly. That was the job I really wanted, but the president had to offer it to someone more acceptable to unions.”

“You’re still a cabinet member,” said Hank. “Wouldn’t you be involved in the national security meetings?”

She shook her head side to side. “I have the requisite security clearance but would have little to offer from the agriculture side, or at least that’s what they probably think.”

Hank glanced at her face to make eye contact. “I take it you disagree.”

There was a fallen palm tree ahead, and Erin pointed toward it, indicating what she had to say was worthy of sitting down to explain. Hank followed her lead and took her hand to help her up the slope through the soft sand. Once they’d settled in to watch a fishing boat meander out toward a reef, Erin dropped a bomb of her own.

“If we were to be attacked with nuclear warheads, the transportation secretary would have to deal with the threat of an EMP. However, the aftermath of what happened between two nuclear powers, even on the other side of the world, will bring a plague on our planet that could be much worse—nuclear winter.”