The North PacificBoard

⁣　December 2015
⁣　BINDERS AND BEANS.

COLOSSEUM, Eastern aestorusia — EVENING⁣
ꜱᴛᴀᴛᴇ ʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ — ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ'ꜱ ᴏꜰꜰɪᴄᴇ.

| Keeping his feet crossed and his legs sprawled onto the desk is THEODORE HEINRICH — the President. He hums an old tune, likely one of old Baumbergen origin. Funny. He had only lived in Baumbergen for the first six years of his life, and yet recalls his happiest moments coming from within it. He started humming louder, tapping his feet on the desk. |

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “. . . und die Kassionen rollen . . .”

| A door directly in front of THEODORE opens. Out pokes the head of CONNIE DOUGLAS, secretary to the President. Directly behind her was the head of BARBARA RUTH, a senior aide to the President who stood a full three inches higher than CONNIE.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴄᴏɴɴɪᴇ ᴅᴏᴜɢʟᴀꜱ, ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛᴀʀʏ | “Barbara told me she needed to see you, urgently, Mr. President. I told her to let me know ahead of time, so I could schedule her in, but—”

|THEODORE sighs, holding a hand up to CONNIE, motioning her to quiet down.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “Connie, please . . . Just let her in!”

|THEODORE grabs his legs, pulling them back down onto the floor. Man, they really started to hurt, now. Maybe a future visit to his physician wouldn't be completely out of order. CONNIE nods towards THEODORE'S direction, before poking her head back out of sight, off to do whatever it was secretaries did late at this hour.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “Barbara. In.”

|BARBARA takes a large step into the room. It was square, compact, and lacked any ornate design. THEODORE had wanted it that way, with dark, mahogany-wood patterns streaking the walls, and a darkish green carpet patterned with beige, spotted, and decorative circles in the style of a certain, distant predecessor's office.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “You needed something?”

|THEODORE begins to look down back at the binder he was handed earlier to do with soy exports to Britannia from Oenos.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “Yes sir, Mr. President.”

|BARBARA takes another step into the room, nearly losing her footing. She wasn't at all accustomed to this new carpet, and she wasn't convinced that it wasn't loose.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “Mr. President, I have reason to believe that the Conservatives are already on track to a large turnout come 2022, and that Secretary Baily's combative attitude towards the press this afternoon is not helping. ”

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “That doesn't sound all that urgent, Barb . . .”

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “Well sir, you refused to bring me into your office today to talk about potential comments we could make from the briefing room, tomorrow. I figured you were busy and—”

|THEODORE steps up out of his chair, binder in hand, motioning to her.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “—And you didn't think I would be busy two hours later? You didn't think that maybe I'd be reviewing a hostage crisis in Monkwater? Or overlooking a wildfire off the coast of Supple Land? Maybe getting ready to moderate a peaceful negotiation between Friently and . . . I don't know — the Syca?”

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “First of all, Mr. President, Friently wouldn't respect us nearly enough to the point that we'd be the mediators to a negotiation over bean exports, and second of all, Mr. President, you're reading a report over . . . bean exports.”

|THEODORE flips the binder over, to see a picture of a soy plant. He frowned, furrowing his eyebrows, examining it.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “That I am, Barb. That I am.”

|BARBARA laughed a bit, covering her mouth with her hand before placing it onto her hip.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “We can talk about this tomorrow, sir, but until we decide on a course of action it'd be smart to just take no action.”

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “Seriously, Barb.”

|THEODORE plops back down onto his chair, rolling it back to an end table behind him, smiling.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “Take this to someone else. You have no business trying to brief me in on something so uneventful as the Secretary of Health, Band-Aids, and Bee Stings getting asked a hard question. Why didn't you take this to Samuel?”

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “Samuel's out.”

|THEODORE shook his head, slightly, raising his eyebrows, clearly disappointed.|

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “The President of Aestorusia's Communications' Director just 'goes out'? God, did I get reduced to Prime Minister overnight?”

⁣　 ⁣　| ʙᴀʀʙᴀʀᴀ ʀᴜᴛʜ, ꜱᴇɴɪᴏʀ ᴀɪᴅᴇ | “. . . So, we'll be going over Baily tomorrow?”

⁣　 ⁣　| ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ʜᴇɪɴʀɪᴄʜ, ᴘʀᴇꜱɪᴅᴇɴᴛ | “Tomorrow, yes. In the meantime — finish up with what you got and head home.”

|BARBARA nodded towards THEODORE'S direction, before turning around, and exiting the door — with CONNIE waiting for her.|