The Senator by Chad Redden
At the potluck, everyone wrote their hopes on paper napkins. The napkins were bundled and given to the Senator. The Senator put the napkins in a basket full of pies that were also given to him at the potluck. The Senator stood on a stage and said “No one bakes pies in Washington.” He said he needed pies from his constituents to be the best Senator he could be and “to show all those fat cats in Washington who had all the pies.” We cheered for that. Fat cats need to know who has all the pies. The Senator promised the people at the potluck, “All your hopes and pies are headed back to Washington with me. They’re going to break open the gridlock.“ We all cheered again. After all, our biggest hope was simply for all our little hopes to be read and respected and voted upon by those in charge of things in Washington. Also, maybe our hopes would spread through the government, soaking into speeches and promises and then amendments or laws. My own hope was about my Grandfather. He died on the Fourth of July and my hope was that his spirit was safe with the Great Ghost of the United States of America in a nest on top of a mountain. And the Great Ghost of the United States of America is a very large eagle. And that my Grandfather is a baby eagle or an eaglet or a person dressed like a baby eagle in a nest with a very large eagle which is also the Great Ghost of the United States of America. And my grandfather would stay in the nest until his spirit grew into full eagle. Which was my full hope. Later in the evening as the potluck wound down, those that remained sat under trees and drank beer. Then one man punched another. They had talked about which hopes they shared with the Senator and discovered that their hopes countered each other out. In a dark logic that only happens under trees, they decided the only way to solve the problem was to punch the hope out of the other. Punch the wrong hope out of the other. Then replace that hope with a new hope, which required more punching.
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Chad Redden lives in Bloomington, Indiana. He can be found on twitter and instagram @cwickredden.
