When he entered the country kitchen of the governor’s mansion there was no cook standing by, ready to prepare whatever GO asked for. He saw no need for one that early. As was his habit, he poked around the neatly organized, well stocked cabinets until he found something that appealed to him. Usually it was a packet of instant applecinnamon oatmeal or some simple boxed cereal. With a banana and a tall glass of orange juice, this passed for his breakfast. While quite mundane and terribly repetitious, Thomas found this quiet, almost ceremonial opening of his day to be relaxing and, in a strange way, reassuring. To him it was a constant in a world where so much changed so fast. It gave him a sense that while he had been asleep and out of touch with the rest of mankind for six hours, the world he knew was still there, waiting patiently for him.

It was only now that variations were allowed to intrude on his morning routine. If his mind was fired up by a new idea or if a solution to a problem was right there, all formatted and packaged in his mind, GO would leave the kitchen and head for the part of the house that served as his personal office. Passing through an otherwise innocuous door that appeared no different from any other one in his personal residence, GO Thomas would step from his secluded domestic world into the heart of a state’s government.

Yet even here, the decor and the appearance of the people manning this small office didn’t come close to reflecting what popular culture and business practices of the day dictated. Instead of establishing an air of formality, aloofness, and authority that bordered on the impersonal, GO Thomas’s personal office had all the quaintness of a living room. To many entering this place for the first time the tranquil, disarming sense that such a setting evoked was unsettling.

On other days, when there was nothing that demanded his immediate attention, Thomas would leave his kitchen and head for the rear door. There, in a small anteroom, he would slip on the appropriate footwear, select whatever outerwear he would need to brave the weather, and head off into the early morning air. A short walk took him to a public park.

Were this a few years earlier, GO Thomas would have broken out into a slow, steady run that he would maintain as he wound his way along the well manicured gravel paths of the park. Age and premature wear and tear on his body, however, prevented him from doing so. GO had weak ankles. While they were not bad enough to be considered crippling, they served to remind him that he was getting on in years and that his body was beginning to serve notice that it was time to slow down a bit. Still, GO did not give in completely. He walked at a brisk pace until he felt sufficiently limber. Normally, this was at the one mile mark at the far end of the park just before the trail looped around and began to wind its way back. Here, if all was going well, GO would break into a slow, deliberate jog. His goal was always to keep running until he reached his start point a mile away. Sometimes, when he was well rested and felt razor sharp, he made it. Of late, however, he didn’t. Not only were fifty-two years of hard work, service to his country, and commitment to his community taking their toll, but the concerns of the state of his beloved country weighed heavily upon him.