“This is how I see it, Clyde. Everyone knows this is where it all goes down. The Oval Office is for show. That’s where we do meet and greets, shake hands, smile, do photo ops. This office, your office, is where we get down and dirty, where we get to play hardball and piss everyone off. Today, I am going to unpiss off a lot of people, and I wanted it to go down here. That okay with you, Clyde?” The President’s tone clearly said he didn’t give a good rat’s ass if Clyde liked it or not, this was where the meeting was going to be held and where he was going to unpiss everyone off.

Entwhistle nodded. “It might help, Mr. President, if you told me what this sudden meeting is all about. I am your chief of staff. You’re supposed to clear these things with me first, and as protocol goes, I set up the meeting.”

“I just did,” the President said calmly.

And that was the end of that.

This all must have something to do with that lawn-mowing stunt the President had pulled before anyone could stop him, Entwhistle decided. “Can I at least ask who is coming to this meeting?”

“You’ll see when they get here. Stop acting like some old fuddy-duddy, Clyde. I’m not going to press the red button, and I’m not going to mow the lawn again. I have to say, though, that ride on the John Deere took fifty pounds of stress off my shoulders. I felt like a human being for two whole hours. Do you mow your lawn, Clyde?”

“Don’t have one, sir. I live in a condo.”

The President himself opened the door when he heard the soft knock to admit one of the stewards pushing a linen-covered dolly. Cups of fine china were set up on the conference table at the far end of the room. Followed by fine china plates, sterling silver, and linen napkins with the Presidential seal embroidered on one corner. Three platters of pastries sat under crystal domes, with a set of sterling silver tongs next to each.

The President eyed the chairs at the table. Satisfied, he nodded to Entwhistle to escort the attendees to the room. He moved to the head of the table, where he always sat, but waited until everyone was in the room before he sat down. There was no tried-and-true seating arrangement, but the people in the room had been there often enough that they always took the same seats.

The President looked around and greeted each person by name. Gerald Bryce, the National Security Advisor; Louella Laird, the first female Director of the CIA; Jack Sparrow, Director of the FBI; Harold Montgomery, the Secretary of State; Mitchell Palmer, the Secretary of Defense; General Dylan Davis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and, of course, Clyde Entwhistle, chief of staff.