Page 15 of Coveted Justice

5

Amanda and Josh were stuffing envelopes for the campaign. A deadly dull task but it had to be done. Like all interns, they did what was asked of them whether it was making a coffee run, answering telephones, or mind-numbing administrative work. Like this.

The campaign was being run out of a small, rented storefront in Springwood that used to be a doggy day care. The business had relocated to a large house on the edge of town, and the dirt cheap rent had meant that Tanner Marks for Governor could get the place for a steal.

They were the only two in the building at the moment. Amanda’s father had been determined to keep the staff levels small and not to create some monster of a campaign that didn’t reflect him and also cost an arm and a leg. He was trying to keep large donors to a minimum, although he’d given in last night for the fundraising dinner.

Not that Amanda and Josh were getting paid. They weren’t. They were volunteering their time and planning to put the experience on their resume. Her mother had told her that she would pay them both out of her own pocket because she was proud of them for doing the work.

Amanda held out her index finger with a Band-Aid wrapped around it.

“If I get another paper cut, I’m quitting for the day.”

“You can’t quit,” Josh laughed, shoving another flyer into the legal sized envelope. “We have to get these done this morning.”

“What are they going to do? Fire us?” Amanda joked, continuing her labors despite her minor injury. “We’re volunteers, Josh.”

“Dedicated volunteers. Besides, you wouldn’t want to let your dad down. We only have a few hundred more.”

Amanda’s gaze ran over the stack of boxes surrounding them.

“There’s probably a few hundred in that one box alone. I’d say we have closer to a thousand. Just what is the population of Montana, anyway? Are we sending one to every single person in the state?”

Josh would know the number. From what she’d seen, he pretty much knew everything. She was no slouch in the academics department, but he blew her away. And he barely had to crack a book to do it.

“At the last census, there were one-point-one million, give or take,” Josh replied. “And I hope we’re not going to have to stuff a million envelopes.”

“It feels like a million,” she said with a sigh. “I’m getting hungry. I skipped breakfast so I could be here early. Maybe we should order something? I could go pick it up from the diner.”

“Or I could. You just want to get out of stuffing envelopes.”

“I wouldn’t mind a break. But I am seriously hungry. My stomach is growling.”

“I could eat,” Josh said, pulling out his phone. “What do you want? I’ll call it in.”

She reeled off her usual order from memory, having visited the diner almost every week since she was a baby. Her father often worked long hours and her mother couldn’t cook to save her life. Consequently, they’d eaten a great deal of takeout and frozen food. Luckily, her dad was a great cook and fixed them home-cooked meals whenever he had the time.

Josh whistled softly and shook his head.

“I don’t know where you put it. You must have the metabolism of a hummingbird. Or maybe it’s those long legs of yours.”

“I come by it honestly. Mom can eat a lot of food, too, and never gain an ounce. Believe me, I’ve taken a bunch of shit about it at school.”

“Mean girl stuff? Don’t take any of that high school clique crap.”

“I just ignore it. I was glad to leave high school in the rearview mirror. I remember one girl in my biology class said that her mother told her that the high school years would be the best in her life.”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t really say anything. I just nodded as if I agreed. She seemed to trust her mom so much, and I didn’t want to be nasty about it.”

She went silent as Josh recited their order into the phone.

“Fifteen minutes,” he announced when he was done. “They said that they’d put it on your mom and dad’s tab and they hung up before I could say no. I want to pay for my own breakfast.”

“When have my parents every let you or any of the others pay for a meal? You can try and pay them back, but they’ll only tuck it in your pocket when you aren’t looking. Mom feels bad enough as it is that the campaign isn’t paying us.”

When it was time to pick up the food Amanda hopped up from her chair, happy to be able to stretch her legs. She was getting antsy sitting there stuffing envelopes.

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