Comfort wrapped its arms around Marie as she entered her neighborhood. A yard sign of the person she she'd voted appeared to smile at her as she made the left onto the quiet road. The residents of her subdivision were diverse and friendly. There was little to no crime and the closest people on the child predator list were miles from her house.
It was the kind of area where children could play outside and the whole neighborhood watched over them. Children walked to and from school. Their laughter and giggles carried in the air on breezy days and the older children stopped under the large shade trees by the lake.
Marie dropped her keys on the counter and turned on the TV. Finding a good mystery she settled in for the evening, The patter of rain on and off. Her heart content she'd done the right thing but the waiting made her anxious even though she couldn't possibly know anything until tomorrow when the Supervisor of Elections office opened.
Would they gather the ballots in the drop box right away? Do they only check the box certain days? The questions made her unsettled and she had to keep reminding herself to relax.
The next morning she went to work as usual and it kept her mind off the ballot. It wasn't until her work day ended that she thought about it again. It was 4 o'clock so she grabbed her phone and typed the address into the internet search bar to check on its status.
Her fingers a little shaky, her heart pounding fast she typed in her info and cringed when her ballot had yet to be counted. Anxiety washed over her and she reminded herself the benefit of voting early was that if by any chance there was a problem she still had plenty of time to go to the polls.
Marie was uneasy that evening and left the house for dinner in an effort to take her mind off things. She met her good friend Gil. The rain from the previous day had disappeared and the sky was filled with sunlight as they took a seat at an outside table.
Gil's wavy brown hair was more mussed than usual as he raked a hand through it then took a sip of his beer. Their discussion casual, filled with the weather and their jobs. A small blue car pulled into a spot and a man about her age stepped out of the driver's seat. She recognized him but couldn't place his name.
The driver smiled when he spotted Gil and waved at them, soon joining them. His brown eyes lit up as he gave Gil a handshake and introduced himself to her as Ernesto. They'd spoken on various occasions but not much more than a few words.
"Have a seat," Marie said as she pointed to an empty chair.
He smiled and took her up on her offer. The server appeared and took their orders, returning quickly with a beer for Ernesto who was telling a story about one of his children.
A warm breeze swept over them as they talked and laughed. A young man she'd never met, she guessed him barely old enough to drink as he held a beer in his hand, took a seat with them as Ernesto insisted.
Her mind far away from the election and the ballot until the young man asked, "So what do you think of Fenwick?"
She assumed he felt comfortable asking that question as the group was racially diverse. She and Gil of European ancestry, Ernesto Hispanic and the young man an African American.
His young dark eyes waited expectantly for one of them to respond so Marie made the first move, "I think Fenwick believes in what he says."
Fenwick was a politician that the older generation generally didn't like. His ideas were radical to them as they grew up in a time when the middle class was strong, had disposable income and the country had just emerged as a world power.
The young people hadn't grown up in that time. They didn't understand. Marie barely understood it as she watched the middle class decline, disposable income reduced and most people living from one paycheck to the next. Young people even with college couldn't afford to live on their own.
It made sense that the younger generation liked Fenwick. He offered something that would help them out of the endless tunnel of debt and living at home forever. She saw the politician as a pipe dream, a utopia, and wasn't sure his ideals could actually work.
Ernesto followed up, "I like his ideas but I worry people would come to dependent on the government," mimicking her own thoughts.
The conversation stayed on politics and was casual and pleasant.
Gil noted with a smile, beer in his hand, "This conversation wouldn't happen if there was a fan of you know who here."
Silence formed between them as the four glanced at each other and the empty tables around them. It was an accurate observation. You Know Who followers were loyal even when they didn't realize their loyalty would cause them harm and destroy the democracy of the country.
Marie considered it a mental sickness like a person who gets into an abusive relationship, cuts off their friends, their lives and becomes dependent on the abuser. She had some experience in the area as one of her first jobs out of college was counseling abused spouses, mostly women. The likeness was uncanny. Studying history that's how dictators rose to power. They were people who craved control.
At lunch the following day Marie decided to check her ballot again. This time, she waited anxiously as the internet thought than opened a page that would tell her if it was counted. She scrolled and allowed relief and happiness to wash over her as her vote had been counted. Taking a screen shot just in case, no she admitted it was more to have something to reflect on as she waited out the next three weeks.
copyright Elle Klass 2020
