Stacy perched on the edge of her chair, anxiously peeking out the window. She had been waiting for her sister to pick her up for the last twenty minutes. Her older sister Beth, who was seven months pregnant, happened to work at the local Young Democrats office in the city. Since the Vice Presidential debate was coming to the next city over, she had gotten two tickets to the event and was taking Stacy with her.
The rain had gotten a little bit lighter as Stacy continued to wait. She rolled her eyes as she looked at the clock. Typical. Beth was almost always late to family events. Why would it be different for this? Stacy wondered to herself. Just because she thought it was going to be awesome and spectacular didn’t mean her sister shared the same view. Plus, she was pregnant and always preoccupied with doing “baby” things.
Beth had been in politics for as long as Stacy could remember. Stacy was the youngest of her and their two other siblings. Beth was the oldest at 25, then there was Terry, then Julia and then Stacy came along.
Just then, the ding of her phone signaled a text message.
Sry…baby wasn’t feeling well. B there in 15.
“Not feeling well?” Stacy mumbled? The baby wasn’t even born yet! How could it not feel well? There was a lot she had shared with her sisters and her mom in this pregnancy, but there must still be an awful lot she didn’t know. “Don’t want to know yet,” she mumbled to herself.
She ambled in the fridge and looked for a snack, since they obviously weren’t going to have time to stop and get dinner now. Cold pizza, leftover macaroni…nothing looked good to her. Her mom and dad had left for a meeting, leaving nothing hot and ready in the oven or on the stove.
Peeling a banana, Stacy got out her notes and reviewed them. Once her history teacher at school learned she was going to the debate, she had given her the option of doing an extra credit assignment for the class. After the debate, she was to write a two page review of the event and highlight certain points each candidate made. Stacy had to take note of budget concerns, foreign policy, taxation, homeland security and a few other details. She loved her history class and really wanted to do well on the report. And she was completely thrilled her sister did what she did!
She licked the last of the banana off her fingers just as she saw lights flash in the window from the driveway. “Finally,” Stacy mumbled and grabbed her coat. She jumped into her sister’s warm car.
“How are ya, kid?” Beth asked with a weak smile.
“Fine. Why wasn’t baby feeling well?” Stacy asked with concern.
“I haven’t been drinking enough fluids at work. Been standing on my feet too much and swelled up a lot. Nothing serious. I hope,” she replied as she backed out of the driveway.
“Does mom know?” Stacy asked.
“No, and don’t tell her anything. The doctor says I just need to slow down at work and drink more water. I’ll be fine after the election in a couple weeks,” Beth replied. She picked up a granola bar to eat it once they were on the road.
“You better slow down now. We don’t have to go tonight,” Stacy started to say.
“Oh yes, we do. You have been pestering me for weeks about this!” she said playfully. “I think you are more excited for this debate than your niece or nephew sometimes. And it’s important to know how the election process works firsthand. This debate will give you a glimpse into what really goes on in politics.”
“Well….I can’t wait…for both,” Stacy said, practically rubbing her hands together in anticipation of both. “I have my keywords to listen for my report and I have really cute outfits picked out for both a boy and a girl since you won’t find out what it is!”
“You’re going to be a political nerd, just like me,” Beth said with a giggle. “And maybe baby here, when it is born, boy or a girl, will be too.” She rubbed her stomach and continued to drive to where the debate was taking place at the local college campus.
They drove and chatted for another half an hour before traffic came to a screeching halt.
“I guess we aren’t the only political nerds out there,” Stacy said with a sigh.
“Nope. But we’re still early, so you won’t miss a single question, response or counter response of the process.” She rubbed her stomach with one hand and kept the other on the steering wheel.
“What question do you think will be first?” Stacy asked. There were a lot of important topics that needed to be discussed tonight. From eliminating certain taxes to the new policy in the Middle East, Stacy was actually looking forward to seeing how each vice presidential candidate would respond.
“I think it will be…” Beth stalled and rubbed her stomach some more.
“Are you feeling all right?” Stacy asked with alarm. She didn’t know anything about babies being born except for the fact this one wasn’t ready yet.
“Just a few false contractions. Nothing to worry over,” Beth said and sneaked through a lane of traffic and into a side parking lot. “I think the first question will be in regards to the new tax measure the Republicans are trying to pass. This moderator usually focuses on domestic policy, so that’s a start.”
“Hmmm,” Stacy mumbled. She pulled out her notebook and began making a list of what topics she thought would be discussed. “I’ll make a column for you and one for me and we can see who is right later.”
“Oh geez,” Beth muttered. “You are more of a nerd about this than I am. OK, first is the tax measure, then the health care plan proposal, then the possibility of a Supreme Court justice will be brought up.”
“Ooooh, good one,” Stacy commented as she wrote it down. “My teacher didn’t even mention that.”
“How about the new law being passed for healthcare? That could affect this baby if it is passed,” Beth said.
“She has it listed as a topic to watch for. I also have the budget proposal, the skirmish in the Middle East and then some issues regarding the war on terror. How could it affect baby?”
Beth just shrugged. “The expense of delivery, mostly.”
They both left their cell phones, their purses and everything else from their pockets in the car. Security was going to be tight and there weren’t any bags allowed inside, nor any technology devices that could interrupt the live debate.
“Where are we sitting?” she asked Beth who was heading for the largest building down the street.
“I don’t know yet. But here is your pass to get in,” she said, handing Stacy a blue lanyard with a bunch of papers, her picture and name displayed across the front. Her lanyard rested right on the top of her stomach.
“Will I get to meet either candidate?” Stacy said breathlessly. “Like, are these press passes so I can get up close and ask questions?”
“No. No questions. That is what the moderator is there for. You get to watch and observe.”
The rain was just a mist now, but they hurried inside to keep from getting wet. There, they were greeted by a long line of people waiting to go through metal detectors to get inside.
“The fun begins,” Beth said with a wink. The two went to a special line for people with passes and sailed through with no problems. They joined some other people from Beth’s office backstage and waited for the debate to get started. Beth sat down and put her feet up on a chair. Stacy was worried about her sister, but not sure what she could do. Was this debate going to hurt her sister’s pregnancy?
Stacy peeked from behind the curtain and saw hundreds of people out front. There were two podiums facing the crowd and one podium facing her, where the moderator would stand.
“Wow,” Stacy said under her breath. Some of the lights were on, so it was a bit blinding.
“Lots of people out there, huh?” said a voice next to her.
“Yes, there is…” she started to reply. The rest of the words stopped in her throat because she was facing the very own Democratic candidate for the Vice President.
“Ahh, ahh,” she stammered without forming a whole sentence.
“Is this your first debate?”
Stacy just shook her head, unsure of what else to say. Before Stacy could say anything else, Secret Service came and the candidate was whisked away in to the final prep room.
“Did you see…? That was…” Stacy gushed when she sat next to her sister. She did notice that she had drunk a bunch of her bottled water and looked better than she did when she picked her up.
“Slow down, slow down,” Beth laughed. “You seem a little star struck.” She continued to rub her growing stomach.
“Wow,” was all Stacy said. “I think that was more exciting than learning about you being pregnant!”
“Gee, thanks,” Beth said. “And here I thought you were more excited to be an aunt over anything else!”
Just then, there was a little beep signaling it was time for them to sit in their seats. Stacy followed Beth in to the side rows by their candidate. Her palms were sweaty as she watched introductions being made and the candidates greet each other. Was she going to be this nervous and excited when Beth finally had that baby? She could only hope so.