May 8, 2017
Oval Office
Oval Office
The Judiciary Committee's hearings had been completed and, seemingly, by the actions and comments of the Chair, the investigation was at an end as well. The handling and apparent suspension were news that, at another time, earlier in his taking of the office, Cal would have felt a righteous anger at, but his current emotional state was a step down from that level, to simple frustration-yet it was not even that, but another step below, a feeling not of apathy, but resignation.
After the typical rituals of the morning, an early waking, early exercise, early briefing and early meal, Cal had spent the day to that point largely kept in the office he still sat in, first reviewing a report from Bell in Iraq, a lengthy document that was nearly as dry as it was detailed. That was followed by scratching onto paper, with nearly as many crossed-out lines as ones left unmarked, the text of his planned non-signing statement for when POMA reached his desk. The rest of the day had been spent on the work of looking over waivers for department hirings, a consequence of his executive order now some months ago, was the amount of such work it created. He would have to, at some point, work out a screening process through his Secretaries to lighten the load.
With the latter work in particular, it had been a full day, and the light protestations of his stomach reminded Cal that he had bypassed his lunch. A large breakfast was enough to carry him over from that typically light meal, but regardless, he should be turning in for supper soon-but not yet. He had one last order of business to hash out, likely a minor one, for which he was meeting with his Chief of Staff, to set that in motion, and see if there were any other surprise fires he would need to put out.
