On the morning of November 9th 1988, I was in the bathrooms at our student residences when Steve, our American student, came in. 'Who've we got, Shallow?' he asked. I swelled with pride at being able to take even a tiny role in the presidential election process.
Assuming a carefully neutral tone I told him that George Bush had won.
'Oh man,' he said. 'Now I'm going to remember, for the next four years, that you told me we got Bush.'
I wished I hadn't told him. I'd be really, really surprised if I saw Steve in my bathroom tomorrow morning, but in the unlikely event that I do, I hope I've got better news for him. I mean, it's serious now. In 1988, I didn't want Bush to win, but I wasn't afraid for my life if he did.
No comments:
Post a Comment