The President: A Novel by John Stewart.
Category: Fiction
Paperback: 188 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 0856832618

"The limo drew to a sudden stop and the lean grey-haired figure of the White House Chief of Staff jumped out and hurried to where the President was sitting.

‘Mr President, are you OK?’ he called out anxiously.

‘Never better, Joss. Sit down for a moment.

‘Joss Johnson obeyed reluctantly.

‘I’ve been watching the people visiting the Memorial. The young ones skip up and come down slowly, and the old crawl up and step out coming down.’

‘Well, there’s one oldie descending pretty slowly.’

‘Another theory in the garbage can!’

‘Are you all right, Sir? We’ve been looking for you all morning! In fact, we’re all in orbit at the cottage! What happened?’

‘It’s OK, Joss, I‘m not crazy! It was, shall we say, an unusual morning. I had to escape. I‘ll explain later, but meantime, duty calls. We’d better go back. Sorry to have raised your blood pressure!’

‘But, Sir, nobody saw you leave. How did you get out undetected?‘

‘Joss, I walked out but no one seemed to see me. As I said, it was an unusual morning, but more later.’

John Duncan sprang lightly to his feet. He looked younger than his forty-nine years, though his hair was turning grey.

‘The Joint Chiefs have been waiting for some time,’ Johnson prompted.

‘They’re not waiting, Joss. They’re talking!’

‘You’re OK, Sir!’

Both men laughed. Yet Johnson still had disturbing reservations. The US President had acted strangely and that was something he dared not ignore. He needed to know more. What exactly happened this morning? It was an urgent question not to be delayed."