The White House
PRESIDENT HAYES SAT behind his desk in the Oval Office. His suit coat was draped over the back of his high backed leather chair, and in front of him was a photocopy of his daily schedule. The schedule was typed, but his nine a.m. meeting had been crossed out and his chief of staff had written something in the margin. The president squinted at the handwriting and tried to make out the small cursive letters. Hayes picked up the paper and decided it wasn't his eyes that needed help; it was his chief of staff's handwriting.
Without knocking, Valerie Jones entered the Oval Office through the main hallway. She had a stack of folders under her left arm and a leather day-timer in her right hand.
"Good morning, Robert." Jones continued across the room and set the folders on the left side of the president's desk.
Hayes held up the schedule for her to see.
"What's this you wrote here in the margin?"
Without having to look, Jones said, "Last-minute change.
Prince Kalib from Oman is on his way through town to see his father at the Mayo Clinic."
Hayes tapped his capped Waterman pen against his cheek while frowning.
"And?"
"And…" Jones put her hands on her hips and smiled.
"You don't want to know. Just take my word for it. It'll be a worthwhile meeting."
President Hayes nodded slowly. Leaning back in his chair, he studied Jones's outfit for a split second. She was wearing a yellow silk blouse that was almost dark enough to pass for gold.
Hayes thought the bright blouse combined with the black skirt and scarf made her look like a bumblebee. Having a wife and two grown daughters of his own, he was smart enough to keep this opinion to himself.
"What else do you have for me?"
"The First Lady left Andrews about fifteen minutes ago and will be on the ground in Columbus just before ten. Which reminds me…" Jones stepped to her left and placed both hands on the surface of the desk. "I still think you should go to Columbus. You can fly out tomorrow afternoon and make the party with no trouble at all." The president's fifth grandchild and his namesake, Robert Xavier Hayes, was celebrating his first birthday tomorrow.
Hayes shook his head.
"I'm going to see little Robert in two weeks, and I'll celebrate his birthday then."
"I think you should go tomorrow," persisted the chief of staff.
"I'm not going. It costs a lot of money to fly everybody over there just for the evening."
"Fine." At the insistence of the First Lady, Jones had given it one more try. The chief of staff grabbed one of the folders she had brought and opened it.
"I need your signature on about thirty documents. Some of them you'll want to glance over, and others you can just sign."
With a sigh Hayes began working his way through the stack of papers.