Chapter 38
Only a few people lined the streets to
watch the President’s motorcade as it headed towards downtown Lake Havasu City,
the most important city in Mojave County, Arizona. Perhaps it was due to the
fact that the temperature had climbed to over 120 degrees. But the President
was not liked by many of the city’s 50,000 residents. Sixty-five percent voted
Republican and didn’t like the idea of a liberal in the White House.
Since the President didn’t have to wave at anyone, he had
decided to look at the documents handed to him by his press secretary.
“Lake Havasu City was established in 1963 by Robert P.
McCulloch. McCulloch purchased the London Bridge in 1968 for $2,460,000, moving
the bridge to Lake Havasu City. The bridge was dismantled and shipped by boat
from England to the United States and rebuilt on a peninsula on Lake Havasu.
Today the London Bridge is the second most popular tourist attraction in
Arizona,
after the Grand Canyon.”
“I didn’t know this,” commented the President.
The President’s motorcade crossed the bridge and headed towards
the London Bridge Resort. The large parking lot was full of local and network
TV satellite vans. Reporters and cameramen were in the hotel’s auditorium.
A
town-hall meeting with 150 invited guests, the mayor included, was scheduled.
Everyone had gone through a body scanner and background check before being admitted.
Bomb sniffing dogs had been loose to scour every corner of
the room. It had been one more aggravation for the TV reporters and technicians
who were not very happy at being assigned this job in such a forsaken and
terribly hot place. The air conditioning struggled to keep up with the
increasing number of people arriving and the lighting bank.
What had contributed to heating up matters even more was
the appearance of a couple of local Tea Party ladies who had given interviews
in which they accused the President of wasting the taxpayers’ money and wanting
to raise taxes.
The President entered, surrounded by his bodyguards. He was
cordial and smiled. Before mounting the stage he shook the hands of the Arizona
dignitaries and of many of the general audience. Then he went to the podium,
picked up the microphone and greeted the politicians and local residents. The
President then began speaking, without using a teleprompter, and moving close
to the front row of seats.
“My predecessors were highly criticized when, beginning in
1937 – the year of the construction of the Parker Dam that gave life to Lake
Havasu, they decided to transform the desert. In building this large artificial
reservoir they guaranteed that water from the Colorado River would flow through
Arizona to California. It was a gigantic undertaking that, together with Lake
Powell and Lake Mead further north, has changed nature and brought prosperity
to the region.”
While the President spoke and wiped the sweat that was
melting his TV makeup, Michael Bardi decided to leave the room to make sure the
surrounding areas had been secured and his men were focused on the task.
“The Americans who accomplished all this,” continued the
President, “were visionaries. Their politics and personal interests did not
limit them. They acted in the interest of the nation and its people.”
An assistant handed the President a bottle of water from
which he took a long sip. Even the President’s enemies had to admit he really
knew how to communicate effectively. He used a well-worn stage actor technique:
look at the faces in the audience to see if the message was getting through or
if people were falling asleep.
The President realized people were
listening very attentively even though some were smiling ironically.
“Today we are faced with the same situation because we have
to change course on an oil-based culture – more than hundred years of
tremendous financial, economic and social interests. But we must look ahead,
look long range. The future for those presidents was not preserving desert
cactus. It was getting water to millions of people. So they planned and acted
and the people worked with them to achieve their goals. The tomorrow of our
children and grandchildren is not preserving an industrial society based on nonrenewable
energy. Fossil fuel will run out. We must develop alternative resources.
When I landed at the airport I saw many solar panels on
houses and public buildings. These photovoltaic panels show us the path to be
followed, beginning in America. The sun that roasts us is the key for a new
society that will derive most of its energy from it. We must limit energy
dependence on the oil producing countries that want to stranglehold us. We must
drastically reduce the pollution that is causing global warming. We must
intensify our efforts to make America the leader in green technology. It did
not take long for our nation to become the leader in space after the initial
shock of Soviet success. The USA has revolutionized the world with the Internet
and social networking sites. They have changed our daily lives and sparked and
coordinated the Arab Spring of people who wanted to free themselves from long
standing dictatorships. If and when we want to, we Americans can contribute
greatly to develop benefits to humanity.”
The President’s remarks were greeting with polite applause.
Now it was the turn of the audience. Those chosen to speak had been selected
with care. They had had to submit their questions in advance. Anyone trying to
introduce unauthorized issues, particularly of interest to the far right, would
suffer consequences. The President was there to listen to America and it was
live.
“Mr. President,” said the first local Tea Party
representative speaking into a microphone. “With all due respect, you came here
thousands of miles from the White House to tell us nothing new. You tell us to
look at what your predecessors did. We all know it was a gigantic undertaking
made by people who knew what they wanted to achieve: to guarantee that far into
the future there would be enough water for millions of people.”
The President listened carefully. His smile began to fade.
His right hand left a sweaty mark on the microphone he was holding.
The Tea Party lady became increasingly fervid. “Today you
tell us that we have to change our oil-based culture for an alternative energy
one. But meanwhile what are we supposed to do? Dismantle the distribution
networks of gasoline stations, refinery plants and replace them with what? We
dismantle the fossil-fuel power stations and the nuclear ones and replace them
with what? You know that alternative energy
technology is still at the embryonic stage. Where are all the jobs you
promised?”
The woman’s microphone shut off and an assistant rushed to take
it from her despite her protests of anti-democratic measures that deprived
citizens of the right to express their opinions and dissent.
The President regained his smile, as would any good actor.
He replied,
“You are perfectly right to remind me that I have been
saying the same things for some time: that we need to turn a corner and seriously
plan for children’s and grand children’s future. But a politician who truly
cares for the people who have elected him should not be deterred. As your
President I have totally dedicated myself to this crusade to open the eyes of
the American people. We must understand that if the correct decisions are not
taken now our future is headed for disaster and subjugation to those who will
dominate us by controlling our access to oil.”
The
President then continued by explaining his agenda, offering details and trying
to demonstrate that new technologies already existed to guarantee a reduction
in the unemployment rate still lingering from the terrible recession of 2008.
___________________________________________________________
Chapter 39
The guests at the London Bridge Resort were
disoriented. Dozens of CIA and FBI undercover agents along with the local
police and television crews had overwhelmed the hallways and the lobby with all
kinds of security controls and cables creating a frightening atmosphere. The tourist families who had planned to spend
a few days relaxing alongside Lake Havasu didn’t know what to do.
“My children and I want to use the pool,” yelled an
overweight woman flanked by her equally heavy husband, son and daughter. She
was more or less wrapped in a large caftan and was carrying a bunch of beach
towels. Her husband was loaded down with inflatable pool toys.
Hotel clerk rushed
to her. “We are so sorry. But the President is here and…”
“What do I care if the President is here? He’s already been
on vacation. I didn’t even vote for him!”
“Ma’am, all you have to do is go a different way because
the hallway to the auditorium is blocked by security. The President’s visit
should be over in about one hour. Afterwards everything will go back to normal.
Meanwhile all you have to do is take that side door. You will reach the main
pool by the side of the lake.”
The obese family calmed down and left the hotel lobby
without even looking at the replica of Queen Elizabeth’s ceremonial Gold Stage
Coach with door panels painted by Giovanni Cipriani of Florence.
Another guest
in a terry cloth robe and flip-flops was instead looking it at. He was carrying
a large multi-colored plastic beach ball and had a bathing cap pulled down to
his ears. He seemed to be fascinated by the golden coach – a perfect copy of
the original one made in 1762. It was another gift from the city’s founder Robert
McCulloch. The man then followed the family towards the pool with its large
waterslide.
The sun was setting. Its multi-colored rays lit the walls
of the houses and were reflected in the large lake’s waters. The temperature
was starting to go down after having reached almost intolerable heights.
As he walked towards the pool, the man once again ran into
the overweight family, which had decided not to go swimming since they had to
walk a long way to reach the pool and the kids were hungry, since it was sunset and that damned President had ruined
the day. At least that is what the enraged mother was blathering as her husband
tried to placate her, “Mary, calm down or we’ll end up in jail.” To which she
responded, “Fuck you and your piece of shit President.” The kids were cackling.
The man with the beach ball continued walking and finally reached
the pool area. It was deserted except for a young couple that, taking advantage
of the dusk, had begun making out.
The man in his white robe and bathing cap
down to his ears headed towards the stairs up to a shed at the water slide’s
top. Once at the top he took off his robe. He was all clothed in black. From a
bag he took out a laptop that he placed on a bench. Then he removed the plastic
covering from the beach ball. He opened up the ball, lifted out a black round
drone and checked for WI-FI connection between the monitor and the drone. He
checked the two mini-cameras.
At a short distance from the pool complex a beer delivery
van parked. A man opened a delivery service back door and started unloading
cases. Security sometimes forgets something. This time someone forgot to warn
that delivery people might have a key to that door.
The man at the top of the water slide powered up the drone.
The water rushing down the slide masked any sound. Using a remote and checking
on the monitor he directed the drone towards the building’s open door while the
delivery man was unloading beer cases. The
drone slipped inside the building of which the man dressed in black had
memorized every nook and cranny.
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