It's All In The Name

Articles

Holly Winter
Living The Life Of Holly

It's All In The Name
May 9, 2003

Nope. Not me. I never would have known that it was time to pick a mayor for the ballot. Come on. How would I possibly know? I don’t watch the news. I don’t read the paper. I know. I am not exactly informed. Sure. I wondered why all those voting signs were decorating the dry lawns of Denver when we were still a far cry from November, but I didn’t lose sleep over it.

“Holly. John and I are going to a party tonight to support John Hickenlooper for Mayor. Why don’t you come with us?”

“Who?”

“Hick-en-loo-per. Come on. It’ll be fun. There’ll be food there.”

I know. Free food might be a draw for some. But who cares about politics? “Nope. Thanks.”

“We’ll pick you up at nine. You’d better be ready.” She hung up. I know that trick. Ok. Fine. I was kind of hungry.

The party was at the Wynkoop Brewery in the Downtown area. We had to make name tags when we entered. Ok. I can do that. They wanted our e- mail address and home phone number. Um. No.

“Hey. What’s good about this guy?” I asked John.

“I don’t know.”

“What does he stand for?” I asked Debbie.

“I haven’t got a clue.”

Debbie turned to the two women manning the name tag table. “Is Mr. Hickenlooper a Democrat or a Republican?” She asked, rather nicely if you ask me.

The women hardened right before our eyes. I don’t think that this is a party where you go to ask a lot of questions. I think that it was a party where they thank all of the people who have supported the guy for the last few months in his campaign. “It is a non partisan campaign.” The one on the left said, curtly.

“Oh. Well, thanks.” Debbie said as we slinked away.

I decided to lose my friends and see if I could join in on some telling conversations to find out who this guy was. I mean. Is he going to get my vote or not?

I met a woman who headed up a fund raiser that earned three million dollars for a local school.

Man. I was in awe. I was ready to make her the mayor, but knew that it might be the wrong place to suggest it. “Have you any idea how many pencils three mil will buy?” I asked her.

She accepted my praise, graciously. “When the superintendent heard about my goal of raising two million, he said I was crazy. Now I’m on the board.”

“I bet you are!”

I met the guy who catalogues fossils at the Museum of Nature and Science.

“It’s the best job in the place. I get to play with rocks all day long.”

“Yeah. That would be cool. Rocks with pictures.”

“If you know about the pictures on rocks, than you know way more about fossils than most people do.” He said, regarding me with a high esteem.

I thanked him, than wondered if he thought that I knew more about fossils than leaf prints. What else was there? Is that subtle ‘fossil code’ which that I have a lot to learn? Cause. I already knew that.

Had a nice chat with a man who wrote, “Name Tag” on his name tag. I know. I had a ton of questions to ask him. I mean. Did he have siblings named red and blue? If his parents ever got divorced, would his mother would keep ‘Tag’ as her surname?

“I just didn’t want to comply with writing my name.” He explained.

“So, your parents didn’t tag you?” I asked, innocently.

There was a slightly drunk woman with the name, Madonna, on her name tag, who was hitting on John. When he used her posted name while chatting her up, she became offended.

“My name isn’t Madonna.”

“Oh. Your name tag says Madonna.” He pointed out.

“I don’t go by labels. I figured you were the kind of guy who could see that.” She pouted.

“Oh. Yes. I can see that. Do you have a phone number?” He asked. She gave. I applauded.

Yeah. So. Imagine my horror when as we were getting ready to leave the party, I found myself face to face with the man who might make the ballot.

Oh. I hadn’t done my homework. I had nothing to say to him. I had no good question to ask. I knew nothing at all about his platform.

“Sir. Good luck tomorrow.” I said.

“Thank you so much for your support.” He answered, shaking my hand.

“I think that you have a very good chance of winning. I really do.” I lied. I had no clue what the statistics were. I think I sounded convincing. I mean. The guy threw a great party. And. Really. How many parties do you go to where there are all these high society people and you can have all the beer and wine and pizza you can eat?

“Tomorrow I will work even harder than I did today.” He said.

I felt sorry for him. He looked really tired. I hoped that he won. Cause, you have to admit, Hickenlooper would be a great name to make fun of.

I smiled. “You know. You have done EVERYTHING you could do with an incredible team who REALLY believe in you. But. Tomorrow it is the PEOPLE’S job to step up to the plate by VOTING.”

“Maybe you’re right.” He said.

“Yes. Just let it all go, and sleep well tonight.” I said.

“Maybe you’re right.” He said, again. “What was your name?”

“Holly Winter.”

“So nice to meet you.” He said, shaking my hand, firmly this time.

As we went to leave, I turned back to the man who would win a place on the November ballot for Mayor. “Sir. Before you go to sleep tonight…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t forget to set your alarm clock. I would hate for you to sleep through what might be the tie breaking vote.”

He laughed. “Holly. What do you do for a living?”

“I nag at people.”

“Oh. You do it very well.” He said, approvingly.

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About the author: Holly Winter is a teacher and a writer and a flight attendant living in Denver, Colorado, USA. She can be reached at her website or email: Holly@livingthelifeofholly.com

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