Blog Love Omega Glee: Lou's A Morning Person (20 January 2012)

When Francine arrives this morning at the Poorpeople for President campaign office, the lights are on but the door is locked. "Matt must be running late," she thinks. It's cold, and Francine shivers. Her exhaled breath forms a cloud in front of her before dissipating. She looks inside the frosted window and sees someone moving around in the office. She knocks on the door, "Hurry up Matt, it's freezing out here."

The figure inside moves closer, but seems to have a limp. The door opens to reveal not Matt but an older man with red hair, and a goatee and mustache. "Hurry up, I hate the cold," he says, and moves aside for her to enter, "I told them to send me to Florida; instead, I end up in this hellhole."

"Hello," Francine says, stepping inside and taking off her gloves and hat, "I'm Francine."

"Oh, I know who you are, Francine Apple. Matt told me about you before he left. I'm Louis Carson Fir, call me 'Lou' for short," the man says, not offering to shake hands.

"Where's Matt?" Francine says, taking off her coat, "Sorry I'm late. I'm not a morning person."

"Well, good thing then that I am a morning person. I'm a star in the mornings in fact. I like to do my best work early on and then coast through the rest of the day; that's unlike the previous office manager who apparently didn't do his best work at any time of day. That's why we sent him somewhere far away. At least it's warm there. If the nomination isn't determined by the time that primary rolls around, we'll just fire him. The polls are down here so I'm in charge now. We can't have Poorpeople lose the primary in his home state," Lou says, looking at some papers on a clipboard.

"Wow! I just saw Matt yesterday and he didn't say anything to me about leaving," Francine says.

"Politics don't always proceed as planned so his reassignment was decided yesterday," Lou says, "We sent out a press release about it before we even got a chance to tell him. He learned about it when a journalist called him for a quote. Now that he's gone, I can see why we're in such trouble here. When Matt did any work at all, it was of the sloppy nature. For example, he didn't even bother to Google you, much less do a background check. Well, I did, and I can't say I like your blog much, Francine, or should I call you Franzine?"

Goosebumps rise on Francine's arms. "My blog?" she says.

"Yes, conspiracy theories and all that nonsense. Do you want to know who runs the world? Anyone who bothers trying," Lou says, setting the clipboard down on a desk, "Of course, then you have to deal with all the others who are trying as well. In any case, your kind volunteering is much needed but no longer appreciated here. I can't have our candidate linked to the tinfoil hat people. We have enough problems to deal with such as the fact that our candidate is an idiot. No hard feelings, I'm sure. You understand? It's just politics, which nowadays come down mostly to appearances. And though you're not a bad looker, I can't have you looking or being looked at around here. Please take a yard sign on your way out. Encourage your neighbors to vote for Poorpeople, or if they're inclined to vote against him, encourage them not to vote."

Blog Love Omega Glee is a novel by Wred Fright about two bloggers who fall in love while the world falls apart, which is being serialized on his blog. To start reading from the beginning or read another installment, please visit Blog Love Omega Glee Central on WredFright.Com. If you like what you've read, or you've read all of Blog Love Omega Glee and want more Fright, then please read his first novel, which is available in print and as an ebook.