Upstairs in my newly partially cleaned and organized office, I was frantically transcribing away when Gabe shouts up the stairs.
“Mom, there’s a man at the door.”
My mind starts to whirl. Hmmm. All the utilities are paid up so I knew no one was here to disconnect anything.
“Is he wearing a uniform?” I ask somewhat hesitantly.
“No, he’s just a guy” replies Gabe.
Well that’s good. That means no one is dead or in jail either. I quickly wiped my face, pulled a comb through my hair, and raced downstairs. There in my vestibule was a nice young man with a blue shirt twirling a clip board and wearing a big easy smile. It wasn’t until I was about to shake his hand that I noticed the Obama button.
Turns out this young man was out in the neighborhood registering people for the vote. I didn’t even know that was possible! I assured him that we were already registered until I remembered that Calvin has not registered yet! As I started to fill out the form we started talking about the election and the campaign.
I was frank with him. I don’t like Obama’s very liberal stand on abortion and I am particularly appalled that he could not vote to protect the lives of infants who survive an abortion procedure. Eegads !!!even convicted felons can only be executed once! I told him about my son Raphael and about the humanity he exhibited even in his short life of 23 weeks gestation. The young man was very nice. He didn’t try to argue these points. In fact he admitted that he was not aware of the abortion survivor issue. He asked me how I felt about abortion in instances of rape.
“Why should the baby suffer for the sins of the father?” I replied.
I think he thought that was a good answer.
My young Obama supporter had some things to say about McCain. I told him that I really didn’t like McCain much either. But I would vote for him anyway. I think the abortion issue is the litmus test of a man, and I can’t respect or support a man who supports abortion.
After that we started talking about him. He was very young. Only 20. He was from Union College, I think, somewhere in New York. Ohio was surprising him. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. Still my little town isn’t quite what he is looking for as a place to live. He and his friends had been working hard for Senator Obama. They start at dawn and work until dark. He told me that the oldest guy he knew working on the campaign was 26 – he said the work was so rigorous older people wouldn’t be able to handle it. He said the worst part was being hungry or thirsty while he was working. This kid probably has a metabolism like my Sam. Sam can eat like a beast and his body just burns through the calories with no fat for extra reserve. I offered him some ice tea, but he declined. But when I mentioned ice cream sandwhich, he looked very interested.
As fate would have it, Noah showed up to ask if he could ride his bike in the church parking lot.
“Yep, if you get me an ice cream sandwhich first.”
Before the words were competely out of my mouth Noah was back with the sandwhich, which I promptly handed over to the young man.
“See Noah, we are going to share our ice cream with this young man, even if he does support Obama.”
Noah does not have a poker face. He gave our young visit one of those looks like, “How could you possibly be for HIM!”
We both laughed. My visitor thanked me for the sandwich and continued down the sidewalk. I’m glad I could give him a little break from the heat. It’s sure is a long way from New York.
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