was that?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. I just said to not get your hopes too high up. I mean even if you did get elected, there really isn't much being changed around here. Everything pretty much stays the same."
" If I get elected? What is that supposed to mean?" Lisa asked very loudly. "I intend to get elected and then I'm gonna MAKE things happen around here. You HEAR me?"
The clerk stared at her with wide-open eyes, completely startled.
"Don't forget to blink," Lisa said with her most gentle smile and turned around. Just as she was about to leave City Hall, she turned and looked at him again.
"Take a good look at my face," she said. "You'll be seeing a lot more of it in the future."
16
October 2009
E LLEN WAS CRYING again. Thomas was watching her through his binoculars while drinking a canned soda. She had been crying a lot lately and it hurt him so deeply to see her like this.
The handsome man entered the kitchen and they started arguing again. The kids were in the yard running after each other, screaming. Ellen was shaking her head and gesticulating. Thomas took another bite of his ham sandwich and drank more soda. It was the same day after day now. Them fighting, the kids crying and screaming.
Thomas shook his head. It was hard to see his beloved in this much distress. The husband was hardly ever home anymore and, when he was, they were constantly fighting. Thomas sighed and drank again. He wanted so badly to help Ellen out, but there was no way her husband could ever know about them. This was the way Ellen wanted it. She had to keep their relationship a secret because she had a family to think of. Thomas understood that. But he never stopped sending her flowers, even if he knew it was often the subject of their many discussions. And so were the letters. Thomas had found a new way of communicating with his beloved. While in her house when she was off at work, he would place notes and letters in her drawers and closets, sometimes just a post-it note on her clothes or the wall, telling her how deeply he loved her. He knew it was risky, but his beloved needed his encouragement. She needed to know she was loved.
Thomas watched the husband in the kitchen. He was standing by the door, obviously yelling at Ellen while she was sitting in a chair her hands folded in her lap. She was crying and it infuriated Thomas to see her like this. He clenched his fist.
If he ever hurts her, I swear to God I'm gonna …
The husband was gesticulating wildly and Ellen hid her face between her hands. Thomas restrained himself. He wanted so badly to just run over there and beat the crap out of him.
The bastard. He didn’t know how lucky he was to wake up to this woman every day.
But he couldn't know about them. The husband could never know. It would destroy everything. And, even if it was hard, Thomas respected Ellen's wish to keep their relationship a secret. He had to. Instead, he always kept an eye on Ellen to make sure she was safe. It was his job to protect her.
Thomas turned the binoculars to look at the children playing in the yard. The oldest, Frederik, was on the swings while the youngest, Gerda, was playing with a jump-rope. Thomas chuckled. How he adored those two munchkins. He often talked to them on the playground nearby where they came every afternoon with their nanny and, just as often, he had given them candy. Gerda was always so sweet and smiling, taking the candy willingly right away, while Frederik had been more reserved the first time. When Thomas had told them he knew their mother well, he had loosened up a little and taken the gummy bears. Thomas had really gotten close to them lately and started giving them new toys now and then, by simply placing them on their beds while in the house. The husband hadn't been too happy about Thomas' small gifts but Ellen loved them. Thomas knew she did. She would tell him in her own way. Through signals like pulling the curtains or by putting the newspaper on top of
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