Made the rest of the trip to the capital today. The Boss was in a funny mood the whole way though—weird. But, man o’ man, you should’ve seen the crowds! It seemed like the whole city turned out just to see us. The Boss sent a couple of the boys ahead to arrange transportation—little brown-nosers! Anyway, guess what they came back with? Go ahead guess. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you!
So, I took The Boss aside to talk with him, you know, about the optics of situation. I mean, this whole “humility thing” he tries to cultivate. Look, don’t get me wrong, that stuff plays real well out in the sticks, but this is the city for cryin’ out loud! The leaders are here, foreigners from all over the world, the governor’s mansion is right up on the damn hill!
Well, I give him the usual pep talk about what he needs to be doing right now, and he just smiles and shines me on. Doesn’t he understand the power he holds right now? If he’d just listen to me, we could leverage that power to take over this whole place. And I mean right now too! You should’ve seen all the people, yelling, and waving, and calling him “The King.” Listen, if we play this right, the Governor will have no choice but to come to the bargaining table. I’ve already started drawing up a list of demands, although I haven’t shown it to any of the guys yet—or The Boss for that matter. Like I said, he’s in a weird place right now. It’s okay though. I’ll bide my time.
So like I was saying, those you little yes-men came back with our “transportation” and we start making our way into the city. All of a sudden, we come to a stop. I ask what’s going on, nobody knows. I go over to P and ask him. For once, that big, loud, know-it-all has nothing to say. I go up to The Boss to see what’s happening, and he’s crying! Not just crying, he’s weeping! Big, heavy sobs! I asked him what was wrong, and he told me he was “overcome with pity.”
Huh?
I didn’t understand what he meant, so I asked, “Why? For whom?” And he says, “For all of you…especially you.”
For me? Get him. The nerve of this guy. Hey, nobody needs to pity me! I’m going to be a big man around here plenty soon enough. You wait, when the dust settles, we’ll see who pities who!
