Constituent Services

It was the middle of autumn, I would call it unreasonably warm but the falls had been that way for several years. We don’t even see snow every winter anymore. In any case, I decided to walk up to Badger’s office. I lived just on the north ward side of the border with the downtown area, and her district office was up on Ron Street, which despite its small name, is a major street that divides the Boulevard in half in the north.

It wasn’t a short walk, but I had the time and I didn’t want to let go of the warm weather. The route cut through many neighborhoods in the ward. To outsiders they all look the same, but for anyone from this city each neighborhood, even those only a block or two large, had their own character. It’s hard to believe Kendra grew up in one of these neighborhoods. Not even one of the better ones. The north isn’t the poorest ward in the city—that’s the central ward, even though it contains the downtown area in its north. None of the people that work downtown live there, not even in City Hall. There was a joke about the last mayor, who was in office from the 1980s until he died, that he lived out in the suburbs too. A few councilmembers over the years definitely did. The City Hall garage looked like a luxury car showroom. We wanted to hold protests there when the city’s custodian union went on strike, but the union president vetoed the idea because his luxury motor car was parked there. The union won the contract they wanted, including free public transit passes for all the employees, then voted the president out at their next general assembly. Good for them.

Most working people in this city take public transit. I had a motor vehicle for a few years but it kept getting towed and I lost it, but I’ve always enjoyed walking. Kendra’s been pushing me on that—she wants me to buy a car. I’ve told her riding public transit keeps me in touch with the proletariat, and she points out I’ve had a car before. Kendra and I both hate the parking authority, everyone in the city with a pulse does. I saw a couple of meter maids that day on my walk up to Badger’s north ward district office. I knew then that she had dumped on the parking authority during her campaign, but every politician did. But I hadn’t yet heard her personal vitriolic opinions about our city’s parking vultures. I saw her in the face of the meter maids, and wondered what that meant. I had to remind myself what I was on my way to her office for—to confront her about the arrests after the open house she’d set up for the activists in the ward. I’m usually sociable on my walks, I like hearing what people are up to and get to small talking about them, but that afternoon I was focused.

I got to the office, a storefront set up, lots of local politicians had these. It occurred to me only then that Badger might be at her office at City Hall. That seemed to make more sense, and I felt stupid for not thinking about it earlier. In any case, I went in and asked if I could see the Councilmember. Her secretary, an older woman I had seen somewhere before, scoffed at me.

-You know you have to make an appointment right? It’s best to call, the City Hall office, where they do scheduling. Is it something we can help you with?

-I was hoping she was here, I stuttered out.

The secretary repeated my line of thinking, that Badger would more likely be at the office in City Hall than here on any given day.

I wasn’t sure what to do, I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket, wondering if I should call the City Hall office and try to make an appointment. I had a feeling she was there, somewhere in the backrooms, when a door opened behind the secretary and Greg came out. We made eye contact, but I couldn’t tell if he recognized me. It seemed like he was pretending not to, at least.

-What’s he want? Greg asked the secretary off-handedly, nodding toward me.

-To see the Councilwoman, the secretary responded flippantly.

-Well he’s in luck, Greg said in a mocking tone, she’s ready to go downtown, he can watch her on her way out.

The secretary opened a drawer and started pulling out a couple of packages and some folders of papers. You’ll be taking these, I assume, she asked Greg.

-Sure, yeah.

-Are you sure, Greg?, the secretary pressed him.

I had taken a few steps away from the desk, hoping to be forgotten, and tried to look discreetly toward the door I thought Badger would emerge from while Greg and the secretary, Marla, argued about something about Greg not paying attention to something piling up at Badger’s City Hall office. I was curious, but didn’t want to draw attention to myself, pretending to scroll on my phone instead.

Badger did eventually come out of the door, but Greg immediately stepped in front of her so that I couldn’t see her and she couldn’t see me. But it was my only moment to see her.

-Councilmember, I yelled out, do you remember me? I need to talk.

-I told you you’ll have to call and schedule an appointment, the secretary shrieked as Greg handed Badger the file folder and showed her the packages in the bag. It drew her attention. She looked over Greg’s shoulders and saw me.

-What are you doing here?, she called over to me.

-I wanted to talk to you, I said, stepping closer. I needed to talk to you.

-You are a constituent after all, she laughed half-heartedly. Did you call to make an appointment?

I’m not sure how I was so clever, but I wanted to hold on to her. I said: Well, you came to my door to see me so I figured I’d return the gesture.

She laughed and thought a moment.

-Okay, okay. Why doesn’t he ride down with us to City Hall, Badger asked Greg.

-Are you serious?, he asked incredulously.

-Sure, yeah.