“I would like to raise a toast to Phil and Karen Everett, without whom any of tonight’s huge success would have been possible!” The fundraiser committee clapped enthusiastically as Karen and Phil raised their champagne flutes, eyes glistening tastefully as a sign of humility. The remainder of the charity organization clapped politely, eyes rolling at the dramatic display.
“Really,” Clarence Peathorn mumbled in a hushed tone to his tablemates, “do they have to act so tacky? We all know how much time they spent planning this event, assuming they worked at least have as hard as they complained about how much they had to put together!” Clarence was bitter about not being re-elected to the fundraising committee for the current term, but his neighbours agreed wholeheartedly. The Everett’s had decided to head the charity ball a year prior in a clever move that allowed them to bypass the electoral process: as event coordinators, they would remain in their position until the next election after the termination of the event. Clarence had used a similar tactic two years ago, but the sudden power outage during his charity singles’ mixer left his leadership skills vulnerable to attack from the Everett couple. He knew they wanted his seat as chair of the committee, but was helpless to the overwhelming campaign they ran, using “a fresh approach” as their main image. Clarence was deemed a stagnant head of the committee, and received the boot in a near-unanimous vote.
“I know sweetie. Everyone ought to be toasting you tonight, but sometimes, cheaters can get away with small wins. You have to think of this as a setback, not a failure.” Clarence’s beautiful fiancée, Olivia, squeezed his arm reassuringly as she offered her encouraging words. Olivia sat on the executive board of the organization, and as such had the power to vote in all committee elections. She was Clarence’s sole supporter during his fall from grace, and her impartiality was brought into question that night. Since then, she fought tooth and nail to reestablish her good name, and was planning on running for vice president the proceeding term. Her plan to replace Lorraine Huntsman involved no underhanded sabotage, a boast she could not attribute to the success of the Everetts. Olivia was well aware that the power outage coincidentally occurred shortly after Karen excused herself from the coat check to powder her nose. Olivia, already suspicious of Karen’s unusually pleasant demeanour, followed her to the bathroom, and adjusted her makeup. The two made small conversation, the regular praise for one another’s husbands was hailed, and Olivia gave Karen a ten second lead as they left the bathroom. The hallway back to the front door passed directly in front of the building’s breaker box, and when Olivia scrambled in the dark to find a solution, she found the box was already opened, with three fuses set to the off position.
“We appreciate all the support the committee has given us these past months, especially Sheila and Evan Gladwell, Julia Jones, Mitchell Haack, and of course the entire planning committee!” Karen Everett had somehow acquired a microphone at her table, and proceeded to thank nearly every active member of the organization for their valuable contributions, except for Clarence. Clarence suppressed a groan of distaste as best he could, emitting a soft sigh only Olivia noticed.
“Of course they aren’t going to thank me,” Clarence said with a strained smile, “what have I ever done for this organization? It’s not like I served three consecutive terms on the fundraising committee, and not to mention an additional two on the executive board, one of which being the organization’s most successful year since 1976.” Clarence’s voice rose steadily as he continued his rant, rousing the attention not only of his allies seated around him, but also those seated directly behind him.
“I suppose your year as senior secretary could be considered one of the organization’s best, if you count ‘best’ as most number of new members joined, but I think a much better definition would be the total revenue brought in by members, and level of active member participation in events, wouldn’t you? And those figures point to the term we’ve just finished. While my seat on the executive board distances me from individual committees, I still have had the chance to observe the phenomenal, unprecedented job the Everett’s have done as co-chairs.” Opal Lipmann, a firm supporter of the Everett family’s campaign, piped into conversations whenever she smelled dissent; her loyalties were ground firmly, and she fought fiercely to maintain her power in the organization. After the passing of Opal’s husband, the organization remained as her sole connection to the social world, meaning she had quite a bit to gain in keeping her friends on top. Her failing mental health worried her children and grandchildren, but Opal remained as high-stress as she was in 1976 – one of the organization’s most successful years in recent memory. Opal had been the head of the community outreach committee at the time, and was responsible for rousing the support not only of card-carrying members, but also of non-involved citizens across the city. Her husband worried about her level of engagement in the organization, and frequently reminded her to take some time for herself. Now that he had passed, Opal had few such reminders, and her plans for next term were to run for president. She had attempted a vice presidential campaign back in 1989, but was forced to withdraw early on. She remains entirely private as to why she withdrew, though Clarence’s father – her opponent – had several theories he didn’t mind sharing with his family.
“Thank you Opal,” Olivia snapped delicately, “we are well aware of the current status of the organization under its current leadership. You seem to forget that I too sit on the executive board, and am quite familiar with statistics.” Nothing could be directly protested in the organization; Olivia knew she had to tread delicately around her social rival, as everything she said would be held against her at the next weekly executive meeting. At the past three meetings, Olivia came under fire from Opal for her history of voting patterns. Olivia could have easily countered Opal, and commented on Opal’s tendency to vote for anyone related to her sons-in-law, but to do so in front of the other executives would have been in quite bad taste, and resulted in further questioning about Olivia’s ability to keep her life with her fiancé separate from her life as junior secretary. Again, Olivia could have pointed out that every married member of the executive council – including the president herself – faced this same dilemma during their engagements, but Olivia was the only currently engaged member, and this made her a political minority.
Opal let out a condescending “humph”, and returned to her conversation with the head of the marketing committee. Clarence stroked his wife’s back as she leaned into him, exhausted from restraining herself around whom she considered the most despicable woman in the entire organization.
“You can’t let her get to you, just like Clarence can’t let those oafs bother him.” Isaac Carlisle leaned from across the table to comment on the exchange he had just noticed. “Lord, look at them now. Are they going to have a celebratory dance? Someone really ought to throw a shoe at the band if they start playing a ballad.” Isaac was one of Clarence’s dearest friends, having spent four years of high school and their four years of undergraduate degrees together. Isaac was also present the night of the singles’ mixer, working diligently to assure everything went off without any disturbances. Before Karen and Olivia left to refresh themselves, Isaac had already spotted Phil Everett attempting to tamper with the plugs connecting the sound system to the speakers. Not believing a word of Phil’s poor excuse of looking for his wedding band behind the speakers, Isaac decided to help Phil search. Instead of kicking Phil out of the event, Isaac knew he had to act within established etiquette: asking an active member of the organization to leave an organization-sponsored event would have produced an outrage that would have haunted him for years to come, especially when the member was considering a position as head of a committee. When Isaac asked Phil where he had last seen the ring, Phil suddenly grew quiet, feigned noticing an object on the ground, and bent over to retrieve it. Even in the dark room, Isaac saw Phil remove his ring with his right hand, let it fall to the ground, and pick it up with his left hand in one fluid motion. Powerless to accuse him of any further suspicious activities, Isaac walked with Phil back to their table, and engaged him in a stale conversation about the engraving on the inside of the ring.
“And if anyone would like to join our happy organizing couple on the dance floor for this next tune, feel free to shake out those tired legs! We’ve all done enough sitting down for one night!” Isaac was correct in predicting the Everett’s next physical move, and like a bride at her wedding, Karen was the beaming center of attention. Fortunately for her, the other members felt so uncomfortable by her attention-grabbing spectacle that they had little desire to join their elected representatives on the dance floor. After two songs of the lone couple continuing their self-glorifying parade, Clarence decided to take a stand.
“You can’t be serious!” Olivia gasped as Clarence grabbed her hand, and led her to the polished wood floor. Shooting a toothy grin to the audience, Olivia spoke through gritted teeth to her fiancé, “we’re going to look as ridiculous as them. I thought we were never going to stoop to their level.”
“We aren’t, Olivia. Use your head for a second,” Clarence also hissed through an ear-to-ear grin, “nobody thinks this is a good idea, but if we make everyone think that it’s okay for those two clowns to be hogging the spotlight at their own show, then we go up in their books! After all, who doesn’t love hearing a good reconciliation story?” Clarence brought up a very good point, and Olivia’s expression softened into a genuine smile. It was no secret that the two couples were in direct opposition, and they consistently met expectations in voting in a perfectly opposite pattern. After the debacle at the singles’ mixer, the president considered simply withdrawing voting privileges from the four of them entirely. However, making the extreme gesture of extending the olive branch to the heads of the fundraising committee at the fundraiser of the year would be proof that all differences were resolved, and they could make nice again. Surely enough, more couples began filing onto the wooden dance floor, and Karen Everett’s seven minutes of fame ended. Olivia tapped Clarence’s shoulder to point out a disgruntled Karen leaving the banquet hall with an unimpressed Phil in tow.
“Off to grab the bulldozer, I’m sure,” Olivia joked. Although Clarence was almost positive Karen didn’t own a bulldozer, he wouldn’t have been entirely surprised to see his wife’s prediction come true, and run out of the way as Karen – clad in a fluorescent vest and hard hat – plowed her way through a second wind. She wouldn’t let Phil do the dirty work; that would be giving him the fun part. Clarence knew that Karen was the head of her household, and Phil was given the occasional proxy role to keep appearances – just like at the singles’ mixer. Clarence was well aware of the sabotage plot waiting for his event, and in fact was the one to mention to Phil that the sound system had been finicky during the test run earlier that day. By giving bits of false information, Clarence had hoped to throw his saboteur off their trail; he knew Phil didn’t have the technical savvy to unplug a microwave. Unfortunately, he hadn’t factored Karen into his calculations, and that was a mistake he swore never to repeat. Distracting Phil left the real mastermind to conduct her business freely. When Olivia reported her suspicion of Karen’s involvement in the power outage, Clarence knew his chance for a spot on the executive board would be delayed by another four years at the very least. But after his stellar performance with his wife, he was confident his sentence would be halved, at the very least.
Word count: 2,075
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