The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer

“Miss,
you may inform your congressman that because of your personal incompetence I
shall be voting Republican on this occasion.”
    Florentyna put the
phone down and was considering running out of the door when the regular
receptionist arrived back from her lunch. Florentyna did not know what to tell
her.
    “Anything
interesting?” the girl asked as she resumed her place. “Of was it the usual
mixture of weirdos, perverts and cranks who have got nothing better to do with
their lunch break?”
    “Nothing
special,” said Florentyna nervously, “except I think I’ve lost the vote of a
Mr. Crudick.”
    “Not
Mad Mel again? What was it this time, the House Un-American Activities Committee, the Marshall
Plan or the slums of Chicago…?”
    Florentyna
happily returned to licking envelopes, On Election Day, Florentyna arrived at
campaign headquarters at eight o’clock in the morning and spent the day
telephoning registered Democrats to be sure they had voted. “Never forget,”
said Henry Osborne irr his final pep talk to his voluntary helpers, “no man has
ever lived in the White House who hasn’t carried Illinois.”
    Florentyna felt
very proud to think she was helping to elect a President and didn’t take a
break all day. At eight o’clock that evening. Miss Tredgold came to collect
her. She had worked twelve hours without letting up, but never once did she
stop talking all the way home.
    “Do you think
Mr. Truman will win?” she asked finally.
    “Only it’ he
gets more than fifty percent of the votes cast,” said Miss Tredgold.
    “Wrong.” said
Florentyna. “It is possible to win a Presidential election in the United States
by winning more Electoral College votes than your opponent while failing to secure
a majority of the plebiscite.” She then proceeded to give Miss Tredgold a brief
lesson on how the American political system worked.
    “Such a thing
would never have happened if only dear George III had known where America was.”
said Miss Tredgold. “And I become daily aware that it will not be long before
you have no further need of me, child.”
    It was the first
time Florentyna had ever considered that Miss Tredgold would not spend the rest
of her life with her.
    When they
reached home, Florentyna sat in her father’s old chair to watch the early
returns, but she was so tired that she dozed off in tront of the fire. She,
like most of America, went to sleep belicving that Thomas Dewey had won the
election. When Florentyna woke the next morning, she dashed downstairs to fetch
the Tribune. Her fears were confirmed: “Dewey Defeats Truman” ran the headline,
and it took half an hour of radio bulletins and confirmation by her mother
before Florentyna believed that Truman had been- returned to the White House.
An I I P.m. decision had been made by the night editor of the Tribune to run a
headline that he would not live down for the rest of his life. At least he had
been tight in stating that Henry Osborne was returned to Congress for a sixth
term.
    When Florentyna
went back to Girls Latin the next day, her homeroom teacher called for her and
made it quite clear that the election was now over and that the time had come
to settle down and do some serious studying. Miss Tredgold agreed, and
Florentyna worked with thesame enthusiasm for her school exams as she had for
President Truman.
    During the year,
she made the junior varsity hockey team, 79 on which she played right wing
without distinction, and even managed to squeeze onto the third-string tennis
team on one occasion. When the summer term was drawing to a
close, all the pupils received a note reminding them that if they wished
to run for the Student Council their names must be sent to the headmaster of
Boys Latin by the first Monday of the new school year. There were six
representatives on the Council elected from both schools, and no one could
remember a year when they had not all come from the twelfth grade.
Nevertheless, many of Florentyna’s