I woke up to a wonderful morning. The storm and heavy rain didn’t bother me. Life was good. The day before had been remarkable. To begin with it was my first anniversary as Secretary of the Treasury. That in itself was remarkable. In my not so humble opinion I was the obvious selection based on my merits. Then there was this tiny thing that under normal circumstances would have made it impossible for me: I’m transgendered. Just for once that worked in my favor. The newly elected president needed to show how inclusive his administration was.

Of course there was friction. Less than I had expected though. The Vice-President regarded me as an abomination even if he didn’t hate me personally. Secretary of State Wilson on the other hand hated me with a vengeance. The rest were mostly friendly to neutral.

The second reason the day before was a red-letter day was that it was my first day when I was officially and legally a woman. Which also meant that I married my high school sweetheart. He had always insisted that he’d make an honest WOMAN out of me. What a way to celebrate my thirty-fifth birthday! The only thing that had marred it was that my husband, my husband, how lovely that sounded, had been offered a top position at an international oil company. I was not happy. I didn’t let that spoil the big day but one way or another I’d foil those plans.

I looked at my husband thinking about imaginative ways of waking him up when James, our “butler” knocked on the door

“Madame Secretary, the Chief-of-Staff of the President wants to speak to you. It’s urgent.”

Madame Secretary. How wonderful it was to hear that. That was the first time I had been addressed in that way. People in DC can be sticklers for protocol. If only I had known it would be the last time as well. I reluctantly left the warm cozy bed and went to take the call on the secure line.

When I came back my husband had woken. He immediately saw my chocked and sad face.

“What’s happened?”
“That was Oliver from the White House. Marine One has crashed and the President is dead.”
“So Vice President Owens is president now. That means you’re out of office.”
“Yes, I guess. But not because of Owens. When he heard, he had a fatal heart attack.”
“OH NO! That means speaker Schultz is the new president. That scoundrel, traitor and enemy of the people!”
“Bill! Schultz isn’t that bad.”
“He’s from the OTHER party and by definition scum”
“Maybe, but he was already a year old when his parents immigrated”
“But you get on well with Senator Smith. What’s the problem then?”
“Bob was also in Marine One.”
“Oh, no! That means your archenemy the Secretary of State is in and that’s why you are out.”
“Admittedly Wilson was born here but a little known fact is that he has only spent a grand total of twelve years IN the country.”

At that point James entered the room.

“Madame President. Chief Justice Martínez has arrived. He wonders if you have a bible of your own you want to use. Otherwise he brought his own private.”
“I’m coming. I’ll get the family Bible. Get out of bed Bill.”

About ten seconds later he reacted.

“Oh, Woman! How low can you stoop to stop me accepting that job offer at the oil company?”

Took him longer than I expected.