Nicolle Wallace
In advance of her interview with Rachel Maddow,, former director of media affairs at the White House under George W. Bush and advisor to the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign, shares the first chapter of her novel, «Eighteen Acres,» which follows the fictional first female President of the United States.
Chapter One pushed the tissue paper aside and gazed adoringly at the Dior bag she had splurged on for her thirty seventh birthday. It was a ridiculous extravagance. The second most expensive bag in her closet was a Marc Jacobs she’d purchased on sale years before. The elegance of the two thousand dollar Dior purse would be lost on most of ‘s colleagues, but its perfection brought her a surprising amount of canada goose outlet uk sale happiness.
As pulled the canada goose outlet store purse out of its protective cloth and removed the paper stuffed inside, she suddenly felt worried canada goose outlet parka that all of her cheap canada goose electronics wouldn’t fit into it properly. She looked at the three BlackBerrys canada goose uk shop one for the classified e mail system, one for the normal White House e mail system, and one canada goose for her personal Yahoo account. She considered leaving one of them behind but canada goose outlet store uk thought better of it. Gently, she stacked the BlackBerrys, two phones, her ID for the West Wing, an ID and key for the underground command center she’d be evacuated to in case of a terrorist attack, her passes to the Pentagon and the State Department, an ID for the Camp David guard station, a West Wing parking pass, and her wallet and keys inside and closed it.
She stopped in front of canada goose outlet jackets the hallway mirror to attach her hard canada goose outlet online uk pin to the lapel of her black Armani pantsuit. The small, round pin bearing the presidential seal signaled to the United States Secret Service buy canada goose jacket cheap https://www.st-edwards-cam.org.uk that she was to be granted full access to the president. Only a dozen White House staffers were given hard pins. She glanced at her reflection and nodded approvingly. Five years on a strict no carbohydrate diet had banished her full cheeks, and the miracle of chemical straightening had finally tamed her red curls. ‘s hair hung in a stylish strawberry blond bob. She scrunched her nose and leaned in to examine the creases and dark circles that rimmed her eyes. «Those look like the eyes of an old woman,» she said to herself before turning out the lights in her Georgetown condo and walking out.
«Morning guys,» she said to her agents as she hopped into the SUV that would take her less than two miles to the White House. She’d resisted full time Secret Service protection at first, but on mornings like this, she was glad she’d relented.
«Happy birthday, Ms. Kingston,» goose outlet canada Sherry said. Sherry was one of her regular agents. She turned around, smiled at, and handed her an envelope. «Open it it’s from both of us,» she said, gesturing at Walter, ‘s other agent.
«Thanks, Sherry, but my birthday is a classified national security event. I didn’t even remind Char er, President Kramer that it was today.»
«Mmm hmm,» Walter said, glancing at in the rearview mirror as he navigated M Street in the snow. «And it’s not like she has the CIA or the FBI to cheap canada goose turn to if she wants to find out for herself when her chief of staff’s birthday is, so you should be fine,.» He smirked. «Your secret is safe with us.»
«Shut up, Walter. Just keep your eyes on the road,» said.
«Yes, ma’am,» Walter said, still smiling.
A minute later, he pulled the car as close as possible to the entrance canada goose outlet of the West Wing and jumped out to open the door for her.
stepped out of the SUV, holding her Dior bag protectively under her suit jacket so the canada goose store fresh snow wouldn’t touch the leather. She wished she’d worn a coat, but she’d stopped dressing for the seasons years ago. It could be ninety seven degrees outside, or minus seven, and the climate was always a cool sixty six degrees inside the West Wing, where she’d be for the next sixteen hours.
climbed the single flight of stairs to her office and walked inside. Her assistant, Annie McKay, was already there.
«Happy birthday,» she whispered, even though canada goose outlet new york city no one else would have heard her if she’d yelled at the top of her lungs. always arrived before anyone else on the senior staff.
«Thanks, Annie,» said.
«What?» replied innocently, opening her cheap canada goose uk suit jacket.
«Oh, my God, it is amazing totally worth the splurge. It has elegant and expensive and woman of substance written all over it,» Annie exclaimed, standing to get a better look at the bag. smiled. She settled in at her desk, casting an admiring glance at the fire that had already been lit in the fireplace. Cozy, thought. Maybe today won’t be so bad.
She looked around her spacious office on the main floor of the West Wing and wondered if it was her elevation to this most lonely Canada Goose sale job on the White House staff or growing fatigue from so many years in the political trenches that had made her reflective to the point of distraction.
Every canada goose outlet in usa room in the White House brought back a memory of a time when she had felt fortunate to be there. These days, she usually found herself standing in these rooms, asking sometimes begging the canada goose factory sale canada goose outlet online walls to talk to her. Sometimes the history that she and Charlotte were making canada goose clearance struck her as embarrassingly overdue many other countries had been ruled by women. And at other time, it was exhilarating to think that a new generation of women would grow up knowing that the glass ceiling had been shattered once and for all. But the vast majority of the time, ‘s life was exhausting, her assignments unseemly, and the rewards nonexistent. She finished the front sections of the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Washington’s first official tabloid, the Washington Journal.
When she noticed that the sun had come up and brightened her office with an orange glow, she glanced up at one of her five televisions. «You should probably walk over. She’ll want to see you about the speech, I’m sure.»
«I’ll head over in a couple minutes,» said.
had been given a desktop device that told her where the president was at all times. «Wayfarer» was the president’s Secret Service code name, and whenever the president moved anywhere other than the bathroom an automated voice would announce her whereabouts: «Wayfarer departing residence. Wayfarer arriving Oval Office. Wayfarer departing Oval Office. Wayfarer arriving Cabinet Room.» The voice had driven crazy, so she’d moved the box to Annie’s desk, and it fell to Annie to inform her of the president’s movements.
Annie reappeared one minute later. «Sam just called. The president wants to see you,» she said. Samantha Cohen was the president’s assistant.
«Tell her I’m coming,» said. She stood up and walked the twenty five feet to the Oval Office, stopping briefly at Sam’s desk.