Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

D.C. He was enthused enough to mention this to his longwidowed
mother.
Unbeknownst to Eugene Weller, his mother was not only
tired of her wraith like son taking up space in her home, she
was also screwing her married congressman whenever
possible. During a particularly satisfying encounter with the
congressman who had been a fairly successful pig farmer
before his entry into politics, Eugene’s mother determined the
time was right to ask for a favor. Her request that he help
Eugene get the internship was one that pleased the
congressman to no end. First, he could actually accomplish the
task and second, the local press would eat up the story of a
local boy going to the Capitol. Add all that to his paramour’s
deepest gratitude and it was a win/win. The pig-farmer-turnedpolitician
didn’t know it at the time, but Eugene’s appointment
would be the last favor he ever did. He would lose the next
election to a pretty housewife who stood on an inane platform
that would, nonetheless, capture the voters’ fancy.
But the stars aligned for a moment and Eugene Weller
arrived in Washington as one of six interns assigned to Senator
Patriota’s office. Four of those interns left Washington never to
return, one committed suicide in the bedroom of the Secretary
of Education, and Eugene found his prophet. Like Saul blinded
by the light of God, stricken off the back of an ass, Eugene
Weller fell figuratively at the feet of Ambrose Patriota and
embraced the city that would be his Damascus. Eugene was
not particularly religious, but he was so fond of the analogy
that he would often expound on it at cocktail parties,
fundraisers, and the occasional White House dinner where he
was a placeholder due to his GSA seniority and affiliation with
Senator Patriota.
Eugene never noticed attention waning and smiles freezing
as he spoke of this because he was a true believer and there
weren’t many of those in Washington. Most people were there
for the freebies, to bask in the light of power, secure a
government job from which it would be almost impossible to
get fired, or wrangle a contract they could milk. Yet, people