Dedicated to Bill Hicks.

“Please sit down Mr President”
John gave a humble smile when he realised this was the first time someone had called him by his new title, it now felt very official.
He sat at what was a very large and round table, which was almost bare except for ashtrays and a few documents scattered about the place.
John found it very inconvenient that he had to hold this meeting so soon after winning the election. He had not even had time to celebrate with family and friends and was still very much on a high, thinking of all the things he was going to do to turn this country around. He knew he had to ring in some changes that’s for sure. However, his advisors had very much insisted on it. They told him that when the twelve industrialists who funded the majority of his campaign want to meet you, you do not keep them waiting. John found this very unusual as his advisors are the type of people who don’t take any grief off anyone so when they were so adamant, he knew he best take their advice.

“Would you like anything before the meeting begins Mr President?” the assistant enquired.
“No thank you, I’m quite alright for now”
“Very well Mr President”
The assistant then walked to the back of the room and stood next to the door, with his hands held together in front of him.
John faced forward to see the twelve old men sitting surrounding him. The first thing that struck him was how unusually dark the room was. It had three huge windows to the side of it which were largely covered by curtains only letting beams of light streak through. The room was also extremely smoky from the cigarettes the twelve were all smoking, and John noticed how the smoke looked as it swirled through the beams of light. It was indeed hard to breathe in here John thought to himself. The other walls were bare except for a huge American flag the hung on the wall opposite to him.

John had only met these men briefly a couple of times on the campaign trail. A smile, a handshake and a quick “thank you for the support, how are you?” and that was the end of their meeting. They didn’t look the sort to mingle with, and there wasn’t a smile here to go around the lot of them as they choked on their cigarettes in their expensive suites. These old guys were pure business down to the core.
John continued to sit as the silence seemed to drag on and on. Finally he got uncomfortable with the situation and decided to speak.
“Well, gentlemen I’d like t...”
“Please Mr President do not speak until spoken to” their assistant rudely interrupted from the back of the room.
John was stunned, how dare this jumped-up little puke dare speak to the President like that. Just as he was about to hop out of his chair and give the assistant an earful, one of the twelve men finally spoke.

“Role the film” came the words through the smoke bellowing out in front of his face as he exhaled.
Just as John was about to enquire what was going on, a screen started to scroll down on the wall to his left.
The film instantly began to role as John looked on confused. The footage was obviously very old; it was very grainy with sound blips crackling through.
At first he couldn’t make out what the hell it was. The camera view seemed to be coming from over a fence looking down on grass. Then suddenly something seemed very familiar about the footage even though he knew for sure he had never seen it. There was something about the street with these people waiting on the pavement he knew he’d seen but couldn't place it. Then a car appeared to the left of the shot and he instantly knew what this was, although he’d never seen it like this before. There was John F Kennedy in his black limo as he was driven down the street, and then John knew where this camera angle was from. It was the Grassy Knoll from behind the white picket fence. A thousand questions passed through John’s mind, including how did they get this? Why hasn’t anyone ever seen this and why are they showing it to him? Just as the words were about to leave his lips something appeared to the side of the screen. There he was, a man at the fence holding a rifle and talking into a walkie talkie. The man then slipped the walkie talkie back into a pouch on his belt then took aim on Kennedy. Here came the moment millions had seen so many times from the Zepruda footage, but certainly never like this that's for sure. John put his head down in disgust as he watched the man take Kennedy’s head off with a rifle shot.

John began to feel his guts turn as he realised with terror why they were showing him this, it was a warning. These guys were going to run this country as they probably always had, and he watched as all the many plans he had hope for to sort out his country came crashing down in front of him. He knew there was no way to take these men on, and if he tried he would be dead. John’s guts began to twist so much he thought he was going to be sick as saw the simple truth that he was just a puppet, and that his life was no longer his own.

He looked straight ahead at the old man opposite him as he began to take a long drag on his cigarette, blowing the smoke across the table into Johns face. Then finally the old man spoke…

“Any questions?...”

[Edited on 22-3-2004 by John Nada]

I can imagine that happening for real, especially after all that I've read in ATS.

I enjoyed that John, will you be writing a sequal ?

Originally posted by Eireann
I can imagine that happening for real, especially after all that I've read in ATS.

I enjoyed that John, will you be writing a sequal ?

Thank you, glad you liked it. Maybe, if I can think of anything.

really good you should continue it whenever you think of something

Originally posted by worldwatcher
really good you should continue it whenever you think of something

Thank you very much WW. Actually, I like ambiguous endings so I think I'll leave it the way it is. I'd say it's pretty obvious were it goes from there, unless I wanted to make some crazy sequel to They Live.

Thank you for your kind words.

Very nice job John Nada. Thoughtful. Interesting. Insiteful and definitely a fun read....well written.


seekerof

Cheers Seekerof, thank you for the kind words.

ooh good comeback..i see you mean business now

nice man guess thats where bill left off i like the way you developed the concept

Awesome story. I was on the edge of my seat. I wonder is this has happened for real? Something to think about.

Great stuff John.

Great story... really had me thinking,

Very well written!

More ...more more more lol