Читать книгу 1 Law 4 All - Billy Angel - Страница 9

Eric had no idea that Giardina began politicking at the age of nine. But this was the political savvy that endeared him to her.

On many occasions as a child, Bonni had heard her father say, “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” Somewhere around her ninth birthday, she asked her dad, Mark Paul Giardina, state representative for Vermont’s 5^th district, what that phrase meant.

Representative Giardina carried a stately persona around his district and nationally. His every political move was calculated to produce the most benefits for him and his family. Stripped to the bone, Mark P. Giardina, was a godfather type posing as an elected official.

Little Bonni heard her dad’s ‘scratching’ statement more times than she could remember. One day Bonni commented to her dad. “Dad, I haven’t seen you scratching anyone’s back. Why do you say that?”

Her dad smiled and started thinking like a father whose little girl needed help with her homework. He had always been proud of her inquisitive mind. He tried to feed it with knowledge that would excite her whenever he could. These were memorable moments for him and he jumped all over this one.

“Bonni," he started, “do you ever have an itch on your back that you can’t reach?” She looked at him and considered his question. She had observed him politicking for several years. She knew her answer had to be clever. Then she tilted her head slightly to the right just like she had seen him do many times and answered. “Sure, but isn’t that what backscratchers are for.” And she ran out of the room.

Mark watched her leave. That moment of pride was replaced with thoughts of organizing the paperwork on his desk. Suddenly, Bonni bounced back into his office with what looked like a wooden stick. It had a dull claw-like carving on one end and a tapered handle with a hole in it on the other.

Bonni beamed up at her father and showed him her mom’s backscratcher. “When mom has an itch she uses this."

Her dad smiled. “Have you ever used it?”

“Sure,” she replied proudly.

This wasn’t the first time Mark Giardina had to improvise. He hadn’t considered Bonni using the back scratcher as a prop. His memorable moment suddenly clouded over. In a political second, he recovered. “If mom didn’t have this backscratcher, what would she do?”

Bonni immediately knew the answer. But she positioned herself to add a bit of flare to her answer. She walked over to the window, pushed back the curtain and pointed out. As she stared, she said. “Mom would send Charles to that store across the street to buy one for her.”

Her dad chuckled. “Of course she would. If the stores were closed, then what would she do?”

Bonni pursed her lips pretending to think. Finally, she said, “Mom would ask me or you or maybe Charles to scratch her back.”

“Very good! Now if mom asked you to scratch her back and you did, would you expect her to scratch your back when you had an itch and asked her?”

She looked him in the eyes experiencing a moment of clarity. With her brightest, biggest smile, she nodded slowly. “Yes.”

At that moment in time at the tender age of nine, another politician was born. Her dad recognized it and so did she. The Giardina political tradition had just been extended another generation.