Chapter 4 - 8
The press conference is held at the main square, with a politically strategic backdrop of the Town Hall behind us. The camera crew is all prepped for the live taping that will air on the news tonight. The tribune podium is set up in the center, and my father stands behind it proudly. His shoulders are squared with boundless buoyancy and he speaks with an assurance you can’t help but want to believe in. That’s his gifting, his mastery—he has the charm of a politician and the philosophy of a preacher. You want to believe him because he makes you feel that he believes in you.
Then I remember what he has done and what he is doing that puts it all to question.
I can’t just let it go or sweep it under the rug either. A maelstrom of emotions seizes my mind, wrenching it apart slowly, yanking out fears I didn’t even know existed. My qualms ambush me in an instant, resisting against being restrained. Once he concludes his statement, he introduces me to the stand. I take his stead, lighting up an award-winning smile as easy as flipping a switch. Everything I endure, I hide behind a hard-wearing visage.
I look beyond. The throngs of news reporters swarm the podium, shoving their microphones in my direction. The police are spaced out in intervals between the blockades, keeping crowds of people at bay. Before I can even get one word out, I’m blinded by camera flashes, bombarded by the constant shutters and assailed by the overwhelming succession of questions.
Which is nothing to me.
I command silence with expert ease, and a hush falls over everyone in radius. I open up my speech about philanthropic funding and partnerships in rural areas.
"Initiatives are being implemented to investigate potential strategies for stimulating philanthropic organizations to make investments in rural communities. The King Foundation’s support is aimed at advancing the field of rural philanthropy by examining methodologies for altering the conventional philanthropic paradigm with the objective of encouraging investments in rural communities."
"And how does Mayor Du Pont plan to achieve this?" one reporter shouts out. "All there has been is talk and no delivery. And extensive projects like these require big funding."
"That’s the beauty of it," I say, wrangling with a scowl and a smile. "Because he can back up his talk. The mayor and the council are in the works of strengthening the economic capacity of this city. Implementing model interventions, policies, and practices. Sustaining programs, services, and supports. Building and maintaining a workforce while providing community education. And achieving new policies, systems and environmental changes."
The response slaps a disgruntled frown on his face. I meet it with a grin.
"That’s the difference between my father and his predecessors. They all talked a good game. But Mayor Du Pont does the work."
The crowd erupts into a cheering applause, chanting, "Mayor Du Pont," with a reverent echo.