Open The Windows

Yesterday Ben sat down at my desk and asked if he could read through his first "State of The County" address. This speech had gone through repeated rewrites, midnight editing and critiques from dozens of experts.

I, however, was yet to read it.

Yes, I was curious... partly because Ben himself gave it so much emphasis. Maybe he thought it vitally important because it was like a first date with his new county constituents, maybe it was because he saw it as a script for the rest of his term, or maybe he's just a perfectionist.

Whatever the reason, I knew he had labored over it and wanted it to be just right.

I listened attentively, appreciating the ideas, the syntax, the delivery. All the while I glanced at my watch knowing this last rehearsal would be necessarily incomplete. We had ten minutes before the speech had to be given for real.

As my eyes again referred to my wrist Ben's voice rose to a crescendo, "I promise to wring every last efficiency from county government."

I looked up doubtfully, "Don't you mean every last inefficiency?"

A mild expletive escaped his lips as his pen scratched the page in front of him. "Open the windows, turn up the heat!" he said in an exasperated tone.

I took satisfaction in knowing that my editorial comment would be the smallest, the last and the surest of inclusion.