“Why are you interested in saving daylight?”

Gruff whispers scattered around the chamber. Long slender microphones rattled. Crotchety confusion gripped the room and bright fluorescent lights shone down atop slicked back hairplugs.

Stan squinted into the intense glare. His neck began to sweat, trickling further down all the way to the basin of his back. A pulse began between his ears; his vision flashed rhythmically in and out.

“Couldn’t you just get up an hour earlier?”

Silence overtook the senators. Papers rustled; a glass of water poured somewhere near the back.

“Maybe it’s just a fanatical obsession with productivity. Stay busy working, buying, and dying, right?”

A thunderous thwacking began atop the bench. The gavel slammed rapidly — tiny splinters floated down. The giant man in the giant chair stroked his thick long white beard. The frizzy mass contrasted sharply in front of a flowing black robe. His giant head obscured five of the ten commandments and a massive, snaking vein bulged from his widow’s peak to the bridge of his anglo-saxon nose. He whisker-wheezed heavily into the microphone.

“DO YOU HAVE THE SIGNATURE OF AT LEAST ONE SENATOR?”

An incredulous smile spread across Stan’s face. He shook his head slightly and looked back toward the Senators.

“No, no. I don…”

“WE HAVE IMPORTANT BUSINESS TO CONDUCT AND THIS…”

“Business? It’s always about business isn’t it? Can’t you remember a time before all this? A time before…?

“SILENCE!”

“WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING FROM? Death? Can’t escape that.”

“SECURITY. Please. SECURITY.”

“You can’t silence us all!” Stan reached into his pocket — pulling on a long petition stuck deep in his trouser pockets.

Bullets whistled through the air. Two sunk into his back; he slumped limply onto the stone floor. Murmurs restarted as blood pooled around him. Cameras pointed to the floor. Neckties readjusted to nervous smiles as the hot overhead lights soaked down filling the room with hot Vitalis aroma. Senator Bill Frist reached into his glowing briefcase and pulled out a dry ice energy receptor wig. He fit it snugly on his head and walked swiftly, smugly out the door.