Alex's Point of View
To his shame, Alex noted more than a few servicemen in uniform attending the Aaron Hacker rally, chiefly Sailors from nearby Naval Station Norfolk. Had standards fallen so far? Strictly speaking, uniformed political activity wasn't allowed. He wasn't stupid. Harriet Clayton had never been popular with the military, but brazenly flouting regulations like this? It was over the line, way over.
You think this guy just has all the answers, don't you? he thought cynically.
It was an open air event, packed tight. He was careful not to lose Alice in the crowd.
"So many," his girlfriend observed, threading her fingers with his as they walked to their seats. She was in her "gun bunny" outfit today, tight jeans, a USMC t-shirt, and a blonde ponytail poking out the back of a baseball cap.
"It's getting hot, are you uncomfortable?" he asked. There were beads of sweat on her brow and her thick makeup was running a little. He dabbed her with a cloth he kept in his pocket. Alice leaned into his touch.
"Thanks, baby. Republican makeup is a pain to put on," she said matter-of-factly.
Alex snorted. "Republican makeup?"
"Oh, yes. Your makeup style says a lot about you." She gestured to her face. "Republican women like a thick 'beauty pageant' style of makeup. You've ever seen a presenter on Badger News? That's the basic idea. It's actually hard to do intentionally. The key features are dark foundation, darker than appropriate for your skin tone, and heavy eyeliner, to the point you have racoon eyes."
He was grinning like an idiot. Alice sounded so cute explaining it. "Have you ever had to look Republican, you know, for work?"
Alice smiled knowingly. "A few times. It's all about tailoring your look to the person you're trying to impress."
"Other Republicans?"
She hummed noncommittally. "You'd be surprised. Sometimes liberal men have a secret thing for the blonde Alabama sorority type girl. There's a certain taboo in 'crossing the aisle' that way. Republican men are just the opposite. They go crazy for 'left wing protestor' chic. Men are weird."
Alex could only agree. Eventually they found their seats, pretty good ones, close to the action. Looking around, he noticed the crowd was actually diverse, and not just in a few places where the camera could see. It wasn't the sea of old white people you'd imagine when you think of Republicans. The one thing he did notice was how young everyone was. He and Alice were in their late twenties and fit right in.
"Oh shit, it's Mr. Math!" some guy yelled behind them. Suddenly he felt dozens of pairs of eyes snap to him and Alice.
"Uh, hi," he said uneasily.
"You helped my little brother get an 'A', man, keep up the good work!" praised a guy with a popped collar who looked like he just came from a frat party.
"Thanks, man. It's what I like to do." This was the first time he'd been recognized in public. Even in these strange circumstances, it felt kind of nice.
"It's great to see you come out for Hacker, Mr. Math," the frat boy continued the conversation. "Took one look at you, saw the muscles, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo, and knew you couldn't possibly be a fucking liberal. And your old lady is pretty hot. Nice."
"My boyfriend is actually going to be on Hacker's podcast tomorrow," Alice chimed in. Her gaze was cold, but the frat boy didn't seem to notice.
"No shit? Good luck, dude! Mr. Math is gonna blow up after this shit!"
I hope so, buddy.
***
The rally didn't tell them anything they didn't already know. Hacker wanted to turn America into a war economy and start throwing their weight around internationally. The biggest applause lines were when he promised big raises for active duty military. They ate it up like a chow hall omelette.
"What are you doing, babe?" Alice asked when they got back to their hotel.
"Going over my notes, honey. I can't believe we're doing this." He shut his laptop. This could wait until tomorrow.
"Do you need any help with your new Mr. Math video?"
Alex smiled at how helpful she was being. "No, babe. It's already shot and Terry, the boy, is editing it." These days, he always made sure to clarify which Tsai twin he was talking about.
Her lips thinned. "If you say so." He felt the bed shift as his girlfriend plopped down next to him. "Nervous?"
He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly self-conscious. I need a haircut. Every flaw he never thought about suddenly seemed glaring and obvious. Hacker's audience of millions would have him under a microscope.
"Yeah, I'm nervous," he said truthfully. "What if this guy eats me alive? I'm supposed to impress him, but I've never been on tv before and he speaks in front of a camera daily, for hours at a time. How do I look like I belong on the same stage?"
Alice leaned on him, one hand drifting down from his chest to his stomach, finally settling on his crotch. "I think my man needs a little boost of confidence," she whispered into his ear. Her hot breath made him shudder. She dropped to her knees in front of him.
"You don't have-"
"I want to," she cut him off, unbuckling his belt and pulling his pants down, exposing him to the cool air of their air-conditioned hotel room. Her big blue eyes stared up at him. Alice's expression wasn't even erotic. It was serious.
"You are the only person on planet Earth I would do this for willingly," she declared, taking him into her mouth.
At first it was just little teasing licks and gentle kisses along his length. Once he was nice and covered in her saliva she sucked on the head for a change of pace and hummed on him. The vibrations of her mouth were like an electric current that flowed through Alex from his head to his toes.
"Alice...fuck..."
She pulled back, stroking him with one hand while she talked. "Not tonight. Tonight is all about you. I'm going to pleasure you with my mouth, again and again, really worship your cock. Just imagine you're getting my throat pregnant," she said teasingly.
His cock twitched. She knew him so well.
From there, the bobbing and sucking became insistent, determined. Alice took him deep, moaning around his length.
"Baby, I'm getting close," he warned her.
"Mmmhmm," she encouraged him.
Alex's fingers clenched the duvet of their bed like he was about to fall off the edge of the world.
"Just let go," she murmured, and redoubled her efforts.
Alice's lips ran up and down his cock, grasping with wet suction. Her hot mouth demanded it all, demanded him, his essence, his love, all that he was. It was her right. She shifted back until only his head remained engulfed and pumped his length with her hand.
His hips started bucking off the bed. The sensation was beyond description. Alex exploded, pumping gouts of seed into her greedy mouth. His whole body seized up when the orgasm hit. He screamed without shame.
She gently nursed on the tip to prolong his pleasure, coaxing out a few more pulses and dribbles. Alice swallowed again and again before releasing him with a wet pop.
"That's one," she declared.
It was three before she let him sleep that night. Alice wanted four, but he managed to beg for mercy.
***
The interview with Aaron Hacker took place in a private residence, a large suburban home Alex was concerned to learn was the house of an admiral.
"Nice to meet you," the man said, extending his hand.
Alex shook it and noticed he was a bit taller than Hacker. It was petty, but he felt a little better about himself. "Nice to be here."
"I've got a hair and makeup girl who can give you a few finishing touches," Hacker said, all smooth professionalism. "I'm really looking forward to this. It's great to see a brother Marine really make something of himself."
Alex let himself be led into the bathroom. Alice lingered just outside, watching him jealously.
Be cool, honey, please, he mentally begged her. At least Hacker hadn't hit on his girlfriend in front of him. That would've been mortifying.
The set wasn't much of a set, just two chairs and a green screen. The makeup girl, who hadn't spoken other than short commands to turn his head this way and that while she worked her magic, pinned a lapel microphone on him. His girlfriend hovered, watching, judging.
Alex knew from experience she was never unarmed. Security hadn't even checked her, big mistake. She could probably cut Hacker's throat before anyone had a chance to stop her. Imagining the chaos calmed him down a bit.
"Sound check," the makeup girl yelled in a harsh, clipped tone. He and Hacker sat down in their chairs.
"Just talk normally while they adjust the levels," he advised Alex.
"You travel pretty light," Alex remarked.
"Podcasts don't require that much. It's why everyone and his mother has one. Olivia here and my security detail out front are my only full-time employees. Don't worry too much about the show. I'm pretty good at keeping things moving. If it looks like you're having trouble I'll redirect the conversation. Just chill, talk about what you want, and let me feed you questions. It'll be over before you know it."
Hearing the kind big brother act from this guy set Alex's teeth on edge, but he tried not to let his discomfort show.
"Sound is good. We're live in sixty seconds," the makeup girl, Olivia presumably, called out.
"In 3...2..."
"My fellow Americans, good evening. This is Downrange with Aaron Hacker. My guest tonight is Alex Wagner, better known to the internet as 'Mr. Math'. How are you doing, Alex?"
"It's great to be here, Aaron. I had a good time at your rally yesterday, saw a lot of veterans."
Veterans in uniform, he wanted to say. You okay with that, Hacker?
"My most devoted supporters," Hacker said easily, not reacting to the jab, if he realized it was a jab. "You're something of a veteran yourself, Mr. Math. A Marine too, is that right?"
Alex nodded. "Four years in the artillery, mostly at Twentynine Palms."
Hacker winced. "Ouch! That's probably the worst base in the whole military, godforsaken desert. The Fallout video games make the Mojave seem a lot cooler than it really is."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "Nothing to do but train and save your money to go to Vegas on libo."
"Hell yes, that's what I'm talking about! You're pretty diesel, bro, you lift weights?" Hacker asked rhetorically. Of course Alex lifted weights. But...
"Not as much as you might think. I live in a pretty small apartment with my girlfriend. I cancelled my gym membership during covid. These days, I do a lot of prison type workouts, just hundreds and hundreds of pushups, pullups, and body squats. You can get pretty big off of just body weight stuff, especially if you're two hundred plus pounds."
Aaron whistled. "Shit, I bet. So I understand you were deployed to Syria to fight ISIS. That was a little after my time. When I got out I really thought we won in Iraq. Things were quiet. Then ISIS comes out of nowhere, what a kick in the teeth."
Alex found himself relaxing a little. Talking about his time in the military wasn't something he usually got to do. "My artillery battalion got sent to a place called Raqqa, Syria. They said it was the capitol of ISIS. A gunny told me we fired more artillery shells than the Battle of the Somme in World War One, but that might've been bullshit. We really blew the hell out of that city, though, fucking flattened it."
"Anything hairy?" Hacker raised his hand in a placating gesture. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
"Nah, it's okay," Alex brushed off his concerns. "One time a squad of ISIS fighters got close enough to our fire base to launch a rocket attack. I got a concussion from that, rang my bell pretty good. It wasn't too bad, but it rated a Purple Heart."
"My man! I got out in 2008, to think they were still giving out Purple Hearts ten years later. That's crazy."
They pretty much went over his whole life story on the podcast: his time at MIT, working at Lockhole-Merlin, and finally starting the Mr. Math Youwatch channel. Hacker was a pretty good interviewer, Alex had to admit. He managed to pull stuff out of him that Alex hadn't even thought about in years, all while minimizing dead air and not lingering on any subject too long.
Hacker brought out one of his e-abacuses with a flourish. "To think something so simple would help kids learn how to do math. Where'd you get the idea?"
Alex smiled. "My best friend is Chinese. Abacus drills are pretty standard over there. It's one of the reasons their kids score higher on international tests. I find it gives a child an excellent, intuitive grasp of number theory."
To his disappointment, Hacker didn't seem to hate the fact that it was a Chinese idea. "I think we have a lot to learn from China, actually."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Really. Their nation is not just an economic zone with a bunch of individuals trying to screw each other over and get rich. They have goals, a unified purpose. Giving America that purpose is ultimately why I'm running for president."
Purpose, yeah right, Alex wanted to scoff, but he remembered he was supposed to be impressing this guy.
"Can't do that without an educated population," Alex pointed out.
Hacker looked at him the way a spider looked at a fly that just flew into its web. It made his breath catch. "So, abacus drills, computational mindset, number theory, early introduction to logic. You've got a lot of ideas about education. Anything else you'd like to add?"
"Tons," Alex replied enthusiastically. He'd actually spent several days brainstorming for a question just like this. "First of all, I think boys should start first grade a year later than girls, give them a bit longer to mature."
Hacker nodded along. "That's reasonable." His eyes asked for more.
"No homework until ninth grade. Homework is pointless before then, in my view. It's evidence that school time is not being managed wisely. You see, when it comes to learning anything, 'time on target' is what matters."
"Time on target," Hacker repeated. "I like it."
"That's why schools should block out drill time every day. Abacus drills, phonics drills, spelling drills, virtually any subject taught at the elementary or middle school level can be broken down into simple, repeatable drills. The important thing is time on target. If a child does something twenty minutes a day for ninety days that's thirty hours of practice. Accumulated drill time in the bank is how we should measure progress. Of course some children will show more progress than others after thirty hours 'invested' into a task. We can use that data to track students into different streams based on their ability level and learning speed."
Hacker's eyes lit up. "I like that. It's measurable, tough but fair." He looked like he still wanted more.
"Beyond that, I think the two things that could help children succeed would be a better diet and more sleep. If you ever saw what school lunches looked like in other countries, countries that America is richer than on paper, it would radicalize you. We feed our kids toxic slop in America. Early childhood nutrition is so important. Sleep might be even more important. School should start much later, nine or ten in the morning."
Hacker stopped him. "How would that work?"
"There are a lot of options. One solution is basing where a child goes to school not on where they live, but where their parents work."
"You're blowing my mind here," Hacker said. "So they go to work with mom or dad?"
"Yeah, and their school should be right there, near their parent's workplace. School should likewise get out when their parents are about to get off work, five or six in the evening. Both parents and children would thank you. So much time is wasted by the fact school starts before adults go to work and gets out hours before mom and dad clock out. The kids would at least have a chance at an hour or two more of sleep. NOTHING makes you dumber than sleep deprivation. We don't know what the children of America are capable of until we see what they can do with a full night of sleep."
"Well, shit, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Mr. Math has it all figured out. I think we could add some of this to my platform."
Alex relaxed in his chair. It looked like Hacker was buying it, or at least he was faking it for the cameras.
If nothing else, I think I just sold a hell of a lot of abacuses.