Beep!  Beep!  Beep!  My hand finds the sleep button on the alarm clock.  It’s election day, and I’m not excited.  I get out of my bed, jump in the shower, brush my teeth, and throw on my red sweater.  If I don’t wear this today I may be killed by a mob of angry people.  I pour myself a bowl of Special K Cereal and grab a spoon.  I turn the TV on and sit down in my recliner.  It’s made out of a nice brown leather, which has been worn perfectly as I have had it for five years now.  It may be falling apart a little but I still like it.
As expected all of the news channels are doing stories on the election.  On Fox News they have four old white dudes yelling at each other.  On CNN they have a map of the expected outcome, it is still within the margin of error.  On my local new channel they are talking about all of the local things we are voting for as well, they must know that they don’t have any chance of competing with the other news giants as the anchor looks half asleep.
Once I’m done eating I put my bowl in the sink and grab my keys.  I jingle them a little.  My three cats, Ginger, Salt, and Pepper, come over to me.  Salt purrs and rubs up against my leg, Pepper jumps up and paws at the keys, and Ginger jumps on Salt.  They are my family.  I rub all of their heads and say, “I’ll be back soon my babies.”  I’m the crazy cat lady of my family.
I arrive at the Walmart that is holding the vote for our little county.  It isn’t the biggest Walmart but it gets the job done.  I walk in through the automatic doors and am greeted by a round of applause.  People I don’t even know are clapping.  A cheer starts somewhere in the line waiting for a booth. 
“A true American hero has arrived!” They shout, or, “Who are you voting for Ken?” some even yell, “I love you Ken.”  The guy in front of the line is waving his hands like crazy, he wants me to go up to the front of the line.
I slowly lumber up to the front, I put a fake smile on my face and try to make it look real.  Once I get up to the front one person walks out of one of the booths.  I mumble, “Thanks.” to the guy that let me cut.  Once inside to booth I notice how sweaty my palms are.  I wipe them on my pants and grab the pen and start to fill out all of the local people.  As I slowly make my way down I become more and more nervous.
It feels like I’ve been in there for several years before I get to the end of the ballot.  Finally, though, I do make it down to the final candidates.  Drump v Hlinton v Gohnson v Jtein v Other _______.  I don’t know why they put an “Other” box.  I put the pen down before I fill in anyone of the circles.  I run over each one of the candidates in my head.
Drump is a dirty bag with good policies.  Hlinton is a sell-out and possibly a criminal.  Gohnson, well Gohnson had the entire “What’s Aleppo” moment.  I rule him out.  Finally Jtein, she seems okay at first but she is polling the lowest so a vote for her is like not voting.  I rule her out too.
That leaves me with Drump and Hlinton.  I know what to do.  I close my eyes, take a deep breath and fill in the circle.  I drop the ballot in the box and put the pen back on the table.  I walk out to the beat of my heart, lubdub lubdub lubdub.  My strides are short and fast.  As I leave I keep my head down and try not to talk to anyone, but, inevitably, someone stops me and ask who I voted for.
I turn and look up, take another deep breath and say, “I voted for…”

The End