He reached across his desk to gather his mail from the morning’s delivery. Letters from complaining partisans and requests for money. It was a never ending deluge of garbage. Ketchum decided then and there that he would have his assistant go through the mail from now on. He used to enjoy this part of his job but it now bored him. Complainers and beggars, he thought. I can’t make them all happy.

        No sensation alerted him, no itching, no stinging. A minute later the spiders were in three arteries feeding the heart. They began their wall building. Two minutes after opening the envelope he was experiencing chest pains. Another minute and the pain was shooting down his left arm.

        Ketchum stood and took a step toward the door. He fell to his knees and then his face. Managing to roll onto his back he grasped his chest. Pressure building in his heart felt as though a weight was pressing on him. His breath was labored, only coming in ragged gasps.

        Sweat beaded his forehead as his lunch surged into his mouth and then into the air. Vomit splattered around him as his bowels emptied into his sweat soaked clothes. Just before he lost all control he felt the pressure give in his chest as his heart exploded.

~

        Steve slept late the next morning. After showering he joined his wife at the table for a cup of coffee. She handed him the Washington Post.

        “You aren’t going to believe this,” she said.

        “What?” Steve asked.

        The headlines of the Washington Post said it all. Senator Ketchum Dies of Heart Attack, the story continued, Senator “Hank” Ketchum died last night at approximately 7:30 p.m. of a massive heart attack, he was found on the floor of his office by his secretary.

        The story continued but Steve wasn’t interested. He thumbed to the National section and read where the plane of King Yusuf of Somalia had gone down somewhere over the
Atlantic Ocean. Steve felt rather proud of himself. His plan had successfully saved many lives, put his career back on track, field-tested a very useful military weapon, and dethroned two tyrants. Not a bad days work. He worked hard to hide his smile.

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