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were just clothes, that putting them on didn’t mean you had to be sad all over again.
    Kate was in the new dress Alba had bought for her.
    “You look great,” Zach said when she came to his room to get him.
    “And you,” Kate said, “you look about as happy to be dressed up as you always are.” And then she couldn’t help herself and straightened his tie.
    Zach had never seen a politician give a speech in person. He had met plenty of them, gotten to shake Senator Kerrigan’s hand at the funeral, and even President Addison’s. But he had never been in a crowd like the one in his living room, some people sitting, most standing, Secret Service guys with their dark suits and earpieces leaning against walls, standing in front of windows, taking in the whole scene.
    But as soon as Senator Kerrigan started talking, Zach understood why everyone had come to hear him and meet him.
    And give him boatloads of money.
    “ I would have paid to see this,” Kate said in a whisper from where they were standing, near a door to the kitchen. Zach had promised his mom that they’d stay out of the way for the most part.
    “Same,” Zach said.
    “He’s talking to some of the biggest and most famous people in New York,” Kate said, “but it’s like he could be talking to our class.”
    Senator Kerrigan began by talking specific issues, about war and immigration and the economy. But then he shifted to the difference in life between talking tough and actually being tough, about courage and honor and doing the right thing and trusting your instincts and never wavering on your core beliefs. It was all in the context of talking about America, but somehow Zach felt as if the senator were talking directly to him.
    And Zach knew everybody in the apartment, including Kate, felt exactly the same way.
    Eventually Senator Kerrigan talked about Zach’s dad, how nobody forced him to serve his country, how he wasn’t drafted into doing so. How he’d decided on his own that service, courage and honor were his destiny.
    “Tom Harriman was smart enough to know that a person can never escape his or her identity,” Senator Kerrigan said. “You can try to ignore it, but you can’t hide from it. Tom Harriman hid from no one.”
    The room burst into applause, Zach clapping harder than anybody, feeling the tears in his eyes.
    Senator Kerrigan wasn’t finished. “Tom Harriman was the finest man I’ve met,” he said. “He’s the one who convinced me that I was the right person to succeed Bill Addison. So here I am, trying to do that, asking for your support.” He grinned. “And trying to empty your pockets.”
    When the laughter died down, he was serious again. “It is time for all of us to embrace the destiny, the true mission for the United States of America, in good times and bad. We must all be strong; we must all be brave.” His voice rising now, as if the windows were open and he wanted the whole city to hear him. “We must honor this country’s ideals in the same way I honor the memory of the man who lived in this home where we have come together tonight.”
    The room exploded with applause again. Even the ones who had been sitting on couches and chairs jumped to their feet. Zach looked across at his mom, who seemed to be smiling and crying at the same time, applauding along with everybody else.
    “Wow,” Kate said. “Wow wow wow.”
    Zach said, “I want to start campaigning for him tonight.”
    “Take me with you,” she said.
    They went upstairs then, Kate to finish her homework, Zach to get back on his laptop. About an hour later he heard a surge in the conversation level, walked briefly out of his room, looked downstairs and saw people starting to leave.
    A few minutes later there was a knock on his door. When he opened it, Senator Kerrigan was standing there. He had taken off his tie by then, unbuttoned the jacket to his suit. It occurred to Zach that the senator reminded him a little bit of George Clooney, but with even