Running for Office

Ever pretend to be someone you aren’t?

That’s one of the prompts from Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop this week,” Write about a time you pretended to be someone you aren’t.”

At first when I read through the prompts I thought about the times I’ve looked at caller-ID and seen it was a 1-800 number and answered with, “Joe’s Pizza, can I take your order?”  (Hey, a SAHM has to get her kicks somehow!)

But when I crawled into bed last night, it hit me.  I actually created a whole campaign once, based on a person who didn’t exist.

It was senior year in high school.  After years of seeing the campaign posters up in hallways each year before student council elections, I was getting pretty tired of the whole thing.  After all, it was always the most popular kids that seemed to get voted in, and always the same people running.

It started out as just a few simple “Vote for me!” signs I made while sitting in the back of math class (I don’t think I ever actually did MATH while in that class).  I hung the signs in the bathroom stalls at lunch time, when no one was around.  Well, my best friend was… (got to have an accomplice, right?)

By the end of the day there were signs in all the girl’s bathrooms, “Vote for Sherry!”

A day or so later I heard a couple of people wondering who this Sherry girl was.  Stickers were made and passed out, again, in math class.  It’s funny how people will wear a “Vote for So-N-So” sticker without even knowing who the person is…or asking.

More signs were made, this time taped up in the halls after school.  The adrenaline pumping at the thought that a teacher might catch us and ask who this Sherry person was.

Of course, poor Sherry never stood a chance.  She couldn’t even get on the ballot, since that required at least 25 signatures and a passing G.P.A. that would be checked at the office.  Hard to have a G.P.A. when you don’t exist.  But for a short moment in time, Sherry took the chance and ran for office, stirred up some talk, and was noticed.  Something completely different for a girl who wouldn’t talk in class and tried to blend into the walls most of the time.

What about you?  Ever pretend to be someone you aren’t?