“Al’s your Pal,” the signs at Al’s mayoral headquarters said. Al sat there alone, in the dark, realizing that he had no one left after his most recent loss.
Al’s town had two political parties—the Gold Stars and Green Apples. Al started as a Gold Star city councilor but soon realized where the political winds were blowing. He double-crossed his party and joined the Green Apples. Al helped build a vast Green Apple network to gain and hold power.
Al became the Green Apples’ mayoral candidate. However, the public turned on the Green Apples halfway through the election cycle. Seeing another opportunity, he double-crossed the Green Apples and declared himself an anti-establishment candidate.
Furious, the Gold Stars and the Green Apples rallied together to keep Al out of office. He lost to Marty, whose slogan was, “I deliver your mail.” Al resented how much worse this slogan was than his own.
Al lost and now had no pals left. Al could have stayed with either party and would have had a shot at becoming mayor in four years, but now he had nowhere to turn.
The headlines didn’t help. It was not easy to be the politician who double-crossed everyone.
Where could he go from here? Al looked out the window for a long time. Then it hit him. He yelled out to the empty room: “I can run for governor!”