Anticipation Day

Dr. Joshua Lee rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. It was impossible to go back to sleep. He sighed and asked his virtual assistant, Sylvia, what time it was. Her response didn’t help: “Good morning, Joshua. It is 4:33 a.m. local time, 6:33 p.m. Sydney time. Would you like me to summarize your upcoming day?”

“God no,” Joshua mumbled.

“Alright, Joshua. Please let me know if you need anything,” Sylvia replied.

At least he had gotten four hours of sleep. Drinking coffee past 8 p.m. was never a good idea, and having a cup at 9:30 p.m. to help calm his nerves was, in hindsight, an awful decision. With the biggest day of his life staring him in the face, Joshua should have popped some edibles, put on a movie, and gone to bed at a reasonable hour. Oh well, there was nothing he could do about it now.

He pulled off the blanket slowly and stumbled to the bathroom to relieve his bladder. Maybe that would help him relax.

After what felt like a record-breaking piss, he returned to the bedroom and opened the drapes of his suite on the top floor of the St. Regis hotel, staring at the bright lights of Washington, D.C.

He couldn’t help but wonder what this day, three and a half long years in the making, would bring for him. Joshua had poured his heart and soul into this project, missing first steps, first words and one anniversary with his wife Julie, all for the goal of getting legislation onto President Randolph’s desk for signature.

If that happened, and it was still a big if, Julie and Joshua could confidently say it had all been worth it.

As a result of this goal, he had been in Washington, D.C. for the past three painstaking weeks, which were filled with meetings, late-night sessions, and sleepless nights, all to prepare for his speech today to the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence, a subset of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law.

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