Rose quickly fell back into the life of an entertainer, singing and dancing in the club six nights a week. She had always enjoyed being onstage, even as a young child, but this job offered more security than any other professional gig she had had, and she got along with her fellow back-up singers and the lead singer far better than she had with Tim. For the first time in a long time, she was content to stay where she was.
Daffodil was not so content. She continued to pester Roland for a job as a backup singer until he recorded her singing attempts and played them back for her. Horrified at what she really sounded like, she gave up trying to sing onstage, wondering how anyone had ever allowed her to be a member of a band or a street performer, though Rose reassured her that it had always been her comedic talent that had kept her going—and even bad singing could be funny.
In spite of giving up her aspirations to sing onstage at the club, Daffodil was not content to just serve drinks and lead an ordinary life. She had spent most of her life going her own way—except for a few years as an adolescent, when the call of conformity had been too strong even for her—and after a week of working in the nightclub, she began to, as Rose put it, search for trouble again.
The presidential election that year was one of the most hotly contested and divisive contests in American history. Not surprisingly, Daffodil threw herself joyfully into the fray, supporting the Democrat, John Kerry—she loathed Bush. Rose was more cautious, but Daffodil’s enthusiasm was infectious, and the two women soon found themselves carrying signs and campaigning for their candidate, though their views were not always welcome—and they found themselves cheered and joined by fellow Kerry supporters and booed and turned away by Bush supporters.
Daffodil tried to pull Roland into the fray, but he simply locked himself in his office and wanted no part of any of his niece’s crazy schemes. Undeterred, Daffodil continued in her campaign, growing more and more intense as Election Day neared.
Unfortunately, not everyone she met shared Daffodil’s enthusiasm. An hour before the polls closed, she was going door-to-door in the slum apartment complex she and Rose were living in, knocking on doors and reminding people to vote, when she met a woman who couldn’t stand Daffodil, Democrats, or politics in general. When Daffodil refused to back down, the woman struck out at her, and a fight ensued. Another tenant called the police when the embattled women smashed into his door, breaking it open, and Daffodil and her adversary were arrested.
It was with great displeasure that Roland and Rose bailed Daffodil out the next morning, especially when she emerged from jail thoroughly unrepentant and eager to take up another campaign. Rose and Daffodil argued all the way back to their apartment, Rose stating that she would never participate in another of Daffodil’s brilliant schemes, and Daffodil assuring her that she would.
Much to Rose’s irritation, she knew her best friend was right.