Big Trouble in Small Town 1

(A follow-up to my Journey to Christmas Past series.)

Everyone sitting at the council table is looking at me.

Waiting for me to make a move.

Christmas seems so long ago now. Still, the events of it changed my life. With her grandmother’s help, Brenda and I got back together. Since then we’ve been trying to figure out our way forward.

It hasn’t been easy. But, right now I have other business to tend to.

“Alright, it’s nine-thirty, so, I suppose it’s time to call this meeting to order. Can I have a motion to adopt the agenda? Karl, and, Nancy, thank you. Does anyone have anything to add to the agenda? Yes, Karl?”

“I certainly do.”

“Alright, what would you like to talk about?”

“You!”

“Me?”

“Of course,” A heavyset man at the end of the table glares at me. “I think it’s about time that we talk about you and the way you’ve been doing business.”

Silence fills the room.

“Alright, we can add that to the agenda for later in the meeting,” I say after a moment. “Does anyone else have any business to add to the meeting? No one? Alright. Is everyone in favor of the agenda?”

Hands go up around the table as the new council members show their approval.

“Thank you. Let’s begin. Let’s see here, the first thing on the agenda is the financial report.” The meeting lurches forward and I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into.

I can feel the cell phone vibrating in my pocket.

That will be Brenda. She’ll have received the news from the Doctor by now. No doubt that’s what she is sharing with me.

I wish I could pull the phone out of my pocket and read her message.

“That’s the whole problem with this town, our mayor is so busy taking care of his own business that he doesn’t have time left for anything else.”

Karl, my nemesis, looks triumphant as he says this.

“I’m sorry, we’re discussing the gravel contract right now. If you have a problem with me, we can discuss it later in the meeting.”

“No! We need to discuss this now!”

“Karl, I’m sorry, but we need to run this meeting in order.”

“Then, consider me out of order! It’s your company that keeps getting these gravel contracts, it’s you that has been putting all this money in your pocket…so…”

“Wait a minute, that’s not fair, I just got elected…I…”

Karl stands to his feet as his chubby face glows crimson. “You wait just a minute mister mayor! I have a few things to say and I’m going to say them.”

My cell -phone is ringing now. Something urgent must have happened to Brenda.

I pound my fist on the wooden table, grasping for the attention of my counselors. “That’s enough. We’re taking a fifteen-minute recess.”

With that, I storm out of the council chambers and lift my cell phone to my ear.

Behind me, I can hear a chaos of discussion break out. I’ll deal with that later. At the moment, I’m only interested in what Brenda has to say.

“Hello dear, what’s the problem,” are the words that flow from my mouth as I answer the phone.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull,” Karl rages as he follows me. “But whatever it is, you aren’t going to get away with it.”

I push the phone closer to my ear as I struggle to hear Brenda’s faint voice.

To be continued…