Bentley Little - The Store

"Seconded."

Street stood. "Just a minute!" he called out.

The mayor faced him. "Sit down," he said coldly, "or I will have you ejected from these proceedings."

"There's supposed to be a chance for public comment."

"It was determined that there was no public comment," the mayor said. "You would know that if you had paid attention." He glanced to his left and right at his fellow council members. "Let's put it to a vote. In favor?"

All hands went up.

"Opposed?"

None.

"It is hereby proclaimed that local growers cannot sell their fruits and vegetables directly to the public at a farmer's market."

"I would like to add an addendum," Dick Wise announced.

The mayor nodded. "Yes?"

"Seeing as how this might create a financial hardship for some of our farmers and ranchers, I propose that we allow them to sell their products to a legitimately licensed business." He smiled broadly. "That way, the public could still have access to their delicious fruits and vegetables and they could continue to make a living."

"Seconded," Palmyra said.

They voted again, once more without allowing public comment.

The addendum passed.

"Very well," the mayor said. "It is hereby proclaimed that local growers cannot sell their fruits and vegetables directly to the public, but that they may sell their goods to The Store." He looked directly at Street, smiled mockingly. "I trust that makes us all happy."

"You trust wrong, asshole."

The smile remained on the mayor's face as he motioned for the policeman standing next to the door.

Street stood voluntarily. "I'm going," he said. "I don't want to spend another fucking second in this hypocrites' hideout."

The mayor turned toward Bill. "Friend of yours?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact," Bill said proudly, "he is."

The meeting ended a few minutes later, and they walked outside to find Street pacing the parking lot, fuming. "Bastards," he said.

Ben grinned. "Welcome to the big, wide, wonderful world of local government."

"This can't be real," Street said. "They can't get rid of the farmer's market just like that, can they? By a quick vote?"

Ben snorted. "Oh, it's real, all right. And, yes, they can. They just did."

"People won't put up with it."

Ben put a condescending hand on his shoulder. "Yes, they will. You want to know what'll happen? I'll write about it in the paper and everyone'll read about it and shake their heads and say what a shame it is, and then they'll go back to eating their cornflakes."

Street was silent.

"He's right," Bill said. "I've seen it happen before."

"I say we wait for those fuckers. Wait for them to come out of those council chambers and beat the shit out of them right here in the parking lot.

Teach 'em a lesson."

"I wouldn't advise that."

They turned to see a uniformed policeman standing behind them.

The cop motioned toward Street's car. "I suggest you all get out of here now and head on home. Show's over."

"What if we don't want to go?" Street asked belligerently.

"Then I'll cite you for loitering and haul your asses inside that building there and let you spend the night in jail. How does that grab you?"

"It doesn't," Ben said. He grabbed Street by the arm. "Come on. Let's go."

"All right," Street said, pulling out of the editor's grasp. He took out his keys and started toward the car. "All right."

The policeman smiled at them as they walked. "You all have a nice night now, you hear?"

None of them answered, and they could still hear the cop's mocking laughter as they got into the car and drove away.

2

Bill spent the morning working on documentation, but he was still restless, even after taking a break for lunch, and he decided to take a walk into town. He asked Ginny to go with him, but she was busy planting flowers on the side of the house, so he went alone.

Main Street was dead -- no cars, no pedestrians -- and as he walked along the dirty sidewalk toward the electronics store, he could not help thinking that if the town council had been made up primarily of merchants instead of real estate and construction people, the situation would be completely different.

A couple of merchants _had_ run last time, he thought, but he was pretty sure he'd voted against them.

Why hadn't he gotten involved in politics earlier?

He reached the electronics store, walked in. Street was playing Tetris on a green-screened Gameboy, leaning against the register, facing the door. There were no customers, and Street looked up hopefully as Bill entered the shop. "Oh, it's you," he said, disappointed.

"Fooled you. You thought I was a real customer, didn't you?"

"Don't rub it in." Street finished his game, then put down the device. "On your way to the farmer's market?" he asked.

"Very funny."

"Just came down for a little shopping spree in beautiful downtown Juniper, then, huh?"

Bill walked around the counter, pulled out a folding chair, sat down.

"Whatever happened to that recall effort?" he asked. "Weren't you guys going to get together and start circulating petitions?"

"Last I heard."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. Nothing ever came of it. Pete was supposed to be in charge, but then he decided to sell his place, and it all sort of fell apart."

"Maybe we should get it going again."

"I was thinking the same thing," Street admitted.

Street brought out a pen and notepad from the back room, and Bill began writing the text of a petition to recall the mayor and all four council members.

They were on the second draft when the phone rang. Street went to answer it.

"Hello? . . . It's Ben!" he announced.

Bill stopped writing.

"Bill's here . . . Yeah . . . Okay . . . See you in a minute." He hung up the receiver, looked at Bill with raised eyebrows. "He's corning right over.

Important news, he says. Wouldn't tell me over the phone."

Bill stood, walked to the door, saw Ben hurrying across the street. "It must be important."

"Big news," Ben said, walking up.

"What is it?"

"The mayor's resigned."

Bill was stunned. He glanced over at Street, who shook his head in disbelief. "You're serious?"

Ben nodded. "The council, too. All of them."

"_All_ of them?"

"What happened?" Street asked.

"No one knows. Or, rather, no one's talking. But it's effective immediately. We're without a local government at the moment." He chuckled. "Not that I'm complaining."

"So, is there going to be a special election?"

"Of course. But candidates have to file, the logistics have to be worked out. It'll be at least a month or so."

"Weird coincidence," Street said. "We were just working on a recall petition."

"Well, you won't need that puppy anymore. They're gone, they're out, they're history."

"I don't understand why they'd resign," Bill said. "Especially all of them at once."

"It's a strange world."

"You think pressure was put on them?"

"By The Store?"

"Who else?"

Ben thought for a moment. "I'd say that's a good possibility."

"But why? The council was a rubber stamp for everything The Store wanted."

"Maybe they didn't go far enough," Street suggested. "Maybe The Store wanted them to do even more."

It was a scary thought, and they were all silent, thinking about it.

"You think they'll run their own people?" Street asked.

"Probably," Ben said. "But this gives us a chance we didn't have before.

We can run _our_ own people. And the paper can get behind candidates who'll put the town's interests before those of The Store. I think we have a chance here to put this place back on track."

"We might have the paper," Bill said. "But they have the radio station."