On a Dark Horse-25
Bombs + 39 - 42
Warnings: None, well, a little Gray-bashing.
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Gray walked into town hall, feeling almost human again. He walked into the mayor's office and found Eric, the deputy mayor, working through some proposals for the council meeting in a few hours. The older man had been badly shaken by his experiences on the road, and was worried about a few things.
"Eric," he said by way of greeting, "I've been looking around. I'm glad we've got a security council. I'm sure we're going to need it sometime. But I'm a bit worried. I'm seeing a lot of new faces in town, and I gotta say it's not comforting." He extended a list to Eric. Gracie Lee's mouth had been so very helpful in creating this list. Her penchant for gossip was local legend.
"What's this?" Eric asked, taking the paper and skimming it. "Looks like a list of names."
"It is. The list has all of the new arrivals in Jericho in the last month. Since the bombs. There are twenty-three new singles and over twenty new families. Has anyone checked them out?"
Eric frowned. "This is all a bit Soviet Russia, Gray."
"Hey, I've been out there. We gotta be careful who we're sharing our foxhole with. What do we know about these people?"
"What? Robert Hawkins? The man's got a family - been nothing but helpful." Eric stopped skimming the list and started really reading it. "Gray, are you trying to get yourself lynched? You have three Clarinds, two Jenkins, and three St. Xaviers in here! You try anything with those families and you're going to get the entire town after you. Marcus Clarind, Father Xavier Clarind, Porphyria Perkins, who is a Clarind by birth and a Perkins by marriage? Her husband, Antony Perkins?" Eric looked up at Gray. "I know what you're thinking, Gray, but this is just…nuts." He shook his head. "I'll bring it up at the council meeting at six, but I'm not going to fight for it. There's just too much room for error, and we're not going to become some small-town form of neo-Nazis here-"
"It's not anything that extreme. Just ask a few questions. Find out how they got here. Why they came here. If there is anything unusual in their home-"
"And you plan to do this with the six girls who are living at the Stevens place?" Eric was thoroughly disgusted. "You go near those girls with anyone, Gray, and I'll kick your ass myself. No!" he snapped as the man opened his mouth to object and 'clarify'. "No. They've been through more than enough. And Randy Peyton has, too. We know where he was and what he's done, and he's recovering with those girls for a reason. Now, leave it alone and I'll raise the question at the meeting. This one is an open meeting, so you are welcome to come in, but if you want to see the end of the meeting in one piece, for God's sake keep your mouth shut."
With that, Eric escorted Gray to the door and closed it firmly behind him.
At the meeting, when new business was mentioned, Eric did raise the point of new arrivals.
"At the risk of sounding paranoid, which you can call me all day long in a minute, there is some question about new arrivals here in town. We know about the men from Ravenwood, the four on death row remain in custody and the others have been scattered into different homes. Mostly, they're helping the houses with seniors or very young children." He smiled, heads nodded, "So far, it's working quite well. They're getting involved because the people they're around are in some manner unable to do for themselves. But there's another group, like Ravenwood, which has no ties to this town. Refugees or travellers who have found a place here. Some, yes, brought their families." He held up a hand to forestall Johnston's comment. "But why here? If it was convenience, I can understand, but what other reason could there be? We were never exactly high on the list of places to live - hell, we didn't even have a webpage. The Kansas state website had us in as a footnote. Not that anyone really minded, I don't think, but it does raise a question."
"Just what, exactly," Johnston's voice overrode the spate of comments, "do you expect to find? How do you want to do this? Just go knocking on doors and say, 'Excuse me, are you a terrorist in hiding?' Hell, son! You'll start riots that way!"
"Nothing like that. Nothing like it at all. I am just putting forth the question of security and newcomers."
Gray stood up. "Mayor, councilmen, this is an important issue. Who is here? Who came from out of town and why did they come? Who are these people we are handing rifles and letting run the security force - what was it, the Jericho Rangers? Why did-"
"That's more than enough, Mr. Anderson," came the icy voice of May White. "Either sit down and be silent or be removed. There is enough paranoia in this room without your demagoguery."
"Dema-" Gray looked confused.
"It means fearmongering," the ordinarly gentle voice was positively acidic reply of Titus Clarind. "The last thing we need is a little Hitler preaching hate and fear. We have enough of those already."
"My suggestion," Eric said, leaping into the sudden silence and motioning for Gray to sit down, "is that the new sheriff simply interview the people he hasn't dealt with for an extended period of town. No vouchers or anything would be necessary, simply a bit more background information."
There was a long silence. Gray closed his mouth and sat down slowly. The simple question of who was here and new to town hadn't really been considered because of the things that had taken priority.
"Tradition was," came a well-known gravelly voice from the back, "that no one asked questions if information wasn't volunteered." Jonah pushed away from his favourite piece of wall and walked toward the front of the room. He wasn't exactly on the council, but he wasn't exactly not on it - he was part of the security council and a voice that added in a few things from the outside of the box. "And there was a reason for it. If a man was running from his past, willing to make a good start, he was welcome to do so. If his past caught him, well, that was dealt with then." He paused. "This isn't the same situation. The U.S. was attacked, exact information is still unknown about the extent and the damage." Jonah considered his next phrase carefully. "Let the new sheriff do this, whoever he is. If he's been in town and working with different people throughout the last several weeks, he has a good idea about most of the newcomers. Those that aren't so forthcoming with information, a few questions wouldn't be amiss." Jonah gave the council a wry smile. "Paranoia is one thing. It's pretty much useless. Doesn't do anything but cause fractures and division. Reasonable care is another. Question is: Who will be the new sheriff? Do you trust this person to ask the questions and come back with answers?"
"Valid questions-" Serena began, her tone thoughtful.
"When is this election going to be?" Gray asked, suddenly. "Will it include the mayoral election?"
Johnston closed his eyes and bit his tongue. He kept biting it until tears came to his eyes and the urge to remove Grays head from his neck with a rusted spoon passed. He remained silent.
"When would you like the election to be, Gray?" came the saccharine voice from the councilmen's table. It was Miss Maddie with an positively evil gleam in her eye.
"As soon as possible," Gray said, straightening his back. "The sooner the better. We need a sheriff, and the ordinary election day is coming up-"
"Fine," Johnston said, his first words since jumping down Eric's throat. "Three days from now is the traditional voting day for town offices. Who else wants to be added to the list? Dogcatcher?"
Snickers ran through the crowd, several of them poorly disguised as coughs.
Gray pinched his lips shut at the concerted glare of the entire council and most of the audience. He had said enough here and now. He'd have to really start campaigning after the meeting.
"We'll have a simple ballot. Checkboxes and names with the office title above them. It'll be small and run off on the copier, since we can't order the official ones from the printer." Johnston stifled a sigh and looked at the group. "Any other suggestions?"
"A write-in line, in case someone wants to pitch in another person for an office. Or if they think we need a new office for…hell, I don't know, dogcatcher?" A young woman in the crowd added this in. She was a teacher in the middle grades section of the school. "Oh, and let the little kids count the vote by piling the ballots in one basket or another. That way no one can demand a recount for spurious reasons."
"Cut apart the ballots so they're easier to sort-sheriff votes in one set of baskets, mayor in another set." This from an elementary teacher who knew that confusion would result otherwise. "Or separate the two, and put them on different colours of paper. If we're going to use the same box, it'll keep the kids moving in the right direction." She was already organizing the councilroom and figuring out how to get the kids exactly right for this chore. The youngest ones would sort, with an easy graphic on the top or bottom to keep them putting everything in the correct baskets. The older ones would count and batch the ballots in groups of twenty…yes…that could work…
"Post a list of people who will not take office, no matter how many votes for them are counted," from Titus, since he did not want to be dragooned into office. He'd managed to stay as an adviser for years, and the council was as close to the other as he wanted to get. If Jonah could be shanghaied as sheriff, who knows what they'd invent for Titus Andronicus Clarind! His sister-in-law, Maddie, however, was a different story. He might just attach her name to a ballot himself, just to watch her squeal. No, better not. His wife hated it when he irritated Sister for no reason other than entertainment.
"Good ideas - what say?" Johnston turned to the council. A simple hand vote showed the majority believed this suggestion worthwhile. Bethanne, Johnston's secretary and the council minutes-keeper, jotted those notes down.
"Voting age," Skylar piped up. "How will that be determined? By a number or place in town? By an assigned value or a full day's work?"
Titus sat back in his chair. "Now that one is a more difficult question," he mused. "Granted, most of the teens are still taking lessons in the morning, but from age fifteen on, they're allowed in the Rangers, they work full days after lunch, and they contribute to the survival of the town."
"But can we assign a value to the work or the hours?" The young lawyer had no small concern about this.
"What about minors without parents here? Or who are in charge of property? Do they get more consideration?" Eric's question, knowing of three separate cases of exactly that.
"What is minor? This is a hard land, despite the good soil. Can we discount a segment of the population that's working to survive just as much as we are?" From Laureanna St. Xavier.
"What if they're scared of voting for the wrong person? I had that problem the first elections I voted in. I know it was a while back," Emily said from the crowd, "and it wasn't local, but I'll admit it. I only filled out half the ballot. It's a frightening thought, to know that you're making a decision that will affect everybody around you, and even more, for state and national elections."
"Good points," Avery Miller said, putting a pause in the discussion. "How's this - if the teen is working a full hand's load at whatever position inside Jericho limits, if they're interested in voting, and if they're comfortable in voting, we let them go ahead." His eyes were shadowed as he added his last thought. "If they're old enough to die in defense of this town, they're old enough to have a say in who's going to send them out, God forbid that day comes."
"Amen," rippled the reply through the room. It was a heartfelt prayer from every parent there, and one young teen girl.
"This one will be a called vote," Johnston said, "Please respond yea or nay and give a concise reason for your vote. Beginning with Jenny Tyral. Miss Tyral, on the question of the voting age, yea or nay, should the teenagers working full-time, who are interested in and comfortable with the idea, be allowed to vote in our elections?"
"Nay." She looked around, her brow furrowed. "There are many decisions that are by nature far-reaching, and I don't believe the teens, however earnest, have the experience to make a farsighted decision."
"So noted," Bethanne was writing furiously in shorthand while Johnston continued down the line. "Avery Miller."
"Yea." His lips twitched in an unhappy smile. "If they're old enough to fight, they're old enough to say who they fight for. The other way…doesn't work."
"So noted. May White."
"Yea. These teens have learned much more about planning for the future. I believe they will weigh their choices and make an informed decision about their leaders."
"So noted. Laureanna St. Xavier."
"Nay. Hard work and strong backs do not mean fully-developed minds, nor the ability to judge through experience. No matter how careful and cautious, the teenagers are still apt to make poor decisions through emotional appeal of one over another." She gave a wry smile. "Then again, so are many adults."
"So noted…"
The final tally was 7 against, 13 for, and the measure passed. Skylar's satisfied grin made Jonah's eyes narrow. The brat was up to something. What?
After a few more minor things, including the availability of the list of goods from Rogue River, one last motion was brought up.
"I know the library's one of the biggest buildings in Jericho," the head librarian said, her voice more than exhausted, "but we're flat out of room and we have three warehouses worth of books still to sort! We have books from the trainwrecks still in storage, uncatalogued. We need help and we need space. Please! We can keep the oldest books at the library, but where can we put the rest?"
The woman was nearly in tears. Three weeks and she and her tiny staff of two had hardly made a dent in the progress. Not to mention the chronic check-outs and reshelving that had to be done since classes and personal research were both done at the library. The computers hadn't survived, but the programs and the new scanners they'd found in the trainwreck had - if they could just get the software and new computers set to take some of the load - or a small army to help them…
"I am so sorry, Yolanda," Johnston said, truly feeling guilty about neglecting one of his favourite buildings and its denizens. "We could use some of the empty storefronts - if there are any left?"
"There's the old SuperMart building that went bust in the seventies," Reynold Cale said, remembering his father complaining about the place opening to begin with, "but the building's in bad shape overall. Needs some serious renovation."
"How bad?" Reynold would know. He was the building inspector for the town.
"Bad enough that we'll have to gut it and clean every shelf in there before I go in to check structural integrity. We'll need to remove the drop-ceiling, since the roof's had some leaks over the years. Hell, it'd be easier to condemn the damned thing and start over."
"Mm. Maybe after we get settled back into a routine again. We're a bit behind in the chores, overall," this from Eric, surprisingly enough. "There are a few empty houses, not far from major centers. Maybe separation by category for the nonfiction? Texts about plants and vegetables and herbology near the greenhouses, texts about animal husbandry and hunting out near the farms, and so on? It would categorize by group, yes, and make some texts less central, but the kids who are researching the more basic elements of their practicals aren't going to be leaving immediately after lunch anyway. That group is working on small-practicals in the computer room and the children's library & reading rooms. And we can duplicate, if we have enough of any particular book."
"Very true. Eric, you and Ms. Yolanda go over all of this information, needs, wants, but try to keep speculation to a minimum." Johnston thought quickly. "With your knowledge base and hers together, you'll make it quick work. Miss Maddie, if you and Dr. Jenner would help, I think things would go even faster."
"Not a problem, Johnston," Miss Maddie said, one of the few who used his given name on a regular basis. Then again, she never could quite bring herself to call him Mayor Green. That would always be his daddy, to her.
"Well, if that's all," Johnston looked around. No one spoke up, everyone looked tired and thoughtful. "This meeting stands adjourned. Thank you for coming everyone, and for your suggestions and comments." He did not look at Gray when he said it. He did give Jonah a dirty look and Jonah just grinned back at him.
Gray watched that look with interest. Maybe Johnston was finally going to listen to him and do something about Jonah Prowse. What Gray didn't know was that Johnston was certainly planning to do something, just not what Gray wanted. Meanwhile, Gray did have a mine to look over, too. He'd get back on that, right after he was elected mayor of this poor town.
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After three days of serious campaigning, Gray Anderson had large crowds gathering at his impromptu speeches. What he did not know, what no one let him know, was that his speeches were the subject of much hilarity at night, regaling those who hadn't been so fortunate to listen to him.
Now, no one thought Gray was really a bad man, or a fool; however he was not known for being levelheaded in crisis, as several of the miners attested to. That Skylar girl was, and if levelheaded had a name, it'd be Johnston Green. That much was bandied about by the miners, who were careful not to let Gray hear them. They would have enough to do when it came time to defend their cutest boss, the Stevens girl.
When the voting was finished, something that was done early in the morning and no one minded that the polls opened before daybreak, almost everyone of age to vote by the new ruling of the council did. The number of ballots sorted by the children that day was unexpectedly large. Then, the numbers came in.
In the past, a running tally for the mayor's position was kept on the boards. This time, it was updated once per hour, as the children ran to and fro with their lockboxes of votes to sort and count. In order to ensure one vote per person, each hand was stamped with a big smiley face, courtesy of an adorable little girl with a snaggletooth smile. It was one of the most ingenious ideas the elementary teachers had. What's more, it made everyone smile as they left the ballot boxes.
Jimmy's daughter was much like her father in one respect - she could always send someone away with a huge smile and a warm feeling. Jimmy wasn't much of a cop, but he was a lovable, sweet man who truly wanted people to do what was right and to be safe. For this reason, even when he gave people tickets, they couldn't help but smile. He was so earnest. So was his daughter, Katie, who was stamping hands and even giving hugs to voters. More than one person commented that it was the most pleasant way to end a vote they'd ever experienced.
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When the final batch of ballots was counted at 7:39 p.m. on November 10, 2006, it was official. The mayor of Jericho was Johnston Green, by nearly 5,000 votes. 5, 397 people had voted for the mayor. Gray was flabbergasted. He couldn't understand it. And Johnston hadn't been out there.
The sheriff's position hadn't been included on the tally, since there wasn't enough room to get the numbers big enough for passersby to see and cram that many names on the board, so Gray honestly hadn't known who won the sheriff's position, or even who had been running. As incumbent and challenger, or in case of the sheriff, candidates, the men who were in the running for the offices did not vote, since there was no use in voting for themselves. They had the option, however, of voting for sheriff. Johnston chose to do so, and voted for Jonah. Gray chose not to, seeing as his ambitions were all focused on running the town the way it should be run.
Under the mayor's name, the sheriff's name was printed. The board read:
Mayor of Jericho: Johnston Jacob Green (4, 871 : 526)
Sheriff of Jericho: Jonah Prowse (3,516 : 1,085 : 797)
Gray Anderson's jaw dropped as he read the board. His mouth moved soundlessly. He turned to see Jonah looking at the board.
"Johnston, you damned…" the commentary was drowned out by the applause of those who had turned out to see the results.
"Been a long time since we've had a Green as mayor and a Prowse as sheriff," Laureanna commented to Titus.
"Mm-hmm. Last time was near seventy years ago. Jonah's granddaddy and Johnston's granddaddy, during the War. 'Course, if I recollect, the first sheriff Jericho had was also a Prowse. First one in the county, too."
"That's right," Laureanna said, chuckling. "I'd forgotten that. Gunslinger, wasn't he? On the run?"
"Yep. Cleaned out a nasty little group of rustlers, too, that had targeted more than one ranch. Kept the cowboys calm, too, when they came to town. Little loose on the morality laws, but Jericho never became another Dodge City."
"Amen, and we weren't that much different in the beginning. Had cattle drives through here, too. Lots of money runnin' in…and out again." The gentle alto laughter came again. "The whorehouse did well."
"You still got those books and diaries?" Titus asked, glancing at his old friend.
"Of course," Laureanna smiled. "They're an excellent reference for the young women who come to see me. I may be a midwife and herbalist, but I am also the unofficial madame and Dr. Ruth of the town." She gave him a wicked look. "Speaking of which, how is-"
"Oh, look," Titus said, "there's Sister. Looks like she's ready to leave. I'll see you later, Laure-belle." His hasty retreat was made to the rhythm of Laureanna's laughter.
Dr. Magdeline Julia Halley Clarind was in deep discussion with Jonah and Johnston about the security issue and the executions that could now be taken care of. Titus simply walked up and stood there, listening.
"So, who is on your list to interview, Jonah?" Maddie asked.
"Only about six people. The others ring true, or we brought them in knowing who and what they were. Four of those six happen to be in the same house." Jonah shook his head at Maddie's look. "No, Miss Maddie. I'm not going into it now. And we need some more deputies. I have the power to appoint my deputies, right? I'll start tomorrow."
"Be here early," Johnston said, grinning unrepentantly at Jonah's new position. "Swearing-in starts at eight. I'll go first, you're next."
"Good. I'll appoint my deputies then. Jimmy and Bill will remain my full-timers, but the others will be available and responsible for enforcing the laws elsewhere." He pursed his lips. "Speech is required, isn't it?"
"Sure is." Johnston was positively gleeful. He couldn't wait to get the first joke in place.
"Fine." He looked at the three before him and started to say something. "You know…Never mind. You'll hear it all tomorrow." He smiled at them, far too pleasantly for their comfort. "See you tomorrow." Jonah turned and began walking.
"Wear a suit!" Johnston called after him.
"Don't own one!" Jonah called back over his shoulder.
"You think we'll get him in a uniform?" Johnston asked, glancing at Miss Maddie and Titus.
"Not a chance, honey," Miss Maddie said, shaking her head. "Not a chance.
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