Chapter 3

Just as the stage pulled up to the stage office to let the passengers out, Aaron came from across the street to greet Jason Bolt when he got off the stage. Jason was just getting his bags when Aaron came up to him.

"Welcome back!" Aaron said with a smile on his face. Jason looked at him and then said:
"Thank you, I think! Where are Josh and Jeremy?" he asked no one in particular.

"They are still up at the camp. We are having a town council meeting in 5 minutes, you need to come, there have been some changes and we need your input!" Aaron said again with a smile that Jason thought was like a 'snake in the grass.' He really wanted to go home and talk with his brothers before meeting anyone in town, but it seemed since his brothers were not going to be at the town council meeting, he would go and listen instead.

"Okay Aaron Let me put my bags in the office and I will be there in a minute." Said Jason. Aaron grabbed one of Jason's bags and started to walk toward his office.

"I will help you; we are not meeting at Lottie's we will be in my office today." Jason had no alternative except to pick up the other bag and follow Aaron. They got to his office and Lottie and Ben were there but there were two new members whom Jason had not met before.

"Jason, let me introduce Mr. Rochester who is the new Banker for the new Bank as well as Mr. Arlington who is taking over Ben and Emily's mercantile." Jason shook hands and then waited until everyone was seated and then sat in a chair at the end of the table to listen to what was happening.

"Now, we have everyone here." Said Aaron; "We can start this meeting. Most of you know that we have built this town of Seattle and although we have few new businesses arriving, we also have some old business that are still thriving but have changed management. For instance, Ben and Emily's Mercantile will be sold to MR. Arlington and Mr. Rochester of Bank of America will be handling the escrow on that real estate." Aaron stopped to look around. Ben nodded in assent and Mr. Rochester nodded as well as Mr. Arlington.

"There is some new business that needs to be attended to. I am given to understand that Mr. Jason Bolt will be retiring, and I have been waiting for his brothers to sign the new contract…." Jason perked up and heard his name said and heard the words 'retirement.' He looked at Aaron and was about to make a statement when Jeremy and Joshua walked in and interrupted the meeting.

"What is going on Mr. Stemple? Why are you having this town meeting without us? Joshua said then saw Jason who had just stood up to say something.

"Boys, boys, calm down, I saw Jason getting off the stage, so I brought him to the meeting!" Aaron said as he looked at Jasson. Josh and Jeremy looked at their brother as well. Questions hung heavy in the room.

"Mr. Stemple, I will talk to the town council at a later time. Right now, I need to go home and talk to my brothers!" He turned to the new men and to Lottie and Ben and said:

"I am sorry for the inconvenience but there are things that have to be taken care of first. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Rochester, and Mr. Arlington. Ben, Lottie, I will see you later as well. Thank you." He roughly pushed his brothers out of the office and towards the cabin, Josh, and Jeremy each took a bag and followed their brother to the cabin.

When they got to the cabin, they stood there waiting for Jason to explode. But he didn't. That worried Jeremy and Joshua because when he didn't explode, he was about to say something that they would not like to hear.

"You two have the nerve to talk about my retirement behind my back!" Said Jason as he turned to face them. "You did not sign that contract which is good, but Aaron has something up his sleeve and I don't want either of you talking to him or anyone else!" He all but shouted that last statement.

"Jason, we d-d-did not t-t-tell anyone!" Jeremy said.

"Jason, we did not even know about this retirement that Aaron was talking about? I know you said something, but you did not for sure, we did not even have a say in that either!" Joshua said with anger in his voice. Jason was not happy.

"Then who? It wasn't Candy?" He questioned Jeremy who looked surprised that Jason even thought of her. But then Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't sure, He and Candy hadn't seen each other for over a week, he had stayed up at the camp, leaving her to take care of the children all by herself.

"Was it Biddie?" Jason shouted at Joshua who wasn't really surprised that Biddie might have said something, but he had seen Biddie a few times that week, but they had not spoken to each other either. Clancy had stayed on his ship and was gone when Jason got back so he could not ask Clancy. Lottie certainly would say nothing to anyone.

"No, Jason! It wasn't Biddie!" shouted Joshua.

"Maybe it was Molly or Christopher?" Josh suggested looking at Jeremy as if it was his fault! They were all shouting at each other and then instead of shouting Jason suddenly punched the wall of the cabin. He looked at his brothers and said:

"I need some rest; you boys just leave. I will talk to you later!" Jason said quietly. He was tired and needed to eat and sleep. Joshu looked at Jeremy and they both left and went back up to the camp. The weather was still hot, humid, and full of electricity in the air. Very unusual for a September day in Seattle.