“Everyone,
please settle down! Can I please have your attention?”
The
murmurs in the town square subsided, and all of the faces turned towards me. I
was standing precariously on the ledge of the fountain. Seeing that everyone
was now listening, I cleared my throat.
“Gavriel,
wait,” said Serge, and held his arm out. “There are only 29 of us here,
including you.” He fiddled with the clipboard he held, crinkling the pages
between his fingers, a nervous habit that was distracting, especially in my
state of mind. “We know that Cole Bauer won’t come out, but we’re still missing
someone.”
I
tried to picture all of the remaining citizens in my head, but lost track as
Serge’s fiddling increased. I turned to him and placed a firm hand on his
fingers to stop the crinkling. “Are you sure there were 31 survivors?” I asked
him, who nodded in reply eagerly.
“I
was in charge of body counts,” he replied, and started flipping through the
pages to check. “I know that someone isn’t—“
“I’m
here now,” interrupted a voice.
The
crowd turned to see the newcomer. There were disgruntled murmurs and whispers
as Meri made her way to the front of the crowds. I could see the stares bore
into her, and yet she merely just passed by the crowd without another glance.
Within moments, she was right by my feet.
She
craned her neck and looked up at me. “Sorry for being late, I hope I didn’t
miss anything from our newly minted mayor.” She smiled up at me.
Something
irked me about that smile, about the way she nonchalantly interrupted this important
day, about the way she put sarcastic emphasis on the word “mayor.” And looking
at everyone’s faces, I could tell I wasn’t the only one.
“Nothing
at all, Meri,” I replied, and I could feel the annoyance creep into my voice. I
coughed, and plastered a serene smile on my face. “Next time, it would be best
if you were more punctual,” I replied.
“Of
course, of course,” she replied. “Now, it would be wise to continue with your
meeting. It is quite cold, and I’m sure we’d all rather be inside.”
I
reached up to brush a curl of hair away from my eyes. “Very well then.” I sighed, and silently went through the
checklist. Back straight, chin up, voice clear.
“Thank
you for coming out,” I said loudly, and I could see the audience’s attention
focus on me. “This past week has been very difficult for all of us,” I said
softer now, remembering Father’s last moments. I pushed those thoughts away and
continued, “But this is very important, if we are to survive.”
Breathe,
I reminded myself, and I fingered the pocket watch that weighed heavily in my
pocket. “We all know that winter is coming fast upon us, but our electricity
will be out within three days without anyone with an electrician’s knowledge.
We do have gas and wood, but those are all very limited resources, not enough
to share amongst all the households.” I paused to let the information sink in.
“Serge, if you will,” I gestured.
Serge
hopped off of the ledge and started passing out sheets of paper in the crowd,
all of them identical to each other. He seemed glad to be moving around and
doing things rather than standing next to me.
I
waited until Serge was finished before I started speaking again. “Because of
this strict deadline and limitation in supplies, I therefore prepose to move
everyone into the two largest houses in the town: the Lafite’s and the Hansen’s
before tomorrow at noon.”
“Why
are you volunteering my house without even bothering to ask me?” asked Shawn,
indignant.
I
knew this was going to happen, and I had already memorized a diplomatic response.
“I apologize, Shawn,” I said gently, “but this is for the good of the town. The
houses are next to each other, which helps provide security and accessibility.
I hope to put aside the history of differences between our households, if it
means that we can all live safely.”
Everyone
turned to Shawn with expectant looks in their eyes. He froze, then muttered his
assent. Perfect. Everything went to plan, and I couldn’t help but smile a
little.
Serge
tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the clock tower. I was confused for a
moment, and then remembered that I had told Serge to remind me of the time
limit on each topic. A strict schedule is always best for organization I was
always told, and this would be the first time to ever really try it out. Serge started
tapping on his clipboard, and I nodded reassuringly at him.
I
found the folded copy of the distributed pages in my pocket and took it out. I
held it out to the crowd. “On these hand-outs, you’ll find a list telling you
which house you’ll be placed in, and a diagram that shows what room is your
designated living area.” A few hands shot up, but I shook his head. “We still
have two more items on the agenda, anyone who has housing concerns can find me
later.”
I
waited until the hands were lowered before I continued. “Next is the matter of
food and water. Water is a simple matter, as the lake is only a five minute
walk south of here, and we can also boil snow.”
“Who’s
going to get the water?” asked Noel. “There’s no way I’m letting Sophia go out
in the cold and carry large buckets of water or snow, she’s barely capable at
twelve years old!” He encircled one arm around Sophia to emphasize his point.
“Noel,
I can handle it myself,” protested Sophia, pushing Noel’s arm away.
“Come
on Noel, stop being an old nag, just let Gavriel continue and leave sis alone,”
said Levi, rolling his eyes.
“Levi,
do not talk to me in that manner or—“
“Please,
calm down,” I interrupted. I sighed. I had forgotten the Pallet family was like
that, otherwise I would have found some way to avoid wasting those minutes.
Noel was glaring at me, and I just gazed back at him until he looked away
disgruntled.
I
pointed back at the handout. “I have already considered physical capabilities
and ages, and if you look back at the hand-out that you have, you’ll notice a
schedule of who will have water gathering duties on what day. I have excluded
everyone under the age of fourteen from those duties.”
“What, so the little snots are
just going to laze around?” sneered a girl, twirling her hair around her pinky
in boredom. The corner of my mouth twitched into a slight frown. Selena was
never one of the kindest people I knew, but I had expected some more respect
from her.
I crossed my arms. “I was just
about to get to that, but next time we have a meeting, Selena Barres, I would
rather you keep the attitude at home.” I gazed sternly at her.
Selena blanched and then flushed. She
muttered a small and quick apology and stuck her hands in her coat pocket. The
other kids around her snickered, but after a glare from her, they all fell
silent.
I coughed before continuing.
“Before I was interrupted, I wanted to propose that starting tomorrow
afternoon, we will all go in groups of three or more to find what supplies we
can gather from the houses. It will only be one hour a day until we can be sure
that we’ve collected everything useful to us. This will include nonperishable
food items, cooking supplies, and weaponry of any sort. Those aged twelve to
fourteen will focus on food items, everyone else will focus on finding cooking
supplies and weapons.” I looked out at my audience. “Any objections?”
No one said a word or raised their
hand, so I took that as a no. “Great. I have one last thing to say; there will
be sign-up sheets located in each household for extra service help. We need
those who can cook, those who can help Serge in the clinic, and those who know
their way around Sherwood Forest.”
There was murmuring in the crowd,
and I let it subside. I glanced up at the clock tower, and my expression soured
as I noticed that I was running five minutes behind schedule.
I glanced back at the crowd, and
caught the smallest of smirks gracing the corner of Meri’s mouth. I quickly
smiled and said, “I thank you all for coming out this morning, and I hope to
see you all tonight in the houses. Anybody with questions or concerns can find
me sometime today. Meeting dismissed!”
There was a visible sigh of relief
as the survivors dispersed to their homes, with the sole exception of Meri. She
looked up at me and said, “Good job today, Mr. Mayor. For a first time, it was
really not bad at all.” She smiled, and then turned around to walk home. The
red ribbon in her hair caught at the sunlight, striking against her black coat
and dark hair. I hated how she caught my attention, how she distracted me.
Once she had left the square, I
dropped the smile. “Serge,” I said, turning to him, “I want every piece of
information you have about Meri Fallon.”
