Adrift
Page 9
room. The walls were lined with big comfortable booths and in the center of the room was a large oval table surrounded by chairs. Maggie gestured to one of the booths and Heather slid in.
“Okay, one cheeseburger. With fries?”
“Yep.”
“And how about a little wine to make tonight’s festivities a little more palatable?”
“Jennifer seemed to think that that would be a good idea.”
“And I fully agree. How about a nice Cabernet Sauvignon?” Heather laughed.
“Having never tried to pair a cheeseburger with wine, I will have to bow to your experience as a tavern owner.”
“Then Cabernet Sauvignon it is.” With a big smile, Maggie left the meeting room and headed back into the main part of the tavern.
Almost immediately, the door swung open again, and Sarah came in, spotted Heather and made a beeline to her booth.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here. I wasn’t sure if Mrs. Abers had told you about the council meetings.”
“She didn’t, Jennifer did.”
Sarah laughed, “That doesn’t surprise me; Mrs. Abers never liked these meetings. But she was too afraid of ending up on a committee not to attend.”
Maggie returned with two glasses of wine and placed one before each of the women, “I figured you might need a little liquid fortification too Sarah.”
“Definitely!” Sarah replied. “So, what are we eating to go with this lovely wine?”
Heather looked sheepish, “A cheeseburger with fries…”
“That sounds perfect! I’ll have the same.”
“Coming right up.” Maggie said and bustled back out of the room.
Sarah and Heather settled into banter about the village and its residents. They swapped gossip (or participated in the Scuttlebutt as Jennifer would say) and laughed about the follies of the visiting tourists. Heather wondered when she had begun to feel like she was no longer one of those silly tourists. Sarah, Jennifer, Maggie and even Patti at the general store, had all welcomed her with open arms and accepted her as one of their own, but it was more than that. She felt like she was a part of the rhythm of the village. Somewhere along the way, this quaint seaside village had become important to her.
As Sarah and Heather finished their meal, Maggie brought them both cups of coffee.
“For the long haul,” she said. Heather and Sarah thanked her and settled in to wait for the other members. More people began to trickle in as it got closer to 7:00. Some sat in the booths and others sat in the chairs around the central table.
Finally, Mayor Shue entered and took his seat at the head of the table. He looked around the room and cleared his throat.
“Let’s call this meeting to order shall we?” The room quieted and the meeting progressed in the typical way of such meetings. Roll call, approval of the previous meeting’s minutes, updates on past issues, committee reports and finally new business. Sarah surprised Heather when she raised her hand to get Mayor Shue’s attention.
“Yes Sarah, do you have a question?” asked Mayor Shue.
“Actually I have some new business.” For a second Mayor Shue looked surprised but then slipped back into his official demeanor and said,
“Sarah Gnome has the floor. Please proceed Sarah.”
“Thank you Mayor Shue. Fellow council owners I have a proposal that will bring more tourists to our lovely village. We have on our shoreline a beautiful piece of history that is falling to ruin. I propose that we renovate the lighthouse and its surrounding buildings and open them up for public tours.”
There was a general rumble from those in attendance but Sarah continued. “There are a lot of people who travel to seaside villages just to visit their lighthouses. There are tons of websites devoted just to lighthouses and the people who want to visit them. We could charge admission and that revenue would cover the cost of hiring someone to maintain the buildings and act as a tour guide during the tourist season.” The rumbling was getting louder, so Mayor Shue raised his hands and asked everyone to settle down.
“An interesting proposal Sarah, let’s take questions shall we?” Heather felt that Mayor Shue sounded a little patronizing toward Sarah and it made her jaw tense.
Heather didn’t think it was a bad idea. After all, she’d been out there just a couple of weeks ago and the buildings hadn’t looked like they were in that bad of a shape. Plus, as a recent tourist she herself, could testify to the lighthouse’s value as a tourist attraction.
The questions flew fast and furious and Sarah fielded them as best she could, but Heather could tell that the general feeling was that although it was a good idea no one was willing to pay for the restoration. Heather raised her hand and was recognized to speak by Mayor Shue. Nervously Heather stood up to address those gathered.
“Hi I’m Heather and although I haven’t met each of you personally I’m sure that you know all about me.” Those gathered laughed good-naturedly. “Just a couple of weeks ago I came in as a tourist and I can attest to the attraction of the lighthouse.” Heather refrained from telling them that she had actually broken into the lighthouse, there was no need to turn them against her. “I went up to check out the lighthouse and it didn’t seem to be in too bad a shape. I agree with Sarah that if it was renovated it could become a big draw. If nothing else you should probably look into how much a renovation would cost, and maybe you could get a grant or something.” Heather sat down quickly, but her comment about the possibility of a grant caused another round of loud muttering and finally Mayor Shue stood up to get everyone’s attention.
“Sarah, and Heather, I appreciate everything you have both said and I think you have some valid points.”
“Oh no,” Sarah muttered under her breath. Heather gave her a concerned look and Sarah just shook her head. Mayor Shue continued, “I think the best thing to do would be for us to form a committee to look into Sarah’s proposal. Sarah, I think you should chair the committee and Heather as our newest villager I think you could give this new committee a fresh perspective.” A voice called out from somewhere in the room. “In the bylaws it says all committees will have a minimum of three members.”
“Thank you Mr. Lambert,” said Mayor Shue as a chuckle spread through the room. Mr. Lambert never took part in any of the council’s activities but he made sure that they followed the bylaws to the letter. “You are correct. Okay who will join Sarah and Heather on this new committee?” People quickly glanced away from Mayor Shue refusing to meet his eyes afraid of being volunteered. “I see,” Mayor Shue said. “Okay, let’s see.” His gaze swept over the room again, “Maggie?” he asked. Heather looked around the room but Maggie was not in sight. “Okay Sarah, your third committee member is Maggie. All in favor say aye!”
“Aye!” Everyone gathered yelled in relief.
“Anyone opposed?” You could have heard crickets because of how quiet the room became.
“Then it’s settled.” Just then, Maggie swept back into the room with a tray filled with coffee mugs.
“What’s settled?” she asked.
“We’ve just created a new committee, the Lighthouse Restoration Committee,” said Mayor Shue.
“Oh, that’s nice.” Maggie said in a distracted way and the room burst out in laughter. “What did I miss?” She asked suspiciously.
“Well now Maggie, why don’t you put your tray down first?”
“Mayor, I don’t like how that sounds.”
A laughing voice rang out from the far corner of the room. “You know how this works Maggie!” Maggie’s face dropped.
“Oh now Mayor, no don’t tell me!”
“Yep, you are the third member of our newest committee,” Mayor Shue said with a broad grin on his face.
Maggie threw back her head and moaned, “I don’t have time to be on a committee!” Sarah took pity on Maggie and said, “It’s okay Maggie, Heather and I will do most of the work.”
“We will?” Heather said incredulously, which caused another round of chuckles.
Maggie dropped into the booth and shot Sarah a look.
“Now Maggie don’t look at me that way, you know better than to leave the room when the meeting is in session.”
“I don’t know if you noticed this Sarah, but I have a business to run here.”
“I did notice, and I love your tavern, but it won’t be so bad being on this committee, I promise.”
“You know that Mayor Shue creates a committee whenever he wants to table a suggestion.”
“I do, but it won’t work this time. He and the other city council members have given me permission to represent the town and do some serious research. A renovated lighthouse could really increase our tourist flow and help this town, you know it could.”
“I know Sarah. I also know that the lighthouse holds a special place in your heart and I understand. I’ll do what I can for you, but you know that keeping the Foghorn running takes up the majority of my time.”
“I do, and I’ll appreciate whatever time you can give me. If nothing else you can be a good sounding board for any ideas we come up with.” Maggie smiled and nodded her head in agreement.
She looked over to Heather and said, “But you, you just got here. How the heck did you end up on a committee already?”
“The same way I got my new job, I was steam rolled.