by D. Gideon
“I can help with that,” a man in a dark grey suit said, stepping forward from the back of the stage and nodding at Father Bill. Bill welcomed him with a warm handshake.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Bishop Sorensen, from the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. He’s been running a local meetinghouse for about, six months now?” Bill said. The Bishop nodded.
“We could offer milk and cereal as a late breakfast,” Bishop Sorensen said. “I’m sure the High School will allow us to use the gymnasium, since it won’t be in use until the power’s back on.”
“Cereal? What about eggs and bacon?” someone called out.
“I ain’t no damn kid, eating cereal,” a gruff voice shouted.
“I’m sorry, we have the supplies, but not the facilities,” Sorensen said. “We’ve been meeting in the gymnasium until we grow large enough to build our own meetinghouse. We have water and powdered milk though, so we can make cereal.”
“That’s bullshit,” came a voice from the crowd. “We need real food, and you’re telling us you’ll give us cereal?”
The crowd rustled and started murmuring again, and Mayor Kenny waved his arms. “Now folks, these men are being very generous. A little patience, please,” he said.
“You can use our dining hall,” Father Bill said, low enough so the crowd couldn’t hear. “Our ranges run on natural gas. You’ll have to bring your own water though; I’m running low.”
“That…that would be wonderful,” Sorensen said. “We have powdered eggs and pancake mix. Dehydrated fruit juices, too.”
Simon looked to the other end of the stage, where his Undersheriff, Frank, was climbing up to take position. He could see the bubble lights of Frank’s patrol car over the edge of the stage; that was Ms. Stapleton’s getaway vehicle, if it came to that. Frank was married to Cindy Stalls, and not for the first time, Simon wondered if this situation would bring about a conflict of interest. You couldn’t share a life with the right hand of the Mayor and not have the politics affect your mindset. A few of the Councilmembers had drifted to Cindy and Ms. Stapleton in the corner, and the entire little group was in an intense conversation. Sharon was shaking her head, arms crossed, while one of the county’s politicians was talking to her. Cindy was nodding along with whatever the Councilmember was saying. She hadn’t noticed her big husband standing behind her yet, listening in. Frank looked up then, caught Simon looking at him, and frowned. He bent down and whispered something in Cindy’s ear.
What’s that all about? Simon thought. Does he not like what they’re discussing, or the fact that I noticed them discussing it?
He turned and scanned over the crowd, acknowledging his other Deputies with a nod when he picked them out. Over towards his side, he saw some uniforms that stood out. Two Deputies each from nearby Somerset and Wicomico counties, and one from Accomack County in Virginia. They were here to find out what information Ms. Stapleton was going to reveal. They hadn’t arrived soon enough to hear the bad news in private. He wanted to give them a heads-up, but getting off of the stage now would make the crowd nervous. Instead, he nodded at them. They returned the gesture with friendly smiles.
Too optimistic, he thought. They don’t know what this could turn into.
He squatted and tapped Miss Dotty on the shoulder, causing her to jump. She gave him a mock glare, then stood on tip-toe to get closer.
“Miss Dotty, could you do me a favor, please?” he asked.
“Why certainly, Sheriff,” she said, then her eyes narrowed a bit. “But I ain’t goin’ home.”
He smiled at her stubbornness and nodded over her shoulder. “See those five Deputies over there wearing different uniforms?” She looked, then turned back and nodded. “Could you go tell them—quietly, please—what we learned from Ms. Stapleton? I don’t want them to be caught off-guard, but Wilhelm would have my head if I left the stage now.”
“Well we can’t have that. You wouldn’t be nearly as useful without your head.” Dotty beamed a mischievous grin up at him and patted the toe of his shoe with her small hand. “Don’t you worry, Simon. I’ll take care of it.” She slipped away before he could thank her. He stood to watch her move quickly around the edge of the crowd, and gather the visiting Deputies together. He knew the very moment she told them the power wasn’t coming back on. Their friendly faces changed to ones of shock. One of the men brought his head up, looking over the crowd with new eyes. His worried face turned to Simon, and his expression clearly said he thought this was dangerous.
Tell me about it, Simon thought, and tried to subtly point at Miss Dotty and make a move-along motion with his hand. The Deputy cocked his head, pointed at the little woman and raised his eyebrows. Simon nodded and the man flashed him a thumbs-up. Simon breathed a sigh of relief when Dotty turned to come back to the stage, but the Deputy reached out and held her back. The Deputy was arguing patiently with Dotty, who was shaking her head and pointing at the stage. The Deputy pointed to Simon, then to Dotty, and straightened to his full height, stepping a bit in front of her. His posture made it clear he wasn’t going to let her go back near the crowd.
Dotty turned and glared at Simon, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Simon gave her an apologetic look and shrugged, but she just glared harder. He’d catch hell for this later, but at least he’d gotten her away from the stage. He turned his head before she could see him smile. The little woman was as sweet as could be, but when she got pissed, she’d eat you alive.
At the front of the stage, the two church men had come to an agreement and told the crowd to show up at the Baptist church at ten for hot breakfasts. The crowd had moved on to the subject of money, and Mayor Wilhelm was floundering for excuses.
“Did our Section 8 payments go through?” a woman yelled. “My rent needs to be paid!”
“You mean my rent,” a deep voice answered from the other side of the crowd. “If it’s Section 8, then I’m the one paying for it.” A few other voices piped up with sounds of agreement.
“Screw you! Who said that? Come over and say it to my face!” she shot back.
“Folks, calm down. I’m sure no one’s going to be kicked out if their rent payments are a few days late,” Mayor Wilhelm said.
“Mayor you need to force the bank to open up, so I can get my Disability money,” a large man in the front said.
“Yeah,” said a woman standing with him. “I need to know if my EBT card’s been filled. It ain’t right that they can just close down like this and keep our money from us.”
“Your money? You hear that shit?” came the same deep voice from a moment before. “I work my ass off, sixty hours a week, so the government can take most of it and give it to people like you. It ain’t your money.”
The woman spun around, standing on her toes and scanning the crowd. “What do you mean, people like me? You mean women? Poor people? You got something against single mothers?”
“Get real, Crystal, you ain’t single,” another woman’s voice said. “You’ve been living with Bart there for ten freaking years. Three of those kids are his.”
“People, please,” the Mayor called out, but no one was listening. Crystal was pushing her way through the crowd, heading for her accuser, and most of the crowd was urging her on. The man with the deep voice was yelling about people cheating the system. Others had burst back into calls demanding the Mayor force the banks in town to open, and asking when there’d be trucks with water. The Mayor was waving his arms and trying to yell over the crowd, to no avail. The crowd was moving, shifting, looking like a stampede that was ready to break.
Simon pulled his pistol, leaned over the edge of the stage, and fired it once into the soft ground.
Chapter 13
Tuesday, September 4th
Snow Hill, Maryland
As one, the members of the crowd barked in a startled noise, and froze.
Simon holstered his pistol and projected his voice into the sudden silence. “The Mayor asked for calm. My Deputies and I are here to make
sure he gets it. Crystal, if you lay a hand on Beatrice I’ll arrest you myself. I know you two had a falling out, but now’s not the time. Let it go.”
He turned to find Kenny staring at him with a shocked expression, one hand over his heart. “Was that necessary?” the man hissed.
Simon blinked at him. “You needed quiet.”
“We’ll discuss it after the meeting,” the Mayor said, frowning and glancing down at Simon’s pistol in disgust. “Don’t pull that thing out again.”
A man from the crowd spoke up. “Mayor, you said this afternoon that you’d have word for us from Annapolis tonight. Did you get through to the Governor? Is he sending help?”
Kenny turned back to the crowd, his politician’s smile firmly back in place. “As a matter of fact, I did speak to the Governor. He’s promised me that the instant he can declare a State of Emergency, we’ll have National Guard here to help with food and water.”
Simon’s jaw dropped. He knew that was a bald-faced lie. He’d been up the Mayor’s ass about getting help from the Governor since Saturday, when he found out all three of the Wardens at the Federal prison had skipped town. The Mayor had blown him off every time. Just yesterday morning, when the Mayor had refused to see him to discuss it again, Simon had decided to go over the Mayor’s head and sent a Deputy out to Annapolis.
Jacob Williams had originally been from Anne Arundel CountyCounty, transferring here to Worcester just a year ago. Simon had sent him back to his old stomping grounds to see what he could find, and see if he could get an audience with the Governor. He’d sent a hand-written letter with Jacob, explaining the situation at the Prison and asking the State to send out an interim Warden. Jacob had returned late last night, and his news hadn’t been good.
All routes to the Governor’s mansion were blocked by National Guard, and even with a patrol car and in full uniform, Jacob wasn’t allowed through. He’d gone back to his old Sheriff’s office and had gotten an earful of gossip. News that the Governor already had declared a State of Emergency, and enacted a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Rumors that some of the Wardens of local detention facilities and the County prison had been commanded to let all but the most dangerous, maximum-security prisoners walk free. No one had seen any official documentation to prove this, though. The Naval Base had gone into full lockdown, and there was a rumor Marine One had been seen coming in for a landing there. The Anne Arundel County Sheriff was in much the same position as Simon was, with many Deputies simply not reporting for duty, and the Annapolis city police weren’t faring any better. There was talk of the Governor sending out Guardsmen to hunt down ferry owners, and the Deputies Jacob talked to were worried what that meant. Would the Governor close down the Bay Bridge? Many of them lived just across the Bay, on the more rural ends of Kent Island, and they worried about being able to make it home to their families in time to help in an emergency. A ferry ride would turn a fifteen-minute drive into hours of waiting and crossing. As it was, they’d taken to driving their patrol cars home. Without the marked cars, they’d be stuck in line waiting to go through a security check to get across the Bridge. Jacob had been waved right past the line, but he’d brought back stories of cars backed up for miles and one of the bridges closed so people could cross on foot.
Simon coughed, and Kenny shot him a look over his shoulder that promised retribution if he spoke up. The Mayor called Ms. Stapleton back to the center of the stage. A hand landed on Simon’s arm, and he looked down to find Cindy Stalls standing there.
“I know what you’re thinking, Simon. It’s not completely a lie. No, he hasn’t talked to the Governor yet, but we’re going over to Annapolis first thing in the morning,” she whispered.
“Planning to talk with the Governor isn’t the same as having talked to the Governor,” Simon said. “He’s pulling this out of his ass, and it’s going to be me that has to clean it up when his promises don’t come through.”
“He’ll get the Governor to send the Guard,” she said. “They might even follow us back. Frank’s driving us.”
Simon’s brows went up. “When did all of this get decided?”
“Just after lunch, before we went out to Dominion. There wasn’t time to tell you.”
“Bullshit there wasn’t time to tell me,” Simon growled. “There was time to stop and tell me the Mayor had commandeered my Undersheriff and one of my Deputies to get him information from Dominion. Now he’s commandeering my Undersheriff again, to be his chauffer? It doesn’t work like that, Cindy. I need Frank at the station tomorrow while I cover the prison-”
“You’d rather your Mayor and I go out there without security during this emergency? The constituents wouldn’t like that, Sheriff. They love Kenny, and if you were to deny his request for just one deputy to provide safety in a situation like this, that would look very unreasonable on your part. Who knows what they’d do? Someone might just start a recall.” She raised her eyebrows in an innocent look.
Simon gave her a hard stare. “Was that a threat, Mrs. Stalls?”
“I’m just doing whatever I can to help the people of our county, Sheriff,” Cindy said. “I suggest you stop telling everyone what your problems are, and show the people you’ve got this under control.”
She spun on her heel and headed back for the other side of the stage, leaving Simon stunned. Frank looked up and saw Cindy walking back towards him, and his gaze jumped to Simon. He quickly looked away.
“Well, Mayor Wilhelm, I do have our linemen out working on the problem 24/7,” Ms. Stapleton said, grabbing Simon’s attention. “You haven’t seen them here in town because they have to take care of the big substations first. It’s a very long and tedious process to get all of the equipment restarted.”
“I understand,” Kenny said, patting her on the shoulder. “And I’m sure you’ve all been working very hard in this emergency. Let’s give Ms. Stapleton a big round of applause to show our gratitude, yes?”
He started clapping and behind him, the Councilmembers quickly joined in. The crowd reacted like trained dogs, applauding automatically. Simon snorted and shook his head, looking over again at Frank. He and Cindy were both applauding, Cindy smiling broadly. The entire show put a bad taste in Simon’s mouth, even though it had been his idea to soften the blow about the power. He had been thinking about the townspeople and their safety, but in light of his recent conversation, this whole thing just seemed like a campaign rally. Full of bull and hot air. Simon turned and spit off of the stage. His mother would have his hide if she’d seen him do that in public, but it was a small bit of defiance in the face of all this political theater. Childish, maybe, but it made him feel better.
“Now, for the news we’re all dying to hear,” Kenny said as the applause died down. “Do you have any idea how much longer it will be before Snow Hill gets its power back?”
The crowd was completely silent, as if everyone was holding their breath.
“That’s a very tricky question, and honestly there are so many variables, it might be best if we discuss it in private,” Sharon hedged. “So I can explain to you all of the procedures and-”
“Oh, come now, Ms. Stapleton. We’re all friendly neighbors here, right? Just give us a number. Two days? Three?” Kenny prodded.
Sharon glared at the Mayor’s refusal to take the hint. He waved his hands at her in a go on motion, and she pursed her lips. After a moment of the two staring at each other, she bounced her eyebrows at him and shrugged.
“Well, as best as we can tell, the soonest you might see power is maybe…five to six years,” she said.
Simon’s heart stopped. Had she just said that, or had his mind filled it in because he’d heard her say it off-stage? His gaze flew to the crowd, who were standing there with wide eyes and open mouths. Yep, she’d said it.
Kenny laughed loudly and nervously into the silence. “Ms. Stapleton, such a kidder. Leave it to the folks at Dominion to keep us entertained, am I right?” Some of the Councilmembers joined in with weak, uncertain laughs.
“Tonight your Mayor had me kidnapped from my offices and brought here without my consent,” Sharon said, stepping away from Kenny.
“Really, Ms. Stapleton, enough with the jokes,” Kenny said. “The good people here-”
“The good people here need to know that their Mayor is willing to kidnap a woman and lie to his constituents to keep them compliant,” she said, raising her voice. She faced the crowd fully now, pointing an accusing finger at Kenny. “I was told not to tell you the truth. I was told to tell you it would only be five to six weeks. The truth is, it’s going to be a long time before you see power again. Maybe a decade. And your City-” she swept her hand wide, indicating everyone standing on the stage behind her. “They didn’t want you to know.”
Kenny looked back at Simon, eyes wide and hands splayed in a do something gesture. Simon made a split-second decision: He would not be seen as Kenny’s badged thug, trying to silence the truth. In his peripheral vision, he saw Frank lunge forward, long legs covering distance and arms reaching out.
The crowd seemed to take a collective breath.
Then it exploded with sound and fury.
Chapter 14
Tuesday, September 4th
Snow Hill, Maryland
The raging crowd surged forward. People standing in the front went down, and then the crowd was pushing into the stage. Arms grabbed for Mayor Wilhelm’s legs, but Undersheriff Stalls grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back. Father Bill appeared at Ms. Stapleton’s side and shoved her towards the back corner where Dotty had been standing just minutes ago. The center platform of the stage popped free of the frame as the pressure increased at the front. Bill stumbled, but Sheriff Kane caught him. Council members pushed and shoved at each other to be the first down the small flight of steps, while townspeople climbed on to the front of the stage, screaming.