Incident at Elder Creek by Anna Furtado

Author:Anna Furtado [Furtado, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises
Published: 2016-11-28T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

A WEEK LATER, Tucker sat at a table at the front of the small Elder Creek Elementary School auditorium at a community meeting.

“The next item on the agenda is our plan to open the mine.”

Someone from the crowd said, “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, Tucker.”

Her brow furrowed as she scanned the audience for the speaker. Before she figured it out, someone else spoke. This time, he stood to identify himself.

“We’ve heard opening the mine would be too dangerous. We think you should forget—”

She heard nothing more. The word “forget” echoed in her brain. Her skin went pale. She plopped into her chair. In the background she heard the crowd roar in protest. She’d lost all control. As she struggled to refocus on the meeting, she saw the mayor, who sat beside her, raise his eyebrows as chaos erupted around them.

She pushed the reverberating word from her mind and wished she’d brought something to use as a gavel to rap on the table in front of her, but she’d only taken a pen and a few sheets of paper with her.

As the chaos continued, the mayor leaned over and said, “I think you better do something, Tucker.”

She returned a look of panic and gazed around in the midst of the hubbub. When she spotted a huge hunk of worn wood by the door to the stage behind them, apparently used for a doorstop, she jumped up and hurried over to it and watched her hands shake as she clamped onto it. It took all her effort not to lose her grip. When she returned to the table, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as the bedlam continued all around her. She lifted the block above her head. It felt so heavy, more like an anvil than a block of wood. Rather than lose control of it, she let the weight of it carry her arms down as it slammed on the surface with a loud bang. She didn’t know where she found the strength to lift it two more times. Each time, she felt a little calmer, strength returning to her limbs, and she heard the room noise quiet a little with each loud explosion on the table surface. When she lifted it again, she saw three large dents in the tabletop.

She regretted the damage, but it did the job. The people in the room froze. The commotion stopped. Everyone turned their attention to Tucker.

She took in a deep breath, hoping to convey her thoughts forcefully enough to get people beyond the figurative blockades they tried to erect.

“Look,” Tucker said. “This idea has been on the table for weeks now and none of you have come forward with one good reason about why we shouldn’t do this or suggest what we should put in its place to have a decent draw to keep this town alive. There have only been a couple of vocal dissenters, and most of those questions and concerns have been addressed.

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