And on top of everything else it was an election year. The one time every four years
or so
that any shmuck in the Community could challenge him if they could manage to get two districts to support them.
Which seemed possible this year, the shmucks had come up with quite a specimen in Mr. Torry. Hugo is known to be an incredibly noble and moderate Agrestic native who had won over the hardliners down at the Homestead with promises of a Bill of Rights and Congress even if he didnt share their opinions about District Rights.
But on top of that he was trying to deal with the missing expedition, sending out radio calls all over Northern California and Western Nevada, from Community Radio and between every song the Mayor himself had gotten on the air to ask all those listening far away that if they ever see any boys from the Community to tell them to come on home sons.
Margaret had hovered over him while she prepared to read out bingo numbers, wondering if he would ever just get his head straight.
It was all she could do to convince him to slap a Mayor Nealon 2152! poster on the back of Mr. Handy before sending him down with an armed escort to help reinforce the walls and defenses of Twinbear Post.
The casino, it was its own mess, its own set of worries. Mayor Nealon spent every waking moment speaking to the casino guards and to the police and soldiers who patrolled around City Hall about security and keeping things under control inside that casino.
And then the lack of scavenge from last year, a separate worry entirely from the lost sons, a famine for the Community.
In a back room of the city hall another court hearing is underway, he can hear the judges gavel and the low rumble of the jury. This is silenced suddenly not by the gavel but by a loud cough.
In such a small community, it just happens to turn out, that every jury tends to have a policeman or a soldier. From the front of the building, barely paying attention to any qualities of the noise other than its infernal insistence, Solomon cannot tell whether it is a policeman or a soldier who had taken over the role of foreman on this particular jury and coughed the others silent.
Little boxes
played on his phonograph but even that gave him no solace, constantly interrupted by the vain gavels of the judge.
Suddenly from the back the shout, Contempt!
Then all is silent throughout the building, now a whole new trial would have to be scheduled, even if these jurors are not called for that one then they would probably be brought in as witnesses and none of them wanted anything more of that. If they had one then fine, but they had tested the limits of the judge and now they backed off.
Jesus, Nealon had thought to himself, I need to get out of here.
He put on his hat, and walked out to the front of the office, Margaret, Im taking one of the power suits and Im going scavenging, we need a good haul and you know I have the best eye for scrap.
Its an election year, she replies.
Then speak well of me, he smiles and calls a soldier in a power suit to wander south into the quiet peace of the wilderness down the road with him.
