people were going to automatically ratify regulations with which they were completely unfamiliar, they needed to hear what he had to say.
He'd told Mike about his planned speech, asked his friend to spread the word, and Barry could only hope that he had. He glanced around the silent crowd. If everything went well, people would respond to his questioning of the board with questions of their own and those old men would find themselves under attack, forced to defend policies and procedures that until this point had been taken for granted. Even the best laid plans went astray--and this was a half baked scheme to begin with--but he had faith that he might be able to at least stir things up here today.
The president's gavel fell on the table with the sharp suddenness of a gunshot, and Barry jumped along with everyone else. All eyes turned toward the raised platform on which sat the board of directors.
'Hear ye! Hear ye!' the man in livery announced from the back of the room. 'The annual meeting of the Bonita Vista Homeowners' Association will now come to order!'
Jasper Calhoun, seated at the center of the table, stood and smiled munificently. 'Welcome neighbors,' he said.
A huge cheer went up, the people around them began ; clapping wildly, and Barry looked at Maureen. He'd been, sitting there waiting for a follow-up sentence, having no idea that the president's simple greeting would be an applause cue, and the response of his fellow homeowners was as startling and unexpected as the rap of the gavel had been. He had a sudden uneasy suspicion that this was part of some ritual, like a church service, with programmed cues and responses.
Leaning over Maureen, he spoke to Liz. 'How long do these meetings usually last?' he whispered.
'Two or three hours,' she whispered back.
Two or three hours?
The president beamed at the crowd, and his smile grew even wider, though that was not something Barry would have thought physically possible. The disproportionate breadth of his mouth gave Calhoun's face a creepy, wolflike appearance. 'We will begin this meeting with the most important task facing us today: voting on our Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions.'
Another cheer.
'You've all had time to look over the amended declaration. All those in favor of accepting the revisions raise your hands.'
Arms shot into the air.
Barry was thrown off guard. 'Wait!' he yelled, leaping to his feet.
'Aren't we going to discuss this? We--'
'Opposed?' the president said.
The gavel was rapped on the table before Barry even had a chance to raise his hand or finish his sentence.
'The amendments are accepted,' Calhoun announced.
Barry stood there dumbly, looking around at his seated neighbors, all of whom seemed to be eagerly awaiting the next word from the president's lips. They're all hypnotized, he thought, it's the only explanation. But he knew that wasn't true.
He glanced down at Maureen. She, too, seemed stunned. The idea that such a massive revision of a document affecting the lives and property of everyone here could be approved in a single vote and without any discussion, without time to even fully comprehend all the changes, was unbelievable.
Barry was still standing, and Calhoun pointed at him with the gavel.
'Mr. Welch, would you please have a seat?'
He faced the president. 'I want to know why there wasn't any discussion about these revisions. Isn't it normal to vote on amendments individually, after people have a chance to give their opinions?'
'This is Bonita Vista,' Calhoun said, as if that explained everything.
'Please sit down so we may continue our meeting.'
Barry was aware of the hostile stares directed at him from some of the other homeowners, and he felt Maureen tugging on his shirtsleeve. He still had his speech to give, but this apparently wasn't the time for member comment and since he wanted to win over the crowd and not alienate them, he sat down. He had not expected the other residents to be so in sync with the board, and it worried him.
On the platform, one of the other board members handed the president a slip of paper.
Calhoun nodded at the man, then faced the audience. 'A motion has been made to do away with all cats in the town of Corban . As you know, we have begun our process of eliminating dogs, but as the eradication of all pets is our ultimate goal and part of our ongoing effort to bring Corban into the Bonita Vista family, it has been suggested that we begin killing cats. Shall we put this to a vote?'
'Yes!' the crowd shouted.
Again Barry thought of the church analogy. There was definitely a ritualistic element to this meeting that he and Maureen were not privy to and that did not sit well with him. Even more unnerving was the subject matter. He had] known the association was behind the dog poisonings, but! he'd assumed that it was a decision made by the board. The] idea that the entire membership had voted on and approved | such a horrific and inhuman policy threw him for a loop.
Had they approved the child murders as well?
Goose bumps rippled down his skin.
'All those in favor of expanding the pet eradication to; include cats and kittens raise your hands.'
Arms shot up all around him.
Barry looked about wildly. Mike's hand was not raised, but Tina's was, and with a sickening drop in his stomach he . realized that his neighbors, even the ones he'd considered! his friends, even the nice men and women he'd met at Ray's parties, were the homeowners'
association. He'd been; blaming the board of directors for everything, as though they were solely responsible for it all, as though the organization was not comprised of himself and his fellow homeowners but was something separate and apart. He knew now that was not the case.
The board members did not operate in a vacuum, and the people who elected and supported them were the ones validating the hatred, racism, and intolerance they espoused.
He could attribute some of it to peer pressure, but peer pressure only went so far, and the enthusiasm with which his neighbors were taking part in this meeting made him realize that despite what they said in public, their true feelings came out here, where they were together with others of their kind. It was the dark side of democracy that allowed a person to actively endorse reprehensible policies and behavior by disappearing into the anonymity of a group.
He understood now why Hank and Lyle and all of his ex buddies at the coffee shop had been so angry. Because, in some sense, he was a part of this. They all were. Perhaps especially those like himself or Maureen or Tina who voted against specific proposals but allowed them to stand, who buckled under to the will of the majority and lent legitimacy to the illegitimate by not refusing to recognize those rules.
'All opposed?' Calhoun said.
Barry and Maureen raised their hands, but Tina, Liz, and the few others who had not voted for the motion were not strong enough to vote against it.
'Passed!' the president announced. He chuckled jovially. 'We're on a roll today, people. We will now conduct our formal election for the board of directors. As you know, this will be done by secret ballot, so none of you need feel ashamed if you're not happy with the way Mr.
Gehring here has been doing his job.'
The board member next to Calhoun gave a halfhearted smile and wave, and the president slapped him on the back. 'Just kidding, buddy.'
Two teenage girls dressed in bikinis or underwear--it was hard to tell which--walked from the back of the room, up the center aisle, handing out stacks of ballots and rubber banded bundles of small pencils to the individuals at the end of each row. 'Pass them down.'
Maureen took the stack from Liz, peeled off a sheet and passed it on to Barry. As Ray had warned him, there was only one word printed next to the six names on the piece of paper: Approve. Next to each was a box.
Barry immediately wrote Disapprove, next to every name, as did Maureen.
