“Some people,” Will Grant stood and tilted his chin towards Miss Jones, George’s wife Dinah, and Bob, “are saying you and that Fordham guy played tonsil hockey on the front porch.”
“And this is meeting worthy?”
“We, err Daisy and Poppy and I, that is, caught him creeping around your house earlier today, so it seemed....”
Claire’s lungs struggled to take in all the oxygen she wanted. “Are you kidding me?”
“We scared him off, but maybe we shouldn’t have.”
She pressed her fingers against temples. “I can’t even. And this is OK?”
Claire glowered toward the mayor, who appeared to be deeply involved with some papers on the lectern before him. There were no secrets in this town, but that didn’t mean her non-existent private life merited some sort of pre-meeting meeting, she decided to take control before the story got worse.
Head held high, she retrieved her portfolio, walked to the podium and cleared her throat. “Hi everyone. Apparently, I need no introduction, but for the sake of my reputation let me clarify a few things and ask for your forgiveness. I kissed Mr. Fordham in a most scandalous way on his front porch a week or so ago, but it was a foolish act. Learn from my mistake and don’t kiss anyone until you know for sure they aren’t going to fire you.”
Stilted chuckles reached her ears. She’d gained their sympathy. “In spite of some of the proposals floated around this evening, I can assure you, it won’t happen again. I am embarrassed by and deeply regret my behavior, but I hope that won’t change the strong level of support you all are showing for the train display.”
“Here, here!” Applause burst forth and her shoulders relaxed.
She turned to George. “I can set up my proposed sketches later unless you want people to be able to look at them now.”
“Later is good. Since everyone is seated, let’s begin.”
THE MEETING STRETCHED late into the night. The number of attendees slipped as the hour grew later, but the passion and problems remained high.
“The middle school auditorium is the ideal location. Every other site requires scaling back of the display.” Not that Claire had the dimensions for each location available to her as she sketched, but that had the most open space by her reckoning.
“But it’s booked every Wednesday and Thursday between next week and Christmas, not to mention a full week for the play, two weekend concerts and that’s only what I know of. What about City Hall?” Will Grant, Poppy’s dad, was assistant principal of the middle school so he probably had a good idea of the scheduling conflicts. Drat.
“Those pricey metal detectors the State government mandated take up an awful lot of room. Even if we could move them to the outside of the doors, they weren’t designed to handle a crowd so that would mean long lines outside in potentially lousy weather.” George was not a fan of the metal detectors. “The senior center has plenty of room.”
“But it would be disruptive to the patients and some of them get upset when there’s change. Carl’s momma isn’t doing so well.” Beverly Westman’s mother-in-law was a dementia patient there.
“Plus, using the great room would effectively close down all outpatient and social activities. I wouldn’t have anywhere to go.”
“I don’t see how we could accommodate the trains without the patients being confined to their rooms twenty-four hours a day for over a month.” Claire didn’t recognize either of the last two speakers who sat beside each other, but presumed they represented the senior care facility on the outskirts of town.
“I offered my shop to Claire. It’s not much, but I have more square footage than she does.”
“And I thank you, Beverly but you shouldn’t have to forgo sales. Besides the problem with both of our shops is capacity and adequate wheelchair access once the tables are up.”
“What about the Methodist Church basement?”
“My daughter’s wedding is there. The invitations already went out.” Mrs. Chisholm chimed in.
“Could you move it?”
“At this date? Why can’t you move the concert or the play? Those are on weeknights. They could be in the church.”
“And have public schools endorsing religion? That’s a lawsuit.”
George slammed his hand on the podium. “People, please, let’s not snip with each other. Let’s face it, the Adena lobby was the best location and it’s hard to think of an alternative.”
“Couldn’t we rent it back? If that cheapskate got money, he might let us use it.”
“Except the city coffers are empty and will be until we collect the increased tax revenue and parking fines we always accrue this time of year. I propose a task force to hammer out a suitable alternative location. I’ll ask for volunteers, but it would be nice if we could have representation from all the venues. We might be able to work through the various scheduled events to consolidate locations. Remember, we will all benefit from the display and we will all hurt financially if this falls through.”
THE MEETING ENDED LATE enough that Claire attempted to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but after mixing cat naps with tossing, turning, and worrying, she gave up at three a.m. At least Bob and Walter offered to represent CJ’s during the relocation discussion. There were too many business details invading her mind. Scheduling, money, overhead, inventory, hours, contracts, meetings. Each one a poison dart to her creative mind and project time. Grandpa Clem had shielded her from the business side and the learning curve was exhaustingly steep.
She used the sleepless hours before the store opened to finalize the Halloween layout so Kevin could help her decorate after school. Forget the candy bowl. At her house, a ‘Ghost Train’ delivered candy to the kids on virtually invisible tracks.
She packed up her red wagon with tiny trees desperately needing a fresh layer of flocking. On the walk to Main Street, she picked up her messages,
