“The Starlight stands on the bedrock that holds this town together,” Harry said. “We need that land going forward for the expansion.”
“Which says to me thatthe Starlightholds us all together. It’s a picture of our history.” She turned to face her peers. “Remember when we all said, ‘Meet me at the Starlight,’ and we’d skate until midnight?” Back to Harry. “Why can’t you just use the bedrock the Starlight isn’t sitting on?”
“We plan on it, but the Starlight is the bottleneck. It will take some engineering to do all we want, so in order to get things going, Murdock wants to build the first condominium.” The room began to rumble. “The money from one building alone could increase our revenues by thirty percent. Murdock predicts each new hotel, condo, and business will do the same—if not more.”
“Thirty percent? I smell skullduggery.” Tuesday gave Murdock a sharp glance. “What we’ll get is a bunch of high-rises blocking the sun, new business that steal from the old, and a splash pad full of sand, ’cause that’s where folks will rinse off after a day at the beach.”
“And no Starlight,” someone shouted from the back of the room.
A chorus of “Hear, hear” followed.
“Tuesday, we all love the Starlight, but we can’t stop progress.” Another voice declared from the back with the corresponding “Hear, hear.”
“Is skating even all that popular anymore?” Dale Cranston spoke up. “We have the Beachwalk. Folks can Rollerblade outside.”
“Then we don’t need a movie theater, Dale.” Tuesday scooted past Dupree into the aisle. “The Starlight was the port in the storm for so many while Prince Blue and Malachi Nickle built this town. Some of us in this room hunkered down at the Starlight during the Great Hurricane of 1935. During the Depression and beyond, anyone who needed a place to lay their head was welcomed. It didn’t matter from where they hailed. The Starlight was the first church, the town hall, even the jail for a short while—and always a place for families to have fun together. A place to sing and laugh with other folks. Why, the first moving picture was shown at the Starlight.” She made the claim without looking at Dale.
“The prince loved this town. He loved roller skating, said it brought folks together. ‘Best way to cast off your cares is put on a pair of wheels and go round and round under Immanuel’s eyes,’ he’d say. He put his own wealth, sweat, blood, and tears into this town and that rink. Same as Malachi. They were men of honor and integrity. Why, Harry, Malachi taught you to fish when your daddy was known as Drunk Dirk, and if memory serves, you kissed your first girl in the Starlight’s concession.”
The room hooted with laughter.
“Cecilia,” Tuesday went on, “Spike gave you your first job, and Paul, you’re a banker now, but who showed you how to count cash and make change?”
Harry banged his gavel. “Tuesday, this is all well and good, but it’s the past. It’s my opinion, and the town council’s, that the prince and Malachi would want Sea Blue Beach prepared for the future. They were visionaries, and we”—he motioned to the council—“carry their heart.”
“Harry, why can’t we put this to a town vote?” Dion Jackson, who ran Jackson Landscaping, presented a fair question. “You can still be a visionary without throwing out the traditions and history that unite us.”
“A vote? That’s not how it works, Dion. You voted for us to make these decisions on behalf of the citizens. Now we—”
“We can start a petition,” someone said.
“The town charter allows us a special referendum.” Millicent Bakewell taught history at the high school. “If five percent of the population signs a petition, we’d have a referendum for a vote. That’s about three hundred folks. We got half that in here right now.”
“No, no, no.”Please, someone take that gavel from Harry.“The town council decides.”
“I think we’re onto something,” Dion said. “Who can work on a petition?”
Mary, who owned the Tasty Dip, raised her hand. Tyler Neal from the Copycat Print Shop joined in, said he’d work with Mary.
“Count me in,” Matt said. “I’ll throw mycelebrityinto the ring just like Luke here suggested.”
Well, it got a bit wild after that, with folks talking at once, yelling and pointing at one another. Tuesday sank down to her seat.
“Look what you started,” Dupree whispered.
“I’ve protected the Starlight for over fifty years. I’m not about to give up now.”
Up front, Luke argued with Harry, saying something to the effect of, “If you’re going to back out over a stupid skating rink, we’ll go on down the road.”
The cry for the vote swelled. “Vote, vote, vote, vote.”
“Quiet!” Harry jumped onto the table like a madman, shouting, “I’m the mayor of this town, and I will make the decisions, along with my town council. Now—”
“We want a special referendum, Harry. We want a vote on this here progress.” Dion’s voice echoed in the hall.
Paul Minor was new to the town council and the first to cave. “It’s in our charter, Harry. You have to let them try. And as I told you, I’m not convinced about this expansion, especially if it means swinging a wrecking ball through the Starlight.”
“I don’t mind putting it to the town either,” Cecilia said. “It’s a big decision.”
