Wednesday afternoon before the meeting, an announcement went out that it would be held at the high school gym, as so many people were planning to attend that they wouldn’t all fit in the town hall. Sarah, stopping by Zane’s shop after the announcement, breathed, “This has never happened before in the entire history of Virtue. Please tell me it’s not going to be a disaster,” to the two of them.
Zane, gamely, said, “It’s not going to be a disaster,” but he didn’t sound confident, and Sarah groaned and dropped her head against a table.
“At least we’ll look good,” Vicki offered.
Sarah, currently dressed in an absolutely fabulous crisp red dress of vintage cut, with a black bolero jacket thrown over it like a reverse matador, lifted her head with a brief, wicked smile. “Well, there is that. Wear your battle colors, kids. We’re gonna have a fight on our hands.”
The high schoolgym had a decidedly less friendly atmosphere than it had the last time Vicki had been in there. Everybody had been excited about a local girl winning the local boy’s contest, then. Tonight people were almost physically divided, one side of the gym against the other, on the topic of the railroad coming in, and…a lot more besides, Vicki knew.
Arthur Lowell had rounded up a few of the other town elders; she recognized Tom Barlow, who was around Arthur’s age, and Michelle Whelan, whose kids were in fourth and sixth grade. They were both from old shifter families, even if Michelle was only in her mid-forties at most. There were a couple of other people with them that Vicki didn’t know at all: an older woman with amazing cheekbones, and a slender, handsome old man who looked worn down, as if this was already more than he wanted to deal with. That was, Vicki guessed, Arthur’s ‘Council of Elders.’ From the respectful glances and nods they got, she thought their opinions were going to hold significant sway.
On the other hand, David Whelan, Michelle’s father, was chatting with Sarah and Matthew, his back angled to the Elders in a way that suggested he was strongly Not With Them. A number of other prominent townspeople, including Judge Owens and Sheriff Brown, were on that side of the divide. Vicki breathed, “This is going to be like the shootout at the O.K. Corral,” and Zane, next to her, gave an uncomfortable laugh. After a few seconds, she realized he probably didn’t have acluewho was who, or on what side, so she gave him a rundown, and watched relief and gratitude come into his eyes.
“There’s too many people,” he said quietly. “If there aren’t too many I can sometimes figure them out from context or their clothes or their voices, but…” He shook his head. “Thanks.”
“Sure. Look, I’m nobody here, but you better go take your side. On the left,” she told him, mostly teasing. “Sarah’s over on the left.”
He gave her a dry look. “Thanks, yeah, even in a crowd Iamable to identify the person in vintage polka dots and a bateau neck.”
Vicki called, “I haveno ideawhat a bateau neck is!” after him, although she assumed it was the correct, or at least fancy, name for a boat neckline, which was what Sarah’s dress had.
He shot a grin over his shoulder at her, then was suddenly part of Sarah’s team, his tall, well-built andincrediblywell-dressed form bringing a certain seriousness to their side of the argument. Arthur saw him joining that side and his face went florid with rage. He actually broke away from the Elders, clearly intending to go yell at Zane and possibly drag him where he thought he belonged. Tom Barlow, who was older, in better shape, and generally more dignified, brought him up with a sharp word. Rage flashed over Arthur’s expression, but he didn’t make any more of a fuss, at least not then.
Vicki took a seat on the bleachers with other teachers, including Sondra and Carol, both of whom immediately nudged her and demanded to know all the details. When Vicki protested innocent, Sondra snorted. “You’ve been spending alotof time with Zane Bellamy, Vicki. What’s the story?”
“He’s making my dress!”
Carol said, “Uhhuh,” but someone called the meeting to order then, and the crowd mostly settled into attentive quietness.
The return of the train linewas, technically, the topic at hand. It was also very, very clear to Vicki that the argumentsboth for and against were really about so much more. Arthur Lowell introduced the entire ‘Council of Elders’ individually just to make sure everybody understood they were old Virtue families and to be taken seriously before talking endlessly about tradition, safety, and protecting what Virtue had. He was asked twice to wrap it up, as he only had ten minutes to speak and talked for at least twenty, and Vicki felt the people around her growing restless.
Of course, she was sitting on the ‘pro train-line’ side of the gym, so she had no sense of how Lowell’s target audience was responding. When Lowell finally finished to a smattering of applause, Zane, gave Sarah a brief glance, then Vicki, as if her support would bolster him. She gave him an encouraging nod, and he rose to speak just after his father sat down. Arthur Lowell turned deep red with anger again, but Zane, mostly keeping his eyes on Vicki, murmured, "Thank you for letting me speak," and then took a deep breath and spoke more confidently.
"I haven't lived in Virtue for a long time, so I recognize my input may not be as valuable as others' here. But I do want it to be said out loud and clearly that while the Lowells are an old, respected family in Virtue, my father doesn't speak for me. I disagree with his stance on closing Virtue off, and I know that's easy to say, as someone who left town a long time ago. But I've been back for a few weeks now, and this is a much more vibrant, exciting community than I remember it being when I was a teenager. I just want to encourage the citizens here to look forward and be ambitious in their goals for this town, because as true as it is that you can't come home again, I have to say, the direction Virtue is taking is a great new version of 'home' to come back to." He hesitated a moment, nodded, and stepped back to considerably more applause than his father had earned.
Both David Whelan, on their side, and his daughter Michelle, on Arthur's side, stood to present their own arguments, and foran uncomfortable heartbeat, the gathered town got to weather Michelle's glare of angry betrayal toward her father. Before either of them could speak, though, the gym doors banged open and an old man Vicki had never seen before stomped in. A murmur of audible surprise ran through the whole audience, and Michelle Whelan’s expression danced toward hopeful before settling thoroughly on dismayed when the old man walked up to the microphone and with a gesture, told the Whelans to step back.
Vicki glanced around, both at the other teachers, who looked as astonished as many other people did, and then to Zane, whose jaw was pretty well dropped. Sarah and Matthew were struggling to contain smiles, as if they’d pulled off a coup of some kind.
If the old man—scowly, with wispy white hair and a huge handlebar mustache that ran along the deep lines of his face, and wearing ancient Carhartts overalls spattered with mud—was a coup, Vicki had a lot to learn about Virtue. Then he growled, “My name is Wallace Evans,” and she realized hewasa coup. This was the old man Sarah and Matthew had thought could help, and from the rush of astonishment that went around the gym again, she could tell that even though the townsfolk knew who he was, the fact that he was speaking at all was significant.
“I’m older’n all of you,” Evans said grumpily. “I’m older than half of you put together, so shut up and listen to me, and that means you, Lowell. You’re not wrong that Virtue’s got a lot to protect.”
A shout of triumph went up from Lowell’s faction and was silenced almost immediately by the most threatening growl Vicki had ever heard from a human being. Wallace Evans genuinely looked like he’d bite somebody’s face off, given half a chance, and apparently she wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“This is a special town,” Evans went on. “Always has been. Special places require special protection, and people who’ve gotthe right ideas in mind for it. I oughta know. I been watchin’ over this place a long time now, and the truth is, I didn’t do good enough by it. I did my best, but the world kept changin’ and I wasn’t ready to deal with that. Might be ‘cause of me that Virtue got as small and small-minded as it did. Might not be, too, I don’t know. But I do know these kids here,” he waved at Sarah and Matthew, “got nothin’ in their hearts but the best for Virtue. You wanna fight with them…”
The old man straightened for the first time, turning to face Lowell’s Council of Elders full-on, and it was as if he threw a mantle of power over his shoulders. He practically hummed with strength and resolution. Vicki had never seen anyone wield shifter power like that before, but she was new to all of this.
An awful lot of people in the gymweren’tnew to it, though, and even they—even Lowell’s Council—moved uncomfortably, as if they’d never experienced anything like it before, either. Evans met the gazes of the ‘Council’ one by one, obviously challenging them before speaking clearly. “You wanna fight with them, well, then, I reckon you’re gonna fight with me first, and believe me when I say, you don’t wanna dothat. Not even you, Shelly.” His voice softened toward sadness with the last words, but they were still implacable. “Do you idiots know what a real Council of Elders needs?”
A murmur of denial went through the gym, although Lowell stood his ground, chin lifted in defiance. Evans shrugged, answering the curious, not the ‘Council.’ “A real Council of Elders is convened by the people of Virtue. Hasn’t happened in generations, but that’s what it takes. Not a bunch of trumped-up rich men trying to drag things back to the way they were, but the folks here asking their wisest and most compassionate elders to gather and advise them. The lot of you couldn’t be a Council of Elders if you were the last people in Virtue.”
He turned away from Lowell’s group and scowled hugely at the gym at large. “Trust me, not many folks hate change as much as I do, but it comes anyway. This is a good town. Keep it that way.”
He glared around at everybody once more for good measure, then stomped out again, leaving a stunned populace behind him.
CHAPTER 18
