interrupted. âI donât wanna hear this.â
âWhy not?â
âI donât want you bringing him to trial. What if heâs found guilty?â
I was confused by the question. âWell ⦠then justice would be served.â
âWould we banish him?â
âSure, I guess.â
âThen where would we get our wood?â she said. Alice and Nelson nodded in agreement.
My heart sank. I never expected anyone on my city council to place more value in wood than in justice.
âWood?â I asked weakly.
Jill continued, âI mean, Iâm for justice being served and all that, but if we banish Max, weâre in deep trouble. We canât build anything. We canât add to the population. We have to think about the future of the town.â
âThe future of the town?â I asked, my voice raising. âWhat kind of future are we going to have if people like Max know they can get away with stuff like this? What happened to our laws? Who cares about the quality of our houses? What about the quality of our people?â This was a great line, and if I hadnât been trying to make a point, I wouldâve written it down and saved it for the debate.
Jill thought for a minute, but then shook her head. âMaybe we should let this one pass. Sorry, but like it or not, we need Max.â
âSheâs right,â Alice said. âI hate crime, but we gotta have wood.â
Nelson nodded along with her. Scott had been completely uncommitted from the moment I started talking. My mouth hung open in shock. I had nothing else to say. I turned around and left, defeated.
I talked to Roberto the next day at school and told him he was welcome to come back to town. He was hesitant, saying that he didnât feel comfortable coming back right now. I could tell it still hurt him that people had jumped to the conclusion that he was a criminal. I understood and said that Iâd be back to ask him again soon.
The election was to be held on the first day of May, and I felt that the past week had been a definite victory for me. Iâd been right about Roberto. My approval rating was probably up, and Valerie had lost her whole âHeâs letting criminals into townâ argument. So even though I was disappointed in my city council, I had something to keep my head up about.
I headed over to Jillâs office to see how she was planning to cover the Nick/Roberto story in the newspaper. As I approached the newspaper office, I heard two angry voices coming from inside. I rushed in to see what was going on. It was Jill and Marcy. Marcy had one hand on her hip, and with the other she was shaking a pencil in Jillâs face.
âYou just think youâre Miss Journalism, donât you?â Marcy said, not seeing me yet.
âIâm not running your story,â Jill said. âThat doesnât mean I wonât run other stories.â
âItâs a perfectly good story.â
âThere are finally some things going on in this town. We donât need fluff. Nobody cares about your canary.â Jill glanced over at me. âRyan, do you care about Marcyâs canary?â
Iâd seen Marcyâs canary. It was cute. Would I throw myself in front of a bus for Marcyâs canary? No. But did I care about it?
âAre you gonna answer the question, Ryan?â
âOh ⦠uh ⦠I donât know. Why?â
âWell, you see, Marcyâs my new assistant. Iâm paying her 10 tokens a week so she can keep her house.â
Hey! The Everybody Works program in motion! I thought.
âSo I told her to write a story,â Jill continued. âWell, she came back with a story that I donât think works very well for our newspaper.â
âBut itâs great!â Marcy said. âIt could become a regular column: âCitizens and Their Pets.â I think Nelson and Valerie have a Siamese cat.â
âGreat.
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