Page 11 of July Skies
The first day back in the office after Fourth of July weekend was always a crusher.I’m hungover. There’s no other way to put it.Karen was lucky if she ever slept over Fourth of July celebrations. When the damn day fell into the middle of the week and things extended into the following weekend? God, it was like banging her head against the wall. Her eyelids were practically taped open. Air horns always blew in the distance. If it wasn’t one child wanting her attention in the middle of the night, it was a townsperson rapping on her car window at two in the afternoon. There were a million functions to attend and photo ops to indulge. When the weekly newspaper wasn’t interviewing her, someone like Dahlia Granger disturbed the locals.
Oh, word had gotten out. There wasn’t a person in Paradise Valley unaware of the camera crew filming this and that. Some of the parents of the local homeschooling group were at city hall first thing Monday morning, asking the mayor what the hell was going on with these model releases and the filming of their underage children.
I don’t recall telling them they could do that.Hibiscus Films worked by the book when they got permission to film children playing at the park, but Karen would have much preferred them going throughherinstead of disturbing half the young moms with their double-wide strollers and light-up frisbees.
“That’s not all I’ve heard about them, Ms. Rath.” That was Susie Pate, one of the loudest homeschooling moms of the group. She was their de facto leader, really. As if a group of half a dozen moms needed aleaderto approach the mayor on her first day back in city hall. A steaming cup of coffee awaited Karen’s attentions, but she was too busy popping Tylenol and rubbing her temples while Susie yammered on about nothing. “They’ve been interviewing people ‘off the record,’ so to speak. I spoke to Leigh Ann Hardy’s mother yesterday, and she says that her daughter was asked all sorts of questions about the sexual makeup of the high school! Can you believe it? They’re asking minorssexualquestions.”
Karen helped herself to a hearty sip of her coffee.Finally. Please, warm these old and tired bones.Karen was barely forty-five, but this job made her feel as old as she was young. “If Mrs. Hardy has any issues she’d like to bring up to me, she’s more than welcomed to do so. As for them filming in a public space like a park, it sounds like they followed the proper procedures of asking for parental permission and securing signed releases. It’s my understanding that it’s mostly stock footage they’re filming for their documentary on Paradise Valley.”
Susie flared her nostrils, the death grip on her stroller making little Connie Pate whimper beneath her snotty bib. “I understand they have permits to film in public places, Mayor, but I’m really not happy that this documentary was kept from usconstituentsuntil the moment they started filming. It should have been brought up in a town hall meeting, especially if the contents of the film is aboutus.”
“A town hall was absolutely unnecessary, considering they went through all the proper procedures of procuring permits and running things by us. Honestly, Hibiscus Films has been nothing but professional to work with.”
“Oh, really? I see how it is.” Susie turned her stroller around, as if to march out the door.I wish she would. God, I wish.Karen didn’t have the stomach for this right now. She had to get started on the next big thing on the city’s list, andDeal With Susie Patewas not it. “I didn’t know you two were so cozy.”
“Huh?” That allergy medication Karen took the moment she got up hadn’t kicked in yet. Neither had the caffeine. Was she so stuffed up and tired that she was hearing things? Again? “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“The city government and this film company! In bed together!”
Karen slowly shook her head, fingers digging into her temples. “I don’t think it’s quite like that, Susie. We’re cooperating with them, yes, but…”
Susie stormed out of the office, one of the wheels of her stroller screeching so loudly that Karen had to tape her forehead to her desk. It took three minutes for Tom to show up in her doorway, head turned over one shoulder as he watched an irate Susie Tate wheel her daughter out of city hall. “What was that all about?” he asked.
“Apparently, our friends the documentarians were filming kids at the park. With permission from the parents, even.”
“The problem with that is…?”
Karen shrugged. “It’s Susie Pate. What do you expect from the woman who is in here once a month to scream about something? Last month she wanted me to use my ‘personal connection’ to Brandelyn Meyer to convince the doctor to cut her honeymoon short by one week. In case little Connie caught a bug over Fourth of July. Can you believe it?”
“Does shegoto Dr. Meyer?”
“I have no idea.” Karen sighed. She may have been close enough to Brandy to attend her bachelorette partyandofficiate her wedding, but she wasn’t BFF status. She couldn’taskBrandelyn to cut her well-deserved vacation in half in case little Connie got sick!That’s what I deal with around here. Crazy people like Susie.In her more naïve days as mayor, Karen assumed women like Susie were simply… overeager. Thinking about what was best for their kids and the people of their town. She quickly learned, however, that many people simply wanted to talk and be heard. It didn’t matter if their “ideas” were crazy or so self-serving that Karen would be crazy to try it.Only faster way to lose an election is by outright embezzling funds to my own accounts!“Please tell me that you’re here to talk Paradise Pride. I need to take my mind off things. You know, because I have so muchmindto apply to anything right now.”
Tom chuckled, pulling back a chair to have a seat. “It never gets any easier, no matter how many years go by, huh?”
Karen shared in his laughter. “If anything, it’s getting worse by the year. More people, more events, more complaints… but, you’re right. When I was new at this, I was fueled by pure adrenaline. Everything was a lot more fun back then. Brand-new. Now it’s kind of old hat.”
“Is that your way of saying you might not be running for reelection in a couple of years?”
“Oh, hell no. Y’all are stuck with me until I’m either ready to retire or someone manages to beat me. You never know. Some young ingenue might roll into town one day and take over everything with her brash mannerisms and…”
“You mean like you did?”
Karen showed him mock offense. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Deacon! I was hardlyyoungwhen I…” She cut herself off. “I like to think I wasn’t quite a ‘young ingenue’ when I first came to town.”
“No. You were a rabble-rouser who had rabble-roused in other towns before this one. This was the one you knew would take your shit and spin it into gold.”
Karen couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a good man, Tom.”
“I know. Don’t tell my kids.”
“Don’t tellmykids. They’ll convince you to run against me, because being the kids of the mayor is ‘so uncool.’”
“Is Xander trying to tell you that he’s not using it as a pickup line at frat-parties? I have it on good authority from my adult daughter that girls go for the legacy boys.”
“Legacy? Is that what we’re calling it?” With a little energy now fueling her veins, Karen pulled out the annual Paradise Pride whiteboard. Parts of it were already filled in with the recurring events that were around the same date and time every year. Yet there was much to fill in, now that Fourth of July was over and they no longer had to devote so much time and attention to it. Nope. Now they turned all their focus to Pride. For while Portland had their big Pride in the middle of June – and, to be sure, many townsfolk went to check it out – Paradise Valley had their own shindig in late July. It always made the news, and it always brought in the tourists. There were no corporate sponsorships, only local businesses and private donors who chipped in a few dollars to help cover permits and supplies. Booths were stocked with handmade gifts, books, art, and charities that directly helped both local and statewide LGBT communities. Sometimes the bisexual governor dropped by for a photo-pop. Kate Brown wasn’t due in Paradise Valley that year, but she had sent her regards to Karen.
“Is it time to talk Pride?” Sissy Clarence stopped by the office, her wire-frame glasses recently cleaned for consideration. “You know it’s my favorite time of year.”
