Page 140 of Story of My Life
“Gee, you think?” Emilie said snidely. No one acknowledged her.
“So what are our options?” Erleen asked.
“That’s why we’re here. I want to look beyond the obvious options. For instance, we can hike taxes again, but we’ll end up losing more residents who can’t afford them,” Darius said.
“And who the hell’s going to buy property in an abandoned town with the highest tax rate in the county?” Cam added.
“Then there’s municipal bankruptcy,” Darius said.
“What would that entail?” Ace asked, reaching for a second bread roll.
“Well, I’ve only given that option a cursory glance, but I’d like it to be our plan Y,” Darius said with an uncharacteristic grimace.
“Just in case you didn’t know, that’s even worse,” Emilie said to me.
I picked up my wine and took a loud sip. “Ahh,” I said.
“I’m sure I’m gonna regret this,” Cam said. “But what’s plan Z?”
Darius cleared his throat. “Dominion has offered to essentially absorb Story Lake.”
I didn’t see a record player or a DJ in the room, but our mayor’s announcement had the same effect as a record scratch.
Cam broke the silence first. “I believe I speak for everyone when I say… Fuck. No.”
“There has to be some other solution,” Erleen said, brushing her long, silver hair from her face. “I can consult my tarot cards tonight.”
“Here we go again with the goddamn cards,” Emilie snarled.
“Okay. That’s enough. All those in favor of giving Emilie a time-out, say aye,” Ace said, buttering heavily.
“Aye!”
“This isn’t even a real meeting,” she hissed, crossing her arms.
Everyone but me pointed to the corner where a chair sat by itself, facing the wall.
On a huff, the disgruntled woman vacated the table and sat in the designated chair.
“Emilie’s the one who came up with the time-out vote,” Erleen whispered to me from behind her wineglass. “I shouldn’t take quite so much satisfaction in using it against her, but nobody’s perfect.”
“I’m open to alternate solutions. Think of this meal as a brainstorming session. There are no bad ideas,” Darius insisted.
Emilie snorted in derision from the corner.
“Maybe we could set up a meeting with the health system and ask them to lower the price on the hospital facilities?” Acesuggested. “If they know we’re on the edge of bankruptcy, they’d probably try to unload the property as quickly as possible. That could entice a buyer.”
“And how long would that take? We’ve got twelve months to upgrade the entire sewage treatment plant, not to raise the money,” Cam pointed out.
“No bad ideas,” Darius repeated as he scrawled a note on his tablet.
“What about a grant?” Erleen said. “There have to be grants available for small towns in situations like this. And we’ve got Hazel, a professional writer, on the council. That could win us some points in the application process.”
Darius pointed his stylus. “I like it.”
“If we’re raising property taxes, we could also raise the rent on all borough-owned real estate,” Cam suggested, before angrily biting into a piece of fried chicken.
“Cam the Man, going on the list,” Darius said.
