3. The Mayor and the Police Chief

"Hey Jack, you have a minute?" asked the Police Chief.

"Sure John, come on in. Have a seat. What’s up?" said the Mayor.

Remember those vagrants and the soup kitchen at the park last week?

Vaguely. Arrested for trespassing?

Yes, that’s it. But guess what?

What?

We got eight more of them today.

What?!

Yes, they setup the same stunt as last time, refused to leave, so we had to bust ‘em all.

Didn’t they learn their lesson the last time? WTF are they doing? Any ideas?

Well, they had some “friends” with them who obviously have some legal background. We did not arrest the friends because they were not breaking any laws. However, the friends explained that they want to see you.

What for?

They didn’t say. But they did say something about trying to get an appointment before and being turned away, blah, blah, blah… They said this was the only way to get your attention.

Well, they have my attention now, but I’m fairly busy and I don’t think I have any time to deal with vagrants.

My men tried to tell ‘em that themselves. But you’ll never guess what their response was.

What?

They said that they expected these arrests today to ultimately cost the city about $35,000, that they have many more volunteers looking to get arrested, and that their ultimate goal is to bankrupt the City!

What!? WTF for? What have we done to them? What is their beef with us?

I don’t have any idea, but perhaps it can’t hurt to talk to them and find out.

Yes, I’ll do that. One moment please…

Hey Doris, would you come in here please?

"Yes, Mayor, what can I do for you?" said the Mayor's secretary.

Have any homeless people come looking for me lately? Have you turned away any appointment seekers?

Hmmm… Actually, now that you mention it, there was a guy here a few weeks ago who wanted to see you.

What about?" asked the Mayor.

He said something about setting up a homeless shelter in this town." said the secretary.

What did you tell him?

I told him that the first step would be to talk to the Planning Department.

Did he ever go talk to them?

I don’t think so. He thanked me for my time and then walked out the front door. I haven’t seen him back nor have I heard anything about this from Planning. Have you?

No, I haven’t. Did he leave any contact number?

Ahm… yes. He left his card. Let me go find it. Be right back…

Hmmm… this is not good. Our finances are tight enough as they are. The last thing we need now is for protesters to make trouble here.

Yeah, I hear ya.

God… there’s 1000 things they could do that would burn money for the City! What if they start protesting in front of some of the business? Many of them are alive by the skin of their teeth as it is. I’ve got to nip this in the bud!

Here’s his card Mr. Mayor. His name’s John Smith.

Ok, thanks, I’ll give him a call now.

Ring, ring, ring….

Hello, John Smith speaking….

Hello Mr. Smith, this is Mayor Goff from the City of Baum Fauk calling. I understand you came looking for me the other day and was turned away?

Yes Mr. Mayor, that’s what happened.

Lately we’ve had some incidents in the park with some vagrants setting up a soup kitchen or food bank. Are you in any way connected to these activities?

Yes Mayor, I’m their leader. I’m the cause of all of this. I’m sorry I’ve had to go to such lengths to get your attention, but that’s how things have worked out.

Well Mr. Smith, you’ve got my attention now. I’d like to arrange a meeting with you to find out what your beef with us is and see if we can figure out a way to defuse things.

Ok Mr. Mayor, that would be great. What would be a good time for you?

How about 8am tomorrow morning?

Yes, Mr. Mayor that’s fine by me.

"Ok, great. I’ll expect to see you then." said the Mayor.

Yes sir, will do. Thanks for calling and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Click…..

Well, well, well… looks like we’ll find out wtf is going on first thing tomorrow morning.