Corwin Gray, Downtime #1

So, Keller and Masterson were off the council. Keller was a fool and it Corwin wished that it had taken an event less momentous than Bill’s death to knock him off his high horse. Masterson was competent enough, more so than his lineage might suggest, but he was also something of a non-entity. That left Ed Grissom, Gus White, and David Croft on the council, plus Corwin himself, in addition to the two most likely new members: Anders Leigh (Corwin was still shaking his head over this one) and Lorraine Newton.

Corwin pushed his ledger aside and rubbed his eyes. He was not looking forward to the evening’s meeting. The others were going to be howling for blood with no real ideas to back up their rage, and demanding action without allowing for planning. Just like any other week, except no administrator to break up disputes, plus doe-eyed Leigh and Lorraine too new to hold their own.

He paused for a moment before pulling a blank sheet of paper and, with a brief hesitation, started writing notes. Corwin’s position as Council Speaker, tenuous and honorary as it was, meant that he was more or less first among equals. The town’s bylaws were rather incomplete, but if anyone was going to stand up and take the position of administrator pro tempore, it would be him.

Corwin hated the thought of scheming his way into Bill’s old post; his death still felt a little unreal, like he could walk in through the door any moment and start barking about how things were going to get done. No more of that. Jeffery certainly didn’t have the spine for it. Corwin would just have to get things done himself, without the old man’s omnipresent stare to break through deadlocks.

Corwin shook his head. Back to the matter and hand. Leigh and Newton didn’t know how things worked and probably wouldn’t try to stop him. Grissom would protest no matter what Corwin did, but his greatest supporters had been Keller and Masterson, so he was neutered. Croft would disagree with Grissom for just about any reason. White would be wary, but if the rest of the council (Grissom aside, of course) fell on his side White would go along.

Corwin put his pen aside and crumpled up the sheet he’d been writing on. Politics were supposed to stay out of the council; it was for “the good of the town, and the good of its people,” as Bill had always said. No more of that either, it looked like.

(P.S. I didn’t mention this in the narrative, but Corwin has a substantial, high-value shipment ready to go to Greer, and is getting very frustrated with the pass being closed. This is very much an open secret – a fair amount of Corwin’s wealth comes from the shipping concern he owns, and much of the stuff he ships is grown or produced on his own land.)