Of all the things on his mind, the shouts from the crowd, their captors and their armored trucks kicking up dust as they circled the town like clockwork, and the deputy’s letter, it was the smell that most preoccupied him. It was the sweat, made worse by the humidity from an oncoming storm and the day’s concerns causing many of the residents to forget to shower. Mayor Charles thought it might just be him, but neither Bonnie, his assistant, nor Sheriff Anderson gave any indication. The three of them sat on the raised platform at the end of the meeting room in town hall, as at least half the town crowded the room and spilled out into the hallway and onto the street. Charles knew that it was a fire hazard, but who was going to report it?
“I know that everyone is…” he paused. Scared didn’t feel like the right word for this crowd. “Angry.” There were murmurs and shouts from the crowd, most seeming to agree with the assessment. Charles cleared his throat, preparing to seize on this break in the crowd’s energy. “We all woke up this morning expecting a normal day.” He stood up, moving around the table with his microphone in hand. “As normal a day as we get, anyway.” The joke didn’t land. “But I assure you that both Deputy Anderson and I have spoken with representatives from…” He trailed off, thinking about how to address their guests. “The Nye County Health and Human Services Office.” Deputy Anderson’s eyes shifted towards him, and she began to nervously jitter her leg beneath the table. “Unfortunately, they are not able to tell us why we are being quarantined but have assured us that it isn’t just us, and that….” The crowd began to resume its uproar, causing Charles to almost yell into the microphone. “But they assured us that it is all under control, and that the quarantine will be over within a few days.” Questions began to form and cut through the shapeless murmur of the crowd.
“What about our kid’s schools?”
“How is my boss going to know I didn’t just walk off the job?”
“What about food and water?”
“Why is the internet not working?”
Mayor Charles sat down on the edge of the stage, looking over the crowd. “I know this is hard for all of us.” The crowd was unrelenting, making him feel small as he spoke. “But we will get through this.” He stood back up, going back over the crowd with all the kindness he could muster in eyes. “Together.”
He had expected the Deputy to come by after the town hall but had hoped to get in more than one glass of gin before she did. The knock at his office door rattled the door frame. “Come in.” Mayor Charles poured back the glass and was reaching for the bottle as Deputy Anderson strode up to his desk. “Respectfully, what the hell Charles?” She leaned over the desk, her face making no effort to hide her rage over the situation. “Drink?” Her expression softened, and she took a few steps back towards one of the chairs in front of his desk. When Charles looked up from the glasses he had poured, she was already sitting down, staring at him in a way that reminded him of his mother when she found out her son hadn’t lived up to her expectations for him. He drank the second glass in three gulps, his Adam’s apple bobbing like a cartoon elevator in his throat. “Why did you lie to them?” He lifted the other glass towards her, but she made no effort to address it one way or the other. Charles gave an exaggerated “suit yourself” shrug and downed the glass in two gulps. He brought the glass down hard onto his desk and let out a sigh of relief. Deputy Anderson was still giving him his mother’s stare, unamused by any of his theatrics. He leaned back in this chair, running his hands through what remained of his hair as he searched for the right thing to say. “Jesus Allison. What should I have told them? Hey everyone, we don’t know why we are being quarantined, but our captors gave our fair deputy a note that says it is what you make it? It is what you fucking make it?” Allison could see the fear that he had been hiding from the crowd breaking through every muscle in his face. “You didn’t need to make everything up.” His expression became stern, and Allison could see that he was making a physical effort to stay composed. “All we can do, is try to keep people calm.” He leaned forward, elbows on his desk preparing to speak with his hands. “All we can do is keep people calm and hope that someone out there realizes that something isn’t right. Hell, our town is mostly commuters, I’m sure that a bunch of businesses in two cities having none of their Hope’s View employees show up for two, maybe three days, will ring some kind of bell.” Allison considered what Charles was saying, her head moving side to side as though to hear the angels on each of her shoulders. Then, she stood up and began to head for the door. “Allison, come on.” The knob turned slowly in her trembling hand. “I hope your right Charles.” She looked back at him over her shoulder. “Because if this lasts more than a few days, I don’t think anything you say will keep the peace. They’ll just remember what you said tonight.” The mayor poured another glass and made a cheers motion in her direction. “I’ll take that chance.”
Hotel for Ghosts 