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“Your boss. I know. But, I’ve been told that your boss is willing to refuse the petition if the man I love doesn’t marry his blackmailer. And my love is willing to spend the rest of his life with a man who treats him like property because he loves me. If I love him, how can I let that happen?”
“I didn’t…” she faded to silence.
“You didn’t know. How could you? We’re just pons on other people’s chess board. There are those, like your boss, like the man the love of my life is being forced to marry, and they take what they want not caring what happens to the rest of us. Maybe they rob us of opportunities. Maybe they send us off to die in wars that only benefit them.
“We’re nothing to them. What’s the term? Cannon fodder? But we have goals and ambitions just like them. We love and feel lose like they do. We feel the harsh sting of loneliness on long, dark nights and ache to have the touch of a loved one. And when we don’t have it, our heart breaks like theirs.”
I stopped and thought about what I was saying. It was hopeless. There always were and will always be those who make people like me their puppets. No one cared. And they especially didn’t care about two guys in love.
“You know what? I’m sorry I bothered you,” I said realizing I had failed Lou. “I’ll go.”
Stepping towards the door, I heard, “You said, Snow Tip Falls?”
I turned.
“Yes?”
“We received your petition.”
I returned to the window.
“And?”
“There has been some question about its legitimacy.”
“I don’t understand. I submitted everything exactly as it was asked for.”
“It’s the signatures on the petition. There’s been a suggestion that they aren’t real.”
“They’re all real. Who’s suggesting otherwise.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s one of the folks you talked about, the ones who play games with the lives of good people.”
“Then, what do I do?”
“There’s not much you can do?”
“So, you’re telling me to just wait and see what happens?”
“Unless you’re willing to prove that every signature on the petition and every vote cast in your town is real, there might not be anything you can do about it.”
“I have to prove they’re real?”
“If you can do it in a way that no one can dispute, they’ll have no choice but to grant your town incorporation.”
“And all of the protections that go along with it like preventing it from being torn down to make room for a highway?”
“I guess.”
An idea flashed through me like the current to a lightbulb.
“Okay, thank you,” I said rushing out.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I called Lou.
“What is it? What did you find?” he asked me in a hushed tone.
“The answer. I know how you can fix this.”
