Pillar Of The Community

"Everyone knows why we are here.”

Tom Grayson raises his hand.

“Yes, Tom.”

“I don’t know why we’re here.”

“That’s because you spend all night drinking and most of the day sleeping. We’re here because people are disappearing every day.”

Tom said, “So people die, people leave town, what’s the big deal.”

“Tom I wish that were the case, but it’s not, people are disappearing. So no one crosses the bridge out of town for now. I'm declaring a town emergency! I'm having the Sheriff put up roadblocks. No one comes in or leaves till we figure out what is going on."

Tom speaks up, "you can’t just make up new rules and expect everyone to obey your wishes, just because you're the mayor.”

“You’re right Tom, I can’t, but the town council met late last night and voted and agreed with me and unanimously decided a roadblock was an excellent idea."

Tom shouted with slurred speech, “I still don’t think it’s right.”

Mayor Stone shouts back, “I liked you better when you were drunk and passed out. Anymore outburst and I will have you thrown in jail! Now moving on to other business.”

Tom sulked as he listened to the mayor’s emergency plan. A plan that gave every person a job to do before curfew that would start at 7:00 pm. tonight.

Tom headed to the bar, he had some serious drinking to do, but when he got there all he could think about was crossing that bridge and he wondered what really had happened to the people that had disappeared.

Day turned to night and Tom was still sober even though his head hurt like the dickens. He felt it was important to keep a clear head and maybe he could find out what was going on and why the mayor was so hellbent on shutting everything down. Something didn't seem right and by holly he was going to find out what it was. Tom paused and licked his lips. "Boy, a drink sure sounds good right about now." Tom repeatedly hit his head with the palm of his hand and said, "No stop it, you can do this. Just once stay sober! Don't give in to the urge." He knew in his heart that this was about more than a few people missing, but what and why?

Tom not one for rules especially when they were coming from the mayor, stepped outside at 7:30 pm it was starting to get dark, but was still light enough to recognize someone if they weren't to faraway.

The fresh air felt good. Tom filled his nostrils with it and slowly exhaled. He started to take another deep breath and that's when he heard a noise. He stayed in the shadows while he watched the mayor enter the bank. Why was the mayor entering the bank? The mayor had no business going in there at this hour. The mayor was a pompous ass, but even this was unusual for him.

Tom moved closer and looked through the front window of the bank. He could see the mayor opening the safe. No one else was around. That's when it clicked. The mayor was robbing the bank.

Tom panicked. he didn't know what to do, but if he did nothing a lot of people in town would lose a lot of money. Considering this was the only bank in town and it was one of the few banks where deposits were not insured. He realized the bank getting robbed would devastate the community.

Tom was afraid to confront the mayor directly. What if he had a gun? Mumbling to himself Tom said, "Think Tom, Think!" That's when he got an idea. Tom quietly slipped into the bank and pulled the fire alarm. He hid and waited for the Fire Department to arrive.

When the Fire Department and Sheriff arrived the mayor greeted them at the door and when Tom came out of hiding the mayor accused Tom of trying to steal the money out of the vault.

Tom laughed and told the Sheriff, "Watch this video. It shows who really was trying to steal from the bank."

The mayor cried like a baby when the Sheriff put him in handcuffs and hauled him off to jail. The people that had disappeared were found safe in the basement of the courthouse boiler room.

After that Tom sobered up and the town council voted unanimously to make him the interim mayor until an emergency election could be held. Tom even won the emergency election and never took another drink. He was an inspiration to everyone in the community until the day he died which was much, much later at a ripe old age.