The Liddy Scenario (10 page)

“There was a new election?” Julie Anne asked in surprise. “Who’s the new Mayor?”

“No election. The Dog Catcher, believe it or not, claimed right of succession and took over until elections can be arranged.”

“Harvey Tinsold? You have to be kidding! Even if there was a line of succession, he’d be way down the list!”

“Everyone seemed to be okay with it. I wouldn’t want him as my Mayor, from the things I’ve heard, but the Martial Law lawyers said it was as good as any way of getting things back on track.”

“For goodness sake,” Julie Anne said. “The man is a drunkard. There had to be someone else in that line of succession willing to take on the job. I mean, I was Cemetery Administrator and I would have been ahead of Tinsold in any line of succession.”

“You’re kidding! I think you’d better talk to the Captain. Come on.”

A bit annoyed with herself for having spoken up, Julie Anne followed Cpl. Long as he went to find the Lieutenant.

“Lieutenant,” the Corporal said, “I think the Captain should talk to this woman. She was in city government.”

“I see,” the Lieutenant replied. “Odd to find you out here, instead of in the city, doing your job.”

Julie Anne took an instant dislike of Lieutenant Randal. The Corporal made himself scarce, thankful he didn’t have to deal with the Lieutenant very often.

“There was a gunfight going on when I left,” Julie Anne said, with some heat in her voice.

“Yes. Well. Come along. I’ll let the Captain decide on what to do with you.” Julie Anne followed along, seething inside. Only in part of due to the Lieutenant. She was beginning to feel like she’d done the wrong thing in leaving the city. Especially if Harvey Tinsold was now in charge.

“Captain Collingsworth, this woman was in the city government, before she ran out on them and came here.”

“I beg your pardon!” Julie Anne said, going red in the face at what was a clear accusation. “I stayed until the shootout in City Hall. We worked weeks without pay, keeping bodies off the street. We had no idea that there was even any form of city government left.”

“That’s enough, Lieutenant,” the Captain said. “You’re dismissed.”

The Lieutenant acknowledged the dismissal with a salute, which the Captain returned.

“My apologies, Miss…”

“Baumgartner. Ms.. Julie Anne Baumgartner.”

“My apologies for Lt. Randal, Ms. Baumgartner. Now, what is this about you being a city official?”

“I was City Cemetery Administrator, Captain. My employees and I worked above and beyond to keep the bodies off the streets. We buried hundreds in slit trenches. In 100 plus temperatures, for weeks on end, without pay, using the employee vehicles at the end. I do not appreciate being maligned in the way that Lieutenant Randal just did.”

Her color faded to pink from red. “We stayed and worked, on our own, with very little support, until the shootout in the City Hall, using my own money to pay the laborers.”

“I understand your annoyance, Ms.. Baumgartner. I’ll have a word with Lt. Randal. But, that aside, brings us to what do we do with you. Our orders are to try and bring stability to local governments. If there is some impropriety in the current government personnel I intend to put it right. I am not all that pleased with the way Mr. Mayor is conducting himself and his government. We have been told, by several people with grudges against Mayor Tinsold, of this misconduct. But I’m beginning to believe there may be some credence to their reports.”

“Well, it’s always been my goal to serve the community, but I never had any intention to run for Mayor. Perhaps in my future… my future before the terrorists attacks… But not now.”

“Why not? You certainly couldn’t do any worse job than Tinsold.”

“That’s not much of an endorsement,” Julie Anne replied. “And besides, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

Captain Collingsworth reached into a gear bag in his Humvee and brought out a sheath of papers. It was stapled copy guide for civilian administrators under martial law. “Read this and get back to me. I think you’ll find everything you need to know in there. You are not expected to go beyond the confines of the topics in that manual.

“You would be expected to follow the tenets closely, and do everything you can to maintain peace and order while the country is in redevelopment. One key factor is elections at normal intervals.”

Julie Anne noticed a slight change in the Captain’s demeanor when he added, “Despite the hold on federal level elections. Do you think you could serve a temporary term, knowing very well you might not get re-elected, due to the fact you were in line of succession rather than elected initially? Tinsold isn’t even trying to get elections organized.”

“Believe it or not, I enjoy serving the public. If the public was to decide they didn’t like the way I served, I would expect to be voted out of office.”

The Captain smiled slightly. “It sounds as if you are at least considering the job.”

“I must admit, the possibility intrigues me. We put in a great deal of time and effort doing what we could at the time. Had there been any possible way for me to continue to help, I would have stayed. We were chased off at gunpoint. We talked about staying and helping… But… The two men that were helping me dissuaded me from trying. To wait until the anarchy had run its course and things were ready to settle down.”

“To be honest with you, they were probably right. The more information I get about Tinsold, the more I think he’s just a minor thug that lucked into a way to get power and pad his nest.”

The Captain gave Julie Anne an open radio frequency for her to contact him on when she’d made up her mind for sure. As she left, Lt. Randal came up. From what little she heard before she was out of range of the Captain’s deceptively soft voice, Lt. Randall was getting read the riot act for his conduct.

It was a very thoughtful Julie Anne that went back up to the house. She would be on sentry duty in a little while, so she took the time to read the guide the Captain had given her. To be sure she was able to stay alert to the surroundings while she was on sentry duty, she put the thoughts of becoming mayor out of her mind. But she tossed and turned a great deal that night, thinking about it, before going to sleep, decision still not made.

She went to talk to Angela about it. And then Toby. Ranger. And finally, Brody. Angela and Toby had been supportive, saying essentially the same thing. “Whichever you chose, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Ranger, as she suspected and dreaded he would be, was adamantly against the idea. But he too offered his support, even if she did go, adding, “You will probably need a bodyguard. Keep me in mind if you do go crazy and take the job.”

It was something she hadn’t thought about. Partly due to the fact that she could take care of herself now, but in part because it hadn’t occurred to her she would need one. From the information they’d been getting, she just might.

Brody’s reaction was hard to read. He was supportive, either way she decided to go, but wasn’t at all enthusiastic about either choice. He seemed very preoccupied. Julie Anne found herself very disappointed that Brody didn’t offer more constructive advice. She didn’t admit to herself until the offer didn’t come, but Julie Anne had been hoping he’d offer to help her, the way Ranger had.

She made contact with the Captain that evening and said she was interested in helping out however she could. As Mayor, or any other capacity.

Julie Anne and Ranger had two days to pack up and get back to the city. Tinsold had gotten wind of the situation and the Captain warned her she might be in danger when she got there.

“Too bad Brody can’t come,” Ranger said, after Julie Anne gave him the warning and thanked him again for coming with her. They were in Ranger’s pickup, with Julie Anne’s hybrid on a trailer they’d borrowed from the Farm.

“Did he… ah… Did Brody say why he couldn’t?”

Ranger turned startled eyes on Julie Anne. “Didn’t he tell you?”

Julie Anne shook her head.

“I don’t know if I should… Everyone seems. to know…”

“What, Ranger? What’s going on with Brody?”

“He has diabetes, and no more insulin is available. Hasn’t been for months. He’s almost blind now. He doesn’t expect to live much longer.”

“Oh, my! I just… I just talked to him… I didn’t notice a thing!” Julie Anne started to cry.

“He’s been hiding it from everyone but me and Toby. He only told us when he couldn’t pull sentry duty any longer.”

“I can’t leave him alone like this!” Julie Anne said through her tears.

“I don’t think he wants your pity,” Ranger said. “Darlene figured it out and is helping him where she can.”

“Darlene! But… I…” Julie Anne fell silent and brought her tears under control. After a long time she spoke again. “I suppose… If that’s what he wants… I should leave it alone…”

“I think you’re making the right choice, Julie Anne.”

Julie Anne put Brody out of her mind. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. But apparently he’d made his choice, and she would just have to live with it.

Three days later Julie Anne was officially the new Mayor and elections were scheduled for the following November. Lt. Randal was dead, as was Tinsold and several of his buddies. Ranger was sporting an arm in a sling where he’d taken a bullet meant for Julie Anne, and the Captain was in the closest military MASH unit. It all happened in the span of a few minutes.

Captain Collingsworth led the small group into City Hall and to the Mayor’s office. The group included Lt. Randall, Julie Anne, Ranger, and two enlisted men. They had no more than entered the Mayor’s office when the shooting started, Lt. Randal opting to assist the Mayor and his henchmen.

The first person down was one of the enlisted men, shot by Lt. Randal. He was turning his gun on the Captain, as the other enlisted man was shot by one of the Mayor’s men, when Ranger shot him.

The Captain, suspecting possible foul play, was ready. He had his service pistol out and shot the Mayor, who was aiming a revolver at Julie Anne. Ranger bumped into Julie Anne hard, the bullet the Mayor fired taking him in the upper left arm as Julie Anne fell to the floor, in the act of drawing her own pistol. But the Mayor was dead from the Captain’s fire before he could fire again.

The firing continued for just a few seconds, the Mayor’s other four cohorts dying under the guns of the Captain, Ranger, and Julie Anne.

Julie Anne had a couple of bruises from the fall, and one very slight crease on her left shoulder. The Captain had three wounds, none fatal, though all serious. But, as the standing sentries at the front entrance of the City Hall came running in, the Captain was able to get an explanation out before they could shoot Ranger and Julie Anne before asking questions. Then he passed out.

It was years before any real sense of normalcy returned. In the months of Julie Anne’s term of office, the area began to recover. But the stigma of how she came to power, much as Tinsold had, cost her the election she fought so hard to see happen. She and Ranger, married now, went back to the Farm, at Toby’s invitation, after she lost the election. She’d had enough of politics and just wanted to live out her life in a productive manner. The Farm gave her that opportunity, as a teacher.

Once a year, on the anniversary of his death, Julie Anne and Ranger, along with Darlene, visited Brody’s grave there on the Farm, mourning the loss of the person that had been such a large part of their lives, for such a short period of time.

THE END

THANK YOU FOR READING

“THE LIDDY SCENARIO”

By

Jerry D. Young

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