"You wanted to see me?" Town Chancellor Samantha Twist asked Mayor Martin Stovall as she stepped into his office.
"Yes. Please close the door and take a seat Samantha," he requested, sitting behind his desk.
Once she did so, he asked, "How was your weekend?"
"Mixed," admitted Samantha. "On one hand, Frances and I had some quiet time together," referring to her wife, "but then yesterday some jerk called the house threatening to kill me if I didn't stop the Town Council from revealing were existence to the world."
"Damn!" exclaimed Martin.
"To make matters worse, the idiot didn't know one Twist from another when Frances answered the phone."
"Is everyone all right?"
"She was obviously upset for a while. Don't know whether or not he would have ever even attempted to carry out his threat, but thankfully the police have him in custody now."
"Good. You can imagine how the switchboard has been since the Town Hall opened this morning. Melissa's company is rebooting our website since it crashed because of all the messages left over the weekend. I've even gone to the trouble of pulling a couple of security guards from the night shift on to days for the time being, although I hope they won't be needed," admitted Martin.
"Prepare for the worst but hope for the best. How was your actual weekend?" wondered Samantha.
"Julie had her beau over for the whole thing, but I didn't get to spend much time with anyone. I didn't get any outright threats, but I did hear from plenty of friends and constituents who have my personal private number."
"Why?" asked Samantha. "The Mayor's Office and the Town Council are independent of each other."
"Not completely," replied Martin. "The way the Town Charter is set up, I can veto the Council if necessary, but then they get a chance to override me. Just like Congress versus the President, remember?"
"But that's never come up in all of either mine or your years of public service," Samantha pointed out.
"Yet it's still an option."
"And would you use it?"
"Truthfully, I don't know," admitted the Mayor. "It'd be a damn if I do and damn if I don't situation. Do I say no now and risk were society later, or agree and run the risk of endangering everyone now if this all goes south and backfires on us?"
"Tough choice," agreed Samantha. "So, if I can ask, how's public opinion running, anyway?"
"Split. Every were can agree it'd be a bad thing to be exposed and portrayed as monsters to the world at large, because no one wants to imagine, let alone face the consequences if that happens. Yet they're divided on whether or not we ever should reveal ourselves intentionally, let alone when and how."
"The Town Council's next regular meeting is tomorrow, but last I heard they won't be addressing the reveal plan specifically until Wednesday when Tom Herald can be back in town," said Samantha.
"You mean the man behind all of this isn't a local? Is he even a were?" asked Martin.
"Yes. He lives and works in Seattle, where he fell in love with a werevixen who owns a business there, but she's from here where her parents still live. After they mated and he joined were society, they naturally formed a Skulk's life/soul mate bond between them.* Not sure when they'll be tying the knot, let alone what their long term plans are though. Yet there are some merits to his argument."
"I know. Technology keeps improving all the time. Whether here in Moon Lake or somewhere else in the world, someday the line will get crossed and weres will be exposed whether we like it or not. It would be best to be out in front of it before that happens."
"Makes one wonder if we did the right thing secretly keeping the anti-were stereotypes alive all these years to throw normals off the scent by having them believe that we were nothing but a bad figment of their imagination," observed Samantha.
"Even we know hindsight is 20-20," replied Martin. "But as they say, it seemed like a good idea at the time."
"Speaking of which, there's one thing I do need to know now."
"What is that?"
"Depending upon how this all turns out, will I still be required to enforce The Mandatory Were Law?"(*2) asked Samantha.
The Mayor of Moon Lake stared at his Town Chancellor for a bit before saying, "I honestly don't know. Which is also why I wanted to see you to begin with. Anything on your docket right now?"
"I have a couple of families pending(*3). Plus, with Jenny Harper-Jenkins working to gain custody of her younger siblings John and Janice Harper, I'm uncertain if she alone still qualifies as the family were or if one of them must join too."
"Yeah. We've never had a situation like that before. Certainly gave us a lot of stress with the wedding and all," said Martin.(*4) "Okay. Business as usual with the new families you have pending, but hold off on the Harper-Jenkins problem until a decision actually has to be made. Otherwise, notify me if any other new families or candidates move into town before the reveal happens and we'll take it on a case by case basis. But when you have the time, do you mind helping out on something else?"
"Sure. What?" asked Samantha.
"I've been thinking about this since the outcome of the Council meeting Friday night. I'd like to create a contingency plan to make sure that the secret of Moon Lake being a were sanctuary is still protected, regardless of how the whole reveal situation turns out."
"That's a pretty tall order. Who else is on board?"
"I intend to privately ask Chief O'Hara as well. Beyond that..." and then the Mayor just shrugged his shoulders to indicate uncertainty.
"Do you think it's necessary? Going behind the Town Council's back like that?"
"We're not going to do anything to help or hinder their reveal planning or execution. This is just a back up in case their work doesn't turn out the way they hope it will to protect our town. Besides, do you want to be unprepared if that happens?"
"No," admitted Samantha. "So, how do we start?"
"After I get a chance to talk to O'Hara, I'll let you know."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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*As seen in past episodes of Moon Lake, Tad.
*2.) Where one member of each family new to Moon Lake must join were society so all share in the burden of protecting the were secret(s).
*3.) Between our Moon Lake Jenkins (no relation to the Jenkins here) and Moon Lake Tad stories.
*4.) In a major, previous story arc of this series.—tmw.