"Well, considering the situation that's brewing at the building site, I think we should adjourn to there, and open the discussion to whoever wants a say."
Jones took a step towards the dais. "You wouldn't dare!"
* * *
"Hey, you guys!" someone yelled as Susan Winston led a small crowd around the construction trailer parked along the edge of the building site, "city hall just got here."
A few seconds later, two citizen journalists converged on them, video gear at the ready. Predictably, Buster Flange trotted ahead to give them some interview fodder, but they spurned him and continued on out into the street, where Wendell Jones was just getting out of his limo.
"Upstaged again," Buster grumbled.
It didn't seem possible, but to Sue, the chaos surrounding her now was even more surreal than the scene that had just played out back at the council chamber. A vacant bulldozer was parked at the entrance to the site, and two other pieces of equipment sat abandoned beside it. A line of men and women in JonesCo overalls were walking back and forth in front of the machines, holding signs and chanting slogans. Beyond them, she could see the metal sculpture that Althea Gordon had made from the fences that had been placed to seal the site after the arrests, except that it now had an immense banner stretched across it that read "99% and Growing'. To her right the police who had been called stood around chatting, while to her left, several groups of a dozen or so people were doing and saying various things in unison, while still others were taunting the police about not arresting them.
"Okay, then," she said, glancing every which way, "I suppose the first person to speak with is the foreman."
"That'd be him over there," Althea Gordon replied, pointing at a rather annoyed-looking man glaring at the picketers from beside the bulldozer. "Name's Carl Morgan."
Jones was heading towards him, so Sue trotted over as quickly as she could. "Excuse me," she said, "I understand you're the foreman?"
"For whatever good it does me, yeah."
"I'm Councilwoman Sue Winston, Mr. Morgan, and we're hearing JonesCo's request for a zoning change today. What were your orders, sir, if you don't mind me asking."
He shrugged. "To clear the site so we can start work on the complex. Why?"
"Well, there is some question about whether JonesCo owns it."
"Oh yeah? That's news to me. Not that it matters if I can't get my crew back to work and the police won't do anything. No offense, ma'am, but this city's a joke."
Just as Jones arrived, she turned and walked towards the picket line. Natalie Knox had gotten there first, and was chatting with one of the fired picketers when Sue and the others arrived.
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