Highway Cats (8 page)

Shopping Center access road almost ruined everything. Who would have guessed a hundred-year-old cemetery would cause such a ruckus?

FARLEY. Nobody! You handled it perfectly, though. Canceling the road construction at the last minute, calling in the Historical Society, setting up a plan to preserve that patch of woods in honor of our first family.

MAYOR. Our first family? Who is that?

FARLEY. The Potters, sir. Wasn't it in honor of them that you…?

MAYOR. Oh yes, so I did. Early settlers, heritage, historic land. Voters seem to appreciate that sort of thing these days. Make a note for future elections, Farley. Shopping centers out, cemeteries in.

FARLEY. Right, sir. I've got it.

MAYOR. What do you think about going even further? We could open up that bit of woods to tourists, put up a monument, a visitors center, a merry-go-round for the kids. We could name it after me!

FARLEY. Well, sir, that's a thought. Not much land left to work with out there, though. You might want to be associated with something larger and more important, like a bridge…

MAYOR. A bridge. Hmmm. My name over troubled water…

FARLEY. Or a sports complex. They're popular these days. You know that swampy stretch of land out by the reservoir? Nothing lives there now but some wild ducks and a few stray cats. We'll get rid of them in a jiffy.

MAYOR. A sports complex! That's it! Farley, you're worth your weight in gold. Let's go to work on it. I'll get the permits; you get the construction crew. People will be impressed!

FARLEY. They'll know you're a mover and a shaker.

MAYOR. So they will, Farley, so they will!

 

(Outside, traffic noises rise to a bone-jarring roar. As the mayor continues to stand at the window, an anonymous pickup truck zooms past on the highway below, a small cardboard box bouncing in the cargo bed behind the shadowy head of the driver.)

 

C
URTAIN