As Mayor Garner watched Richard “King” Castle walking haughtily into Big Loft VA's City Hall, a strange thought came to his mind … a memory of rare trips to Virginia Beach, and the kinds of things kids did with beach towels – they made a sharp and sudden stinging snap against one's body that, while not terribly harmful, was momentarily very painful.
It was one of those things that had made Mayor Garner instantly furious, and all at once, he went into that exact same mindset as he realized Mr. Castle was intending to drop in on him just like he dropped in without an appointment on five mayors previous. At least, that was Mr. Castle's intent.
“I'm sorry, Mr. Castle, but, you're not in the mayor's appointment book for today.”
“What do you mean? I've had instant access to the mayors of Big Loft for 20 years!”
The mayor's secretary smiled patiently.
“I know, Mr. Castle, but you know how busy Mayor Garner is, with all that is going on.”
“No mayor has ever been too busy for me!”
“I'm sorry, Mr. Castle, but he is unavailable. You can, however, make an appointment.”
“Make an appointment? Make an appointment! You tell him that if he knows what is good for him, he had better make an appointment with me!”
“Okay – let's do it right now.”
Mr. Castle jumped, turned around, and ran right into Mayor Garner – in his wrath, his dark eyes and face flaming.
“Let's get one thing straight, Mr. Castle – you're not king of this castle here. If you want to be mayor, you go ahead and run in 15 months, and I won't be running so I don't care – but until then, you're the president of the board of supervisors and I'm the mayor. You don't run me, you don't own me, and if you've run a background check on me to try to mess with me, just know I've dug all the way up into and under you – and no castle does well on a rotten foundation!”
Mr. Castle jumped.
“You either get an appointment, or I will see you at the next board of supervisors pre-meeting next month. Those are your two options – and don't you ever come here and talk harshly to Ms. Taylor again. She isn't paid to put up with abuse from you or any of your cronies in the Guilder Group.”
Mr. Castle jumped again.
“I told you I already know about you, Mr. Castle. So: do your job, and stop meddling in mine. Is that clear, sir?”
Mr. Castle stormed out.
“You know he's going to try to destroy you, sir,” Ms. Taylor said.
Mayor Garner smiled faintly.
“When I was a kid, there was this beach bully who would throw sand in your eyes and swat you with his beach towel. He messed up in letting me see him coming. I caught that towel, pulled him to me, body-slammed him into the sand, and pushed an entire sand castle over him before he could get up. I buried him up to his eyes and nostrils while everyone else cheered me on, and left him there until the tide started to come in. I never had trouble with anyone on that beach again.”
Ms. Taylor smiled.
“Poor Mr. Castle. All this time he's pushed folks around on the political beach, and then this happens.”
“The tide is already in,” Mayor Garner said. “He had better figure it out before I have to show him. I gave him today's warning. That's it!”
Photo by Scott Young on Unsplash
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I enjoyed reading you like always. Especially the expressions used. The mayor seems to be a fine man and learned how to set borders without turning into a bully himself.
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The mayor, eight weeks before this story, was sort of going along with the foolishness ... just the interim mayor, so why rock the boat ... but then his boat got rocked, and he realized he had better start doing right -- and stay right by not overstepping his authority! He has the quiet support (and insistence on the right) of a police captain cousin of his ...
The expressions ... "king of my castle" came to mind, and so I started playing around with that metaphor in my head ...
Thank you for taking the time to explain it. I hope to read back some of your stories. You did a great job. 👍🏻💕
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