Tomlinson nodded thoughtfully. “That could be a good way to handle the education issue.” His father said nothing, which Jake took as a tacit vote of approval.

Rogers prodded Jake’s shoulder. “You going to tell them about the Fourth of July?”

Jake looked from Tomlinson to his father and then back to Amy.

“Tell them, Jake,” she prodded.

“I … uh, I got this idea about decorating the whole town of Lignite with patriotic light displays and having the whole thing powered by the big rig. Fireworks and everything. Keep the lights on all night.”

Rogers broke into a wide grin. “You’d be able to see the town on satellite photos, if it’s a clear night.”

“I could give my campaign kick-off speech at Lignite,” Tomlinson said, his face lighting up.

Jake realized that Amy had already told Tomlinson about the idea. Now they were springing it on the old man.

Tomlinson’s father grumbled, “Give your kick-off speech in that one-horse town? Nonsense! The speech should be made here in the capital, with a big crowd and all the news media.”

“Bring them all to Lignite!” Amy said, suddenly excited. “Busloads of people! All the news media.”

Rogers laughed. “That’ll put Lignite on the map, all right.”

“It’ll put MHD on the map,” Jake said.

Even Tomlinson Senior cracked a tight smile. But then he said, “If your generator works.”

“It’ll work,” Rogers said. “We’ll make it work!”

Jake thought that they’d have to get Tim Younger to make it work. And to do that, they needed Glynis to make Tim make it work.

Preparations

PREPARATIONS

The hardest part was keeping all the preparations secret. There was no way to disguise the hullabaloo in Lignite. Trucks trundled into the quiet little town laden with long strings of lights and other patriotic decorations. Tomlinson’s campaign office started sending out invitations all across the state to attend the Glorious Fourth in Lignite. The news reporters were amused by the idea that Tomlinson was trying to make the sleepy old town the launching pad for his election campaign.

Okay, Jake conceded. But no one was to mention the MHD connection to the upcoming holiday festivities. Bob Rogers worked as liaison between the Tomlinson campaign and the city fathers of Lignite, but that was explained by the fact that Rogers was a native son of Lignite, the local boy who went to the big city, got himself an education, and made good.

Lignite’s mayor was an accommodating soul, cheerful and outgoing. But Jake insisted that he shouldn’t be told about the MHD connection until the very last possible moment. The man had been the town’s undertaker until he’d run for town council, eleven years earlier. Once on the council he’d handed his funeral parlor business to a cousin and got the council to elect him mayor—which it had faithfully done every year since.