The man stood there for a moment, standing tall, staring straight ahead. His voice when he finally spoke was so low that Derrick had to strain to hear him. “You petty, petty people.” The man looked around the room. He still had not introduced himself, but neither Derrick nor any of the others were about to take him to task for that. They were all daunted by his presence, and the entire room was hushed as they waited to hear what he had to say. “You came here tonight to speak out against the bank? How many of you have taken out bank loans to start or support your businesses? The majority of you, I’ll bet. And all of you have what little money you’ve managed to accrue tucked safely away in savings accounts or CDs or checking accounts, from which you withdraw funds to make the payments that keep your lives running on an even keel: gas, water, electricity, groceries, mortgages, rent. Banks are the bedrock of all of your lives. Without banks, you would be burying your money in coffee cans in the back yard or stuffing it under your mattresses.” His voice rose. “Do you know the importance of the financial sector to the total economy? There would be no economy without banks! Not in this country, not in this world!

“And yet here you are, gathered together in an effort to prevent our bank from conducting its lawful business, all of you supposedly capitalist shopowners and entrepreneurs.” His voice dropped again as he glanced around the room. “You petty, petty people.”

Without another word, he turned, leaving the chambers the same way he’d come in, the people lined up to speak against the bank’s approval parting before him as he made his way out the door.

Everyone seemed to be stunned into silence, and Derrick took advantage of the unexpected stillness to declare an end to public discussion and make a motion that the meeting be adjourned. It was seconded, approved, and with a single tap of his gavel, the night was done.

But people did not exit the council chambers immediately. They milled about, talking low amongst themselves, and he realized that they were afraid to leave, afraid of encountering the man in black.

Derrick and the rest of the council remained behind as well.

Because they were afraid of the man, too.

2

Kyle finished tabulating receipts and was surprised to discover that there’d been a slight uptick in sales from the week prior. Combined with the fact that Gary was no longer here, which meant that he no longer had to pay an extra salary, the bookstore was actually ahead of where he’d projected it would be. Not in the black, of course, but definitely in a pinker part of red for the month.

It had to be the increased downtown foot traffic.

Because of the bank.