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West sat forward timidly. “I jotted a few notes. Pastor Shuttleworth asked me to, just in case.” She held up a scrapbook covered with glitter hearts and rainbow decals. “I ordered these for the shop and I can’t tell you how handy they are. It’s a three-ring binder, as you see, so I can just take these Chamber notes right out and ta-da! I have my scrapbook back again, ready for photos or anything. They’re only ten ninety-nine, while they last. Useful for anything, these scrapbooks are.”
    “Mayor,” Carol Ann said, her voice stickier and sweeter than usual. “I have a question. Are these Chamber meetings supposed to be places where some people think they can sell overpriced stuff from their shop or not? I say not. I move to have that blatant advertisement for Esther’s Country Crafts stricken from the record.”
    “There isn’t any record,” Howie said. He looked as if he would like to tear his hair, if he’d had any. “That’s part of what this discussion’s about. Esther, if you would, please read the motion, just to clarify matters.”
    Esther patted her curls, adjusted one faux pearl earring and cleared her throat. “A motion was made by member Marge Schmidt Peterson that a new political party dedicated to the welfare of the citizens of Hemlock Falls be officially sponsored by Chamber members. The party is named …” She squinted at the scrapbook page, then said, “Pfft?”
    “Not pfft!” Marge said. “People for Free Parking. PFFP.”
    “PFFP,” Quill said, scribbling her own notes. “Got it.”
    “And what it will do,” Marge said between her teeth, “is get those damn parking meters off Main Street.”
    “Oh,” said Quill. “I see.”
    “That’s not what it says here, actually …” Esther said.
    “No, you don’t see.” Marge was furious. “I got people coming to the Croh Bar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and they gotta cough up fifty cents? And all those cruddy meters give you is two hours before my customers have to haul their behinds off of the barstools and go feed the meters? And when they come back in, do they want another beer? You have any idea how much beer sales are down since those darn meters poked up all over town?”
    “Now, Margie,” Harland patted Marge’s shoulder with a couple of comforting thumps.
    “All voting against this stupid motion,” Carol Ann began.
    Quill hadn’t been secretary of the Chamber of Commerce for twelve years without learning a few tricks. She raised her hand. “Point of order, Mr. Mayor.”
    “Huh?” Elmer’s gaze was a little glassy. Adela poked him sharply in the side. “Yeah. Okay. The chair recognizes Quill. Ms. Quilliam. Ms. Quilliam-McHale, I mean.”
    “I move that the motion be tabled for further discussion,” Quill said promptly.
    The silence was short but powerful.
    Howie smiled. “I second that very smart motion.”
    “All in favor?” Quill said.
    “Aye!” came a chorus of relieved voices.
    “Against?” Elmer said.
    “Nay!” Marge and Carol Ann roared. This was the first time in Quill’s excellent memory that the two women had voted the same way on any issue at all. She put a big star next to the record she’d made of the vote.
    “So moved and passed,” Elmer said rapidly. “This vote is tabled for … whenever. Now if we can just get down to some real bidness …”
    “Now just a darn minute,” Marge said. “Are you going to represent the people of Hemlock Falls or not, Elmer Henry?”
    “Perhaps a study would be in order,” Quill said. When crossed, Marge had the temper of a tank gunner sitting on a wasp and a taste for revenge. “I move that a committee be formed to look into the advisability of the Chamber sponsoring a political party. I mean, the Chamber’s supposed to be independent of political bias, isn’t it? Maybe we should form a committee to look into the town’s support for the parking meters. A whole party formed just to get rid of parking meters? It doesn’t make