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In the darkness of the cave, Pound, Beni, and Captain Colere poured over their adventures to Mayor Hunter across a campfire as Simon the monkey sat nearby, scratching his butt and picking his fur like any normal monkey would do. The mayor listened to their stories intently as they described fire-breathing dragons, giant people, giant ants, and the mystical child of stone. He rarely interrupted, but when they recounted the final battle and how they had escaped to earth through the dragon’s mouth, he held up his hands in surrender.
“Wow, now that is some story, and I can’t wait to write it down somewhere,” Mayor Hunter declared with one raised eyebrow. “But if you think that I’m going to announce this meandering tale of doom to the press, you’re as crazy as your stories,” the mayor said calmly as he trained his eyes on each of them one at a time. “Whatever we choose to do here, we should keep this wild fairy tale to ourselves,” he decided, and Pound was visibly pissed off by the comment.
“You wanted to know what happened, so we told you,” Pound replied and pointed a finger at the mayor in impotent frustration as he ramped up his rebuttal. “It isn’t a fairy tale any more so than the fight we had a while back with a resurrected vampire from the Revolutionary War! I still have the bite marks to prove it,” he added as he withdrew the offending digit and placed it on two tiny scar marks on his neck. Beni and Colere kept their cool as they watched the clash between the humans play out. Simon simply tilted his head as he placed a flea in his mouth and chewed on it.
“Now just calm down a minute,” the mayor said with a still voice as he relaxed back with his elbows against a cold, mossy stone. He had been in many a debate, and he knew how to get the upper hand: rile the other guy up and then come back with calm logic. “I believe you all, and you’ve nothing more to prove to me. As for the incident in Franklinville, that damn vampire was washed down the river, hopefully never to return, and I haven’t forgotten the risks that the DAM took to find the scouts out there on Faith Rock.” He smiled and licked his lips with anticipation. “What I am saying is that we have to practice sleight of hand here. I am still the mayor of Franklinville, you see, because I never told the whole truth about what happened at Faith Rock. They would have run me out of office if I had done that. What I did do was tell them the two facts that mattered: we found the scouts, and we brought them home. End of story.” Then he directed his eyes to Pound. “I know for a fact the DAM exists as a branch of the Secret Service for one very important reason: people are sometimes afraid of the truth. Secrets are acceptable, especially when the truth is too farfetched and hard to swallow. So just do what’s right by them, and they’ll live without the gory details.” The mayor’s debate tactic had worked this time, and Pound’s temper calmed back down.
“Well, mayor, it will be difficult to explain how children from ‘Missing’ posters suddenly reappear after decades without showing any signs of aging, so I have to agree with you on that note,” Pound acknowledged. “But I can’t help but feel that we should reunite every last one of them with their families.”
“I agree, and we’ll do whatever we can to make that happen, friend,” he said with a nod as he leaned forward and stood to his feet. “But right now, you and I have to go back to town to meet Crush,” he said, but he meant only Pound when he said ‘you’. “The rest of you will have to stay here for a while until we can sort things out with the DAM.”
“What are you talking about?” Pound asked with raised eyebrows.
“I’ll tell you on the way. Beni and Captain Colere, it was nice to meet you,” Mayor Hunter said as he wiped the dust off his pants and then held out his hand to shake again.
“You want us to clean your hand?” Beni asked. She still did not understand the customary handshake, and the mayor pointed at her and laughed as he remarked to Pound.
“You see, that’s the kind of thing that the world’s not ready for,” Hunter replied with a grin. Pound smiled with him, and he shook the mayor’s hand instead. “I’ve got to be heading to town now, but I’ll be back soon,” he said, and the mayor and Pound followed the tunnel out of the cave with Colere behind them. Simon scampered up Beni’s arm, and they climbed together out of the damp darkness of the cave into the warm light of the afternoon.