Hoof

The Mayor

Officer Dwain couldn't believe it as he drove away from the hospital. He had just dropped off Dave to get treatment for his wounds and there were already three reports of murders in the park last hour coming from local authorities. No witnesses had been found. What was going on? His mind raced with questions, who was behind this rash of violence? Why hadn't anyone been caught yet? Was it the buck? Something related to the bright light? How was he going to explain how the forest healed itself? Officer Dwain knew he needed to act quickly if he wanted to prevent any more innocent lives being taken.

Officer Dwain went straight to his office, eager to put the pieces of this murder puzzle together. He got a binder containing all the faxed murder reports in one arm as he prepared himself for what he was about to discover. If these were connected killings, then it would be up to him and him alone to make sure justice was fought for those poor victims who had been taken too soon. But these were no ordinary murders. They looked like animal attacks. Nobody would believe what he had seen in the forest except maybe Dave?

Officer Dwain jumped into his car and headed directly to the Mayor's office. Officer Dwain burst into the Mayor's office unannounced, his expression grave and fearful. "We need to shut down the entire metro parks right now!" He barked in a tone that left no room for disagreement. His eyes were wide with terror as he quickly tried to explain why such an urgent action was necessary; "There's some crazed animal out there! We don't know what it is or what it can do."

Mayor Brody stared incredulously at Officer Dwain. "Three fatal car accidents this morning?" Brody asked, incredulously and somewhat alarmed.

Officer Dwain looked at Brody, "What on Earth are you talking about? Three murders have already been committed and you are playing politics by going into total denial? Just because of your election coming up doesn't mean that we can ignore what's happening and pretend like nothing happened! We have to do something about this - clearly a killer is on the loose! A real crazed animal. I can feel it in my bones -- this is bigger than any of us can ever imagine."

Mayor Brody rolled his eyes at Officer Dwain and said, "Let me get this straight. You want me to believe that there's a wild beast running around my town? What proof do you have of its existence? Did you capture it with bear traps like some kind of intrepid hunter? Or did you shoot it?" He mockingly lifted an imaginary rifle above his head, then lowered it again.

Officer Dwain shook his head in disbelief at the Mayor's stubbornness. Mayor Brody had an election to win, and shutting down the park just was not a solution for containing a crazed animal that had somehow broken free in the Mayor's opinion. "To hell with your election," Officer Dwain said angrily. "We need to call in the military if we're going to hope to contain this creature before you become the mayor of death city."

Mayor Brody looked thoroughly disturbed. Officer Dwain was implying that the park would have to be and stay closed for the Fourth of July holiday, and he knew how much everyone in town was looking forward to it. "Brody, look," he began reluctantly. "You do what you have to do but this park will be open for the Fourth of July. Everyone is going to be here and we're all going to have fun.

Officer Dwain could barely contain his anger as he shoved open the door to Mayor Brody's office and stormed out. He had trusted the mayor, been loyal all these years - but it was all for nothing now, with the mayor enabling a dangerous policy in pursuit of votes! It seemed that politics really mattered more than people, even here in this small town - a place where everyone should be respected and listened to.