Down | Tyrus

IX

Andi comes out of her dad's room holding something rolled up. She slaps it down on the dining table and spreads it out, and now we see what it is. It's two circles, each one containing different constellations. Right away, I can see repeated shapes on the map I hold. The three drawings are titled in script on Andi's map as being Ursa Minor, Pegasus, and Auriga. I, of course, have no idea what any of those mean or where they are in the sky, but I think this proves that this is a map. 

"Okay, cool," Jonah says. "What now?"

"There's land somewhere below us," Buffy says, "and this could save our city."

"What are you talking about?" Jonah questions, but I know where she's going. 

"The city is breaking," I say. "Pieces are getting old and falling apart. Finding land could give us a home that isn't dying."

"Okay, but what can we do?" Jonah says. "We don't have a say in where the city goes."

"No, but the mayor does," Andi responds. "If we go talk to him, we could show him what we found, and then maybe he'd want to find the land."

"Why would the mayor listen to a bunch of kids?" Jonah asks. 

"he probably won't," Buffy admits, "but it's worth a try."

________________________________________

Andi and I walk into City Hall together, and right away we get some looks. Clearly, we're not the usual rich old men who walk through here, but we're doing our best to act confident. Our group chose us to be the ones to talk to the mayor, since both our moms work for people in the upper class, so we're more connected than Buffy or Jonah, which might help us. It might not, but we figure it's better to take the precaution. 

We walk right up to the desk, but the man there doesn't even look at us. 

"Excuse me," Andi says politely. 

The man's eyes hover up as he responds, "Yes?"

"We need to speak to the mayor," Andi says. "It's a matter of the utmost importance."

"Well, you'll have to wait. His Worship is busy."

"Busy with what?" Andi questions. 

"Important things," he retorts. "He doesn't have time to talk to some kids about playground installations."

"We're not interested in that," I say. "We have very important information that we need to discuss with him."

The man looks down and finishes scribbling something on a stack of papers before returning his attention back up.

"Fine then," he says. "One of the councillors will be out soon."

"A councillor?" Andi says. "But we need to speak to the mayor."

"Well, you're not going to talk to the mayor," he snipes back. "Now sit down."

I grab Andi's arm and pull her back toward the seats near the door. Her mortification is evident in her face She's not good with being shut down so frankly. If it were Buffy here, Buffy would have no problem, but she also might have started a fight, so I'm glad it's Andi instead. 

"I hate waiting," Andi mutters. 

"I know," I respond.

But we wait. We wait there, watching people walk in and out, completing their business within minutes. Five minutes goes by, and I'm not worried. That's normal. If the mayor is busy, the councillor must be busy too. Ten minutes. Okay, maybe he's finishing a talk with someone else. Twenty minutes. He could be in a meeting. Thirty minutes. Maybe he was taking a lunch break? Although it's late afternoon. One hour.