Julia considered this, then said: 'Would you step outside with me for a minute, Barbie?'
He looked at Joe's mother, but Claire was no longer paying them any attention. She had moved her son aside and was sitting next to Norrie, who pressed her face against Claire's shoulder.
'Dude, the government owes me a computer,' Joe said as Barbie and Julia walked toward the front door.
'Noted,' Barbie said.'And thank you, Joe. You did well.'
'A lot better than their damn missile,' Benny muttered.
Oh the front stoop of the McClatchey home, Barbie and Julia stood silent, looking toward the town common, Prestile Stream, and the Peace Bridge. Then, in a voice that was low-pitched and angry, Julia said:'He's not. That's the thing. That's the goddam thing.'
'Who's not what?'
'Peter Randolph is not halfway competent. Not even one-quarter. I went to school with him all the way from kindergarten, where he was a world-champion pants-wetter, to twelfth grade, where he was part of the Bra-Snapping Brigade. He was a C-minus intellect who got B-minus grades because his father was on the school board, and his brainpower has not increased. Our Mr Rennie has surrounded himself with dullards. Andrea Grinnell is an exception, but she's also a drug addict. OxyContin.'
'Back problems,' Barbie said. 'Rose told me.'
Enough of the trees on the common had shed their leaves for Barbie and Julia to be able to see Main Street. It was deserted now - most people would still be at Dipper's, discussing what they had seen - but its sidewalks would soon fill with stunned, disbelieving townsfolk drifting back to their homes. Men and women who would not yet even dare ask each other what came next.
Julia sighed and ran her hands through her hair. 'Jim Rennie thinks! if he just keeps all the control in his own hands, things will eventually come rightside up. For him and his friends, at least. He's the worst kind of politician - selfish, too egocentric to realize he's way out of his league, and a coward underneath that bluff can-do exterior of his. When things get bad enough, he'll send this town to the devil if he thinks he can save himself by doing so. A cowardly leader is the most dangerous of men. You're the one who should be running this show.'
'I appreciate your confidence - '
'But that's not going to happen no matter what your Colonel Cox and the President of the United States may want. It's not going to happen even if fifty thousand people march down Fifth Avenue in New York, waving signs with your face on them. Not with that f**king Dome still over our heads.'
'Every time I listen to you, you sound less Republican,' Barbie remarked.
She struck him on the bicep with a surprisingly hard fist. 'This is not a joke.'
'No,' Barbie said. 'It's not a joke. It's time to call for elections. And I urge you to stand for Second Selectman yourself.'
She looked at him pityingly. 'Do you think Jim Rennie is going to allow elections as long as the Dome is m place? What world are you living in, my friend?'
'Don't underestimate the will of the town, Julia.'
'And don't you underestimate James Rennie. He's been in charge here for donkey's years and people have come to accept him. Also, he's very talented when it comes to finding scapegoats. An out-of-towner - a drifter, in fact - would be perfect in the current situation. Do we know anybody like that?'
T was expecting an idea from you, not a political analysis.'
For a moment he thought she was going to hit him again. Then she drew in a breath, let it out, and smiled. 'You come on all aw-shucks, but you've got some thorns, don't you?'
The Town Hall whistle began to blow a series of short blasts into the warm, still air.
'Someone's called in a fire,'Julia said. 'I think we know where.'
They looked west, where rising smoke smudged the blue. Barbie thought most of it had to be coming from the Tarker's Mills side of the Dome, but the heat would almost certainly have ignited small fires on the Chester side as well.
'You want an idea? Okay, here's one. I'll track down Brenda - she'll either be at home or at Dipper's with everyone else - and suggest she take charge of the fire-fighting operation.'
'And if she says no?'
'I'm pretty sure she won't. At least there's no wind to speak of - not on this side of the Dome - so it's probably just grass and brush. She'll tap some guys to pitch in, and she'll know the right ones. They'll be the ones Howie would've picked.'
'None of them the new officers, I take it.'
'I'll leave that up to her, but I doubt if she'll be calling on Carter Thibodeau or Melvin Searles. Freddy Denton, either. He's been on the cops for five years, but I know from Brenda that Duke was planning to let him go. Freddy plays Santa every year at the elementary school, and the kids love him - he's got a great ho-ho-ho. He's also got a mean streak.'
'You'll be going around Rennie again.'
'Yes.'
'Payback could be a bitch.'
'I can be a bitch myself, when I have to be. Brenda too, if she gets her back up.'
'Go for it. And make sure she asks that guy Burpee. When it conies to putting out a brushfire, I'd trust him rather than any town firebarn leftovers. He's got everything in that store of his.'
She nodded. 'That's a damned good idea.'
'Sure you don't want me to tag along?'
'You've got other fish to fry. Did Bren give you Duke's key to the fallout shelter?'
'She did.'
'Then the fire may be just the distraction you need. Get that Geiger counter.' She started for her Prius, then stopped and turned back. 'Finding the generator - assuming there is one - is probably the best chance this town has got. Maybe the only one. And Barbie?'
'Right here, ma'am,' he said, smiling a little.
She didn't. 'Until you've heard Big Jim Rennie's stump speech, don't sell him short. There are reasons he's lasted as long as he has.'
'Good at waving the bloody shirt, I take it.'