The middle aged counselors agreed to hang back at some of the first "community" meetings. The youth of a local Christian Church had broken free of fortress but not of Jesus.
The fur was flying as soon as people were under one roof at first.
"What did you just say?"
The tall boy mumbled it again. "Stay away from my butt." He did a quick smile and his face returned to petrified but nobody can tell, right?!
"I'm not the one needs saving honey."
"Oh did you bring your
Other half
Partner for life
Soulmate
Significant other
Someone had started a list. But the young Christian counselor couldn't or wouldn't think of a single phrase on the spot. This caused her to leave the room tearing up and get another story of Counseling Firsts from the more experienced counselors.
After people invented social distancing in that room, and individuals proved able and not so much able to hold tongue, listen to each other, make points, and no shortage of outbursts, what followed rivaled Peace Talks of Nations.
Eventually an older person asked, What if we leave sex out of the equation?
Like you can't murder us all if there's no actual sex involved in being whatever "this" is?!
What's the point?
An older counselor wept out loud. "Y'all, we are such a mess."
"I CANNOT...." Someone said. More people left the room.
"Gay for a day or Christian for eternity?" Someone asked loudly.
"I'm not denying Christ for my wanker's sake." Someone went and sat by him and patted his knee.
"Let's pray." A pastor suggested and just started talking to God about being neighbors.
Someone scrawled a note that read: I wouldn't live here if you paid me. Good luck with all your properties.
More people left.
Rome wasn't built in a day! The Pastor's wife said to dashed looks regarding "community".
BE QUIET, YOU TOO ARE AMONGST THE ROMANS! A man said loudly.
"You'll see," said the Pastor's wife.
"The power of prayer," said the Pastor.
The next meeting was postponed due to weather.
By the next meeting people had rallied. Suits, ties, dress clothes; bagged, raggedly clothes; an array of tee-shirt messages and "cultural clothing".
"Hmmmm-hmmmmm, we ready."
People had made more lists.
Reasons to be a community...
To move....
Challenges....
Damages, losses, irreplaceable...
The young counselors and the Christian counselors had teamed up to survey let go social workers. And they all volunteered to ask a simple question of the crowd forming: Why'd you come today?
One manager was tracking down arrested overnights and hospitalized. A co-worker of a gone missing "food server" was full of questions. And added a point blank, and how come nobody's been tipping?
"Now, now Miss Shirley, you know ain't nobody got cash. Us truckers had to take up collections of change for the extra miles and time because the highway washed out!"
"It did?" An elderly person asked.
"Yeah onto our homes!"
Grumbles and moans over shared disaster.
"And we're gonna have to come up with NON-monetary solution, apparently."
"It's called work," someone hollered. Somebody else threw down purses being held outside the port-o-potties and raised fists.
The pastor grabbed a clipboard of survey and started ushering people inside.
"YOU LIED."
"HOW SO?"
The two women were not inclined to raise voices but did so to hear each other over the buzz in the filling-up room. "Are you going to accuse me of saying there'd be no gay people?"
"Are there 'gay' people?"
"I've heard there are."
"None of mine are."
"Family or group?"
"Might as well be a group home at this point."
"Did you try game night as the Pastor recommended?"
"No. Did you?"
"Well, he's my husband so I had to."
"Was it fun?"
"It wasn't un-fun, but it started out a little awkward."
People were mostly clustering together not by race or religious/or not, but by motivation to come to a community meeting. The rumors that had gone around about missing deadlines for AID and qualifying factors for receiving which kind of help/support were spanning a truth-meter a mile wide. This meeting was mostly to whittle down some vagueness like lost everything to so-and-so's a bitch because she made my boyfriend cheat on me.
"How'd I lie?"
A young man who'd been quietly listening leaned in closer and explained, this is why we ask forgiveness for sins committed knowingly and UNknowingly. The pastor's wife leaned in closer yet and sniped about judgment of sin being performed by God, Father. And besides to her knowledge she hadn't yet committed any sin OR fraud concerning FEMA.
"So, thinly disguising a bid to manage an operation as a feel better community meeting is not 'lying,'" the other woman raised her drawn on eyebrows.
"Not lying at all," the Pastor had come up behind the women in the row of folding chairs behind. "We're trying to help non-locals understand our community better before they write checks and dash off to the next disaster." He crossed his arms in front of his chest as if to prop up his listening ears.
"Then this is what we'll do over near the French Broad."
A man in rugged boots, dress pants, and a rain jacket looked like he was saluting as he scanned the room for someone or something. He addressed the crowd as everyone and outlaid the basics about phases of recovery and process.
I guess somebody felt comfortable enough with the speaker's tone that he passed a note to the woman sitting next to him: Take the duct tape off my mouth.
Others raised hands and started asking questions.
Back at work...
"Any info to relay?"
I summarized.
"I knew that."
"Anything happening here?"
The group in a pyramid of management stayed quiet until MSM (most senior manager in the space/situation) outlaid fires to put out, exceptions to routine, and a necessary phone conference with team in-store having some issues.
The phone conference came around quickly as the store visit proved things really going smoothly. "To you." Someone sniped. "What's that supposed to mean?" Someone else asked in front of everyone. Before an answer could be had somebody else directed that person by the elbow over to near the bathrooms. "Excuse us."
WHOA! Was heard as the bathroom door was opened and a wall of smell...like oil or fuel or gas and poop or septic...escaped into the store front. It didn't stop a dress down.
"We're all sick of your passive aggressive bullshit."
"He's a control freak."
"Both of y'all's OCD is what I'm getting."
"Overcompensating Causes Disaster?"
"Exactly."
The late into the night Reality Chats between adults of differing skills and talents were helping create a professional page people could stick to. Certainly helping us all understand our own personalities better. But not magic bullet to a shift or day's worth of "work".
"Let's not stage a coup today."
"But I want
"We'll get there. I see your own franchise in the future."
"But this isn't even a franchise."
"Well, it's a way to get the lay of the land." He pushed open the door and held it open for everyone.
"They're not gay," a woman resetting a shelf announced. "That's the office at the moment."
"But that's the head," said a woman called The Unicorn. Main contender in the "rent party" "throwdown" "shindig" that was going to somehow solve some kind of territorial dispute. "Mud wrestling? And a wet tee shirt contest? I'm in," a young guy was saying loudly so one of the women who came out the men's room fired even louder, "She'll only win because she has the biggest boobs!"
A manager rolled his eyes, covered the phone, and waved people over. "This is the conference call."
"Put it on speaker phone."
"There is none."
"How many children are there?"
"Quite a few since they canned the program."
"Headcount."
"I think it was Headstart."
"No, yeah, but headcount the children." The DM (district manager) held the phone out so people could hear. Then two employees got into it. "I think the gay people should clean the bathrooms."
A throaty ha. "Well, I think the black people should."
"Boys!" The DM shouted into the phone.
"The black people ALWAYS clean the bathroom and my mama said
"Your mama?
"BOYS!!"