True believer - Nicholas Sparks [67]
“And where’s that?”
“Why, you’re going to meet the rest of the town council, of course. You’ve already met Jed and Tully and the folks I introduced you to this morning, but there are a few others. And the county commissioners, too. Like me, they’re mighty impressed with your visit here. Mighty impressed. And don’t worry—they’ve got all their ghost stories ready. You brought your tape recorder, right?”
“It’s in my pocket.”
“Good, good. Glad to hear it. And . . .” For the first time, he turned from the crowd to look at Jeremy. “I take it you are heading out to the cemetery tonight . . .”
“I was, and speaking of that, I wanted to make sure—”
The mayor kept on going as if he hadn’t heard him, while nodding and waving to the crowd. “Well, as the mayor, I feel it’s my obligation to tell you not to worry none about meeting those ghosts. Oh, they’re a sight, of course. Enough to startle an elephant into fainting. But so far, no one’s ever been hurt, except for Bobby Lee Howard, and ramming into that road sign afterward had less to do with what he saw than the fact that he’d finished a twelve-pack of Pabst before he got behind the wheel.”
“Ah,” Jeremy said, beginning to mimic the mayor by nodding and waving. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
Lexie was waiting for him when he met the town council, and he breathed a sigh of relief when she moved to his side as he was introduced to the town’s power elite. Most were friendly enough—although Jed stood frowning with his arms crossed—but he couldn’t help watching Lexie from the corner of his eye. She seemed distracted, and he wondered what had happened between her and Rodney.
Jeremy didn’t have a chance to find out, or even relax, for the next three hours, as the rest of the evening was akin to an old-fashioned political convention. After his meeting with the council—each and every one of them, Jed excluded, seemed to have been prepped by the mayor and promised “it could be the biggest story ever” and reminded him that “tourism is important to the town”—Jeremy was brought to the stage, which had been festooned with a banner proclaiming, WELCOME JEREMY MARSH!
Technically, it wasn’t a stage, but a long wooden table topped with a shiny purple tablecloth. Jeremy had to use a chair to step up onto it, as did Gherkin, only to confront a sea of strange faces gazing up at him. Once the crowd quieted, the mayor made a long-winded speech praising Jeremy for his professionalism and honesty as if they’d known each other for years. Additionally, Gherkin not only mentioned the Primetime Live appearance—which elicited the familiar smiles and nods, as well as a few more oohs and aahs—but a number of well-received articles he’d written, including a piece he’d done for the Atlantic Monthly concerning biological weapons research at Fort Detrick. As much as he sometimes came off as a goofball, Jeremy thought, the man had done his homework and definitely knew how to flatter. At the end of the speech, Jeremy was presented with a key to the city, and the Mahi-Mahis—who were standing on another table along an adjacent wall—broke in and sang three songs: “Carolina in My Mind,” “New York, New York,” and, perhaps most appropriate, the theme from Ghostbusters.
Surprisingly, the Mahi-Mahis weren’t half-bad, even though he had no idea how they managed to get up on the table. The crowd loved them, and for an instant, Jeremy found himself smiling and actually enjoying himself. As he stood onstage, Lexie winked at him, which only made the whole thing seem more surreal.
From there, the mayor led him off to the corner, where he was seated in a comfortable antique chair set in front of an antique table. With his tape recorder running, Jeremy spent the rest of the evening listening to one story after another about encounters with the ghosts. The mayor had people line up, and they chatted excitedly while waiting their turn to meet him, as if he were giving autographs.
Unfortunately, most of the stories he heard began to run together. Everyone in line claimed to have seen the lights, but each