Page 10 of The Dreidl Disaster

He smiled, and she wasn’t sure why she liked that smile so much. “I’m glad.”

“If I tell you I’ll help you,” she ventured. “What’s your plan? With the added idea that my schedule is busy as I’m newly juggling two positions.”

“Newly juggling,” he said. “I take it you won an election?”

She nodded. “I’m a member of the County Board of Legislators starting in January.”

“Congratulations,” he said, sounding genuine.

“Thank you,” she replied. “So. Anyway, idea? Time crunch?”

“Nothing too drastic,” he said, the smile blinding her. “Walk around town, visit the game shop, get a knish or something. See what the climate is like.”

“With the added benefit of a public appearance that acts like my endorsement of your mission.”

He nodded. “That’s the goal.”

Of course it was. It was her job after all. And yet all the same, she knew she was going to be stuck. “Prepared to get a latte bath?”

He laughed and for some reason, that laugh unlocked something inside of her glow. “As long as I’m not covered in spoiled milk, I don’t mind.”

She didn’t expect him to get covered in spoiled milk, but as she led him into the hallway, she hoped that she wouldn’t be stuck in something she couldn’t get herself out of.

*

Artur would neverstop being astounded at how quickly and completely the mood of a town could change. Small towns were sometimes insular, but sometimes braced against both internal and external forces. Towns like Briarwood, Hollowville and Rivertown, as far as he knew, were towns that were open and accepting. He’d seen it himself in Rivertown.

Now, here he was, watching the chrysalis of Briarwood he’d seen on Sunday turn into the butterfly he knew it could be. All it took was the insertion of one Mayor Livvy Nachman into the equation.

It was beautiful.

This was the Briarwood he needed to learn about, not the one that only the few people who knew his bona fides from outside of Briarwood were willing to share with him the day before.

The mayor stood next to him; her eyes focused. He had to think quickly because she was busy, and he didn’t want to lose her attention. “Talk to me about Briarwood.”

“So,” Mayor Nachman…Liv…replied, “Briarwood has your basic Hudson Valley town structure.”

Subtext: just like Rivertown and Hollowville.

“But the Briarwood business improvement district has influenced a bunch of new businesses to set up shop here in Briarwood in the last few years,” she continued. “Which means a few new faces have joined the familiar ones. And there has also been an influx of people willing and interested in supporting Briarwood and its businesses.”

Which was nice, and probably followed the same pattern Rockliffe Manor had, if he had to guess, considering who now lived here part of the time. However, Artur didn’t want a tourist guide, or a discussion about some of the people he suspected were behind the influx of the town’s cash. Instead, he wanted her invested in what he was doing, and hearing her talk about Briarwood’s future made him think. He wanted to hear more of it. “Do you have a vision?”

He wasn’t sure whether she expected him to ask that question, but all the same she took a while to answer it.

“I did,” she finally said, gesturing widely as if her hands could hold the whole town. “This is better than I expected after five years, except of course, for the problem the Hanukkah event became.”

He smiled. “That’s what I’m here to fix. That aside, talk to me about your favorite parts of Briarwood. What’s your biggest victory?”

Once again, there was a long pause. “I think if you consider all the things that have happened over the last few years,” the mayor continued as if she’d accepted his answer, if not his presence, “I’d say our biggest victory is that Briarwood houses the first branch of Greenblatt’s Knish Shop that’s opened outside of Manhattan, ever.”

Whichwasimpressive. He’d visited the store the day before and he’d had tons of thoughts about its origins and how they’d managed it.

None of which were for public consumption.

But he had to keep it cool. “Greenblatt’s does bring both good history cred and even better foodie cred to Briarwood.”

She nodded. “Yeah. It does.”

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