Page 25 of No Man Left Behind

A definite understatement. The spreadsheet was loaded.

“We’ve got a walking or jogging trail that starts in Phail Way Park, winds through the woods, and back to the other side of the park. There are lots of small waterways and ponds in the area. I’d like to keep expanding the paths and bridges to cross the water in multiple places. At each of those spots, I’d like to have at least one bench and a plaque holding Phail facts or history. Or riddles. Tips for spotting birds or animals.”

Elina nodded. “And corny jokes. I think this town cries out for corny jokes.”

Piper laughed. “You’re so right. We’ll have to do some brainstorming there.”

Elina pointed at the laptop. “You’ve got polls on the website. Can you add a form where people can submit jokes? Then, you can sprinkle those around town at various times. If you don’t tell anyone, and change them up regularly, you’ll have people looking for them, trying to find the ones they submitted.”

Piper added the idea to her spreadsheet. “I love that idea. You know us so well already, and you’ve only been here for a couple of days.”

Elina’s heart warmed. “Everyone is so friendly. You’ve got a wonderful town.”

Piper waggled her eyebrows. “Don’t you meanwe?We’vegot a wonderful town?”

Elina laughed. It would be so easy to stay. It felt like it wasrightto stay. But she’d give herself time to make that decision.

She turned the conversation back to the mascot to avoid making any commitments. “From your spreadsheet, I can see a lot of ways to use the mascot. Or mascots if you want a couple.”

Piper nodded. “I’ll go along with the change in subject. Tell me what you see.”

She grinned at her new friend. “Thanks. Okay. Obviously, you can add the mascots onto the website itself. You can have them talking about the pages or the places. They could have silly or serious opinions depending on what the page is showcasing.”

“You could have merchants use the mascot’s image on posters and flyers when they have sales or something to showcase. There could be posters on the walls with your Phail fun facts about the buildings and businesses. Or what those businesses used to be.” She thought about Marcus’s telegraph office, which would soon be a police station.

“We could have the mascots wearing hats or carrying props that reflect the various businesses.”

Piper kept typing. “I was thinking of merchandise, too.”

“That would be great. People love to buy mugs and shirts from places they visit. You could team the mascot up with the town slogan, or more fun facts, or general silliness.”

“I like general silliness. Do you have any ideas about what the mascot should be?”

Elina sat back. She’d been thinking of this when she hadn’t been thinking about Marcus. “I’ve had a few. If you stick with animals that live in the area naturally, you have lots of opportunities for the Phail facts. And if you keep to the F sound for the animal and their name, it keeps in with the town theme.”

Piper agreed. “I think the same. I came up with fox, firefly, and pheasant with the initial F sound. And snail because it rhymes with Phail.”

“Those are great. And for names, you could do the same. Phil. Fay. Fancy. Philomena. Fred. Fiona. Fannie. Ferdinand. Faith. Felix. And I’m sure there are tons more.”

“I think we’d have to eliminate any of those that share a name with a current town resident. That would take Fiona and Felix out of the mix.”

Elina picked up the sketchpad she’d brought with her and flipped to a new page. She wrote down fox, firefly, pheasant, and snail.

Then she opened her tablet and pulled up photos of each of the animals, except for the fox. She’d already done a ton of research on foxes for Zorro in her strips.

They spent a couple of hours working out sketches and deciding on genders and names for the creatures. Elina drew a male and a female for each creature. Then they decided to add another that appeared gender-neutral.

“These are fantastic, Elina. You’re so talented. I’ll snap photos of them, and then we can post them on the website as a poll. We’ll see which ones the town likes best.”

“Don’t bother with pictures. I’ll use my tablet later tonight to finish them off. Then I’ll send you the final images for you to post.”

“Send me a bill at the same time. I’ve taken up your entire afternoon.”

Elina laughed. “Not a chance. I’ve had so much fun doing this, I think I should pay you.” She took a deep breath and decided to be honest. “I’ve never had a lot of friends. When I was little, my parents and I moved a lot. And we always lived in places where we were the outsiders who were trying to help. I never spoke the same language as the others when I first arrived. Made it a challenge to get close to anyone. Spending these hours with you has shown me what I’ve been missing. So, if I can consider you as a friend, that’s payment in full.”

Piper’s eyes sparkled with tears, and Elina blinked back a few of her own. “As an introvert who never had a big circle of friends until I came here, I’d love to be your friend.”

Piper hugged her, and they shared a watery laugh.

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