Then he imagined Marta losing her job because he had signed a lie.
He understood why Charles had chosen the offer carefully.
It had been designed to look like rescue while asking Jonah to abandon everyone who needed the truth.
Chapter Eleven: The Hearing
The first public hearing took place in a crowded municipal building in Millbrook.
Residents filled the folding chairs and lined the back wall.
Some wanted the distribution center because they hoped it would bring jobs.
Others feared losing their homes or businesses.
Jonah sat beside Marta and listened to both sides.
He understood that not everyone who supported the project was cruel.
Several families had been unemployed for months, and the prospect of new work mattered to them.
Arthur stood and said that the town deserved a development plan that protected existing workers while creating new opportunities.
Charles accused him of abandoning shareholders for sentimental reasons.
A council member asked whether the company had promised specific wages for the proposed jobs.
Charles referred to projected averages.
The council member asked for written guarantees.
Charles had none.
Marta spoke next.
Her voice shook as she described the withheld tips and the years she had worked without a reliable schedule.
Dennis stood at the back and called her a liar.
The chair warned him to remain silent.
Marta continued.
She said the diner was worth saving, but not because its owner deserved protection.
It was worth saving because its workers and customers had built a community inside it despite the way it was managed.
Jonah had prepared a long statement.
When his turn came, he put the pages aside.
He told the room that he wanted jobs, not monuments.
He said he wanted a town where a person could accept a meal without being humiliated and where employees could ask about missing wages without being threatened.
He did not ask the council to reject every new building.
He asked them to demand a plan that counted the people already standing on the land.
The room remained quiet when he finished.
Then a woman near the back began to clap.
Others joined her.
Charles did not look at Jonah.
He was watching the board members seated along the side wall.
Chapter Twelve: The Threat at the Door
Two nights later, Jonah returned home to find his apartment door standing open.
The lock had been damaged.
A kitchen drawer lay on the floor, and Lucy’s astronomy project had been knocked from the table.
