ACTING MAYOR

Synopsis

Kittredge has nine hundred and six residents, one traffic light, and a public works clerk named Ellery Pike who has never once been quoted in the newspaper. Through an error nobody will admit to, involving a form he himself filed correctly, Ellery becomes acting mayor for ninety days. He accepts, because refusing would have required a phone call. On the second day he reads the budget, which he has filed every year without opening. The town has been insolvent since 2019. Four people he likes signed it. The next council meeting is Tuesday, and the agenda has his name on it twice.

Who this is about

Ellery Pike has filed Kittredge's paperwork for twenty-two years, taken a public position on nothing, and been rewarded with the calmest life available inside a municipal building.

What goes wrong

A clerical error at the county makes him acting mayor for ninety days, and on the second day he opens the budget he has filed every year and finds the town quietly insolvent since 2019.

What's at stake

Telling anyone ends the careers of four people who have been kind to him for two decades. Saying nothing makes him the mayor whose name is on it.

Why it keeps going

Ninety days, one council meeting every other Tuesday, and a man whose only gift is paperwork trying to undo a disaster made entirely out of paperwork.

Takeaway

The quietest person in the building is usually the only one who has read everything in it.

Shelves

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Story, in the creator's words

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