The Mayor's Bear (an origins chapter)

I am in the process of writing a book about a Town Mayor called Roxie Riverbloom and a magimistical stuffed bear called Strumbold. I was inspired to write the story after opening the library at Lace Hill School when I was mayor and not being able to find a book about mayors to read to the children on the occasion. So I thought, I ought to write one. 

A couple of weeks ago I joined a book writing club and this morning's exercise was to do a 'writing sprint' where 30 of us got together on zoom and we each silently wrote some stuff all at the same time for 30 minutes. And then we talked a little bit about what we had written. It was fun.

I chose to write a new chapter for my book, which explains why Roxie chose to put herself forward to become a Town Councillor. I thought you might like to read it. (And you can read the whole story here if you wish. This chapter below comes in the middle of #6 when Roxie and her sister are driving north...) 

Why did you become the Mayor anyhow?

By two o’clock, Roxie and Soosh were speeding up the M40 heading north. It was going to be a long drive. But they had stories, music and each other. And Soosh had some probing questions for Roxie.

Strumbold sat in the back of the car and listened carefully to conversation between the two sisters. Even before he found his voice that midsummer’s morning, Strumbold loved listening to conversations. He enjoyed the up and down, the inside and out, and the ebb and flow of how people chatted. Everything began with a conversation, he thought to himself. He wondered what first conversation happened that led to someone walking on the moon, or discovering DNA or even, deciding to become a Town Mayor…

“So, Roxie, you’ve never really told me why you wanted to be a town councillor, let alone become the Town Mayor” said Soosh. “I mean, didn’t you have enough on your plate beforehand? Your four lovely children. Your home. Your job. Wasn’t that enough? Heck I struggle to keep my garden looking good. Why? Just why? I mean it’s great and all that, and I love the fact that my big sister is Town Mayor. But why…?!”

Roxie stared out of the window and looked back at her sister. “Well to be honest, I am not entirely sure. It just sort of happened. I mean it probably started with a conversation I had.”

Strumbold smiled. “It is always a conversation”, he whispered quietly to himself. 

Roxie went on. “You see, one day I was chatting with one of my customers. I had just booked her a holiday to Greece. Kos I think it was. Beautiful hotel with a sandy beach as soft as silk. And she mentioned something about the skatepark where her children played whenever they could. How they loved it, even with the scrapes and bruises. Just being there with their mates. And then she looked so sad for a moment and said ‘but guess what, the blooming council has decided to dig it all up and put in some flowers instead! My two are so unhappy about this. And I am really angry!’ I asked her what she was going to do but she said there’s no point, the councillors never listened to anyone. So I said to her ‘well if I was a councillor, I would make it my job to listen to everyone’. And she said ‘Why don’t you become one? You care about this town. I would vote for you.’ That was it really. I kind of had to do it then!”

A few metres of tarmac sped by as they settled into a silence for a while. Soosh chewed on her gum thinking about the story that Roxie had just told. “Yes, I get that. You have always wanted to change the world. But you didn’t manage to stop them digging up the skate park did you? I mean what is the point?”

“No, I didn’t. By the time I became a councillor a few months later. The job had been done. The ‘crumbling and dangerous skate park’ (so it was described) had been removed and petunias put in their place. I mean, petunias?! But I started a petition to build a new one and got over two thousand signatures. And now, there are plans to build a new skate park in a better place and all the young people are helping to design it. That one example is why I became a Town Councillor. I am not going to make World Peace happen. But I can make a small piece of it better!”