The bar was deathly quiet. Everybody stared at the door. Kiri walked over and pulled the parchment from the door, ripping it. As soon as she had tore it from the door, it was as if a spell had been lifted, the entire bar erupted into a roar of commotion.
“Shut Up!” Kiri yelled at the patrons
Everyone quieted down as Kiri reread the notice. “What does this mean?” she asked.
The bar erupted again; everybody began to discuss the news.
A couple of men at one table were talking amongst themselves and could be overheard saying, “Well, I’m not getting caught on the street after hours.”
They grabbed their jackets, took a last gulp of beer and quickly headed out the door.
People in the bar continued their discussions as they watched the men leave. Kiri looked at Lexa with an expression of concern.
“If they have a curfew, what will happen to my bar? It’s the only business that I have and if everyone has to be off the street by dark, how can I run a bar? How will I survive?” Kiri asked.
“I think we are going to have bigger problems than just having enough people in the bar to serve.” Lexa said.
Kiri’s comment caused another outburst in the bar which continued until one little man in the corner raised his hand.
“Miss, miss”, the little old man said.
“Yes?” Kiri asked expecting some great wisdom from the little old man.
“I understand that everybody is upset and there is a lot of changes happening and everybody is making commotion and such but, if I may say, I’d like another beer.”
Kiri smiled, the other patrons roared with laughter as Lexa brought the man another beer.
The old man quietly sat at his table, drinking his beer and ignoring the commotion in the bar.
Sam climbed onto his chair, “People, people, listen to me. This is the beginning, The Envahir are taking control of the town. We need to stand together now and fight them before it is too late. If we band together and show them we have enough strength when we are united together, then they won’t be able to control us and we can keep our town.”
A few of the people in the bar cheered in support. Others were shouting questions at Sam.
“What if they throw us in jail?”
“I can’t go to jail, I’ve got a family”
“How can we fight them if they are going to take our weapons?”
“What if there are more of them than there are of us?”
“Hold on, hold on. I can’t answer all the questions, all at once.” Sam said, “They won’t be able to throw all of us in jail. Yes, some of us may get thrown in jail but most of us won’t. But if we are careful, we won’t need to worry about jail.
“They’ll probably come to collect our weapons but that doesn’t mean that we need to give them everything, just give them the oldest, dullest, pieces of crap you can find. If they say anything, just tell them that you never needed any weapons in a town as peaceful as this one. Besides, anything could be made into a weapon; they can’t take everything from us.
I doubt there are more of them than there are of us but in case there are, we can always enlist the women and children to help. Also, if the capital city hasn’t been taken over, we can send for help.”
“How would we do that when they’re going to block the roads?” someone asked.
“I haven’t thought anything through yet, but we’ll find a way.” Sam continued, “Besides, whether we need to find a way out of town or a way to fight within the town, who knows this town better than any of us? We can organize right here, right now.”
The bar broke out again, some people agreeing with Sam and others shouting arguments. Sam climbed down off of the chair.
Kiri rang the bell. Once the bar was quiet she said, “You are not going to organize a revolt in my bar. I cannot afford to lose my bar.”
Lexa grabbed Kiri by the arm, “I want to see you in the kitchen.”
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