I felt like a feudal lord granting boons that night.

There was a line of people waiting to see me and I decided I wasn’t going to go through this alone. I had the table cleared and called the entire council up to join in; we would all suffer together.

Sonya was kept very busy for the rest of the evening. We needed an accurate record, which even meant writing down the absurd requests. I would greet each individual as they came up, then have a brief chat with them…brief was almost always a challenge. For the most part, I tried to hand people off to the appropriate councilor whenever possible, but that proved to be difficult with some individuals. Some people just like to hear the sound of their voice, I guess. I’d politely wait them out and then point them to the correct councilor. If it was a rules issue, then I handled it; the rules were mine for the most part and they’d have to deal with me.

A lot of this was pointless. The requests were often based on ‘what if’ situations, which simply frustrated me to no end. I reached the point where I wanted to respond, “What if you got tossed into a time glitch?” Michelle seemed to recognize my frustration and took over the helm for a while. During that brief respite, I managed to walk my frustration off by myself. I went out into the darkness for a bit before returning to the fray. I had dearly wanted to escape management shit when I bought my dream ranch; now I was neck deep in it again. We even had minor squabbles between neighbors going on already. It seemed some people couldn’t live happily without having a complaint.

Rules questions were firmly postponed until the next day and I reminded everyone that we were having a party, not a town hall meeting. I let each of them know that I would be down at the stream tomorrow. Michelle was going to try and teach me how to fish. I also reminded them to bring a translator with them, if it was going to be needed

We managed to wrap it up in less than two hours. My patience was growing thin and the smart ones noticed. By 10 p.m., we had managed our way through the line and shut the process down. It was still ridiculous by any standard. You would think adults in any era could understand simple ideas. I guess that was just the eternal optimist in me speaking.

Now it was time to have fun. I discovered that we had a couple of decent musicians in the village and they sorted themselves into an enthusiastic, if uncoordinated, band. The dancing was fun to watch. Each group seemed to have a different style and only a couple of songs brought everyone out at once. It was fun and there was even a hope the musicians would organize themselves in the future. Right now, it was a little more like a jam session than a dance.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

We shut the taps off early and the booze was locked away in the trailer again. We were still in hostile territory and couldn’t afford for everyone to get drunk and sloppy. We’d make better plans for the future. For tonight, most people were only lightly buzzed at best. We’d fortify them with coffee or yaupon tea. Amos volunteered to man the drone; he wasn’t allowed to drink yet and had the youthful ability to withstand the late hours. He also thrived on the responsibility.

I had dutifully danced to each type of music as best I could. I reasoned that since my dancing was pretty horrid anyway, I might as well throw myself into it and show community leadership. My crazy involvement seemed to encourage others to join in. The ladies did their part, pulling partners out to dance with them. I danced with just about everybody and to all different kinds of music. Little Esther turned out to be my most enthusiastic dance partner; any time she saw me standing still, she’d grab my hand and pull me out to dance. She seemed to have an affinity for music and movement, a natural talent, if you will.

We started to wrap things up around 11 o'clock. After all, the sun and the rooster would be up pretty early. Tomorrow was a day of rest, but the livestock didn’t know that and would be calling for us bright and early. Cleanup went quickly and I was headed off to bed before midnight. I had plans to learn how to fish tomorrow. Have no doubt, I was truly looking forward to that and I really just needed some time off. I didn’t have high expectations of being left alone the entire day, but was hoping for a small respite from the hassles of leadership.

I wasn’t at all surprised when I wasn’t left to sleep alone that night. I wasn’t the least bit concerned when I found Michelle in my bed either. Our little romance had faltered and, in its place, we had slowly developed a ‘Friends with Benefits’ relationship. I hadn’t been sure who to expect when I went in and, seeing it was Michelle, I was a bit tentative about this changed relationship.

Undressing gave me time to address this concern. Besides, Michelle was happy to explain the complicated situation to me. Complicated was an understatement and it really didn’t take long for my eyes to glaze over. She tried to explain the idiosyncrasies of the situation that I was in. On the one hand, it was good to know ahead of time to expect Matilda during snuggles, but that would be a little later. Heck, I’d never known ahead of time when, or even if, Matilda was going to do something. This would be the first non-surprise visit with Matilda in the entire time that I had known her.

Michelle wanted me alone before that happened, so I slipped into bed. She welcomed me with open arms and open legs. It was as it almost always was with Michelle - warm, gentle and laid back. Things only heated up with her when Matilda joined us; that, in itself, told me a little bit about Michelle.

It was nice and long overdue.