After Our Mutual Destruction

Chapter 8: Trying Again

Chapter 8: Trying Again

After a week of attempting to convince Frank to reopen the

negotiations with Jack, Martin finally gets Frank to agree to meet

with Jack again. They are meeting today at around lunch to discuss

the ownership of Walkertown again. Currently Frank and Martin are

waiting on Jack to arrive, Martin is present as part of the deal he

made with Frank to reopen negotiations. If Frank were to meet with

Jack again, then Martin would act as a sort of mediator to keep the

two from fighting.

"Where is he at Martin? He said that he'd be here at 12:00, and

it's now 12:10." Frank states irritated. "I mean come on, I have plans to

attend to."

"What kind of plans? As far as I know you don't have anything

set in stone."

"Well yeah, but time is our most valuable investment, once you use

it you can never get it back."

"Yeah I know. Hey what's that in the distance?" Martin points to

an object that is growing in the distance. As it gets closer they

realize it is Jack's car.

"Finally, he is here, took'em long enough" Frank says still irritated.

"Good Afternoon Martin and Frank, how are you two?" Jack asks

with a seemingly benevolent tone.

"Good" Frank says mechanically.

"Good as well, how about you?" Martin asks with a benevolent

tone.

"I'm better than I deserve" Jack affirms cheerily.

"Welp, I don't know about you two, but I'm ready to have the

meeting" Frank states eager to finish their meeting.

"I concur" Jack replies just as eager to begin the negotiations.

The three of them walk inside, on their way Jack and Frank both trip

on a rock, although neither falls. They walk to a small table with a

map of the area on it. When they arrive at the map, Martin stands

between Frank and Jack to keep the peace between the two men.

"So, Frank, are you still set on having Walkertown?" Jack

inquires of Frank sounding a bit nervous.

"Yes, I'd like to keep it if I can."

"So how about a compromise? My Village gets the upper half and

your village gets the lower half of Walkertown. What do you think?"

"That sounds a bit better, but how about we draw the border

here?" Frank draws lightly in pencil a border that gives him slightly

more than half of the land and crosses two thirds of the way across

the Walkertown lake.

"Hmm, well Frank would you consider putting the divide just below

Walkertown lake? The water from the lake may help my crops."

"Well Frank and Jack, how about a border here?" Martin draws a

border that starts off in the middle of Walkertown, but makes a turn

up and crosses halfway across the lake and ends at the other side of

Walkertown without making any other turns.

"Yeah that seems reasonable" Frank states contempt.

"Maybe" Jack says unsure of whether to accept the new border

or not. After an hour of debating and discussing ideas they finally

agree to a new border for Walkertown, this border starts off at the

middle of Walkertown, but turns and cuts Walkertown lake in half as

well.

"Well it was a pleasure doing business with you Frank and

Martin." Jack states as he shakes their hands, and chuckles to himself.

"Same to you Jack" replies Frank.

"Have a good day" Martin tells Jack.

"Thanks, and you too Martin and Frank."

"Thanks" Frank replies just before Jack leaves. When Jack has

left, Frank makes a sigh of relief as he feels as if all his problems

with Jack are over. "Thank you, Martin" Jack expresses sincerely.

"For what?"

"For convincing me to reopen the negotiations with Jack. Had you

not convinced me to, then we may have gone to war with Jack's tribe."

"Oh, no problem. I'm just glad that's over with."

"Same here, so how about some lunch? My treat."

"That sounds good about now, thank you." The two of them then

proceed to get some lunch rations. Not too far away from the village

still, Jack is discussing the results of the meeting with his chauffeur.

"I cannot believe those two idiots actually believed that whole

sob story about everyone in our village starving. That's just the power

of empathy I guess." Jack declares as he laughs maniacally.

"I know Jack, they really aren't the brightest bulbs in the box

if they hadn't figured out that those "starving people" weren't

indicative of a shortage of food, and instead were placed there on

purpose to tug at their heart strings."

"Well now that we have half of Walkertown, all we have to do is

develop it and slowly take more and more of it so that we can expand

our village and its population so that we may then take more land and

grow larger until we have an empire. Then we shall control everything

and no one will be able to stop us!" Jack declares triumphantly at his

vision of a future where he and his village control the vast wastelands

of what used to be the United States.