And The Waves Crash On

Chapter Seven

As it turns out, it is pretty difficult to contact the mayor of Huntington Beach. Apparently you can't use the numbers on his webpage because they're either out of service, not in the country, or were disconnected in 1847. So back to the drawing board I went, wondering, were phones even around in 1847? I mean I'm sure I learned about them, I just kind of have a lot on my mind right now.

My next grand idea was to message him on Facebook. Everyone uses Facebook, right? Wrong! He hasn't been active on Facebook since 2007. Instagram? He doesn't even have it. So then I thought about walking over to his office for a face to face visit like parents used to do...but, it's under renovations and he is currently residing in Washington D.C for a one week vacation. So I bet you thought I gave up..but no. My brother means much more to me than that. I decided to write a letter to his secretary because let's be honest, politicians never read their own mail. However, when I was looking up his mailing address I found something even better; the mayor's email address. I thought I might as well give it a try!

Mr. Peter Henson,
I would like to voice my concern about your plan to kill the shark that is believed to have attacked and killed Mr. Jonathan Casey. Now believe me sir, everybody is devastated with this loss, however I personally knew Mr. Casey and one thing we once discussed were our final wishes. One of John's was that if he ever fell victim to a shark attack, then he wanted the creature to live. This is exactly the opposite of what you're proposing. I'm just asking you to step away from it for now. Maybe we can meet someday to discuss this personally. I hope this email finds you well sir, and have a great day.
Anonymous

Send! It felt so weird referring to my brother as 'Mr.' but I needed to sound more like a 37 year old man with a business degree rather than and 18 year old, freshly graduated girl. As I was scrolling through my email I found one from a familiar face and it really made my day.

Hey Lily!
Um, it's me..Sean. I forgot to grab your number at the party the other night but I remembered I had you're email from that science project, haha. So listen I'm so sorry about your brother. If I can do absolutely anything just let me know. <3 call me sometime. 333-2323.

      My heart smiled for the first time in the past day or so. I think I was falling in love. I was halfway through punching his number in my phone when my computer pinged. The mayor had wrote back already. But this was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

Dear Concerned Citizen,
I appreciate you taking the time to put in your two cents on this topic. It is great to hear from our community members on certain issues. I must start by saying that I am very sorry for your personal loss. John was a pleasure to have in the community. I do however regret to inform you that this is a multi billion dollar project as we are not only killing John's attacker, but we are killing all the sharks we can get our hands on. I have children of my own and it's just not fair to put a family through what John's will forever go through. Take care and God Bless.
-Peter Henson

     Well shit. How on earth was I going to stop a billion dollar project when I can hardly get my dogs to listen to me some days? I ran downstairs and showed Mom the exchange. She tried to grab the laptop and probably give this guy shit but I thankfully held on longer than she did. "So we're back to square one I guess."

     "Better than square zero." My dad chimed in. This was the first I'd seen him partially smile since John. I grinned at him.

     "I guess you're right Dad." I turned back to Mom. "I'll never be able to make them stop. I just can't do it." My mother grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me close.

"Remember who you're doing this for." And that was all the spark I needed. If I couldn't make them listen by myself, then I'd make them listen to a hundred of me, or a thousand of me if needed. There's no way I'm not going down swinging.