The gaudy Easter church bells rang miles away but Alex and his wife, Daphne, responded the sound with their yawn and their fix of the bed on a Tuesday morning of April as the sun blazed arising in the east for a new day on the coastal town awaiting to be born at noon. The man dressed in his dressing cubbyhole with his matching white dress shirt and blue tie while the woman dressed lengthily in pink. They descended the stairs as the woman served breakfast of rice, egg and sausage with their two children. Alex decided to sip his favorite chocolate coffee while their children enjoyed sipping their milk to their last possible savory drops.
“I better fetch my best friend, Maynard, to church,” he reminded himself.
“Who,” Daphne did not understand.
“I’m going to fetch Maynard,” he reiterated and set to his children’s presence “Kids, get in the car. We’re going to church.”
The children instructed as he stands from the chair and grabbed the car keys. The couple descended the stairs and entered into the car leaving their private abode to fetch his friend, Maynard, for the said morning service in the church. Alex remembered that his great significant day should be offered to the Divine Providence first. His car screeched to Maynard’s simple manor and blew the horn to grab his attention as the windows were opened.
“Maynard, it’s a new morning” he shouted, “Let’s go to church!”
The drowsy American rushed, in an undone donned suit of red tie and blue shirt with untied shoes, to the front seat and Alex pushed the gas pedaal to the church. As they reached the porch, they met their future members of the cabinet: Kelsee Noguiera, his fellow professional architect and Lidia Jimenez.
Alex’s family and Maynard sat on the nearest front pew at the center-Gospel side of the altar. The two girls sat behind them. As the Mass was going on, Fr. Geraldo Velasco, the assigned parish priest, preached apologetically on his exordium of his homily as sting as fire and brimstone but Alex’s ears remain critical through his listening synapses: “Noli Me Tangere! Touch me not! Why our Lord did say this to Mary Magdalene? Is it because our Lord acts like a female? No, He said this because He wanted to respond differently to different expressions of doubt of believing.”
As the preacher's authoritative elocution remains, Maynard slowly closed their eyes as his boss noticed and responded by moving his sleepy arm.
“Maynard,” Alex whispered, “What do you think you’re doing?”
"I'm sleepy. I couldn't stop wondering about the new roles later."
"Maynard, you lacked sleep. It's not healthy for you to stay up all night contemplating."
The celebrant noted, after his paragraph of the homily concluded, the two and dared called with the parishioners’ attention, “I see that we have two guys in front of me who will be the new leaders of the new town. We will have a blessing before the dismissal. Please rise for the prayers of the faithful.”
As Alex and Maynard now felt the humiliation after the preacher’s attention, the laity stood up while the called stood up a second later. After the service, Alex reached Fr. Geraldo’s hands to be blessed with Naomi and two children.
“So, you’re the guy that will take office of the new town.” the priest understood in Filipino.
“Yes,” Alex replied slowly and hesitantly and abruptly increased, “well not myself but some of my friends, Maynard, Kelsee and Lidia.”
"Splendid," the priest reacted, "Am I invited for your inauguration?"
"Yes, Father. You may."
His smartphone rang. Released from his pocket, a text message was received from his ally, Brynn but Kelsee read the message, "Hi, Alex, Gretchen, Seamus & I have arrived from d train station."
The architect responded imperatively to the involved parties, "We must go there also," but shifted into pondering, "but how can we go there?"
She inquired to Alex, "What type of car do you drive?"
"A sedan," he responded in gloom but with honesty.
While the cacophony of complaining increased, Maynard stepped away for like a meter from the door of the vestibule with his old touch type phone to contact his strong friend, Frankie.
"Hello, Frankie?" Maynard attempted to answer.
"Yes, best friend," Frankie responded.
"Please guard Brynn Bonney and her friends in the train station and wait for Alex's dark blue sedan."
"Yes, sir."
"When you accompany them, you will drive Alex's car and Liam will drive yours as a protocol before enterring the town hall."
"Noted. Thanks."
Maynard advanced back to the rest notifying the confirmed call. Without haste, the family and Maynard sat down to their original places on the car.
The pastor smiled as they departed and awaiting for a vehicle to fetch him as a witness of the inauguration ceremony.
A few hundreds of meters away, Chief Frankie accompanied the Briton and the Irish couple outside the train station glancing on his wrist watch two hours before the oath of office. The convoy finally arrived at a nick of time; but last-minute affairs on the inauguration protocol arose like they discussed in the church. Liam decided to aid the cabinet members, Alex's spouse and his childen on the second car while the founding fathers will be under the custody of Frankie.
As they settled down, the convoy finally stretched on to the town hall. In the august seat of local government stood Karin Sayid, who resigned as a councilor of Point Napier and Lester, the future legal officer. Karin's bosses, Gregory Heffernan and his deputy Gwen Keighley, are present. They agree to split their land after their continuing difficult governance.
The convoy finally stopped and the police ordered
