Givelle- A Town with Differences (Book 1 of 3)

Chapter 1

Mayor Kuznets

Being mayor Givelle is not easy. When I entered it, I was ten. When the time came for me to be given my job, I was delighted by political science. So, they made me the mayor, at 17 years old.

But, running it is just weird, and I didn't completely notice this until yesterday when my assistant came up to me and said “Someone didn't pay the tax, I know what to do but, I knew I should tell you.”

This is the weird part, the punishment for not paying the tax is to get your baby taken away for a whole week. A week? Wow. That is just plain right terrible to me. I mean, I guess it's not terrible if the baby isn't really 'your' baby. You get it when you become an Elder. You get a wife or husband and a baby. It's like having an arranged marriage and then adopting a baby. I bet people all around the world do that, but in our town, you don't have a choice and that's the way the town runs, and it's never gonna change. Ever. Another thing about this town's silly rules is that they have you go through different, I guess, stages of life. There is Childhood, we all know what that is. Then, you turn 17 and become a Senior. A Senior is a single person with a house and a job. I know, boring.

Then, the Mayor (me) says “You have been a Senior long enough, let's find you a wife/husband and make you an Elder!”

You pick out a baby at the Capital building who you and your spouse like best. You take care of it, work at your job and live with your spouse until you die. It's a pretty boring life. The only thing to do after work is visit the daycare and say hi to a bunch of two year-old kids or, go to the art gallery and look at boring pictures of men wearing black suits or a pot of flowers, and yes there are pictures of pots of flowers. Some citizens actually like the way of life in this town, and I did before I became Mayor. Finding out that if you break rules your baby is taken away and all that other stuff just ruined my experience. That man who didn't pay the tax actually came to my office and pleaded that it wasn't fair his baby girl was going to be taken away because his job didn't pay him enough. I was actually on his side but what about his wife? She must work too! Also, when I became Mayor I went around and made sure that every job payed enough for a person to pay taxes and have extra money for themselves. All this confusion makes me want to resign as Mayor but then I don't know where I'd take my wife, or my baby boy, Jackson. I know how that man felt about his baby, and I'd probably plead for innocence just to have him. Jackson is like the world to me, I'd be a boring Senior without him. When my wife and I were looking at who our baby would be, he seemed to glow out at me, like he was the one I had been looking for for the past hour. It was amazing when we took him home and all but, my wife, my new wife was just a stranger to me. We were just married the day before and had no idea who we were. It took a while but I guess raising a baby together makes you closer. She's almost like a friend rather then a wife, and I like it like that. My life is pretty much fine.

Actually, change that. It's not ALL fine, there’s one problem in my life. Just one. Governors. I completely HATE them. The governor of our town is ME. But, for some reason I'm called the mayor. Back on track, I absolutely, positively dislike governors from our neighboring towns. All they do when they come for a meeting is brag about how I'm only a mayor and how our town is so weird. They know all about my town. For two reasons. One, because we're leaders, we know about other towns and how their economy runs. Two, we have our annual monthly conferences in my town which makes it so helpful (not!). When they all come, they go around town and make sure everything is going right. Which they aren't supposed to. Well, they can, it's just unnecessary. I could go on and on about these idiots but I won't, it's wrong. I've said too much. I think it's time you meet Erin Tulle, my secretary.

Chapter 2

Erin Tulle

Hey there! I'm Erin Tulle, Mayor Kuznets’s secretary. At the moment I'm a Senior. In this town, and if your a Senior, your life stinks. No joke. My life is as boring as a hibernating bear. I do so much work every day and I get payed like a regular person. Just to tell you, I am not a regular person. At all. That's really all my life. Work. Taxes. Keeping my roof up. That's seriously it. Boring with a capital b.