Episode #39: 2 Christopher - Chapter 18 - Mayor

Jan,15 2026

<-#38: 2 Christopher - Chapter 17 - Education#40: 2 Christropher - Chapter 19 - Authority ->

On voice, authority, and the question that would not rest

18:1

In those days,

my faith grew restless.

18:2

Not because it was absent,

but because it was surrounded.

18:3

Men arrived with forms.

Others with wires.

Some with rules folded neatly into leather cases.

18:4

They asked,

"Who speaks for this town?"

18:5

I had no answer

that satisfied them.

18:6

For we had no mayor.

No council chamber.

No seal to press into wax.

18:7

We had only habits.

18:8

I brought my concern

to Myriam

and to her mother,

the widow of the first author.

18:9

They listened without interruption.

18:10

I said,

"Modernity has arrived.

It will not wait for us to decide

what we are called."

18:11

Her mother said,

"Has it ever waited for anyone?"

18:12

I said,

"The state does not speak to fields.

It speaks to men with titles."

18:13

Myriam replied,

"Then it must learn a new language."

18:14

Her mother said,

"The mayor is the town."

18:15

I said,

"How can many speak as one?"

18:16

She answered,

"Do we not already?"

18:17

"When the wind comes,

do the trees argue?"

18:18

I said,

"But decisions must be made."

18:19

Myriam said,

"And they are."

18:20

"When a choice matters,

we gather in a field."

18:21

"We speak until we are finished,

not until someone wins."

18:22

Her mother added,

"And the structure?"

18:23

I said,

"Yes. The structure."

18:24

She answered,

"Collaboration under God."

18:25

I wanted this to be enough.

18:26

But it was not.

18:27

For the papers would return.

And the questions would sharpen.

18:28

I said,

"Who signs when the state arrives?"

18:29

"Who answers when a name is required?"

18:30

Myriam did not speak at once.

18:31

At last she said,

"The mayor should be the best father in town."

18:32

"The one who places his children

before his own comfort."

18:33

"The one who thinks longest

about the future of this place."

18:34

I said,

"Show me this man,

for I agree he would be the best choice."

18:35

Myriam looked at me steadily.

18:36

She said,

"He is the only man

you cannot look eye to eye."

18:37

"For I knew my worth as a woman,

and would not have married

anyone other

than the best man in town."

18:38

And my faith,

which had been searching outward,

turned suddenly inward.

18:39

I did not answer.

18:40

For I understood then

that authority is not claimed,

but recognized.

<-#38: 2 Christopher - Chapter 17 - Education#40: 2 Christropher - Chapter 19 - Authority ->