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THE MAYOR 
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S LOVER 
(2043 words)Hank saw the purple van in the far corner of his vision,then innocuously stooped to pick up an environmentally offensivecandy bar wrapper, swiveling as he rose to survey the van
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soccupants. As he rose, he grabbed the offending wrapper and foundit stuffed with melted candy bar, or maybe worse. Afraid to drawanyone
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s attention, he crammed the sticky mess in his jacketpocket and turned toward the shoe store
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s plate glass window. InOctober
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s early dusk, the window partly showed Brogan
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s finestfootwear while serving as a mirror. Reflected in the glass, thevan
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s occupants were two people. A middle aged man and youngishpretty girl with frizzy red hair who both seemed damned curiousabout him.He also saw himself, a tall, blonde young man, quite palebut trim and neat, wearing an almost fashionable tweed sportscoat and coordinated slacks. The expensive black leather dispatchcase tucked under his arm, seemed out of place. Tourists don
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tnormally carry brief cases but otherwise, nothing in hisappearance was different from the thousand of other Fall Festivalvisitors to Danmont
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s lake front park.Hank wondered why the purple Ford van appeared to have a oneway glass window in the rear panel and what seemed to be aswiveling glass eye focused on him. Hank was familiar with one-way glass, having faced those windows of guilt several times inpolice line-ups. Was some accusing witness behind the one-way
 
glass, fingering him again, he wondered. He surveyed hisavailable options. He had a loaded and ready Gluck automaticcomplete with silencer in his briefcase, but a shoot-out might bepremature. Patient awareness seemed most logical, so he wouldseem unaware of their presence until he knew what their purposewas. He could deny ownership of the briefcase and incriminatingcontents. The initials certainly did not match his.Hank was more surprised by the sudden appearance of a policecar, unloading an older gentleman, too elegantly dressed to be acop, and too old to be un-retired. He was accompanied by a youngand husky black patrolman who strangely, left his gun in hisholster. Hank tensed, but waited for the next event, beforeacting.
A
Congratulations, young man! Your good citizenship has wonyou a bundle of goodies. I
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m Mayor Wallack, and we all watchedyou win by picking up one of our nastiest challenges.
@
Yes, he was Mayor Wallack and Hank had the proof in hisbrief case. A glossy 8 x 10 not so flattering with a defilinggiant red X and a hand-written legend saying,
A
This is the guy
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.
A
Hello Mayor, I guess we were just destined to meetsometime.
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Hank said, and laughed at the fickleness of fateintroducing, by chance, the quarry to his hunter, albeit one dayearly.
A
What
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s your name, son? You
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re a very lucky young man, youknow. My limousine will be here, shortly and we
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ll be off for a
 
fantastic surprise, in your honor.
@A
Why?
@
Hank asked, aware he was making a hired killer
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s worstmistake if he identified with or interested in his victim.
A
Why? You have won my
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Good Citizen
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award. Part of the
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LoveDanmont Festival
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and my continuing effort to promote trashreduction and clean streets. Wait until you see how we treat goodcitizens!
A
Just how did I do you pick me, Your Honor?
@A
We put out an entrapping piece of trash that
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s now messingyour jacket pocket, early this morning. Too disgusting for most,I guess and we
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ve watched hundreds of pedestrians, step over it,and you are the first good citizen to pick it up. Proves youlove our city as much I do. We are both due to be rewarded.
@
Hank thought of the twenty-thousand dollar bank draft in hisbrief case, and the Mayor
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s
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reward
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it was to buy. He had allday. Apparently, he would play
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Candid Camera
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with the mayor andhis bodyguards, until opportunity came to earn the other half ofhis hundred thousand dollar fee. His anonymous employer had saidhe was being grossly overpaid, and high price was no guarantee ofquality, but being a novice in the business Hank wanted to startwith high standards. He could always cut his price after he wasestablished and had more than one client.A stretched black Lincoln limousine appeared and now themayor
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s crowd, was more than dozen. Hank allowed the mayor topull him into his limo, and was followed by the beautiful redhead
of 00

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