71.

"This is ridiculous."

Mayor Salin's car was struggling to find traction. It was an object lesson perfectly describing her life spinning wildly out of control. In the past 24 hours the local frog population had exploded and so had something else allegedly. Reports were circulating describing a light display that resembled an atomic explosion. All her life she had handled crises with a delicate flair that escaped (and delighted) most mortals, a talent that allowed her to excel both in and out of the political arena. But this was a much different challenge, unprecedented in the history of the world except maybe in iron age fairy stories, which hardly counted in her opinion. When the car completed its final pirouette, she squelched the desire to punch her steering wheel. Instead she let her self out of the car, town was still about a mile away, but instead of taking the road she felt drawn to the forest. Slowly she stepped into the darkness of the trees.