Sharon grabbed Jackson’s arm now. It wasn’t that she truly intended to stop him from going after the mother fucker with the big mouth, but he didn’t need to. For one thing, Sandhouse was digging his own grave. No sense jumping in it with him. And for another thing, Mary Williams had risen from her chair not far from Sharon.
Mary was white. Mary was also Jazmine’s secret lover.
Jazmine threw her head back and laughed.
The hush that fell over the room was deafening.
When she finally managed to get herself under control and wiped the tears from her eyes, she turned her glare back toward Sandhouse and the rest of his cronies. “Well, isn’t that the bomb. You think you know everything about everyone in town, Sandhouse? You think the entire Native American population of Sojourn, or hell even the reservation, bows down to your word?
“Well, you don’t know everything, pretty boy. Because I’ve never slept with a man in my life.”
A collective gasp filled the room.
“That’s right. You know why?”
Sandhouse chuckled. “Because you’ve got a stick up your ass so high you can’t get your legs to spread?”
“Don’t you wish.” Jazmine glanced almost imperceptibly toward Mary, who was making her way across the room. She jerked her gaze back to Sandhouse. “News flash, asshole. I’m a lesbian.” Just as she shared the news, Mary stepped up beside her and wrapped her arm around Jazmine’s middle.
Sandhouse looked as though he’d been throat punched. His mouth fell open, and his eyes went wider than saucers.
Jackson chuckled beside Sharon. “Good for her.”
Sharon swelled with pride herself. About time Jazmine and Mary came out. Their insistence on secrecy had driven them both to hide and sneak around for years.
“Now that we’ve got that uneventful piece of information cleared up, do you mind if I step up to the mic?” Isaiah asked, facing the mayor.
“Be my guest,” Mayor Cromwell said, stepping to one side.
“Look at my parents’ faces,” Jackson muttered. “I wish I had a camera. Wait until they find out about you and Cooper.”
She followed his line of sight to the older couple who were now two shades of red darker. His mother had her lips pursed. His father held his mother’s hand and jerked her until she faced the front of the room. Apparently, the man wasn’t willing to accept his daughter’s revelation, nor was he willing to allow his wife to.
Sharon’s chest hurt for Jackson and his sister.
Jackson grabbed her hand and squeezed for just a moment before releasing her. “Please don’t give my parents one second of your energy. They’re bigots, just like Sandhouse. I don’t expend my energy on them, and you shouldn’t, either.”
She nodded and turned her gaze back to the podium as Isaiah Arthur leaned into the mic. “Folks, I realize you have a lot of bad blood running in this area. But I’m going to ask you to put your differences aside and listen to reason. All this arguing isn’t going to help anyone.
“The land beneath our feet is unstable. We have reason to believe the cause of the tremors you’re feeling and dozens of smaller ones you can’t detect are the direct result of fracking.”
Many gasps filled the room.
“Although there are times when fracking can be a benefit to the area where the drilling occurs, that’s not always the case. And this would be one of those times. The fracking site just north of here is on top of the epicenter of the latest series of small quakes. History would suggest that the quakes will continue to increase in magnitude if we don’t insist on putting a halt to this particular company.”
“What can we do?” someone asked amid the gasps from all sides of the room.
“The best thing you can do right now is bombard your local and state government with calls and emails demanding a state injunction to put a stop to this particular fracking site immediately. The company will insist they’re doing no harm. They will have their own experts state there is no seismic activity worth mentioning beneath them. They will argue. But you have to have the louder voice. And this means now. Tonight. Tomorrow. The danger is imminent.”
A hush fell over the room while Mayor Cromwell stepped back up to the mic. “Folks, I have been briefed on this topic for hours today. What this man says is true. I’ve seen the evidence. It’s time we toss our differences aside, band together, and ensure the safety of our citizens and land.
“A major earthquake in this area would cause widespread destruction, the likes of which none of us can imagine.”
“We just went through an earthquake three years ago. Could another one that large happen again so soon?” someone asked.