It was a grand day for the speeches. Many of us gathered in the square a good hour before the first speaker took to the podium. The sky was the color of a toad's belly and there were people attending who were strangers. Old men with yellowed skin, young wives with babes on their hips, businessmen, farmers, the whole lot, a small inland sea of humanity. I wondered if any shoppe were left open for all the townsfolk seemed to be gathered under that toad belly sky. I saw folks I had not seen in many months, even in my restless peregrinations around the countryside.
I don't know who decided who should go first. The opening speech seemed key to me since we had waited years for this occasion. A poor start and our confidence could wane quickly. That first place must have been sorely coveted.
It was Goffredo Tulane. Goffredo said:
Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues and honored opponents, I stand before you, a simple man in a cheap suit. You all know me. You know I stand for outsiderness and against insiderness. We have had enough of insiderness and our numbers grow every day that the people don't get all that they need. We are many. We will be heard even if we are all outsiders. These are terrible times we live in. People are fearful. People are at sea. No one knows what the future holds. Let us not be ruled by fear but emboldened by affirmation and the desire for change. Let us build something new here in the ashes of the old. I here aver that the future is a two-way street. Thank you.
The applause was general but lively. Tulane stepped down from the dais and was replaced by Parsifal Madder. How would he follow Goffredo Tulane's timely oration? Here is what he said:
Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues and honored opponents, I stand before you, a simple man in a cheap suit. You all know me. You know I stand for outsiderness and against insiderness. We have had enough of insiderness and our numbers grow every day that the people don't get all that they need. We are many. We will be heard even if we are all outsiders. These are terrible times we live in. People are fearful. People are at sea. No one knows what the future holds. Let us not be ruled by fear but emboldened by affirmation and the desire for change. Let us build something new here in the ashes of the old. I here aver that the future is a two-way street. Thank you.
The ovation was a little livelier this time. Madder raised both fists into the air to acknowledge the throng. A few minutes passed while the noise dopplered away. Who was next? It was Ianthe Landor. A murmur passed through the crowd like a virus. It was the first year that a woman spoke on Speech Day. Ianthe Landor, with her flowing chocolate hair and gypsy jewels, stood quietly while the murmur murmured. Then she said these memorable words:
Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues and honored opponents, I stand before you, a simple woman in a cheap suit. You all know me. You know I stand for outsiderness and against insiderness. We have had enough of insiderness and our numbers grow every day that the people don't get all that they need. We are many. We will be heard even if we are all outsiders. These are terrible times we live in. People are fearful. People are at sea. No one knows what the future holds. Let us not be ruled by fear but emboldened by affirmation and the desire for change. Let us build something new here in the ashes of the old. I here aver that the future is a two-way street. Thank you.
The noise resounded around the square and echoed in the distant hills. Our small town rocked with the applause and shouts of "Huzzah!" Never before, some were saying already, had a woman delivered such a powerful wake-up call. A new optimism spread through us, a back-slapping dispersion of good feeling. Who could follow her? Ianthe stood before us for a long time and soaked in the adulation. When she finally exited from behind the microphone we saw that it was Thor Hemming who was to speak next. Thor strode to the spot just vacated by the orator, Ianthe Landor. He fixed the crowd with a gimlet eye. All sound leeched away. The town square was as still as old Chaos before Motion's birth. Thor held up one meaty hand and spoke:
Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues and honored opponents, I stand before you, a simple man in a cheap suit. You all know me. You know I stand for outsiderness and against insiderness. We have had enough of insiderness and our numbers grow every day that the people don't get all that they need. We are many. We will be heard even if we are all outsiders. These are terrible times we live in. People are fearful. People are at sea. No one knows what the future holds. Let us not be ruled by fear but emboldened by affirmation and the desire for change. Let us build something new here in the ashes of the old. I here aver that the future is a two-way street. Thank you.
There were other speakers on that memorable and important day. What became known as the "Two-Way Street Speech" slowly, in the months to come, lit a fire among the populace of this great nation. The groundswell of change seemed to spread outward from our tiny town. As twilight empurpled the hills outside town people were still milling about. No one wanted to return to their solitude. A new democracy seemed born that day, a new fellow-feeling. A societal emotional stickiness. Eventually, everyone wandered away to their separate homes. The night was a stormy one and I can't speak for anyone else but I went home and sat before my window and watched the lightning flash and listened to the thunder in the hills and I was full of hope and reflection. Though I lived alone I did not feel lonely anymore. I was pledged to the world. I was a citizen now and part of something larger than self. That night my sleep was full of dreams of prerogative and license and when I woke the sun was weak lemonade colored light at my window. It was the morning promised to us. It was paradise come at last.
*
M C R
This work is copyrighted by the author, Corey Mesler. All rights reserved.
