Victor Dinsmore was a man who was showing his age. He was short, pudgy, and getting bald at 42. Though his wife Allison encouraged him to exercise, the only recreation he enjoyed was riding his snowmobile in the winter. He did not go for four wheeling as some of his neighbors did in the summer. The dust bothered him. But his snowmobiles were his pride and joy. He was not a contented man, though. Life was not going the way he planned. The economy in his home town, Mountain View, was not doing well. First the railroad had consolidated its corporate offices and the community had lost one hundred jobs. Then the fishing rod factory had closed, taking over two hundred more. Now the rod factory where he worked was struggling. He was only working four days a week,. Though it gave him more time to work on his snowmobiles and around the house, there was never quite enough money for everything.
He tightened down the block on his biggest machine, looked at it one more time, smiled, and brought down the cover, securring it. He then took a rag and wiped off the smudges his dirty hands had caused. He was ready for the winter! His thoughts were disturbed as his teenage daughter, Cheryl, entered the shop.
"Daddy," she said, "Roger asked me to remind you about the meeting tonight."
"Oh, thank you dear!" Victor answered. "I haven't forgotten. Haven't got much else to do! If it wasn't for being president of the riders I'd go mad with boredom. How was school?"
"Great as ever!" his daughter answered.
His daughter hesitated and Victor stared at her. "All right, princess," Victor asked, "what is it?"
"Daddy, could you speak to Mr. West again? Donald grabbed me again..you know where. A couple of the other girls saw it. It was really embarrassing! I rather like Donald. If he wasn't such a perverted jerk....."
Victor shook his head. Harold West and him had been friends for years. But him and his wife Joy had so spoiled their only son that the boy was really getting to be a probem. Victor had told his children not to associate with him because of his drug probems. But he had not given up his one sided love affair with Cheryl, and his problems with keeping his hands to himself was getting to be something that all the fathers in the community were complaining about.
"I'll do more than speak to him, honey!" he told his daughter.
Cheryl looked at her watch. "Daddy!" she remarked, "You haven't got the radio on! Aren't you going to listen to what the mayor has to say?"
"It'll just be the same old stuff!" Victor complained. "Hang in there everyone, keep the faith! Good news will be coming. Things can't stay bad forever. You get tired of wishful thinking thinking after a while, princess! Aw, turn it on!"
His daughter turned on the radio and adjusted it to a local station. The obnoxious voice of the new announcer they had just hired came through with annoying clarity.
"Well, good afternoon, mountain folks!" he began. "We've got an exciting bit of talk for you this afternoon! Mayor Crawford's sitting across from me with a smile so big he looks like a Cheshire cat, and before we open up the old phone lines I'd better let him have his say before he bursts! Then we'll talk it out!"
The mayor began to speak, his deep southern accent easily revealing he was not a native Vermontan. But Victor had liked the man since the first moment he'd met him.
"Ladies and gentleman," the mayor proudly piped, "I bring you the most glorious news today, something our community has been waiting for for eight long, struggling years! Shadow Mountain Resort has been purchased. The ski lifts will be up and running for this winter's season! Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be flowing into our community. Many jobs will be opening up, though it is a Spiritist community that has bought the resort and will be operating it. There will only be thirty-two members working the resort, itself, all the rest of the positions will be filled by locals. The lodge will be open and fully operational before the season begins. I am told several Spiritist gatherings will be held here this winter, which will have more people than the lodge can handle. So our local motels and boarding houses who have suffered so much for the last eight years should begin to do a considerable increase in business! I hope everyone in the community will welcome our new neighbors with the joy that I have, to see them coming to our community."
"Well! Talk about news!" the host put in. "Now here's somethin' to really talk about folks! How does everybody feel about this shocker, The Children coming to our community in such numbers; thirty-two families, gonna make an impact, hopefully for the good! Come on folks! What do you think? Let's talk it over!"
Victor reached up and turned off the radio. "Oh, wonderful!" his daughter cried. "There'll be enough work so I won't have to leave after graduation, so I can stay arround here!" She noticed her father's concerned look. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing sweetie!" her father answered. "It's just, well you know The Spir cause trouble wherever they go. They're so hard headed, so uncompromising. Their attitude on drugs and things, there's bound to be problems. You

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