Chapter One Hundred and One: The PCC

 “The Pleasantville
Community Committee are a group that believes in Pleasantville.”
Peter Masters read from the pamphlet. “We stand behind our Council
and our Mayor, and we entrust them to protect us and make
Pleasantville the best city it can be.”

“That's a no from
me!” Belle gasped. “I bet this is Demons response to the PRO!”

“I don't think so.”
Charlie looked at the pamphlet. “I think this is purely on the
people of Pleasantville who are on the side of the Council.”

“I really don't get
what people think they're going to achieve by keeping the status quo.
Do they think Chuckles and Giggles are going to turn into monsters or
something?” Belle groaned.

“I don't know what
we're going to do.” Peter sighed, sitting down at the Masters
table. “The city is almost completely split in half. This is going
to get really messy, really fast.”

“We have to get Sammy
out of gaol first.” Belle said.

“If we can.” Lara
pointed out.

Belle scowled at her.
“We WILL get Sammy out of gaol. I swear it.”

—

Sammy wasn't having the
worst time of it, but it definitely wasn't a top ten moment of his
life either. He was at least in his own cell, whereas other cells had
three or four inmates.

There was a small
window that looked out to the prison grounds, and Sammy could see the
street beyond. Apart from that, there was nothing to do. He got let
out for an hour to walk around the yard no matter the weather, but
the other 23 hours of the day were in his cell.

“SAM! Hey SAMMY!”
Two days into his incarceration, he woke up to see TJ tapping on the
cell door.

“TJ!” Sammy jumped
up and met his friend at the cell bars.

“Are you okay? Have
you got plenty of food? Is the toilet and sink functioning?” TJ
asked, feeling relieved that his best friend was okay for now.

“I'm fine.” Sammy
grinned.

“Thank goodness.
Petunia and Tammy are having a fit. Belle is trying to look up your
case and get you out.” TJ told him.

A loud “Hmph!”
sounded from another cell, so TJ looked for it. That's when he
noticed it.

Every person in those
cells had the same dark skin as Sammy did.

“Um…Sammy…”
TJ's mouth felt like sawdust.

Sammy looked confused,
before he followed TJ's eye-line. He shrugged when he realised what
TJ was referring to. “Oh, that? I thought you knew.”

“That the police
force is racist? Of course, but I didn't think it was THIS racist.”
TJ felt sick.

“Yeah, you never
notice until it's your buddy do ya mate?!” Someone nearby yelled.
TJ flinched.

“Don't worry about
it.” Sammy tried to console his friend.

“Yeah, don't worry
about us! Just make sure you get your buddy out, he's the only one
who matters!” Yelled someone else.

“Look, just go back
and do your job. See if you can't figure things out with the others.”
Sammy pushed TJ away. “I'll be fine!”

TJ swallowed. “I'll
get you out mate. I swear it.” He said quietly before scampering
away through scoffs and sneers.

—

“Every one of them?”
Belle asked.

“Every. Last. One.”
TJ replied, pale.

They were sitting at
the tip in one of the Knights of the Last Order hidey-holes as the
humidity and temperature were on the rise in Pleasantville.

“I have to look this
up.” Belle pulled out her laptop and began to type frantically.
Daniel cleared his throat.

“It's not your fault
mate.” He began.

“I never even
NOTICED. Ignorance is just as bad as racism!” TJ cried.

“It gets worse. They
shouldn't even BE there. Everyone in that cell block committed the
most minor of offences.” Belle scrolled through the list.

Tammy sat quietly,
fiddling with her hair.

“We've got him. If
this gets out, Dingbat is THROUGH.” Belle grinned gleefully.

“I'm happy for you.”
Tammy said quietly.

“He's a big supporter
of Demon as well, so that will be a blow!” Charlie high-fived his
best friend.

“What about the
people in the gaol?” Tammy asked.

“And once the
supporters of Demon start to fall, it's only a matter of time until
we can get Dad in there!” Belle looked rapt.

Tammy sighed, and
walked away.

“Tammy?” TJ asked.

Tammy pretended she
hadn't heard and continued to walk.

“TAMMY!” Petunia
ran after her.

“I'm glad you're
going to get rid of Demon, but what about those people in the gaol?”
Tammy said, eyes shining with tears.

“Of course we're
going to get them out!” Belle looked horrified. “And we're gonna
make it so no one goes back into gaol based purely on the colour of
their skin!”

She flew (figuratively)
into the den and with a bit of huffing and puffing flew back out
again (literally) as Giggles.

“I'll be back, I'm
taking this straight to City Hall and get these people cleared!”
She flew towards the city. Charlie made to follow her, but then he
remembered how easy it was for Demon to manipulate him. He sighed,
and sat down, feeling utterly useless.

And yes, the Backpack
gave out along the way.

—

“THE PRO HAS TWISTED
THE NARRATIVE OF OUR GREAT CITY. IT HAS WORKED WELL FOR TWO HUNDRED
YEARS, AND WILL CONTINUE TO PROSPER FOR MANY HUNDRED YEARS MORE.
DON'T BE FOOLED BY FALSE PROMISES OF A “BETTER FUTURE”, INSTEAD
SUPPORT OUR MAYOR IN HIS QUEST AGAINST VIGILANTISM!” A man stood
out the front of City Hall with a megaphone. The crowd in front of
him cheered.

Another person took the
microphone and continued. “WE WILL NOT BE THREATENED INTO SILENCE.
WE WILL DEFEND OUR CITY TO THE BITTER END!”

The cheers grew louder
and louder, until Giggles flew overhead. Then the jeers and the boos
started.

“Well that's just
plain rude.” Giggles frowned as she landed on the steps of City
Hall. “Looks like the PCC wasted no time in getting their rally on – HEY, NO!”

If you guessed that the
Haunted Maze Troupe would make another random appearance,
congratulations. They were busy giving out “lollies” and “drinks”
to the rally, and Giggles knew exactly what was going down.

“Naughty! NO! Go on,
shoo!” Giggles flew over and started to shoo the Troupe away.
Almost immediately she was assaulted with:

“They're allowed to
ply their trade!”

“Stop harassing
them!”

“Hypocrite!”

“Leave hard-working
citizens alone!”

“THEY ARE TRYING TO
PLY YOU WITH DRUGS SO THEY CAN ROB YOU!” Giggles groaned very
loudly.

Suddenly a bottle flew
towards her head, followed by an apple core, a chip packet and
another bottle. Giggles sighed, before taking off again and heading
into City Hall to talk to Demon. If this was the Pleasantville Community Committee then they could shove their community spirit!

She walked in, thankful
that there was air conditioning in the office at least. It crossed
her mind that the hot, muggy weather wasn't going to do much to help
tensions within the city. She groaned, and walked towards Demons
office.

“Excuse me – oh,
it's you. What do you want NOW?” Demon Jones looked up from his
desk, annoyed.

“Why does the colour
of a persons skin decide their punishment in this city?” Giggles
snapped.

Demon groaned, with a
roll of his eyes.

“It's not just “this
city”, it's every city in Ostraya.” He returned to his paperwork.

“Release them. Now.
None of their crimes deserve a gaol sentence.” Giggles snapped.
“Especially when THEY HAVE ALREADY PAID THEIR PARKING TICKET.”

“Fine.” Demon
grumbled. “Just give me a list of names and they'll be released.”

“Also I want Wallace
Dingbat stood down.” Giggles pressed.

Demon looked back up at
her. “You want me to stand down my number one supporter? Giggles,
really.”

“Dingbat is the head
of the police force, and thus is the one answerable for these crimes
against people of colour.” Giggles snapped. “He needs to be
brought into line.”

“Giggles. Giggles,
Giggles, Giggles.” Demon shook his head. “I'll give him a
warning, but that's it. I'm not firing my best employee.”

“He's clearly NOT
your best employee if he's exceedingly racist! What about REAL
crime?!” Giggles snapped.

“Well, I thought you
had a good handle on that.” Demon replied with a smirk. “Now, out
of my office please. And don't try and pull one of your guns on me,
we both know you won't fire.”

Giggles seethed. So she
did the next best thing, and pulled out the Lucky Seven Gun. She
fired it at the light above Demons head, showering him in glass and
leaving the room too dark to work in.

Pettiness has its
place.