"May I have your attention please. Ladies and gentleman, may I please have your attention." Terry Russell could see this was going to be pointless. Already the crowd was buzzing and he was having trouble bringing the meeting to order. "Please, everyone, I will not start this hearing until I have silence!"
The crowd quieted down.
"Thank you. My name is Terrance Russell, and i'm chairing this hearing on the matter of the proposal by Sunburst Enterprises to build a structure at Moore Creek Preserve, fifty kilometers east of Cairns. Now i'll be..."
The room burst into activity once again and Mr. Russell reached for his gavel this time, bringing it down decisively on the podium several times. The room quieted once more.
"We must maintain decorum here, people." He put on his best I-mean-business look and straightened his tie for emphasis. "Now then, I'll start this hearing by calling Mr. Anthony Stevens to the front. Mr. Stevens?"
A dapper gentleman with a two hundred dollar haircut wearing an Armani suit strode to the front of the room. He wasn't carrying any notes and seemed carefree and completely at ease. He shot his cuffs and placed his hands on either side of the podium and leaned into the microphone. He broke into a smarmy smile.
"Mr. Russell, how are we today?" His voice was as unctuous as his smile.
Mr. Russell was not impressed. "Mr. Stevens, you represent Sunburst Enterprises, do you?"
"I do, Mr. Russell. Terry, may I call you Terry?"
"And you'd like to, let me see if I understand this correctly, anchor a giant concrete pontoon at Moore Creek Preserve?" Mr. Russell strained to maintain an even voice.
"Well, Mr. Russ - Terry, if I may, giant isn't a word we use at Sunburst Enterprises. We're a positive, proactive organization and we feel we have a lot to offer the community here. We want to bring excitement to Moore Creek. We have a dynamic vision and we're certain that once you fully understand our plans you'll see the benefit this can have for decades to come."
The room began to buzz and Mr. Russell moved quickly to quell the rising tide. "Mr. Stevens, surely you're aware that Moore Creek is one of the last remaining coral preserves in the South Pacific." He fixed Stevens with a firm look.
"Yes, Terry we are, and I can assure you our engineers have consulted with marine biologists and other experts and we can..."
"Oh, this is ridiculous!" A man in a blue windbreaker holding a sheaf of papers had jumped to his feet and was approaching fast. Mr. Stevens seemed unconcerned.
Mr. Russell looked weary. "And you are, sir?"
"I'm here representing Friends Of The Earth, and this whole hearing is a farce. How can you even contemplate..."
"Sir, i'll have to ask you sit down and wait your turn to speak." Mr. Russell was having none of it. The man glowered and then returned to the edge of his seat. Mr. Stevens grinned and made to launch back into his speech, but Mr. Russell had other ideas.
"Mr Stevens, it says here that you want to build water slides, a wedding chapel, and, am I reading this correctly, an underground cafe?"
Mr. Stevens took a deep breath. "Yes, those are the initial working ideas, there's more we can do. For instance, a ten pin bowling alley on top of the underground cafe would fit in nicely with the idea for the football stadium..."
"Alright, this is beyond the pale! I really must protest..."
"Sir, I told you once you'll have to wait your turn. Please return to your seat."
The environmental advocate was too worked up for that. "This farce must not continue another minute! We're talking about an endangered coral preserve..."
Mr. Stevens couldn't maintain his facade of cool any longer. "Look, you flaky idiot, you can't stop progress. Where do you get off..."
"Order! Order in this room right now!" Mr. Russell was banging the podium with his gavel for all he was worth. The room was a cacophony of angry voices rising rapidly in pitch. The environmental advocate was enraged and took advantage of the ensuing chaos to lunge at Stevens and grab him by his lapels.
"You idiot, this is an Armani suit, take your hands off me right now!" he didn't wait to see if it would happen, he came up with a right cross to the environmentalists jaw, but the other wasn't letting go and they both ended up on the floor.
Mr. Russell was tearing at his hair. Why did they even bother scheduling this, he wondered. He continued to bang his gavel, but by now the entire room had broken into a free for all and the wail of sirens could be heard through the open front door of the meeting hall.
Mr. Russell grabbed the microphone in disgust and addressed the room, though no one heard a word he said.
"This seventh attempted hearing on the proposal to allow a structure to be built at Moore Creek Preserve is hereby adjourned. The date of the eighth meeting will be announced next month."
With that he adjusted his tie once more, smoothed his hair and left by the rear exit with as much decorum as he could muster.
