I stood off to one side, Crew front and center in the council room, the place eerily empty without a crowd of Reading residents at my back filling every nook and cranny just to find out what was up.
Nope, not this afternoon the en masse gaping of every soul that lived in our fine little town. Turned out this was a closed meeting, despite being held in the huge room at the base of town hall more suited to mayoral debates and the odd craft sale. Multi-purpose? You betcha.
It was hard not to shuffle my feet, to clear my throat endlessly as my discomfort at being present when I had no idea why I was even here prodded me over and over to ask the obvious question. The problem being that, from the moment we walked into said council hall and realized the full ensemble of Reading's fine elected members of government sat, rigid and watchful, Crew had gone silent, stubbornly so.