By the end of the lunch hour, you notice the numbers of people passing by on the street are starting to thin—but at the same time, the protest has grown quite significantly, enough that the protest is taking up half the street by itself. Even without so many people around to see it, the protest carries on all through the afternoon, with Rana doing everything possible to keep people motivated, focused, and hydrated.
As the protest goes on, you involve yourself by spending your time:
You decide that, since you're at a protest, you want to throw yourself into actually protesting. Joining the people right at the front, you help get the protest's message across unequivocally. For a while, you're so focused on the job you've assigned yourself that you don't even notice the time go by.
It's only once it reaches early evening, however, that something new occurs.
Just as Rana is about to start handing out flyers to the new crop of people just leaving work, her attention is suddenly drawn to the Town Hall. When you turn and look, you realize that there's a small group of people in suits leaving the building—followed by Mr. Clarence himself.
Seeing this, Rana stops in her tracks. Quickly, a low murmur starts to run through the crowd, and before Mr. Clarence has finished shaking hands with his colleagues, Rana has made it back to the table with her megaphone and begun to chant:
"Keep our forests clean!"
Very soon, the cry starts to be repeated in chorus by the crowd. This is the loudest you've heard them shout so far, and it's no doubt because everybody on your side of the street wants to get a reaction out of Mr. Clarence—and maybe even hear something about the meeting he's just come out of. You watch as Mr. Clarence turns his head towards the protesters, and as he does, you see Rana's focus become suddenly doubled. The sound increases as the tension between both sides of the street mounts, with Rana in particular watching Mr. Clarence as if she doesn't want to miss a single movement he makes. It seems as if she's expecting him to move closer—to open his mouth—to say something at any moment.
As you watch, Mr. Clarence faces the protesters—and at once, the sound dissolves to nothing. The street is filled with dead silence as each one of the protesters watches—waits—for whatever he's going to do.
After an almost unbearable moment, Mr. Clarence nods to the crowd—
And turns to walk away.
Immediately, the crowd roars back to life, the chants returning with unparalleled strength. You notice Mr. Clarence turn back slightly when he hears the noise—but still, he doesn't stop. It doesn't seem as if you're going to get any closure about his meeting with the Town Council or the future of the developments just yet.
The chanting goes on until he and his colleagues have disappeared, at which point the crowd begins to buzz with angry muttering—and Rana lowers the megaphone with a grim look on her face.
"He really seems to care what we have to say," you hear her murmur to somebody else. "What's the bet that they've already decided on everything in there?"
You hear her sigh. But then, after a pause, she turns to grab a stack of flyers from the table. Face set in determination, she starts to move through the crowd.
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