The drawing is passed around. Like a whole little hospital, unbelievably well equipped. What a fantastic thing for the whole community! Everyone agrees on this, and it is a happy thought that a part of the cost will be borne by the Örlands’ own successful son.
Adele Bergman studies the drawings with particular interest. The financing is all arranged! she thinks triumphantly. Cooperative Central in Åbo will now get an order that will shut their mouths. Calmly, slowly, methodically, she will call in her order, then complement it with a neatly typed list, sent by post, detailing each item. The largest order ever to come from the Örlands. Yes, we’re building a Health Care Centre out here. Cement mixer, cement, bricks, sheet metal, lumber—for starters. “Yes, a cargo boat will be hired and sent to collect the materials when they’re ready. Thank you! Goodbye.” Sweet.
“I venture to say”, she says solemnly, unable nevertheless to suppress a smile, “that as far as the Co-op is concerned we will manage the requisitions and deliveries. We can handle most of it through the Co-op Central Office. We have contacts for the remainder. The most important thing right now is to form a building committee to find a contractor in Åbo or Mariehamn who can estimate our materials requirements and oversee construction. That we can do with our own labour, with the exception of a plumbing contractor who knows central heating and can lay water lines and water closets.”
The members look at each other in wonderment. Central heating! Water closets! Uttered calmly by Adele Bergman as if they were the most ordinary things in the world. She ought to be chairman, the pastor thinks. What a woman!
“Thank you,” he says. “It is reassuring that we have Mrs Bergman’s expertise and business contacts to fall back on. The next step is to establish a building committee. You, my friends, know much better than I who among you has the necessary experience and is best suited to be on the committee. I call for suggestions. Or, ah, perhaps we should have an informal discussion first.”
He has noticed a meaningful glance from the organist. He and Adele Bergman are in a huddle—the two of them have long been in general agreement on communal issues. The organist has a seat on the Co-op’s steering committee and both of them are members of the vestry. The organist is also on the local council. They confer quietly for a moment. A certain uneasiness spreads through what the pastor now knows to be the block representing the east villages. Sörling clears his throat. “Mr Chairman!” Petter nods.
”I would like to point out that in this community we strive for a fair distribution of representatives from the two halves of the parish.” The east block nods and murmurs its agreement.
“A commendable goal. You need only make nominations. The usual thing is a committee with four members. And in cases where the vote is two against two, the chairman has the deciding vote.” He looks around. His friend the organist looks pained and asks for the floor.
“Mr Chairman. In this case we need to think first and foremost about competence. On the western side we have Fridolf Söderström who has worked as a carpenter in America. He’s just the man. As is Brynolf from Udden, who has built houses and fishing boats. Anyone who wants can go out to Udden and look at the house he built there last year.”
“That’s two,” says Petter in his innocence.
“Mr Chairman!” says Adele Bergman. She looks the way she looks when she takes Holy Communion—someone has to. “Most of all we need a chairman for the building committee. Our excellent organist has been foreman for the construction of both the Co-op store and the Coast Guard station. I nominate him.”
The organist looks pained. “I understand the viewpoint of the east side. Let us first hear their nominations. They have good candidates.”
The pastor notes that the east villagers are not impressed by the organist’s magnanimity. The word “tactic” is perhaps included in their muttered discussion. “Mr Chairman!” It is Lydia Manström, their designated spokesperson. “I nominate Gustaf Sörling and Håkan Ström. Sörling has been active in local government for many years and is very experienced. Ström is known as a good builder and shipper. We have here an excellent candidate for chairman and a committee member with a strong practical bent.”
“Second,” says the whole east block and the organist. The pastor looks at him furtively. “Are there other nominations? … No? … Yes? Please go ahead.”
It is Gustaf Sörling himself. “I nominate Viking Holm. A relatively new force on the council who has already demonstrated his abilities.”
The entire east side says “Second!” A certain unease is visible on the west side, which puts its heads together. The pastor has a sense of the situation. If the west side splits its votes among three candidates and gives too many votes to one of them without calculating in advance how many votes each candidate should get, the east side, with disciplined voting, has a chance of electing three candidates. Coup! A dilemma. The pastor proposes a recess and then a vote by secret ballot. Everyone agrees. The west side gathers quickly at one end of the schoolroom and the east side at the other while the pastor and Doctor Gyllen prepare the ballots at the speaker’s podium.
They smile at one another. “You know what will happen?” Doctor Gyllen asks.
“Two–two,” the pastor mutters. “In this case, the best solution. All the candidates are qualified.”
“I hope. Was worse when they chose the site. Then was war.”
The pastor sniffs. “The east side won, so that’s where we’ll build. The organist seems to think it best that the chairman of the building committee should come from there.”
“He is right. We shall see. We’re ready.”
The pastor looks out across the gathering. Both camps still lively, but there is more structure on the east, where Gustaf Sörling looks to be giving directives. The pastor clears his throat, taps gently with the gavel. “Hello, everyone, we’re ready to get started. Each person will get a blank ballot on which to write the name of your candidate. Then fold it and give it to Doctor Gyllen, who will put them in the basket. As you can see, it’s empty.”
Everything properly done. The names are written, placed in the basket, which the pastor then empties demonstrably, showing it to be empty. He and Doctor Gyllen put the ballots in two piles and count them. Eastern discipline is exemplary— of their fifteen votes, six are for Sörling, five for Ström, and four for Holm. The western ballots are less carefully thought out—seven for Fridolf, four for Brynolf, four for the organist. Sörling, Fridolf Söderström and Ström are elected. A second round of voting for Holm, Brynolf, and the organist. The easterners sense victory, since Holm will get fifteen votes and beat Brynolf and the organist, who will divide the votes on the western side. But the organist asks for a recess and whispers an urgent appeal to the westerners. There are visible protests, even anger, and the pastor’s young ears pick up Adele Bergman threatening to turn in a blank ballot. But when the votes are counted, the east side is silenced. Fifteen for Brynolf, zero for the organist.
Now the chairman’s vote will decide. The pastor would love to object that he is too young and no match for this clever gathering, but he does not dare to show the slightest uncertainty. Above all, he must not look at the organist to seek confirmation. If he does that, he’ll have the east side against him forever. He smiles, sunnily he hopes. “Here I need the help of King Solomon. We have two good candidates with practical experience. If we view the thing positively, we get a good outcome however we decide. On the negative side, a good candidate will be eliminated whichever way we vote.”