John Cena's Arc

Chapter 2 of 6

Cena learned about the new arena from a flyer taped to the council door. The Pine Knicks had a home now, a wide pinewood building on the edge of town, and Gunther had moved his campaign there. Cena drove out the next morning. He needed to see what his rival had built before he decided his next step. The building rose out of the trees like a barn dressed for a parade. A tall wooden arch stood at the front gate, carved with pine needles and knots. Beneath the arch, Gunther had set up a folding table, a banner with his name, and a stack of petition sheets. A heavy iron pickaxe leaned against the table leg, its shaft splintered, its head dusted gray. Cena understood the message. Gunther was telling the town he would break the blank stone himself if the council gave it to anyone else. Gunther stood behind the table in his navy suit. Two locals were signing his sheet. He saw Cena and smiled. "You came to watch," Gunther said. "Good. The vote is mine by Friday." Cena was about to answer when a clerk hurried up the path with a folded paper in her hand. She did not look at either wrestler. She pinned the paper to the post under the arch and stepped back. It was a letter on council stationery. Cena read it over her shoulder. Councilman Harris had resigned his seat, effective that morning. No reason given. The signature was fresh. Gunther read it twice. His face changed. Harris had been the seat he counted on, the deciding vote he had bragged about in the park. Without Harris, his math was gone. He picked up the pickaxe. He walked past Cena, past the table, past the clerk, and toward the side gate of the garden where the council kept a small stone yard for civic markers. Cena shouted at him to stop. Gunther swung the pickaxe at the gate latch. The wood split. He swung again and the lock dropped. He was inside the yard for maybe four seconds before two officers came around the corner at a run. They put him on the ground beside the broken gate. The pickaxe rolled into the grass. A woman with a phone filmed the whole thing from the parking lot. Cena stood under the arch and watched them lead Gunther away in cuffs. The petition sheets blew off the table. The resignation letter still hung from the post, flapping. Cena's biggest rival had taken himself out of the race in under a minute. But the council was now down a seat, and the vote on the blank stone could not happen until they filled it. Cena had more time. He also had a new problem. He did not yet know who the town would appoint, or whose side that person would take.