DAY 27, KIDS HOUR, THE QUEEN, THE MAYOR OF LONDON & a CRISIS, book 4, building

 The next morning, Troy’s comic WHY AUTONOMY MATTERS (not just for our town experiment) made waves in the press and on social media. Meanwhile, in seven UK cities, hundreds of helpers began to prepare this evening’s cities-wide street-cooking events for the Longevity Campaign. And in the Front House Theatre, the kids hours began, a few minutes past ten. The Campaigns & Negotiations Team had invited sixty kids and their parents, all of whom actively supported the town project. The idea was to learn from the kids and find out what their questions and suggestions were. Davie (9 years, Jack’s son) and Kuruk (7 years, Isabel’s son) were there, too, and had brought kids from their schools. One of the saddest and probably truest suggestions by an elven-year old was: ‘Make politicians honest so they don’t keep lying only because they are afraid.’ ‘But how?’ Robin (education) asked. The kid shrugged, and Jacie (6 years, Chenoa’s child) asked: ‘Can’t you make a potion or so?’ A kid from Davie’s school raised his hand. ‘Maybe they don’t understand that they are better of if they are honest.’ Navarro (society) nodded. ‘The benefits of honesty. Troy can your team come up with a story for that?’ ‘Sure. Maybe some of you kids can help me?’ Another suggestion was no less practical: ‘Send politicians to school so they learn what really counts and understand what needs to be done.’ Around twelve o’clock, the kids and Campaigns & Negotiations Team had lunch in the courtyard of the Front House. Davie and Kuruk sat at one of the long tables, left and right of Alice, while Jack sat next to Davie, and Isabel next to Kuruk. The kids told Alice about their plans to further support the town project. ‘We network with other schools,’ Davie said. Kuruk nodded. ‘We started with our schools which was easy because we are friends. And then we talked to the schools where Rose and Kyle went, and the teachers remembered them, and so we got a contact there, too.’ Davie nodded. ‘And soon we’ll have connected all schools in London and beyond, and we discuss the town ideas and tell our parents to support our future by supporting our town. And the teachers, too. And the teachers have friends. And then Kuruk laughed and said to me “Davie, we’re doing ripples. And soon all of the UK will be covered in ripples, and everyone will talk about the project and see how good it’ll be for all of us.’ After lunch, the team and the visitors discussed today’s YOUR POWERS CAMPAIGN, digging deep into how one can feel safe when empowering others, and how to deal with the anxieties humans experience when they allow someone else to have control, too. The biggest take-away was that there is no need for a single person to have all the control. An interplay of people who each take responsibility, and with that part of the control, is much safer because: ‘More eyes see more, more heads have more ideas, more hands get more done.’ ‘But we have to really learn to see each other and to listen and to sort of make this a kind of dance, like it all comes together,’ an older child remarked, thoughtfully. Alice left the kids hours in the afternoon to be in time for her appointment with Queen Lusana. The queen had invited Alice to tea for an update, in accordance with the conditions of queen’s offer, and to discuss and potentially sign a deal for building materials. Emine was viewing the proposed contracts in a nearby room with three of the queen’s lawyers. ‘Three lawyers?’ Alice asked with a little chuckle. The queen smiled. ‘Your lawyer has a reputation, and no one wanted to face her on their own.’ Alice chuckled, and the queen suggested that they leave the legal details to the lawyers and enjoy the tea. They did, and Alice recounted some of the suggestions the children had brought up at the kids hours, like: ‘The queen could tell the MPs that they will all get a medal if they vote for the town.’ ‘Bribery? I guess you told them that you would not agree to such an idea.’ Alice chuckled and smiled lopsidedly. ‘I did. But the kids have agile minds and found the loophole. Their speaker explained: “It doesn’t have to be bribery. Saying thank you is not bribery. But when a queen says thank you that means a lot, and people might like it. It’s only real bribery if something bad happens if they don’t vote for the town.’ The queen smiled. ‘I’m starting to think I should have a kids hour, too. They are clever.’ ‘And that makes me wonder when and why we lose our cleverness.’ ‘Your latest campaign THE BENEFITS OF EMPOWERMENT suggests that you have assembled a lot of clever people on your teams.’ ‘And they make me smile every day.’ ‘I admit that giving a stage, a voice, an audience to strangers no one has ever heard of, is an alien thought to me. It puzzles me. I fear I have always seen myself as a servant to my people while at the same time assuming that they needed me to guide them gently, to be a point of reference to what is right, to rally them in the hour of need. What I saw today—’ The queen shook her head. ‘What I saw today rattles the foundations of my self-perception, my idea of who I am supposed to be. It tells me that those I call my people are stronger and wiser than I ever gave them credit or a stage for. I don’t know whether to thank you for that, or whether I should call off our agreement.’ Alice held the queen’s gaze but didn’t comment. There was nothing much she could say. Though, she had experienced something similar when she had watched some of the campaign’s opening clips on the drive to the palace. Strangers who have something to say. Strangers who are strong. Strangers who care about the world. And no one knows who they are. Alice leaned back and let her eyes wander to the window. How much potential is out there we know nothing about? Can we really unearth all of it and make use of it, or will it be too many voices, chaos? No. No, if we give unearthing a chance, we might be able to turn it into a dance where we all benefit from each other. Just—  ‘You are a challenge, Alice Adler.’ Alice gave the queen a half-smile. ‘That’s good. I have wondered whether humans challenged each other too little, over the last centuries, and let too much just happen.’ ‘Hm.’ Later, the queen remarked on the NARRATIVES CAMPAIGN which had done a piece on the Myth of Royalty, and the queen asked: ‘Did you add that topic to reassure yourself that you are not suddenly siding with me?’ Alice smiled a little. ‘No. Our research team identified a number of narratives which have survived for a long time despite rather dismal records. The ideas of royalty, empires, wealth, power— all of these fall into that category and tend to be wrapped in fairy tales. Few seem to have asked what is lost and destroyed because of these narratives.’ Later, Emine and the other lawyers joined Alice and the queen, and eventually all present agreed on the content of the contracts for building materials. At the door, Queen Lusana said to Alice: ‘I have never bumped fists with anyone. I should like to try.’ Outside of the palace, one of the mayor’s people was already waiting for Alice. ‘You’re expected at the mayor’s office.’ Alice frowned. ‘Why?’ ‘Your Longevity Team said twenty-three locations. By now, there are over three thousand spots across London where people cook in the streets.’ ‘Oh! Well, I’m actually a bit peckish.’ ‘The mayor of London is expecting you in his office.’ Alice sighed. But when she slipped into the security car, she smiled cheekily. More than three thousand! The team had hoped that some people would pick up the idea and set up their own Let’s Cook in the Streets, Neighbours! spot. But three thousand! That’s amazing. The mayor of London was fuming and Alice countered impatiently: ‘Don’t you want ideas which address the problems your people struggle with?’ ‘Ideas? Street events are your solution to housing shortages, crime, discrimination, child poverty, costs of living crises, loneliness, immigration, a crumbling NHS?’ ‘Partly, yes! People need to come together. They need to find out what they want, collect ideas of how it could be done, and come to you to make it happen.’ ‘I can’t just make things happen!’ the mayor snapped. Alice straightened. ‘On the streets, debating, dancing, cooking together, that’s where people can bond again, where they can turn strangers into neighbours, where they can find out what it is the other and they themselves need. That’s where they can learn to interact in a way they and the other like, and that’s a basis for shaping society. Society is not shaped by the angry ramblings of a few people, or the scheming of a dubious elite. Society is the sum of every single human, and it will only be shaped into something alive if every single human is part of that. Our world is in an incredible mess. We are seeing the consequences of centuries of failures by those who claim and claimed to be pillars of society.’ Alice shook her head. ‘Let people find each other, let them interact, let them tear down the walls, the walls which our way of building cities, our ideas of working, our concepts of families have erected. My team only set up twenty-three cooking spots. Your people, the people of London, set up more than two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven cooking spots. Why? I don’t know. I like to think that we inspired them. But maybe all they needed was an idea which allowed them to do what they wanted to do anyway: come together, tear down the walls, bridge the divides.’ The mayor turned and walked back to his table. Annoyed Alice added: ‘Only good that the mayors of the other cities don’t call all the time.’ The mayor sat down, looking at Alice again. ‘Oh, they do. They call! Me!’ ‘Oh!’ ‘Ms Adler, you have to be careful! You’re upsetting people who very much dislike being upset. They dislike it so much that hardly anyone knows who they are. They are watching you. And they don’t like what they see. Good day, Ms Adler.’ On the way to the car, Alice cursed: ‘Damn! I couldn’t think of a retort. He got the upper hand, after all. Which is kind of OK. But. Damn! I should have thought of a retort!’ Jazz (head of Security) shrugged. ‘He’s not bluffing. But THE watches these people. We know who they are. You’re safe.’ Back at the Compound, Rohana told Alice that the millionaires boot camp team sent an SOS, some hours ago. Apparently, the group of eleven hundred and eleven participants was too big, and since the same amount of tickets was sold for all upcoming boot camps, they needed a solution. ‘Navarro volunteered to head a second camp, tomorrow. And Itzel, head of the True Power is in Creation Campaign, is busy finding a crew for the second camp.’ ‘Hm. How big were the previous two camps?’ Alice asked. ‘The first had only three people. They posted about the camp, and by the evening all tickets were sold. Except for day two which had only thirty-three participants. The boot camp leaders said, thirty-three was a good group size.’ ‘Hm. Let’s see how tomorrow goes. If the fifty-plus groups are still too big, then we’ll have three boot camps. The more millionaires we can inspire to become creators instead of suckers the better.’ ‘I’m already typing a message for Itzel.’ When Rohana looked up from her phone, she said: ‘The boot camp is a big favourite with the press. And some the conspiracy theorists managed to trend with the hashtag: town project bankrupt.’ ‘What?’ Alice said, chuckling. ‘Yep. They made out that we initiated the millionaires boot camp because we need the money.’ Alice laughed. ‘And?’ ‘Dennie logged into the Hub Campaign Square for an online debate with those people. I’ve got it here. Listen.’ Rohana started the recording and Alice heard Dennie say: ‘Nope, our coffers are brimming. The millionaires boot camp is just a way to demonstrate how much is actually possible if you use your creator’s imagination. A yacht, a sports car, a vineyard, a big house, that’s all things you just buy, and then you have it, and that’s it. There’s nothing exciting or alive about it. But if you build something, if you use your imagination to shape the world, for example, by building a fleet of sailing ships so that fewer people fly, or by building a network of library gardens so that more people can enjoy reading, or by creating a town which focuses on film making, a haven for film makers, all of these things are alive and create ripple effects, continue to grow, they live on. A yacht will end up in a junkyard. A vineyard, if you’re serious about it, will hardly ever extend its influence beyond an exclusive circle of people who like to get pissed. How original. A big house is just that. It doesn’t do anything. But a town, a network, a fleet, they all grow, evolve, shape and empower.’

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2025