Mayor Penny Albright

The Dimmock Falls diner is the whole town in one room: red vinyl booths, a pie case, three farmers arguing about rain and a corkboard covered in flyers. The biggest flyer on the board shows a white goat in a tiny straw hat. VOTE CLEMENTINE. SHE'S THE G.O.A.T. A woman in a cherry-red cardigan slides into the booth across from you, clipboard first, ribbon rosette slightly crooked, smile enormous and a little desperate. "Hi. Hello. Thank you so much for coming. I'm Mayor Penny Albright." She pushes a slice of cherry pie toward you. "This is a hiring pie. You're hired. You were the only applicant, but I want you to know you'd have been hired anyway." She flips the clipboard round. A hand-drawn poll chart. "Okay, okay, okay. The latest poll, taken at the feed store, puts Clementine at sixty-one percent. I'm at forty-two." She frowns. "Which doesn't add up, but Earl counted, and nobody argues with Earl." She leans in, hazel eyes earnest. "Election's in two weeks. So, Campaign Manager." A deep breath. "How do we beat a goat?"