Five Vendors Sat Together While The Chairman Explained His Ledger

Brent had placed his chair beside the door.

I knew the choice. Each of us would have to pass close to him to reach the meeting table.

Yvette went in first and held the door wide. We entered together, carrying our own copies.

"This seems rather crowded," Brent said.

Elaine pointed to the chairs she had set out.

"Everyone here has information we requested."

Two other board members sat with her: Martin, the treasurer, and Claire, who arranged the hall rental. Martin had a yellow pad. Claire had printed the email with the settlement offers.

Brent smiled at me.

"I hope you've had time to calm down."

I sat between Nora and Dana.

"I'm ready to go through the payments."

Elaine asked me to begin. My throat felt dry, so I drank water before saying my name and the date Brent had cleared my table.

"I paid $555 for three Saturdays. Here are the three numbered stubs. Each number matches a paid money order in the next sleeve."

I waited while they turned the pages.

"These delivery confirmations show who accepted the envelopes. The invoices told me to pay Haskell Market Services. Brent's email described it as the collection office."

"Which it was," Brent said.

Martin looked up.

"For paper bookings, under our old agreement. You were required to remit those funds with a vendor list each month."

That was new to me. I wrote it down.

Brent leaned back.

"There can be delays when people don't follow instructions."

"Which instruction did I fail to follow?" I asked.

"You used the wrong stall reference."

I slid his invoice forward.

"You supplied it."

He did not look at the page.

"An old template. A simple office mistake."

Nora opened her folder.

"Mine was from the winter before. It had forty-two."

Luis showed forty-three. Dana showed forty-four. Ruth laid out forty-five beside the floor plan.

"These tables were removed two winters before Akiko booked," Ruth said. "Here's the board note."

Claire put a hand over her mouth.

Brent's face changed color above his collar.

"You can't expect me to answer a stack of papers dumped on me without notice."

"You received the same packet Monday," Elaine said. "I have your reply."

For a moment, no one spoke. I could hear tires passing through wet slush below the window.

I saw Dana start to close her folder. Under the table, I moved my foot away from hers so she had room to shift her chair. She took a breath, opened the folder again, and set her receipt where everyone could see it. I kept my eyes on my own pages.

Martin turned to the ledger.

"Why are the active tables marked unpaid and the retired tables marked vacant?"

"Because these funds were held pending proper allocation."

"Where?"

"In the collection account."

"Then provide the account statements and the remittance list."

Brent folded his arms.

"My business records are private."

Elaine closed her pen.

"Then an independent accountant will tell us what access the collection agreement requires. We aren't resolving that question by argument today."

Brent looked around at us.

"People have made mistakes here. I don't want anyone losing a place over this."

Dana had been twisting a tissue in her lap. She put it on the table.

"I already lost mine."

Her voice was so quiet that he started speaking over it.

She raised it just enough.

"You stood beside my coats and told people my card had been declined. I paid by check. You had deposited it three weeks before."

Martin asked for her check copy.

Then Nora described her removal. Luis read the email that had warned him against making a complaint. Ruth said she had stopped making paper houses for six months.

Yvette spoke last.

"I saw Akiko removed. I heard Brent call her dishonest. I can name the nearby sellers who heard it, too."

We were asked to wait outside while the board met alone. Brent stayed in the room for part of that time. When he came out, he walked past us without his usual small smile.

"You've made a lot of work for people," he told me.

I held my ledger against my coat.

"Yes," I said.

Twenty minutes later, Elaine called us back. The board had voted to suspend Brent's collection duties and his control over table assignments while an outside accountant reviewed the records. Martin would contact each vendor directly.

They had not yet decided whether we could return. The next market was three days away.

As we stood to leave, Claire took a sealed envelope from her bag.

"There is another problem," she said. "Brent signed a new rental agreement for table eighteen yesterday."