OPEN my melancholy blues

[METEOR]

METEOR

Meteor’s golden gaze narrowed. The canine must be desperate, to offer his congregants’ labor for a hot meal. Question was, how useful were the congregants? How about on an hourly labor per calorie basis? Chernabog was useful as all hell, but, even as a cold-blooded dragon, she consumed far more meat than vampiric Kole. The earth elemental was a resource worth the calories. Vale and Kole, clearing out the worst of the felled forests, were also worth the calories.

“Unless you suddenly have earth elementals, I doubt your congregants can do anything useful to the felled forest.” In which case, Montgomery wouldn’t be begging if they could grow their own food. Meteor glanced at the shoreline. “However.”

Knox had made a valiant effort denting the washed-up garbage, but it was one lion. They had miles of beach. She’d done well with Main Beach, but what of the countless other beaches? And the reefs?

Meteor’s golden gaze slid back to Montgomery. “The earthquakes brought hundreds, perhaps thousands, of kilograms of human garbage to our shores. Your congregants will clean this garbage. At least one of your flock is capable of swimming, correct? A basic skill, and necessary to clear the reefs of this garbage.”

“We’ll handle the garbage disposal once it’s gathered.” Meteor’s mouth turned up in a lopsided smirk. “And your congregants, so long as they keep working at cleaning our beaches, will earn their calories.”