There were about thirty people in that room, most of them there for an item about bus routes.

Julian sat in the third row.

Maya sat next to him, sixteen, in her school clothes, having done her homework in the car.

Arthur sat behind them with a folder he did not open.

I was the second of four speakers.

They call your name.

You go to a lectern with a microphone on it.

There is a small digital timer on the front of it facing you, and it counts down from three minutes in green and then in amber and then in red, and when it hits zero the board president says thank you.