This won’t take long, did it?

A woman who has conducted business in this town for 23 years was watching last Monday’s City Council meeting from the comfort of her mid-city condo.

She took a moment to elevate her usually firm jaw back to its normal level.

She was inclined to treat the Council’s hurricane-style vote on accepting/rejecting retail cannabis dispensaries as a Frankenstein-style joke.

She was horrified and outraged.

“I never have seen anything rushed through so fast in all of the years I have been following the City Council,” she said.

She bit off each word, a piece at a time – like going through a candy bar that smelled.

“I want to know why these supposedly serious people felt compelled to push this through without verification, without acknowledging the many people who oppose retail marijuana stores,” said the businesswoman.

“If they were honest about listening to neighbors against the stores, why didn’t they listen to the people who sent emails – 39 of the 40 were against retail stores.

“But, noooo.

“They treated it – I am talking about Meghan and the mayor — as if they were going on a two-month holiday and all they needed was a toothbrush.”

“Talk about people getting the brushoff, and they are always bragging about listening to the community – except when the community disagrees with them.”

Meghan Sahli-Wells spoke at length without breaking new ground or satisfying a strong need for sober, penetrating analysis.

With urgent insistence, she protested that the hard work and purported thoroughness she and Marijuana Task Force teammate Mayor Jeff Cooper put it should suffice.

She virtually dared any colleague to cross her.

Mayor Cooper said that in this matter he is motivated by money, but admitted one line later that revenues for the city will be modest.

One wit said the Council is plunging into a strange world of perilous darkness, armed only with a flashlight with dead batteries.