The day before Avia's meeting with the counsel, Avia wasn't nervous, but fired up and ready to go.  She had nearly memorized her script, and had made many revisions along the way to make her proposal even more convincing.  She made sure to hold her head up high, and be very confident about her cause.  The only thing that she had been interested in lately was to save her home, and her families consciences.  That night, Avia went to bed early.  She wanted to be well rested and didn't want to be tired the day that followed.  Avia woke up at eight that following morning, three and a half hours from the meeting with the city counsel.  This meant that she would have to be ready at 10:00, and in the car by 10:30.  The family would arrive at City Hall and around 10: 40, and would get ready for their meeting.  Avia's parents had always taught her that if there was somewhere important that she needed to be, it was better to be there early than on time.  

Avia went downstairs fifteen minuest after eight, and sat down at the island to get her breakfast.  Both her mom and her dad were up already.  Her mom was cooking the breakfast, while her dad was sitting beside Avia, watching the news on the kitchen TV.  

"Hey Avia, check this out," Scott told her.  "The news is all over this meeting today, and there will be a whole segment on it next week.  No matter what happens in there, you will be interviewed on the news."

"Thats great, but I don't really want all of the attention," Avia told him.  To be honest, that morning he was feeling a little bit nervous about the whole thing.  

A few minuets later, Sandra turned around, holding two plates in her hands, and set them in front of Avia and Scott.  She had made scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.  Avia ripped off the crust of the toast, and made a bacon and egg sandwhich on toast, what she when her mom made this breakfast for her.  

After Avia finished her breakfast, she went up to her room to get ready.  There, she brushed her teeth, and flossed.  Then, she brushed her hair, and curled it.  Avia made sure to put in a lot of hairspray, because curls just never seemed to stay in her hair.  After that, she put on her outfit for the day.  Because she wanted to look professional, and she wanted to be taken seriously, she wore a beige pant suit with a baby blue under shirt for a small splash of color.  By then, it was almost 10:00, but she still had time.  Avia sat down at her dresser, and started to out on a little bit of makeup.  She didn't want to look like a slob at this meeting, so she kept the whole look very professional.  Avia made sure she didn't wear any bright, or super dark, lipstick.  She also didn't wear any sparkley eye shadow of lipgloss.  

At 10:30, the Swans' piled intot he car, and began traveling to the city hall.  Avia had her purse in hand, where she put her phone, laptop, and her speech.  Once it was time for the meeting ot begin, Avia was more ready than she had ever been in her whole life.  Before her sat  the city council, which consisted of eleven people, seven men and four women.

When the council saw that they would be listening to a girl in he tween years, they were a little bit stunned, but they proceded as though she was an adult.

"Hello, my name is Avia Swan, and I am here today about the matter of my house being taken, and used as public property," Avia began.  Her voice was loud and clear, and the members of the city counsel knew that they would need to take her seriously.  Avia continued, " Last week I found out that my house was going to be taken from me, so at fiist I thought that we would just have to move.  That wouldn't be so bad if there was a place inside of the city where we could move to.  In our community, when a person moves into a house, they stay there for their whole life, so there are no current houses on the market in our community.  Then, after some research, I found out that there is absolutely no room inside of hte cities borders where we could build a new home.  I had also learned, from my parents, that if your outside of hte city for more than a month, then your conscience will go away.  

I was in the foster system until I was five.  The day that I got Stripe, the conscience that is on my shoulder right now, the family that I had currently been with gave me to the local orphanage.  I spent two years there, with nothing ot do except to write in my little journal and wonder if anybody would ever love me, and take me home.  When my parents came and adopted me when I was seven years old, they took me to that house on the corner, the one that I am trying to save today.  It was the only house that had ever been a real home to me.  

The day before my birthday, I was in my room, working on a paper for school.  I heard a knock on my door so, naturally, I opened it.  There was a gift on the ground, so I brought it into my room.  There was a note inside of it telling me that my adoptive parents were also my birth parents.  That was last week.

On my birthday my conscience fell off of my shoulder.  We rushed him to the hospital.  The doctor there told us that he would never speak again.  That was last week.

At the hospital, we went into the room where Stripe was.  While we were there, i collapsed and fainted.  I didn't get off of the couch for a dayand ate almost nothing.  That was last week.

Last week, all of these horrible things happened to my family last week, and on top of it all, I learn that the city is going to take it to build a library! Whent here are so many other places where you could build a library, places where somebody doesn't live.  On top of it all, you aren't just taking away our home, your taking away the one unique right thst everybody in Cresentville has.  The right to a conscience.  You are taking away the one thing that sets this town apart from the world, the one thing that makes us extra special.  Now I must ask you, what is you opinion on the matter after hearing my side of the story?"

Avia had never felt more powerful in her entire life.  The city counsel asked Avia to step out of the room so that they could discuss in private.  A few moments afterwards, they called the Swans' back inside.  

The chairman, who was in the center, stood up and started talking," After listening to you position, we have come to an agreement.  The house reamains the proporty of the Swans'!"

The teacher closes the book, and looks at her class.  

"Okay, now that we have read the book Conscience, by Megan Ripple, we will start working on book reports next week.  Class is dismissed," the teacher announces.

The teacher walks to her desk and looks at a photograph of her mother.  The photo read, Avia Swan/Watson, age 12.  The teacher opens her top desk drawer, and finds a miniature tiger, fast asleep.

"Come on Fang, lets go home," The teacher says towards the tiger.