Could it be??? A neutral party???

The day before yesterday I walked into one of the little village stores to buy some tea and sugar to take back to my neighbors, and the store owner gets to talking about the Kookie school bathroom project and how it's pretty embarrassing that it took more than five months to finish. I agreed, but said thanks be to God that it is done and the children can use it; that's the important thing. And he went on to talk about the differences between the Izzies and the Kookies, and brought in some drama that exists between the Izzies and the third little village, the Debbies, that I'd never heard before. I kept trying to figure out whose team he was on, so I could be sure not to offend him by saying something bad about his family or friends, and he said, "Whoever is honest and wants to work, I'm with them. I know people from all three villages and I try not to get involved in any politics between any of them." It was the most practical and objective conversation I think I've ever had in this place. He never said anyone was outright bad without giving up-to-date examples of the trouble he or she had stirred up, and I ended up staying for almost two hours with him in his little store, getting as much information as I could about who was fighting with whom and for what reasons, and the history of the politics and election-related drama, until the sun set and I realized that my neighbors were probably waiting for me to bring them the tea and sugar. When I climbed up to the spring the next day, I realized that that little store is exactly in the middle of the three villages, making it not only necessary that he remain neutral but also making him possibly the perfect person to be my informant.