Calm Before The Storm Ch. 02

The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 7 - Dinner Parties

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, December 1st. "Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Council's meeting next week will discuss the budget cuts called for by the Town & County Assembly in their budget proposal, which was passed last night!"

The Assembly was the County's legislative body that elected 30 people from equal-population zones, without regard to the Town's city limits line. The Assembly was the only body that could set taxes and produce a budget. The Council was semi-executive, and was ten Members plus the Mayor, but the zones were half Town and half outside County, and not necessarily equal in population; ergo, the Assembly existed to prevent the U.S. Department of Justice from coming in with a complaint.

Bettina continued: "The Assembly has mandated that all Town & County Government functions institute austerity measures during these tough economic times. It is not known yet where the Council will make cuts, which departments will be the most deeply cut, nor which or how many jobs will be lost.

"In other news, 'Black Friday', the day after Thanksgiving, was considered a disappointment by the Town & County's businesses, as the biggest malls in the County report lower sales than the previous few years. Cyber-shopping, purchases on the Internet, are also down from previous years, both locally and nationally. We now go to Nick Eastwood for the Sports report. Nick!"

"Thank you, Bettina!" shouted Nick from outside University Stadium. "The Wildcats and the Tigers are prepping for the Conference Championship game, which will be held in the City on Saturday evening. The undefeated, No. 1 Wildcats are favored to win, but the Tigers will be a tough opponent. The two teams did not face each other in the regular season."

Nick continued: "And the Wildcats will have to prepare with the possibility of losing their defensive coordinator. The Bulldogs asked for and received permission to interview Coach Ted Thrasher for their vacant head coaching position, and he is widely believed to be the top candidate for the job. The Wildcats have even gone so far as to state that Coach Erskine 'Iron Man' Marshall will be promoted to defensive coordinator if Coach Thrasher leaves for the Bulldogs. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you, Nick!" said Bettina, "and let me just say in the Thanksgiving spirit that we are very thankful to have you with us at KXTC, Nick!"

"Wow!" said Joanne Cummings, "she must be hot for him."

"Or else she had him this past weekend." said Cindy Ross, just coming into the room. Laughter ensued as Bettina continued:

"And this weekend is the Policeman's Ball, as well as their Orange Order honorary induction ceremony!" said Bettina. "This will be the last year the Policeman's Ball is held at the University Hotel, as the new Civic Center and Library will be completed next to the State Office Building on Courthouse Square by next year..."

"So they're cutting our budget," said Tanya, "but they have money to build the new Civic Center."

"That was budgeted for this past year," I said, "and they just started building it a few weeks ago. It'll have a big auditorium room that can be rented for big events, meeting rooms, places for the old folks instead of that little Community Center they're in, and a new library, which I'll be glad to see."

"The old folks love that little Community Center." said Joanne. "They were fiercely opposed to the parts of the Civic Center plan that would force them out. They are trying to buy the property, but the Council is blocking them."

"Oh really?" I said. "I'm going to check into that. If I find that Thomas P. Cook has any inside track on buying it, I might just have to give Bettina an interview."

"Woe betide Thomas P. Cook." said Cindy. "Crowbars a'comin' at him."

"Commander, are we going to be hit by the budget cuts?" asked Theo Washington.

"I've been working hard with the Chief and Sheriff to have the Council accept our plan of reducing our numbers through attrition... retirements, resignations to go to other jobs, kicking the Sharples-types out, and not hiring and not promoting as many people as we usually do."

I decided to change the subject by asking out loud "By the way, has everyone voted for the Orange Order yet?"

"Got my ballot, but I didn't fill it out yet." said Martin Nash. There was general concurrence with that.

"I've already voted." said Tanya Perlman. "But really, only two people will make it this year?"

"Unfortunately, yes." I said. "Like I said, we're shrinking through attrition, and we had a bigger-than-normal class last year." I did not add that the bigger class the previous year was so that Cindy and I could be inducted without taking away from two others. "Captain Ross, have you voted yet?"

"Nope." Cindy said simply. "I've been having too much fun babysitting my new nephew, and less fun dealing with my fiancée. But I know who I'm voting for, so I'll go fill that out now." With that, she turned and stalked out of the room.

"I'll leave you guys to decide who to vote for." I said. "Of course I would never tell you guys who to vote for, but if you happen to see my filled-out ballot sitting here by the coffeemaker in the next few minutes, I won't mind if you happen to vote the same way. Or not. It's up to you."

I drank coffee and watched Bettina talk about the planned Christmas festivities for the next month as, by curious coincidence, every Detective came up to refill his or her coffee mug...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Okay, I'll be alert." said Molly. "Love you, too. Bye." After disconnecting the cellphone call, she resumed making up her bed in The Cabin.

"I really appreciate all of your help." she told Pamela Feeley, who was feeding baby Ian. Molly had been breastfeeding Ian, but Dr. Fredricson had advised adding some formula at least once a day; it was like adults or children taking a vitamin once a day.

"Oh, I'm happy to do it." said Pamela. "Little Pete is beginning to grow up, and it's a joy to be able to help with sweet little boys like Ian. By the way, that phone call sounded a bit ominous."

"That was Don." said Molly. "He got wind of a ring of crooks that steal things from hospitals... including organs for donations, and occasionally actual babies. He's going to be at the Hospital all afternoon with the Sheriff, the Campus Police, and Hospital Security, implementing tighter security measures there. So, what would you like for lunch?"

"We should probably finish off those leftovers." said Pamela. "Or we can have soup and sandwiches, and you can have the leftovers tonight."

"That's what I'll do, then." Molly said.

It did not take long, and soon they were eating warmed up ham soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Little Pete was more interested in baby Ian than his own food.

"I wonder why babies are so fascinated with other babies." Molly mused as they ate. "Don and Laura both talk about how much Carole loves all the other babies."

"I don't know." said Pamela. "Pete, little Pete's father, was an only child, but he always loved the other babies in the nursery at church."

"Which church do you go to?" Molly asked.

"First Methodist... 'Only' Methodist in this Town." Pamela said with a hint of humor. "I grew up going to First Baptist with my parents, but ended up going to the Methodist Church with my husband Mark. That was a long time ago... and when almost everyone went to church. Now... Pastor Westboro says it's only a quarter of what it used to be."

"He grew up here, too, didn't he?" asked Molly. "So he's seen the changes."

"Oh yes." said Pamela. "I was in school with Raymond, that's Pastor Westboro. I was a couple of years old than him. I went to the Junior-Senior Prom with him my Junior year. Then I met Mark that summer, and we began dating, and Mark took me to the Prom my Senior year."

"You were the belle of the ball, I'm sure." said Molly. "So did you marry him out of high school?"

"Oh no, I went to college, here at the University." Pamela said. "Mark's grades were not that good, and he wasn't accepted. So he ended up going to Midtown College, which was a two-year school back then."

"I guess Pastor Westboro went to Divinity School?" Molly asked.

"No, not at first." said Pamela. "He went to City University, but I have no idea what he majored in. I think he went to the City Theological Seminary later on, then came back here. By then I was married to Mark. But I didn't marry Mark right away. I dated several men while in college and just afterwards, including Sidney Wellman."

"He's older than you, isn't he?" Molly asked.

"Oh yes." Pamela said. "And he was a cad then, just as he is now. But you know how young girls are attracted to bad boys."

"Yes, I do." said Molly. "And I made the mistake of marrying one. But I divorced him and left him in the dust."

"Sidney Wellman was definitely what they call a 'player'." said Pamela. "I should've known better. There was just something about him, an underlying... 'badness' about Sidney. I guess it is what he needed to get to where he is..."

"Anyway," Pamela continued after a pause, "Mark got his associates degree, then ended up at the Police Academy. We began dating again, and got married. He left the Police Force after only a few years, and became a Security officer at Crown Chemicals. He was involved in all that mess with Proactive Citizens of Greenworld. That situation took away years of his life."

"How so?" Molly asked. "Was he injured?"

"No, he was lucky," said Pamela, "but he was one of those that opened fire on the protestors that charged the fence. He doesn't know for sure if he personally killed any of them, but many died. But that wasn't the worst of it. That incident really divided the Town, and a lot of people held it against Mark that he'd defended the company at all, much less with the use of deadly force. Of course others supported him, but he lost friends, and it really hurt him that people openly vilified him to his face after he did what he knew was his job, and that he was protecting other people."

"That's too bad." Molly said. "It's that way for us police officers now. Some people just hate us. I'm afraid that things are going to get really ugly with the black community in the next few years."

"Yes." said Pamela. "I think Mark was secretly happy when Pete went to the Police Academy, even though he openly encouraged Pete to consider other things. But that boy wanted to be a police officer from the minute he knew what it was. He wanted to be like his dad, but there must've been more. I was hoping Pete would do something else, also, but he was set on being a police officer..." She did not finish the sentence, and Molly knew what Pamela was thinking... that her son was the first TCPD officer to die in the line of duty since Pamela had attended the prom...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So how was your day, darling?" asked Laura as I came into the Mountain Nest.

"It was pretty good." I said. "Hi Bowser." I said to the dog as he bounded up to greet me. I reached down and gave him a good petting, then headed into the den.

"Daddy!" yelled Carole.

"Da-da!" said little Jim, smiling brightly. I picked him up and sat down on the sofa, and Carole came running over to me.

"You've got a few minutes, but we have to get ready for the dinner party tonight." Laura said.

"Why don't you go get ready now, and I'll follow you." I said, knowing that my wife, like a great many wives, would take considerably more time getting ready than me, the husband would. And it gave me time to spend with Carole and little Jim, which was something I never, ever, took for granted...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The dinner party was not formal, so Laura wore a dress that was relatively nice for work, but not 'dressy'. She also wore medium heels; she would be taller than everyone at the dinner (except me), even without them. I wore one of the gray suits I often wear to work, but with a button-down white shirt and a tie. Despite the occasion, I had my badge and gun under my jacket, as always.

Dr. Stephanie Steele was a hostess that knew etiquette. She sat at the end of the dining table, with her husband Edward Steele at the other end. I was seated to her right and Laura to his right, per protocol. The other two people at the dinner were the Steele's daughter Selena, sitting to my right and her father's left, and J.P. Goldman, sitting to Stephanie's left and Laura's right.

The conversation at dinner was fairly innocuous. Dr. Steele talked about her astrophysics studies, which involved gravity and black holes... and we are not talking about apples falling from the trees nor my son Jim's ability to consume large quantities of food. I was able to follow Stephanie's talk to a point.

"You know," I said, seeing that J.P. Goldman was lost, "I remember seeing in my calculus class in college that some of the equations you use in your physics work are the same ones that apply to advanced economics that banks use, such as rates of decay and even more complex ones."

"That is true." said Mr. Goldman. "I should've paid attention in those physics classes, I guess. But in my day, the physicists of the time were barely getting started with Professor Einstein's work, and landing on the moon was still a goal yet to be reached."

"Oh, you are not that old, J.P." said Stephanie with a grin. "And you must've studied something, because you have one of the best banks in the nation, while others are going under or struggling."

"And I have your daughter to thank for much of that." said J.P. Goldman. That got Selena's attention, as she had been talking to Laura and Edward Steele.

"Mr. Goldman, are you taking my name in vain again?" Selena asked playfully.

"Not at all. Not at all." said Goldman. "I was just telling your mother of the wonderful job you are doing at my Bank. My most able and trustworthy associate."

"Aw, thank you sir. Speaking of wonderful jobs," said Selena, "Commander Troy has been at it again. Taking down the CEO of a company like BigPharmaCorp is walking where angels fear to tread." I did not say that that my Angels did not fear to tread anywhere...

"Well," said Stephanie, "that does not compare to what he did to save you, my girl. I still don't understand why that Harlan woman targeted my Selena, though."

"I'm not totally clear on that, either." I said. "But Mr. Goldman mentioned 'trustworthy', and I can tell you that I am grateful Chief Griswold and ADA Patterson trusted me enough to give me an hour before arresting Selena. That literally was the difference in that case."

"So your family is originally from Texas, Mr. Steele?" Laura asked. "I grew up there myself." My wife had just rescued me; I was beginning to think of the Black Widow case, and the tremendous cost extracted by Angela Harlan before she was exterminated. Laura had given me time to recover my wits.

"Yes and no, Laura." said Edward. "By that I mean that my parents separated and divorced. My mother was from Eastphalia, and we moved back there and her family. My father did live in Texas, so every summer for two months I'd live down there with him. I ended up meeting Stephanie at the University here, and we got married."

Steele continued: "By chance, I had the opportunity to develop some projects in the Dallas area, and so I went down there quite a bit. Selena spent the large part of her teen years down there while Stephanie was on astronomy trips, and went to college down there. Then Selena made her way up here... though we didn't know she was being followed by that despicable woman..." He stopped there.

"Laura," said Stephanie, rescuing her husband, "you were at other Schools before coming here, weren't you?"

"Yes." Laura said. "I had a couple of sabbaticals to Europe while my late first husband was assigned there with the Army. Then I was at Don's school for a few years, including while he was a student there, but I never met him."

"Too bad." I said. "I would've changed physics and the Time Line if I'd met you then." I said with a grin. Laura smiled briefly.

"Aw, that's sweet." said Selena. "And despite my mother's views of theoretical physics, you two were destined to meet no matter what the Time Line said."

"Yes, 'Destiny' is an interesting subject." said J.P. Goldman. "And I'm glad it was the Commander's destiny to come here, and clean up our Town as well as he has been doing."

"Thank you, sir." I said. "But there's still much to be done." Both Goldman and Steele nodded, and I knew they understood... perhaps more than I realized.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Meanwhile, Cindy had been invited to a more informal supper. She arrived at the home of Mrs. Veasley. Also there were Mrs. Williams and the Widow Athena Jones, wearing her trademark shawl as usual.

As they ate dinner, Cindy said "So you were in the military, Mrs. Veasley?"

"Oh my, I never knew that." said Mrs. Williams.

"I am not in the habit of telling people that." said Mrs. Veasley. "But to answer your question, Child, yes I was. You are a perceptive young woman, like your father."

"I'd like to think I got some of it from my cousin." said Cindy, then added with a cryptic grin, "and of course from his mother's efforts to drill some things into me."

"And well needed," said Mrs. Veasley, "to prepare you for your work with the Iron Crowbar. So, did you look up my record?"

"Only after observing that pin on your jacket when I saw you at the Community Center." said Cindy. "Military Order of the Purple Heart. You're the leader of this region's volunteers that help our returning wounded combat veterans. So, on a slow day at Headquarters, I looked up your record as an Army Nurse."

"And very honorable service, too." said the Widow Jones in her scratchy voice. "Why don't you tell Miss Ross how you came to be wounded, and in that wheelchair, Mrs. Veasley."

"Since you were also badly wounded in the line of duty, Child," said Mrs. Veasley, "I shall tell the story to you. Yes, I was an Army Nurse, and was a Lieutenant Colonel in charge of the Nurses in a field hospital during the First Gulf War, the liberation of Kuwait. The Media has not told the stories of some of the horrors inflicted by Saddam Hussein upon the Kuwaiti People; it is almost as if the Media was taking his side against the American and Allied armies liberating the Kuwaitis from the evil of Saddam. But I digress..."

After a pause, Mrs. Veasley said "I was actually traveling in a vehicle with some other people as part of a convoy. We were going to a PX that had been set up to buy essential things like toothpaste, soap and shampoo in a place where our hosts, the Saudis, would not see women purchasing such things. What we did not know was that to our north, the Iraqis made an incursion. They began shelling the road with their artillery, trying to hit the troops that began coming up to defend the border."

"A shell exploded near our vehicle." said Mrs. Veasley. "Everyone was hit and wounded, but fortunately the rest of them were not wounded badly. However, the one fragment that hit me did so in my lower back, and damaged my spinal cord. I do have some feeling in my legs, and I still have my bodily functions, but despite my best efforts, I have never been able to walk again."