Moving through the crowd of people was a fairly slow process. Many of the gathered people, who had apparently been listening from the windows gathered around us as we left the building. It felt good to have the support of so many people, and surprisingly, many of them appeared to have been R.A.M. members at one time or another. The small office supply man was holding one of the signs that they had. I guessed he had been the one who did the work on making the signs. Which I guessed was understandable. Even if the average citizen of the town had photographs of myself or Molly on their cell-phones or digital cameras, the various signs with one of us with one cereal box character and one movie character couldn't be done on such a scale by a small group that had long come to accept our presence. This took a lot more organization then just a spontaneous protest.
It left me curious as to what had happened the night before. After returning to the station, Officer Howard had sent me home for the day. The doctor had apparently informed him that Molly had technically broken one of the laws that Beauregard had pushed for after my transformation, and that I didn't do anything to stop him. And in accordance with the law, he had to send me home for the day and informed me that I would be expected to report to City Hall the next morning, with Molly. He promised he would try to explain the situation that there was no time to go through all the hoops Beauregard had long ago thrown up in front of us, but either he wasn't that optimistic about dealing with City Hall... or he was frustrated that he was having to deal with something like this again.
Molly had also been let home early for much the same reason, though she was also urged to have her wounds looked at from the battle with the Mountain Lion. She made her way out to Doc Stimson and he supposedly greeted her with a friendly smile and great enthusiasm. He also gave her an additional booster shot of a Rabies vaccine, just to be proactive in case the Mountain Lion had been rabid in addition to being hungry, though from what Molly told me, he also tended to agree with the Animal Control officers. And we spent the rest of that night in very nervous sleep... and now... now it seemed that the very worst of what we had to deal with in terms of people being against us was over.
And as we made our way through the crowd, one face was extremely familiar. Tabby Choir. She came rushing up to us with a fairly big smile.
"So, what do you think?" Tabby asked, "Isn't this all great?"
"I suppose it is," I answered, "though, it leaves me curious as to how fast all of this was assembled."
"Oh, that was me," Tabby smiled, "I got a call from some other PTA members, they told me they'd gotten a call from a Danielle Jenkins..."
"She's the desk officer at the station," I told her.
Tabby nodded, "anyway, they told me about the attack on her daughter and Molly's efforts to save her. And once I got over my shock that Vanessa could have been attacked, I set to motion getting all of this started. Signs, posters, chants, the works."
"It seems to have worked this morning," Molly commented, looking out at the crowd.
"Oh, it started last night," Tabby replied, "The School Board, the Superintendent, and the Elementary/Kindergarten/Pre-School Principal all had to hold a special session after the doctor called them with this report. And we stormed the meeting and ran into Mrs. Fitzpatrick on the way. Raised a bit of a ruckus, but we kept it civil. Much of the school board seemed frustrated by having to deal with this sort of thing again, and even more fed up with the Superintendent and the Principal pushing for the bass-ackwards laws that Beauregard be followed to a "T". They were even more upset when Mrs. Fitzpatrick told them that they were getting up in arms to fire you, Molly, because you had saved the girl's life... and when the vote came down, instead of firing you, they fired the Principal and promoted Mrs. Fitzpatrick to replace him."
"I take it, she nominated Molly as her replacement as a teacher?" I asked.
"Yes," Tabby nodded, "Mrs. Fitzpatrick reported that you knew her lesson plans and could finish out the year. She's also offered to do the paperwork for your time as her aide as student teaching so you'll qualify for certification in the eyes of the state. It'll take a little time to get that done, so you'll probably listed as a substitute teacher until that happens, but they're confident that it will happen."
"I'll really need to thank her then," Molly said slowly, "I was very nervous over everything that happened yesterday..."
"Well, things are better now," Tabby smiled.
"Yes," Molly and I said together, "yes they are."
And with that, we then continued on our way to where we needed to go for the rest of the day. Molly toward the school, and myself toward the station.
++++++++++++++++++++
The station was quiet as I made my way in a little while later. Both Molly and I managed to make our way through the crowd that had been protesting the possibility of us being fired because of Molly saving a little girl's life. It warmed my heart to see that things could change for the better, but I would need to get in to work for the day. I was certain that partying with them would get both of us in trouble, and as the City Council had announced that many, if not all, of the regulations Beauregard had urged to be passed were being removed, the crowd of people also began to dissipate after shaking hands with myself or Molly.
As I made my way into the station I found that neither Officer Jenkins or Officer Barnes were on duty. They were probably tending to Megan for the moment, as she would be dealing with quite a lot... and not just healing from the Mountain Lion attack. She would have to adjust to having the instincts of one of Asia's top predators, just as Molly and I had. And Officer Jenkins, her mother, and Officer Barnes would probably all have to adapt to a style of play that would be far rougher then it had been before. I made a private note to myself to give them the web sites I had used in my research to help Molly, as well as some of the books I had bought to have a lot of the information on hand. They would probably need it.
As I clocked in, I heard a few footsteps coming toward the front desk area and then a slight "cough" from behind me. I finished and then turned to see Officer Howard standing there with a relieved smile on his face.
"Congratulations, Officer Wayne," Officer Howard said simply.
"Thank you, sir," I replied
"No need to thank me, really," Officer Howard shrugged, "things mostly settled themselves out at City Hall when all the facts came in... frustrated me a bit that I had to be there to remind him... and doubly so when half the night-shift ended up supervising the argument at the school board meeting..."
"They tell you the results, sir?" I asked.
Officer Howard nodded, "and I then told the City Council. It's why they made the announcement about what went down with the elementary school principal. The Superintendent will probably stick around until the election... but the way things are going, I think he'll end up losing his seat to the Choir woman that's challenged him."
"Tabby Choir," I told him, "she's a neighbor of Molly's and mine... and a good family friend."
"Hard to use the word neighbor in your case," Officer Howard chuckled, "there's a fair bit of mountain forest between your cabin and the vineyard that her husband has been running."
"There's no other home between us," I shrugged, and Officer Howard nodded.
There was a short silence for a few moments before my curiosity got the better of me.
"So what happened last night with the City Council?" I asked, "If I may ask."
"Nothing much really," Officer Howard sighed, "they were already discussing the doctor's report when I arrived with the police reports that the dispatch officer filled out from what you and Officer Barnes had said on the radio. I had a copy of the animal control officer's reports, and they had the results for Rabies or other diseases back as well. All negative, so the Cougar was young, inexperienced, and starved..."
Officer Howard then turned to the coffee maker near him and filled up a mug with the coffee the coffee maker had in it. It smelled good, though I was fairly certain my system couldn't handle it.
"And as I presented the reports, they were shocked and surprised that the case had even been brought before them," Officer Howard continued.
"But they all wrote the laws and ordinances," I pointed out, "they should have known EXACTLY what was in what they passed."
Officer Howard nodded, "Yes they should have... but they didn't, and had to double check the laws that the doctor cited in his report. And in doing so they were even more astonished... and half ashamed really that they passed the legislation to begin with."
"Ashamed...?"
"When Beauregard first threw his weight around behind the scenes trying to get those laws made, he made it seem like you and Molly were going to go around raping people or injecting them with your blood against their will," Officer Howard explained, "so the made the laws as firm as possible to insure that any new tiger person you or Molly create would have been done so willing and not by force."
"Molly and I would never knowingly do that," I insisted.
"I know," Officer Howard nodded, "You've always seemed like a good "man" to have as an officer to me... however, thanks to all the stuff Beauregard had been stirring up, the City Council didn't know that and didn't bother to check. They made sure you and Molly could not get away with robbing someone of their humanity. It never occurred to them that there might be some odd cases that might come up, like what happened yesterday. And so the laws were unprepared to deal with reality, and the doctor felt obligated to follow them to a "T" despite the specific circumstances."
"And so the City Council's realized its mistake and is removing the regulations," I commented.
"Most of them, actually," Officer Howard nodded, "they still want to make sure that no one becomes a tiger-person against their will... which means that should you or Molly mate or give blood to anyone in non-life threatening situations, you will still need to explain that they will become tiger people in doing so. Though the permission needed is now only vocal, not written... and this will obviously also apply to Megan Jenkins when she grows up."
I slowly nodded. That was very acceptable as I could understand that and probably would have proposed similar regulations myself.
"The big things are the regulations that Beauregard had forced in regards to your career," Officer Howard continued, "you'll still be partnered with Officer Barnes, as the changes in the law doesn't affect how big you are... but you are now eligible for promotion. Now, we're small enough a department that we don't have a real "detective" rank, but it would give you a shot at replacing me someday."
"I'm not seeking to take your job, sir," I answered, "I'm content to do a good job."
"Good to hear, as I don't plan on retiring for a while, yet," Officer Howard chuckled.
I chuckled a little bit. Things were looking much better for Molly and I now. Pierre Beauregard and Ebenezer Smith and his son weren't dead. They were in jail, and Beauregard would be in jail for life. And now it seemed that the struggles that we had endured against bigotry was ending.
It did not take Officer Howard long to return to a more serious tone.
"And anyway, Officers Barnes and Jenkins have taken today off to deal with what has gone on with young Megan," Officer Howard explained, "you will be on your own today."
"Do you know how she's doing?" I asked.
"I know that they let Jenkins take her daughter home last night with instruction that she avoid any strenuous activity for awhile," Officer Howard answered, "that's all I know."
"I see," I commented, "hopefully she gets better."
Officer Howard nodded.