The next couple of days went by quietly. Nothing more then simple routine calls, and I was glad to have them that way. What made things even better was that the ferocity of the campaign for the School District Superintendent’s post seemed to quiet down as Independence Day approached. The newspaper carried its coverage and opinions, but neither Tabby nor Hireman were doing much in the way of campaigning.
The only real “problem” that went on during the days leading up to the Fourth of July were fireworks. Now, generally every city banned the private firing of fireworks within city limits unless you had a professional license. This was to prevent someone from accidentally starting a house fire with the exhaust from some firework rocket or with the match they used to ignite it. And if it was exceptionally dry, sending off fireworks outside of the city limits could be banned in the dry areas as a fire danger.
However, the Fourth of July was a special case. It was a patriotic holiday specifically associated with the launching of fireworks. Some places even televised the display of their fireworks. PBS always showed “A Capital Fourth” on the Fourth of July. Molly had told me that one of their adds for the program included something about America becoming a true melting pot with not only various ethnic groups among humans but a multitude of sentient and sapient races. That had to be a reference to the Animal People that now were living throughout the country, either as victims of Changes’ scheme or buying the Animatrix Serum legally.
Part of it was a curiosity to me, as many people didn’t react well to the presence of Animal-People. One of Changes’ victims, whom I only knew of as Harry because Leon, as Leona, had tried to keep track of Changes‘ victims as they tried to rebuild their lives after being freed, had been killed by a mob of bigots. The mob also supposedly mauled Harry’s girlfriend and claimed she was living in “sin” because of their relationship. Molly and I had run into the insanity that Beauregard had created through RAM. And Clemens’ own coworkers had unleashed a horde of venomous snakes on a group of school children to enrage the parents into attacking Clemens. Violence and racism were not things that America had conquered. America may be beating those things, but the struggle was ongoing. And yet, someone was wanting to celebrate the presence of Animal People as part of the Fourth of July celebrations on the footsteps of the capital. Part of me wondered who that person was or what they would do for this celebration, just out of curiosity.
All the same, the Capital Fourth program would be highlighted by a display of fireworks and a brass band playing the 1812 Overture. It made for a wonderful display, even if the music was written by a Russian to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon in his invasion of Russia in 1812. And the key to the display was the fireworks. They would be fired and the display would be videotaped.
And because of this association between fireworks and the holiday, Officer Howard had essentially issued orders to “look the other way” while people fired them off. It wasn’t too much of a surprise to me. My father had done the same thing in Peoria several times. And so, people launched fireworks. And from what I heard, the officers on the nightshift spent most of their time running basic checks on those who were launching fireworks. They made sure that no one had them aimed horizontally, so that they wouldn’t go into a house or something like that. I’d also overheard that the town’s Fire Department was also on high alert over the course of the holiday timeframe.
They’d had no problems though. The only problem was dealing with the sounds of the fireworks going off and the flashes of light that went with it. Molly and I could even see them from our cabin. We put up with it though, as it wasn’t too bad. Our lives went on with little real changes.
And as the morning of the Fourth began, Molly and I went about things with some excitement. The school was having a day off for the holiday, and I had “parade” duty that day. The plan was for me to walk into the station, as normal, and Officer Barnes would meet me there. We’d then clock in and drive down to Kalispell for the parade.
“Do you know where you’ll be in their order?” Molly asked as we ate breakfast.
“Not really,” I answered, “all I know right now is where Officer Barnes and I are supposed to go for the lineup. Supposedly everything else is taken care of.”
“Promise you’ll see me?” Molly asked.
“You’re coming to the parade?” I asked.
“Yeah… I called Tabby and Dave, told them you’ll be in the parade, and they volunteered to give me the ride,” Molly answered with a nod, “Veronica will probably ride along with us.”
“You don’t have to do that for me,” I replied.
“Come on… you’re in a parade!” Molly smiled, “I’m excited to see you in it. And it’d be fun. We didn’t get to do anything like this last year… and it’d be fun… even if you weren‘t in it.”
“Well… okay then,” I chuckled as I finished my breakfast and stood up, “You remember when the parade starts?”
Molly nodded, “Dave will drive down to pick me up about the same time you’re supposed to be lining up.”
“Then I’ll see you there,” I told her, “and if they give us candy to throw, I’ll try to make sure that Veronica gets some…”
“Sure, rot her teeth,” Molly teased.
“Hey, isn’t that the point of a Fourth of July Parade?” I asked.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Linking up with Officer Barnes went quietly. We clocked in and were soon on our way to Kalispell. It was a fairly quiet drive as I found myself largely watching the countryside go by outside the car as we went.
“Looking for deer, Officer Wayne?” Officer Barnes asked as we drove along.
“Not really,” I answered, turning my head to look toward him in the front seat, “mostly enjoying the scenery. You don’t have forests or mountains like this in Illinois. Neither Molly nor I can get enough of this sort of stuff.”
“The beauty of nature…” Officer Barnes mused, “I’m afraid I’m too used to forests and mountains out here to be as in awe of it.”
I only shrugged and we continued on. We arrived in Kalispell and went their local police station. Officer Barnes parked our car in a sort of visitor parking space, and we then gave a brief report to the Kalispell Chief of Police as to why our car was there. He gave a polite nod, and told Officer Barnes that it wouldn’t be a problem, and then sent us on our way before we were late.
The walk to the parade line up area on the map that Officer Howard had showed us was a fairly quiet one. We didn’t attract any real attention until we got closer to the line up area. And there, the attention came from a rather hyper looking woman in a US Flag shirt and holding clipboard.
“Are you the Columbia Falls guys?” she demanded coming up to Officer Barnes and I.
“Yes,” Officer Barnes answered.
“We only wanted the tiger officer,” the woman answered.
“Well you got him, and me,” Officer Barnes answered, “until Detroit comes out with a car that is specially built to his size, the two of us are a team.”
“You’re his chauffer?” she asked.
“Partner,” I corrected, “you don’t have a problem with that do, you?”
“No! Of course not,” the woman answered quickly, “it’s just that we have a Jeep set aside for…”
“Officer George Wayne,” I gave her my name. The kids calling Molly the “Tiger-Lady” was cute, but I wasn’t going to go through my life being referred to as “tiger-officer” by adults. It was a strange thing. When the kids did it, it was cute. When adults did it, it wasn’t.
“For Officer Wayne,” she replied, “there won’t be much space for another passenger…”
“Is anyone riding in the front seat?” Officer Barnes asked.
“Other then the driver, no…”
“Then all sit there,” Officer Barnes answered, “if you have candy you want us to throw, we can place it between the passenger seat and the driver’s seat. I can reach over and pick them up, and George can reach forward and pick them up.”
“That could work, I suppose,” the woman sighed, “come with me.”
She then lead us up a smaller street and to the parking lot where we were expected to go to. She lead us right up to red Jeep which had a small paper pennant that read “Columbia Falls Police Department” and had the picture of a tiger underneath it. The driver was drinking lemonade in the front seat. He looked to the woman and then to Officer Barnes.
“This is Officer Wayne and his partner Officer…”
“Barnes.”
“Barnes,” the woman introduced us, “they’ll be together.”
The driver then nodded and quietly resumed drinking his lemonade. The woman then turned back to Officer Barnes and I.
“There are two five gallon buckets of candy in there for you to toss to the kids,” she instructed, “you’re to toss one handful every twenty yards or so. We can not refill them if you run out during the parade.”
“And kids will no doubt complain if they don’t get any,” Officer Barnes finished for her.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” the woman replied, “we’ll be heading out in a little bit. So be ready. Make sure you don’t need to go to the restroom… that sort of thing.”
And she then moved off to take care of other things. I silently hoped she wouldn’t run into any real tension… or she might simply explode from the stress. Officer Barnes and I then went about all the “last minute” things before the parade started.
“So… Officer Barnes is your partner?” the driver asked me while Officer Barnes went over to a couple of portable bathrooms set up.
I nodded.
“You the senior partner?” he asked.
“Officer Barnes outranks me,” I told him, “I’ve only just started working for the Columbia Falls PD.”
“TV news says you’re a hero up there,” the driver commented.
“No officer is able to be a hero without help from the other officers,” I replied.
“Oh,” the driver answered with a shrug.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After about ten to fifteen minutes of waiting, the moving from the parking lot to the street for the parade began. I had to sit at a diagonal angle across the backseat so there was room for my legs. I kept by body erect so that I could either wave or toss the candy as we went. The two buckets for that were on the floor between my seat and the front seats.
“Given how we’re positioned, it would be best to direct the tosses to one side,” Officer Barnes commented to me as our driver began to maneuver the vehicle into position.
I nodded, “I’ll toss to the left… you can toss to the right.”
Officer Barnes then nodded. I could hear the sounds of either sirens to announce the start of the parade, as well as the sound of various local marching bands beginning to play as part of the parade. It was all something that made the Fourth of July exciting.
“Here comes the fun part,” our driver announced as we turned onto the beginning of the parade route.
And so, we rode in the parade. We saw lots of kids and even a few adults waiving little flags. Red, white, and blue seemed to be the colors of choice. Kids got all excited and dashed about as Officer Barnes and I… or other dignitaries in the parade rode along through the route.
About halfway along the parade route, I noticed the small group of parade spectators I had been looking for. Molly was there, standing behind Dave and Tabby while Veronica crouched on the curb beside them. Molly waived to me as we rode by, and I collected a handful of candy pieces and gave a soft toss with much of them landing at Veronica’s feet. She gave a delighted squeal and rushed out to pick up the candies, nearly doing battle with a couple of other children in the area.
“Thank you!” she called after me as our driver continued along the parade route.
And I gave a small smile at that. The parade was fun.