And the Halloween Party did end well. I did get some enjoyment out of the fact that I wasn't the only one in a slightly embarrassing position. Mine was the fact that I was presently wearing one of Molly's dresses which only "just" fit me. The other embarrassed person was Officer Barnes, and his came from the fact that Megan's ears were good enough to pick up on how well his relationship with her mother was progressing. Now, the relationship between Frederick Barnes and Danielle Jenkins was nothing to be embarrassed of. They were two grown and consenting adults. The fact that Megan was able to pick up on this progress and had come up her own term for it was the embarrassing part for Officer Barnes.
And as we made our way out together, Officer Barnes asked Megan a question to try and make sure the cub hadn't been scarred in any way. It took a little bit as Megan was at the moment fascinated with Molly's tail. She batted at it as Molly swished it side to side, and Molly, somewhat instinctively swung her tail back and forth in front of Megan. It was like she was inciting Megan to bat at it. It was a reminder to me how much Molly and I wanted cubs of our own, but it would not be until the end of December before they would even be conceived. And right now, with the last month of October, the present issue at hand was whether or not Megan had seen Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins wrestling. Mostly as I don't think Officer Barnes wanted to explain the "birds and the bees" to an Elementary School student.
"Megan... where... where did you get the idea that I was wrestling with your mother?" Officer Barnes asked her as we walked along, as they had apparently walked in to the Elementary School as well, "you haven't seen us wrestling, have you?"
"I haven't seen the matches," Megan answered, "but I heard it one night and ran into Grandma... who was up to get some water to drink. Grandma told me you were wrestling."
"Oh," Officer Barnes said slowly, as I noticed his checks redden even more.
I guessed he now felt embarrassed at not only disturbing the cub that would be his step-daughter whenever he and Officer Jenkins got to tying the knot as it were, but also the woman that would be his mother-in-law.
"And the cries of "YES" would be showing, I think," Megan continued.
"Showing?" Officer Barnes gasped.
"Yes," Megan nodded innocently, "I could guess on who was winning by who was screaming the most."
"Oh man..." Officer Barnes sighed and ran his hands over his face and then pulled down on the skin on her face.
"I don't think you can win on this," I whispered to him, "be glad she didn't see anything."
"See what?" Megan wondered.
"Your mother will explain it to you when you're older," Officer Barnes sighed and nodded to me.
"Awww.... that's no fun," Megan answered, "See what? What did I miss?"
"Your mother will explain it when you're older," Officer Barnes repeated.
Megan gave a bit of a pout when she realized that Officer Barnes wasn't going to tell her and noticed that Molly and I weren't going to tell her either.
"That's not fair!" Megan pouted.
"Maybe..." I commented, "but a little mystery in life isn't always a bad thing. And when you grow up, you'll be glad you don't know about it now."
"So, I can play detective?" Megan wondered, "Like Mommy and Daddy?"
"In a way," I rubbed her head, "but it's something best not figured out until you're older."
And by that time, we'd reached the point our paths would diverge. Officer Barnes took Megan's paw-like hand and began to head toward the home he shared with Officer Jenkins and Megan's grandmother. Molly and I went the other way and continued on to our cabin. Things were quiet there as we arrived, though things were getting fairly late. And with the next day being Thursday, we would both have to get up early.
"You hungry, George?" Molly asked as we went in through the front door.
"Yeah... though I don't entirely feel like cooking anything," I sighed as I began to go upstairs after Molly.
"I'm right with you," Molly nodded as we began removing the costumes we had worn to the party. I felt very relieved to be out of the dress as it was too small on me. As I tossed it into our laundry hamper, Molly looked relieved that I hadn't torn its seems while wearing it. "Thankfully the store bought beef, pork, chicken, and turkey has been farm raised and likely won't have parasites in it."
I nodded while Molly put on the dress she had been wearing before we left for the party. Our dinner was raw meat, largely as we didn't quite feel like waiting for the meat to cook when we had to get up early the next day. And as tigers, we could digest the raw meat.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next few days went quietly. The election buzz was still going on in the background, but as November 6, Election Day, arrived, there had been no incident needing policing. There was some hope for respectful treatment of Amy and Marcella, as a couple of students I had never seen them with before carrying on some polite conversations. Of course, I could only notice this when I went to get some water from the drinking fountain near the DARE Office that Officer Barnes and I used, so for all I knew, they were teens that Amy and Marcella were always with. And some of the conversations that I overhead when they were in the student center did seem to focus on various things. Amy's decision to become a tomcat apparently wasn't a secret anymore, as I overheard Julie make the tease about Amy taking her out when she became male. Hopefully it would mean there would be more progress in terms of acceptance.
But with it being election day, the big thing was the Election. Obviously it was a Presidential election year, but for Columbia Falls, the most important election was the School Board Elections. Hireman's last charges of corruption or some sort of plot to turn everyone into Animal-People had hurt his chances and truly put in down in the polls. Now, all that was left to be done was to vote. To make sure that those poll numbers stood up. Because responding to polls and opinions was one thing. Actually voting and doing something about it was another. There were a lot of people who casted their thoughts on any political subject, but yet, they didn't vote. To some extent it contributed to the "silent majority" argument rolled out by whoever was in the minority in the government.
As the school day ended, there was only one mission that I had. To vote. Particularly for the local elections. Far too much of Molly's future was invested in it. As I made my way out of the school, Officer Barnes spoke to me from behind.
"You going to vote?" he asked.
"Yeah," I nodded, "according to the paper they don't close till about eight PM, but it'd be best to do it now."
Officer Barnes nodded, "Hop in, I'll give you a ride. I need to vote too."
I shrugged and climbed into the back seat of Officer Barnes' car. It was all a sign of the importance that the School Board Elections had. The ride was quiet as Officer Barnes drove down to the small Community Hall Building which was set up to house all the voting booths and the appropriate registration centers for the various town wards and the rural areas that were close enough to town that they would be counted in the town elections. As he parked the car, by coincidence, Patten also arrived with Molly in his back seat.
"Good afternoon, Officers," Patten said politely as he got out and then opened the door for Molly.
"Good afternoon," I answered politely, "here for democratic, small d, duty?"
"That and a local taxi service," Patten gave a sigh as Molly climbed out and moved around his car.
"Thank you for the ride," Molly told him.
"It is no problem," Patten answered, "I had to come in to vote as well."
I nodded and we all made our way in. And to my surprise there was a large number of people there. Apparently the Choir/Hireman race was enough to get a lot of people out to vote. Officer Barnes went toward one table for his ward while Patten went to the table next to it. Molly and I looked around until we found the "rural area" desk and approached it. We gave the people running the table our names and waited for them to write down numbers next to our names on a list they had with them. The numbers were a count of how many had voted. When that was done, they then handed us he ballots and motioned toward a series of booths to do the voting in.
I took the one handed to me and looked down the list of people running for office. It included the big names for President and a spot for the House and Senate Elections. There were also state constitutional amendments. But the ballot that held most of my attention was a small slip of paper that was for the Columbia Falls City/School Board elections. And I took great pride in putting an "X" in the box next to the name: Tabitha Choir. Molly and I turned in our ballots and then made our way out. As we did, I hoped that Tabby would win.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Once Molly and I made it back to our cabin we settled into our evening routine of preparing our dinner, but at the same time, I put on the television and set it on a channel, hoping to get some local news. At the moment they hadn't gone to their national level news programs that would be covering the national level elections yet. We were in the Mountain Time Zone, which meant there was still about an hour before they would start to close the voting booths on the east coast, which were part of the Eastern Time Zone.
"Anything on yet?" Molly called from the kitchen after a few moments.
"Not yet," I answered, "the national level news won't come on for another hour yet to cover the National Election."
I then turned the sound up a little and then went upstairs to change out of my uniform and into something that was more comfortable. Once that was done, I went on to help Molly with dinner to the best that I was allowed to. And while I either arranged the meat that was to be cooked in the appropriate pans and cooking containers, the television remained on. It was one of our standard acts in these cases where we used it more as a radio, which when we were aiming to get news coverage, that was all we really needed. It was not as if wee needed to see the reporters to know what states' electors were voting for Obama or his Republican challenger.
And through evening and as we ate dinner we heard the reporters report on how the National Election was going as the polls closed and as the precincts reported in. Contrary to what pundits on both sides claimed, the Presidential election was close. And while some states were a given to go to a specific candidate, the "battleground" states were very close and couldn't be called quickly. In fact by the time our local news came on, the National Election was yet to be decided. By that time, Molly and I had finished dinner.
We went into our living room as the local news came on as the main reporters came on.
"In the midst of a still close Presidential Election the State of Montana has been focused on an election much closer to home," the desk reporter spoke, "the town of Columbia Falls has become the focal point for civil rights issues related to Animal-People and the existence of the Animatrix Serum. The issue at hand has always been whether or not Officer George Wayne and his wife Molly Rhoer-Wayne are dangers to their community."
"It's shocking that we could have such issues be part of an election when all of the scientific evidence has proved that the nation's Animal People are not controlled by their instincts," the other desk reporter commented.
The other anchor nodded in agreement.
"And yet, that has been the hurdle that has faced the two Tiger-People that have taken up residence there," the other anchor continued his commentary, "though not that they are without their champions. Local businesswoman Tabitha Choir has challenged the incumbent Wayne Hireman with the intention of protecting the rights of Columbia Falls' resident tigers. We take you live to Candace Isle with the report on the Columbia Falls School District Superintendent's Election."
They then switched to a on the site reporter who was just inside the Community Hall.
"Candace, how did the election turn out in Columbia Falls?"
"They've actually reported record highs in voter turnout," Candace Isle answered him, "and it brings an end to a campaign that has almost been a referendum on the legality of using the Animatrix Serum and giving civil rights to Animal People."
"And tonight that comes to an end," the first anchor nodded, "Can you tell us what the results of the election are?"
"Yes, I can," Candace Isle nodded, "and in what has ended as a decisive victory, Tabitha Choir has upset Wayne Hireman and will take over as the Columbia Falls School District Superintendent on January First."
And with that, Molly and I both breathed a sigh of relief.