The day went quietly for Officer Barnes and I, just as many of the days had gone since Beauregard's arrest and the exposure of R.A.M. as a racist and criminal organization. Most of the major crimes that Officer Barnes and I had dealt with revolved around R.A.M. and its ideology. And when the organization's leader was arrested and then convicted, the organization dissolved and its activity disappeared. Only the lunacy of some of its zealots had caused any trouble... and I did shudder, remembering the attacks that Bill Williams had launched, but they either did little to hide their crimes or simply couldn't hide their crimes. And with one arrested and Williams killed by his own weapon, that had ended the string of R.A.M. related crimes.
The only other major incident that had to be dealt with had been the Washerman case. Unlike the R.A.M. criminals, who had all been Columbia Falls locals, Washerman had come from outside the small community. He stole and released the Ames cattle, of which one was eaten by a local Grizzly. He attacked Michael York and left the elderly man so wounded that ultimately died from the wounds sustained. Then, when confronted in Glacier National Park, he killed one FBI agent and shot at several more before taking a dosage of the Animatrix Serum and becoming a Bison before being gunned down by federal agents and the park's rangers. Things like the Washerman case were possible, but I found that to be unlikely. The odds some violent criminal coming from outside the area and finding something important in a relatively small town in northwestern Montana weren't great.
And so, things had been relatively quiet for Officer Barnes and I. Most of our "calls" had been for things that would normally be described as routine. And one such call did come in fairly close to noon.
"Officer Barnes, Officer Wayne, come in," the dispatch officer came in over the radio. Officer Barnes was the one who answered it, as I couldn't from the back seat.
"Officer Barnes, here," Officer Barnes spoke into the receiver, "Go ahead."
"We got a report of a public disturbance at the Round Table Liquor Store," the dispatch officer reported, "Suspect is described as a white male in a denim jacket."
"We're only a block away," Officer Barnes reported in, as he noticed where we were, "We're on our way."
The dispatch officer acknowledged as Officer Barnes hit our car's siren and we raced along to the scene of the liquor store mentioned. As we arrived, a man in a denim jacket came out looking positively enraged. He wasn't carrying anything, but he looked completely POed. Officer Barnes brought our car up so that the man would have go around in in one way or another.
"What do you want?!" the man growled in an annoyed voice as Officer Barnes and I got out.
"We've had a report of a disturbance here," Officer Barnes said to the man, "would you care to explain what's going on here?"
"They ran out of my favorite brand for parties," the man answered as the manager of the store came out to the door holding a long push broom.
"Arrest him! He trashed half my store!" the manager shouted, brandishing his broom.
"You didn't have any of my brand!" the man in the denim jacket shot back.
"We ran out, lot's of people buy that brand for parties this time of year! It is not my fault you didn't get here soon enough, and it doesn't give you the right to trash my business!"
"Did you trash this man's business?" I asked as I moved around the other side of the car to get between the man in the jacket and the angered manager.
"He deserved it... if everyone buys that brand, don'tcha think he ought to overstock that brand then?" he grumbled.
"Maybe he should have overstocked... but that wasn't my question," I answered, "did you throw some tantrum and wreck his business?"
Officer Barnes now approached him from the other side while the manager watched. The man in the jacket watched me closely. I was sure he wasn't going to pick a fight with me, and it didn't look like he was armed. He glanced at me and then sighed and leaned down and put both his hands on the hood of our car.
"I'm going to jail, aren't I?" he asked after a moment.
"Afraid so," Officer Barnes told him as he began to make sure the man wasn't armed. He wasn't. Once Officer Barnes had him in cuffs, I turned my attention to the manager.
"So what did he do?" I asked.
"After yelling at me and scaring away two other customers, he... he... he..." the manager was so angry he couldn't finish the sentence, but pointed into the store.
I stepped to the doorway to be greeted by the smell of various liquors filling my nostrils. The man had apparently gone down one isle and knocked all the bottles he could down and onto the floor behind him. I could see the shattered bottles on the floor. It wasn't crippling loss to the manager's business, but it probably would cost him replace what the hothead had destroyed.
"Well... he'll be spending the rest of today and probably all of tomorrow in jail," I told the manager, "hell of a way to spend New Years... lose your temper over liquor and go to jail."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the day went quietly. Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins both wished Molly and I a Happy New You when I left. I told them I'd pass along their message. My walk back Bandhavgarh was brisk, but quiet. And once I arrived I was quick to begin getting changed. Molly kept me updated on the days events that she had seen on the news or went on at the cabin itself.
"Sounds like morning sickness to me," I commented as Molly finished.
I had just gotten my clothes off and was getting ready to go and shower while Molly had updated me on her day, including bouts of nausea in the morning.
"Morning sickness..." Molly answered in a tone that almost sounded cheerful. She then glomped me in a big hug, "If it's morning sickness I MUST be pregnant!"
I nuzzled her back as I regained my balance.
"Well... I can't diagnose that for sure as this is the first day you've mentioned something like this," I told her, "but if it continues, morning sickness would be my best guess."
"We're going to be parents!" Molly said cheerfully.
"Yes... but for the moment, I need to shower," I replied, "and as much as I'd love to hug you forever, our shower won't fit the both of us at the same time... and to a certain extent... we're too big for it already."
Molly nodded and let me go, "I know... I just feel so excited... it's sudden... but I just feel so excited and happy at the prospect of hearing little paw steps."
I slowly nodded again and made my way to the bathroom. Once I got the door, I turned back to Molly, "I promise to be quick."
Molly nodded in reply, "Yeah. Tabby called about an hour ago. She said to come on up when we're ready."
I nodded again and went into the bathroom. Showering was done quickly as various soups designed to clean hair and fur and kill odors did its job quite well, and like any tiger, I felt some enjoyment about bathing. Drying off took a bit longer then the showering did, as my fur held more water on me then human skin did, but ultimately I was dry and was able to continue on with the next phase of getting ready. That was getting dressed in the clothing I wore when not working. That was done quickly and in good order. Once dressed, I went downstairs to find Molly watching some television.
"I'm ready," I announced.
"And fluffy," Molly gave a chuckle as she turned the television off and walked toward me.
I could only give a slight shrug. The "fluffy" look was a result of the drying off process where some of my fur was held "upright" after being rubbed with the towels that Molly and I had. I guessed that was some sort of static electricity or something. That guess was then confirmed when Molly tried to straighten out things. She moved one paw down my arm and got a small "zap" at the beginning.
"And shocking," Molly gave a slight chuckle and then resumed her help to make sure I wasn't looking like I'd come out of the world's largest dryer. Once that was done, she gestured toward the door, "we'd best get going."
"Right," I nodded, "lead the way."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dave's home and vineyard was quiet as Molly and I made our way up toward it. Special insulating tarps hung over the various vines to keep the worst effects of the cold off of them, but Dave had explained that the specific vines he used were far hardier then other grape vines and could, in theory, survive Montana's winters on their own. But knowing the cost of the initial investment, Dave did his best to make sure that his vines would suffer any losses and allow the vineyard he had started to survive, hungry Black Bears not withstanding. We passed the vineyard and knocked on the front door. It was Tabby who answered the door.
"Hello, George, Molly," Tabby spoke with a smile, "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year," Molly answered, "How are things?"
"So far, so good," Tabby answered, "The upcoming days will be interesting for me, to say the least, but things have been well. Dave's vines are surviving well and we haven't had any more bears breaking in to eat them."
"And that would be a good thing," I said with a chuckle.
Tabby nodded with a smile and moved to welcome us in. We made our way in and wiped our feet on the door mat to make sure we weren't tracking any mud or snow in.
"So, Dave has told me you two are starting a family," Tabby commented as she shut the door behind us.
"Yes," I nodded and gripped Molly to me, "and we believe we were successful... though we'll have to wait until the end of January to confirm it with a physician."
"Well, you have my congratulations," Tabby said to both of us, "I'm sure your cubs will be the cutest newborns in the area. Have you figured out which doctor to see yet?"
"That we don't know for sure yet," Molly said, "If you have any ideas... that'd be helpful."
"I wish I could help you with all that, but Veronica was born before Dave and I moved up here," Tabby made a shrug, "so I can not say how good the local doctors are... and I doubt you'll be wanting to go to California to see the doctors I saw there."
Molly and I both nodded to that.
"But all the same, congratulations," Tabby said again and lead us into the living room.
A folding table had been set up with a stack of board games, nearly all of them being kids games. Seated near the stack of games was Veronica snacking on a plate of potato chips was Veronica watching a cartoon of some kind. She smiled when she saw us.
"Hi, Tiger-Man, Tiger-Lady," she gave her warm greeting.
The greeting was still an odd one to me, as it seemed to fit a superhero more then it did an average person. And despite the size I had grown to when I transformed, I still saw myself as an average person. An average person with reddish-orange fur with a white underbelly and black stripes, but an average person nonetheless. But Veronica, like all the kids Molly taught and interacted with used the greeting in very friendly terms, so I wasn't about to complain.
"We have a series of things for the two of you to snack on while waiting for the ball to drop," Tabby explained, "though, Veronica has control of the television until about a minute to midnight."
Molly and I nodded.
"And you appear to be ready to party," I commented to Veronica as we moved around the folding table that had been set up, "with all your board games and everything."
"You'll have to go easy on George and I," Molly added and rubbed Veronica's head, "we're not as good as you are at all these games."
Veronica promised, though in a playing voice. Like she thought Molly was joking with her in a way. And to a certain extent, I thought Molly was joking with her in a way. All board games revolved around rolling dice and being "good" at it depended on the luck of the dice. Either they determined how far a piece would move on the path provided, or in games like Risk would determine who "won" the individual battles. But I supposed that kids occasionally needed some encouragement and confidence building in these things, hence why Molly urged Veronica to go easy on us.
"I'll go get us something to eat," I said to Molly, "You can work with Veronica and Tabby to see what game will be played first."
"Pick something out that's juicy if there is anything," Molly answered.
"Most of what we have is a finger food type of thing," Tabby spoke up, "sausages, hot dogs, chicken, and cocktail wieners, that sort of thing. Sorry..."
"It'll be alright," I answered, "We've found that some things like barbecue sauces go down well. If you have cocktail wieners, they'll be fine."
Tabby slowly nodded and I made my way toward the Choir family kitchen. There I found Dave getting other things set up. He had serving platters set up with the various foods that Tabby had mentioned along with crackers, Christmas cookies that had somehow escaped being eaten before Christmas, some cheeses, and other things as well.
"Hey, Dave," I said to him as I made my way in, "anything good?"
"Oh, there's plenty of good things," Dave turned from the oven where he had a tray of sausages and hot dogs warming, "can I help you out with anything?"
"Just to get some snacks for the moment," I answered, "Molly is looking for something "juicy"... so if your cocktail wieners have a lot of barbecue sauce on them, that'd be good."
Dave nodded and moved around the kitchen.
"Let me get you a plate to use," Dave answered and pulled two plates out of a cupboard, "there... and the cocktail wieners are in a very good sauce."
"Very good," I nodded back and began to serve some hot dogs and sausages, some of which smelled like bratwurst, and some cocktail wieners. That was placed in the center of the plate, and Dave handed me two forks as I prepared to head back out.
"Will you need anything to drink?" Dave asked.
"Water will be fine," I told him and slowly made my way out.
And the rest of the night went well. Molly and I ended up joining the Choirs in watching various cartoon New Years specials that were either on television or had been taped in earlier years for Veronica's enjoyment. She explained each and every one and said which characters were her favorites and why she liked them. Molly and I thanked her for the explanation. During this, we also played various board games that had been set up to pass the time. We made it through several, but as the evening moved closer to the night hours, Veronica began to get sleepy. She did her best to stay awake, as New Years Eve was one of the few nights she could stay up, but at about eleven o'clock, she was sound asleep in her chair.
Dave quietly carried her to her room while Molly and I moved to help Tabby clean up things. That continued on for a little while before we returned to the television. With Veronica now asleep, Tabby had tuned in ABC to watch the ball drop, though the volume was turned way down so as not to disturb Veronica.
"Ready?" Dave asked Molly and I as the station began the countdown to the new year.
"Ten... Nine... Eight..."
Molly and I nodded. A new year was on its way, with new beginnings and new hopes. Not everything had gone our way 2012, but enough had. Hireman, the last R.A.M. hold out was out, and Tabby would take his place in the coming year. Molly had gained full acceptance in Columbia Falls, and even got her certification as a teacher, and now she was likely pregnant and a new chapter of our lives would begin.
"Seven... Six... Five... Four..."
Hopefully things in the new year would go well. Molly's womb would swell with the cubs within it and she would give birth to healthy Bengal Tiger cubs, and we would be one happy family.
"Three... Two... One..."
"Happy New Year!" we all cheered softly as 2012 ended and 2013 officially began.