Chapter 16 -- If Dogs Ruled the World
Saturday October 15
I woke up and was surprised I didn't hurt as much as expected after hitting Pete Yoder last night. Chuck had collected my bodycam footage before he'd gone home for the night, and I was sure I would hear from Fritz today. I shudder to think what would have happened if those guys had pounded on me. All I knew was that once I was well again, I would have made it my mission to do them some serious damage. This combination rib/hip injury was no joke.
Duke did a little dance at the side of the bed.
"Can't you wait?" I asked.
Apparently not. I took my hound downstairs, and Precious darted in as he went out. I found her camped out on my pillow again. I ignored her as I got ready for the day. When I sat down on the edge of the bed to put my socks on, she came to me and wanted some loving. I wondered where the cat from hell had gone. When I went downstairs, I was happy she followed me. I didn't mind our new routine if Precious behaved.
Duke was waiting for her.
"Gentle," I warned him because she looked like she was ready to pop.
He checked her out with a lot of sniffs that earned him a swat on the nose. I didn't blame Precious. Getting sniffed all over wasn't my favorite thing, either.
I'd slept in, so Mom and Dad were already up reading the paper.
"You need to see this," Dad said, handing me the front page.
There was an article about our mayor getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The city council had removed him from office yesterday.
"Who didn't see that coming?"
In our state, I think four out of the past seven or eight governors had gone to jail. Politics and corruption were nothing new. I know it used to make my grandfather crazy to have to watch some of the stupid stuff elected officials tried, thinking they were above the law. Now it seemed the group in Washington was following our lead.
"Read the next page," Dad prodded.
That wasn't good.
"He's not qualified to be elected dog catcher, let alone mayor," I said.
Thomas Fox had somehow gotten himself on the ballot as the sole opposition for our criminal mayor. At the time of his arrest, Mayor Doxsee was up by about seventy points. The article said his party was scrambling to find someone to oppose Mr. Fox. They had to get a candidate on the ballot by Wednesday, and the fear was they wouldn't get the needed signatures. There was also the problem that Mayor Doxsee refused to pull his name from consideration.
The funny part was that getting charged with multiple felonies wasn't grounds to keep you from being mayor. The paper stated that the only qualification was that you had to live in our township. The reporter surmised that as soon as Mayor Doxsee was locked up for his crimes, they could get him out of office for good. Once he was in the state prison system, he would no longer live in town.
"I bet Duke could beat him," Mom said.
"You know what, that would be funny. If Duke took Thomas Fox down, my dream might really come true, and I would see him flipping burgers for real."
I had an extraordinary level of hatred for Thomas Fox. He'd represented both Cal when he'd come after me about Pam and my child; and Brandon, Tami's rapist. What a douche.
"I'd like to see him taken down, but don't you think we should find a real candidate?" Dad asked.
I looked at Mom, and she didn't give me a funny look. Tami warned me that my first idea was probably wrong, so I tried to reason out why not, other than that Duke was a dog.
"If a 'real' candidate gets his paperwork in on time, we pull Duke's. I just don't want to go down without a fight," I said, making the decision.
"I'll call some people and see what we need to do," Dad said.
That meant he would call my grandma who'd helped my granddad get elected the whole time they were married. I was sure she would know what to had to be done, or she'd know who to ask. The three of us had big grins on our faces.
"This is going to be fun," Mom said.
Somewhere in the back of my mind came the thought that Mr. Fox should never have pissed off my mom.
---
When I went out to the car, both Chuck and Cassidy were waiting for me.
"She's going to start driving you when we need her to, so Fritz asked me to take her on a shakedown drive," Chuck explained.
"Did you get a chance to watch the video from last night?" I asked.
I didn't want to make a big deal out of Cassidy's promotion, so I ignored what Chuck told me.
"Fritz said next time, let them hit you first. That way they can't say you were the aggressor."
"Dude. If you hurt like I do, you wouldn't want them to touch you," I complained.
"I understand. That's why we won't be leaving your side today."
I had a feeling that that was necessary, but it wasn't what I wanted to hear. There were times, even when you were supposedly in public, that you wanted to be alone. It was a shame that this was my new reality. All it took was a look at Cassidy to see how seriously she was taking my protection. I immediately dropped the idea of fighting them on this.
I figured out how Tracy had gotten us reservations at the Covered Bridge: we were doing her vlog there today.
"I wasn't sure you'd make it," Tracy said as a greeting.
"I was feeling a little fragile last night. I'm better today," I said as I hobbled into the restaurant.
"Looks like it," Tracy observed.
Marshal and Curtis were inside setting up for the interior scenes. It looked like the owner had brought in some people to make it appear they were dining.
"We're doing this backward. We'll shoot the customers trying the dessert and then have you in the kitchen," Curtis told me.
Tracy shot her scene. The dessert they picked was a pistachio cake with strawberries, white chocolate, and meringue. I decided right then that Tracy was an evil genius in that she figured out a way for me to get to eat fantastic desserts. The evil part was that I wanted to eat the whole cake. With my new sedentary lifestyle, I could see Halle making fun of my growing butt.
Before I was up, I went to the men's room.
"What are you doing in here?" I asked Cassidy.
"Wherever you go, I go."
This was just great. The only problem was I didn't think I could throw her out. My bladder made my decision for me.
"I can't wait to tell Brook you showed me Mr. Happy," Cassidy teased.
"I'm making a list," I warned her.
"What list is that?"
"Everyone whose butt I'm going to kick once I'm feeling better."
