The Other World Ch. 01

The worst of the storm bypassed us, going further to our south. Reports of tornadoes in Coltrane County and Hamilton County came in, but there were no casualties. The main part of the storm continued on to the east-south-east, grazing the northern Midtown suburbs, and bringing its full weight to bear upon Madison County and Jamestown, the county seat. The Women's Prison was battered by high winds, but it was the outright tornadoes smashing through trailer parks and small-home subdivisions that wreaked tremendous damage, and deaths began being reported.

By evening, the majority of the storm was well passed us, leaving only some fog and light drizzle. I felt my ears pop when the cold front passed through, bringing much colder temperatures behind it. As the sun set behind the western horizon, temperatures were dropping into the thirties.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Chief left at 5:30pm, stopping in to say goodnight to me. We both knew he did that because I wouldn't leave until he did, and Della had also picked up that good habit. In turn, I headed to Teresa and Cindy's offices.

Knocking on Teresa's door, I peeked in. "I'm heading out." I said. "What do you have planned for tonight?"

"I think I get to go home tonight," said Teresa, "and snuggle up with Todd and the kids."

"Good night for it. See you tomorrow." I said. I then went over to Cindy's door and knocked.

"What are you doing tonight?" I asked.

"Not a damn thing." Cindy said. "I don't want to go out in this weather, so I'll go home and get some sleep while the getting is good."

"Why don't you come over to the Mountain Nest and have dinner with us?" I asked. "You know Carole loves to see you." I often asked Cindy to come have supper with us. Sometimes she had other plans, but obviously not tonight.

"Sounds good." Cindy said. "I accept. I'll follow you up there..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Daddy!" shouted my daughter Carole as I came in the door. She ran up to me and I picked her up and hugged her.

"Have you been a good girl today?" I asked.

"Yes, Daddy." Carole replied.

"She was a very good girl today." Laura reported. I kissed her, put Carole down, and picked up Jim who had come waddling up. "Hey, Little Man, were you a good boy today?"

"Yes, Daddy." said Little Jim.

"He did not bother his big sister too much." Laura said. Just then, we heard Cindy pull up in her SUV.

I said "Since Carole was a good girl today, I have a surprise for her. Look who's coming to dinner." As expected, Carole was very excited.

"Cin-dee!" shouted my daughter as Cindy came into the front door. Cindy picked her up and hugged her as I told Laura I'd invited Cindy to spend the evening with us.

"Hey, Carole, how are you?" Cindy said as Carole gave her a big hug.

"Good." said Carole. "You can have my string beans for supper if you want."

"I think your dad is going to want both of us to eat our string beans tonight," said Cindy diplomatically, "so why don't we surprise him and eat every one of them that's on our plate, okay?"

"Can I give mine to Bowser?" Carole replied...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My mom Phyllis was also joining us for dinner. The six of us sat around the table as the wind howled outside.

"That was a bad storm today." Laura said. "Some big tree branches came down on the Campus, but fortunately no one was hurt."

"Yes, it was bad." Phyllis said. "But this cold tonight is going to be just as bad. I'd hate to be out and exposed to this wet and cold."

"Yeah, it's times like this I feel for our Uniformed Officers." I said. "They have good, warm clothing, but it's still not easy having to go to work in this stuff."

"The good news is that the criminals tend to stay at home in this stuff, too." Cindy replied. Just then, I noticed Carole trying to slip her string beans to Bowser.

"Speaking of 'criminal activity'," I said, "Carole, what are you doing with your string beans?"

"Giving them to Bowser." Carole said. "He likes them."

"Bowser gets his own food." I said. "Those string beans are for you to eat, so you can have lots of energy to play with Bowser and Buddy and Jim."

"I don't like them." Carole said simply.

"Well, sometimes you have to eat foods you might not like right now, because they're good for you." I replied, as I'd done dozens of times over the past year or so. And then I played my trump card for this round: "And you don't want to be in 'time out' while cousin Cindy is here, do you?"

"No sir." said Carole, seeing that she was going to lose this argument. She began eating her string beans.

"You haven't tried the 'starving children in China' line yet?" Cindy asked mischievously.

"Yes, with the broccoli." I said. "Carole promptly offered to send her broccoli to those starving kids. I love her good heart, but she's already getting too smart to deal with. Lord help me when she's a teenager."

Cindy burst out laughing, very much like her sister Molly often did. Laura was chuckling, also. My mom Phyllis was shaking her head, but her eyes were twinkling. Grandchildren are indeed revenge on one's kids, I knew she was thinking...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After supper, Carole and Cindy played for a few moments, then Carole got interested in a coloring book. My daughter loved to experiment with colors, and sometimes the pictures looked as if they were from another world.

Meanwhile, Laura was saying "Now that I'm retired, I have a lot more time for my research, but I don't have a real assistant like Melina was a while back.

"Do you have an assistant, since Gayle left?" I asked.

"Yes, a very nice woman named Laurie." Laura said. "In her late 20s, beautiful blonde. She was in the television industry and washed out."

"You mean she didn't put out like most of the women in television media are supposed to do." Cindy said, somewhat acidly.

"I don't know." Laura said. "She may have and still washed out. I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it yet. But what I do know is that while she's a decent secretary and keeps me on schedule, I don't think she'd be a good research assistant."

"What does the job entail?" asked Cindy.

"Just researching things, correlating data, helping interview subjects." Laura said. "And if she, and I do want a woman in the job, so sorry guys... if she was able to enroll in School, she could get credits towards her degree, undergrad or grad."

(Author's note: the following Bowser story is based upon true events.)

"Daddy," Carole said, "something's wrong. Something's bothering Bow-ser." Indeed, Bowser had been going around the room and the hallway, sniffing around as if looking for something, and he did look agitated.

We watched as Bowser went to the front door. He sniffed around it, then began barking.

"Something is wrong." Cindy said. "I'm feeling it, too."

"Hey Bowser!" I called out. "What's wrong?" Bowser began barking in reply, looking at me then at the door.

"Don, let's get our gear on and take him outside." Cindy said. She was already getting up and putting on her bulletproof vest. I went to the closet and got my stuff, armor and gunbelt, and put it on. As I did, I noticed Cindy using her Police iPhone to record Bowser.

Cindy the Dog Whisperer, I thought to myself. But I knew not to question her vibes. And when I opened the door, Bowser bounded out and went straight to my Police SUV. He barked several times as he sat by the driver's side door of the vehicle.

"What is it, Bowser?" I asked. "Is it something in the car?"

"I think he wants us to take him for a ride." Cindy said. The vibe she and Bowser were feeling was now beginning to be felt by me. I looked back at the door, seeing my mom and Carole watching us.

"We'll be back in a few minutes." I said as I opened the car door. Bowser jumped into the car and into Cindy's lap in the 'shotgun' seat. I got in the driver's seat and started up the car.

When we got to University Avenue, Bowser literally pointed his snout forward and barked. "I think he wants us to go straight." Cindy said. I concurred. As we went along, there was some traffic. Bowser began pawing at the dash of the SUV and barking some more.

Cindy was recording it all as she said "I think he wants you to burn the lightbar." I turned on the blue lights, which got the traffic to get out of our way, and I sped up. Bowser then pointed his snout at the passenger door window and barked.

"I think he wants me to turn right." I said. I did so, and Bowser then looked left and barked, so I turned left. We were now in a subdivision. As we came upon a fallow field by the side of the road, Bowser suddenly started barking his head off. I pulled over.

Cindy opened the car door and Bowser bounded out. I was running after him across the field. Near the far side was a long drainage ditch with a rushing stream of water running down it. Bowser ran about fifty feet down the field along the ditch then stopped and barked loudly as he looked into it. I came up to where he was. "What is it, Bowser?" I asked.

Then I saw. "Oh my God!" I gasped as Bowser whimpered. Lying in the ditch was a small child...

To be continued.