Send in the Clowns Ch. 01

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racism, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 1 - Prologue

Saturday, March 13th. The big room in the University Hospital's Cancer Center was full of very excited children. Though stricken with cancer, their enthusiasm could not be dampened. Because this day... was Bowser Day.

After TCPD Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle admonished the kids not to get loud because it would hurt Bowser's ears, the redoubtable Town & County Police K-9 Corps Sergeant was brought into the room, wearing his Police badge, Police bandana as a cape, and a harness attached to a leash.

Holding the leash, though loosely, was my Guardian of Love and Peace, little Joy. Having been discharged earlier in the week, it was theoretically forbidden for Joy to be here. Your Iron Crowbar does not think much of 'theoreticals' by nurses more interested in their rules than kids's happiness, and I told them Joy was Bowser's official handler for the day.

And Dr. Laura Fredricson 'suggested' that it would not be a good idea to argue the 'roools' with the Iron Crowbar, not to mention a doctor On Staff. Of course, if I suggested not arguing the 'roools' at home, I would be sleeping on the couch with the aforementioned redoubtable Bowser. But I digress...

Bowser did Bowser things, going to each Cancer Kid one by one and allowing himself to be petted... more like insisting upon it. And the kids were very happy to oblige. I noticed that Alison McFarland of the Town & County Examiner as well as the renowned 'Unresolved' podcasts was there, videotaping the event.

Also present was Alice, the accomplished teenaged violin player at the Christmas concerts, sitting in a chair just in front of the large photo of me and Bowser. I was a bit shocked at her appearance; she looked very tired and dispirited. It did not take the observational powers of the Crowbar to know that she was dying.

She had brought her violin in its case, and it was sitting between her and Teresa. Very few of us knew that it had been a gift to Alice from her teacher and mentor, Dr. Wolfgang Strauss, known as 'The Maestro'. It was a Gagliano violin, made in the mid-1700s, and it was worth $200,000. And Alice's brilliant play made it sound like it was worth that, and more.

After making his rounds of the cancer kids, Bowser came up to Teresa and Alice. He barked at them, then at the violin. And then he pawed at the violin case, and then at Alice.

"I think Bowser wants you to play the violin, Alice." I said. Teresa reached down and took the violin case, and opened it and handed the violin to Alice, who tightened the bow then brought the instrument to her chin. She was struggling even to hold the violin properly, and the neck of the instrument began drooping as her arm lost strength.

Still, she fought to overcome, and became more determined to play. She began playing 'Who You Really Are', from the Mark Gatiss/Steven Moffat 'Sherlock' series. Bowser sat and watched with rapt attention, as did the other kids, who loved hearing Alice play the violin. After she finished, everyone applauded.

"Teresa!" little Joy cried out, "will you sing while Alice plays?"

"Sure." said Teresa. "What do you want to hear?"

"Ave Maria." suggested one of the Cancer Kids. And so Teresa sang and Alice played, and together they brought much beautiful music and much happiness to the kids, and to the adults, too.

Alice was rapidly becoming too physically tired to play, so those two pieces were all that were played in the mini-concert. The nurses were marshaling the kids to be taken back to their rooms. Bowser positioned himself by the door and let every kid pet him on their way out.

As Alison McFarland was putting up her equipment, I went over and said to her "I'd appreciate it if you could put Alice's playing and her duet with Teresa on a DVD for me."

"Sure thing." said Alison. She then grinned and said "For an exclusive interview, of course."

"You got it." I replied. I wasn't sure why I'd asked for it; I'd just thought I'd like to have a recording of it for the future. And neither I nor anyone else knew it at the time... but it was the last time Alice would play her violin...

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

Sunday, March 14th. The Cabin was experiencing a 'strangeness'; it was empty on a weekend. Molly was in Nextdoor County, doing paperwork in the aftermath of a six-vehicle pileup on the University-City Highway, involving one AGC Trucking vehicle and two cars full of drunk teenagers that had been drag racing. Two people had lost their lives and two more were fighting for their lives at University Hospital.

Sheriff Griswold had called and invited Jim, Ross, and Ian to come to his house and learn how to fish the lake in the backyard. For the record, he'd invited the girls, too, but Carole had zero interest in fishing, and Tasha was spending the day with her mom doing mother-daughter things. Paulina and Tasha were also staying at Paulina's condo for the weekend and Molly had said she would stay at her place in Nextdoor County. So Laura and I and the kids were staying at the Mountain Nest.

Additionally, Laura was in her office in the Psychology Building at the University, catching up on School paperwork... so she said. I'd gotten word that the Governor of the State was sneaking into our County again, to secretly meet with lame-duck University President, Dr. Sidney P. Wellman, and that they were meeting in Laura's office. Hmmm...

After dropping the boys off at the Sheriff's house, I began going over the hill towards The Cabin. "We've got to feed Tiger Mom and Gracie." I said to Carole, who was riding shotgun.

"And Smokey." Carole said. "That's what Tasha named the new kitty." The new 'kitty' was getting almost grown. While Gracie was a dark gray with blackish 'highlights', Smokey was a pure gunmetal bluish-gray.

Carole then asked: "Daddy, where did the other kitties go?"

I replied "The boy cats were run off. That's what lions do as well as feral housecats. And I suspect that birds like hawks or owls got one or two of the other kittens."

"Oh." said Carole. "Bowser and Buddy get under the metal chairs when they see a big bird, too."

"Smart dogs." I replied. I did not tell Carole that I'd heard that the Town & County Animal Control people had been trapping feral cats and euthanizing them. They'd come near The Cabin's property a couple of times, and found out (almost the hard way) that the Police Commander did not want them near his property, and the Mayor and Sheriff reinforced that with the Animal Control people. But if a cat strayed across the road onto the University's property, or over the hilltop and down toward's McGhillie's Golf Course, there was little I could do.

Going into The Cabin, I opened a can of cat food and dumped it into the plastic bowl, and Carole added some dry cat food to it. We took it outside and put it near the railing at the far side of The Cabin, to the right as one looked at the backdoors from the deck. The cats did not appear by the time we went back inside, but I knew they would soon be eating the cat food.

Carole and I got into the SUV and headed out. On the way down the road, I said "Would you like to go take a look at Aunt Cindy's new property?"

"Yeah!" said Carole enthusiastically. So instead of turning to go down into Town, we went straight, towards Promontory Point, the Warners's home, the Allgoods's home, and eventually the University Observatory. I parked at Promontory Point, and Carole and I got out and climbed the steps leading to the top of the hill.

To the left were some pink flags, that would mark where the road would be installed. To the right were yellow flags, where the gas line would be brought in, and light blue flags to indicate where the water lines should be. I pointed those out to Carole.

"You'll have to bring Jim here." Carole said. "He likes this sort of stuff."

"And you don't?" I asked.

"I'm good with it, Daddy." Carole said. So we went on down the trampled grass and two-track dirt road, which had a number of tire tracks on it. As we walked, something struck my mind, and I stopped and bent over to look at the tire tracks more closely.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Carole asked.

"I don't think anything's wrong," I said, "but the County workers would have come up here in trucks, and you can see the big heavy truck prints there, and there." I said pointing them out.

Carole observed them with interest, then pointed at some tracks and said "Daddy, these tracks are smaller."

"Yes, good observation." I said. "They're car tracks. Someone came up here in cars."

"Maybe it was Aunt Cindy." Carole said.

"May-be." I said, though I knew that Cindy very likely would've driven up there in her Police SUV. "Or maybe Callie drove up to show someone."

We walked over to where the stakes showed the beginnings of Cindy's property. The tree line was about 30-40 feet in. We walked along the dirt trail to it. There were car tire impressions, and then a lot of footprints going towards the back of the property. Some sets of prints went off into the woods.

"They're going to clear those trees, and they'll be able to see Lake Reservoir, and almost all the way to Aunt Molly's house." I told Carole.

"Wow!" Carole said. And then her voice trailed off. She looked around, then looked up at me and said "Something's wrong, Daddy. All these footprints shouldn't be here."

"They're probably the County Survey team's footprints." I said, and explained how properties were surveyed for title deed recordings as well as updating USGS maps.

Carole absorbed the lesson, then said "Don't they use those those cameras on the things with three legs?"

"You mean tripods?" I said. Carole nodded and I said "Well, they're not cameras but laser GPS devices. But yes, they use those."

Carole said "Then why are there no places in the ground where the tri-pod legs would be?"

Seven years old, I thought to myself. And she's out-observing me already. And out-deducing me. Out loud I said "You're right, we haven't see any of those, that I can remember."

"Something ain't right, Daddy." Carole said again, in a tone of emphasizing that she was correct.

"Maybe it's just high school kids trespassing, looking around." I said. I could see that Carole was not convinced, by that either, so I said "Tell you what, Fussbudget, I'll have our Police patrols check up here more often, and see if they find anything they're not supposed to find, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." Carole said. We made our way back to my Police SUV, my mind ablaze with thoughts. I had my own premonition that Carole might be right, and that something was wrong. But what could possibly be wrong? I wondered to myself...

Part 2 - The Ides of March

"Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the ground
You in mid-air
Send in the clowns..."
------- Stephen Sondheim, 'Send In The Clowns'

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Monday, March 15th, from the Anchor Desk at the KXTC studios. "Police Commander Donald Troy once again oversteps his bounds!"

After the hard-charging music intro, Bettina began: "Members of the Town & County Council are furious that TCPD Commander Donald Troy signed a contract with TCPD Lieutenant Commander Teresa Croyle, enabling Ms. Croyle to be an SBI Reserve Lieutenant."

Bettina: "The contract is very similar to the one the Council originally agreed to with Commander Troy, allowing him to be on call and go on duty with the SBI or FBI. While on duty with either of them, he would be paid by them and not the TCPD. Commander Croyle's contract is with the SBI only. SBI Director Wes Masters and Governor Sharon Marshall approved the appointment."

Bettina: "By law, Commander Troy is a Principal for the Town & County, and is authorized to sign contracts on the County's behalf that directly affect the Public Safety Department. However, several members of the Town & County Council have stated that Commander Troy should have consulted with the Council before taking the egregious step of making that decision on his own."

Bettina: "The Council can vote to negate the contract, and the issue will be taken up at Tuesday's Council meeting. Commander Troy has been ordered to appear at the Council meeting to explain his egregious overstep of his authority."

Bettina: "And in Midtown, despite knowing that failure to pass a Budget will lead to a total State Government shutdown after July 1st, and with only half a month remaining in the session, the State Legislature remains completely deadlocked. Let's go to political reporter Carl Lemay in Midtown with an update. Carl!"

"That's right, Bettina!" said Carl Lemay as he came onto the screen. "Despite the fact that Republicans hold slight edges in both Houses of the Legislature, they are fractured and cannot come to a compromise. The Democrats are also fractured, and no one faction has been able to form a coalition within their own Party nor by crossing the aisle and working with members of the other Party."

Lemay: "However, the mood in Midtown exploded when White Nationalist Governor Sharon Marshall named former City Police Internal Affairs Captain Wes Masters to the position of Director of the State Bureau of Investigation, and almost immediately after Masters was accused of using his position in the City Police to protect a drug distribution ring. 1st District State Senator Katherine Woodburn, who is the owner of the parent company of KXTC, had this to say. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Katherine Woodburn surrounded by reporters and some 'supporters' with signs, to conceal how few people were really there. She was almost screaming at the reporters: "Sharon Marshall's unbelievable appointment of Wes Masters to SBI Director was a slap in the face to the People of this State!"

Woodburn: "Sharon Marshall did not consult with me nor any other Legislator, but just unilaterally made this outrageous appointment of a man not qualified for the job! Masters does not have the integrity to lead the SBI, as his total failure to control his City Police Internal Affairs Department proves!"

Woodburn: "I consider this a declaration of war by Governor Marshall, who wants to turn the SBI into a Gestapo against hardworking Undocumented Workers! And God only knows how much drug traffic to our children we will endure with Wes Masters at the controls of the SBI!"

Back to Lemay live: "Senator Woodburn has promised to subpoena Director Masters before the State Senate Budget Committee, and force him to give his views and the direction he intends to take the SBI. Budgeting for that State agency could depend on his answers."

The feed switched to a split-screen as Bettina asked: "Carl, there's not much time left in the Legislative session. What are the Legislators doing to get a Budget done?"

Lemay: "That's right, Bettina. The State House Ways & Means Committee and the State Senate Budget Committee are no longer meeting together, nor individually, at least not officially and publicly. Several persons told me on conditions of anonymity and on background that there could be several reasons for that. One is that with everything so deadlocked, they're taking some time away to get things in order to prepare for a final push as the Legislative session ends."

Lemay: "A second reason is that there may be secret backchannel discussions going on, which in my parents's day was called 'horse trading'. And a third reason I was told is that some of the Legislators are working on other issues, trying to get some other things passed before the session ends... though if a Budget doesn't pass, the rest of it is moot after July 1st. Back to you, Bettina!"

"Thank you, Carl!" Bettina said as the feed came back solely to her. "That was Carl Lemay with that report from Midtown. And now I have with me Karl Frazier of Public Policy Polling, and an SNN Networks contributor." As the camera panned out to show Karl Frazier sitting at the desk with Bettina, she asked "I guess the big question, Karl, is if we'll have a Budget or a shutdown?"

Frazier: "That's right, Bettina, and right now it's not looking very good that they will have a budget."

Bettina: "Karl, if a Budget does not pass, and there is a shutdown on July 1st, are the Voters of the State going to blame the Governor and the Republicans?"

Frazier: "Bettina, it really depends on where you ask the question. When we ask voters in The City, in Southport, and Inner Midtown, by a 72-38% margin they say the Republicans will be at fault. But if you ask in more rural parts of the State that are mostly White, they overwhelmingly blame the Black Caucus. And in areas that are a melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, and attitudes, such as the City suburbs, Palmyra County, and the Town & County, the results are very mixed, and pretty much 50-50 down the line."

Bettina: "But Karl... the Governor is a Republican, and a White Nationalist at that, and both Houses of the Legislature are under Republican control. How can anyone not blame the Republicans, unless they're just white racists themselves?"

Frazier's voice sounded a bit angry as he said "Bettina, I just report what the poll numbers say, based upon the responses to our questions. We don't ask for their reasons or their thinking------"

"Thank you, Karl." said Bettina, cutting Frazier off as the camera hurriedly zoomed in on just her again. "And now let's go to Pat Stellum with a local story. Pat!"

"That's right, Bettina." said the portly, fat-cheeked reporter as he came on-screen. "Channel Two News has learned that the University Museum has finished its ten million dollar security upgrade. This was initially done so that the Museum could reclaim possession of the Statue of Artemis, which now resides in the Pottsville Museum of Art." (Author's note: 'Pink Panther', Ch. 01.)

Stellum: "The University Museum will also be displaying the 'Lost Greuze', a painting certified to be an authentic work of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, which was not known until it was recently discovered among the works in the home of Ruth Heidelmann Baker, who escaped Holland as a child during the Nazi occupation of the 1940s. Mrs. Baker is now 90 years old, and will auction off the newly found Greuze and give the bulk of the proceeds to the Jewish Holocaust Museum and other causes. The painting could reach an auction price of over one million dollars. Back to you, Bettina!"

Bettina: "Thank you, Pat! And now let's go to Jeff Hull for Sports. Jeff!.."

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

"Soooooo," said TCPD Chief Moynahan as he, Sheriff Griswold, Chief Deputy Cindy Ross, Lt. Cmdr. Teresa Croyle, Deputy Chief Tanya P. Muscone, and Your Iron Crowbar drank coffee as we watched the broadcast, "tell me what to think about that word salad about the Legislature we just listened tooooo."

Teresa said "Todd's lobbyists told him they think some kind of deal has already been struck, and they're going to wait until the final days of the session to spring it on Governor Marshall."

"That's risky as hell." said Tanya. "What if she vetoes it?"