Teresa's Christmas Finale Ch. 03

"No place like our Town & County to find love." said Teresa. "Or at least sex. Lots and lots, and lots and lots, of sex." Cindy burst out laughing.

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Chester Morton was promoted to Sergeant, his stripes pinned on him by Sergeant Rudistan and myself. Patrolman Johnson got a pay grade promotion, among others. Then came a slew of Certificates of Achievement and Achievement Medals. Roy McGhillie and Teresa Croyle received Achievement Medals for rescuing girls from the overturned Orphanage bus in the Dec. 23d collision with Billy Russell's car. Theo Washington also received an Achievement Medal for his work on the Cochran cold case, which led to the indictment of Thomas P. Cook.

Captain Cindy Ross received a Public Safety Star of Gallantry for following me and the rescue team into Ward Harvester right after it was destroyed. I'd put her in for the Legion of Excellence; it was double-downgraded by the Council. Politicians. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em... well, I could shoot them. Sheriff Allgood upgraded it from the Police Star to the Public Safety Star, which I thought was a good thing to do.

As always, the last medal was the Purple Order, and yes, we had one. As Captain Teresa Croyle came up to receive it, there was a very loud standing ovation. As Chief Moynahan read the proclamation, I pinned the medal on her Uniform jacket... but first I held it up for all to see the silver oak leaf cluster, which just generated even louder applause...

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Personages began assembling at City Hall at 12:30. Sheriff Allgood, Chief Deputy Oswald, Police Chief Moynahan, Fire Chief Quinlin, Public Health Officer Beth Paige, Admiral Leonard R. Cordell, USN (Ret.), Police Chief Emeritus Griswold, Fire Chief Emeritus Gillem, Dr. Laura Fredricson, Carole Troy, Melina Allgood, Captain Ross, Members of the Town & County Council, Mayor Larry Vaughan (the People's Choice), and others.

Courthouse Square was full. Absolutely packed. It was hard keeping people out of the streets. It helped when the Booker T. Washington High School Marching Band came through. The did their choreographed routine in front of the bleachers that faced the platform on the City Hall steps. Those bleachers were filled with Police Officers and Firefighters.

I had been instructed to ride on the first of two Fire Engines that made the loop around Courthouse Square. With me were Fire Lieutenant Easley, Fire Marshal Zoe Singer, and Fire Engineer Gregory Towson, and Police Lieutenant Irwin. On the second of the two Fire Engines was Captain Teresa Croyle.

Once assembled at 1:00pm, Sheriff Allgood presided over the ceremonies. The first award went to ... me. I was being awarded the Sheriff's Medal. Partly for running into the remains of Ward Harvester at the peril of my life, but more for, as the proclamation said: "Commander Troy showed exemplary leadership, directing the deployment of Police and Fire resources in a manner that saved lives, and showing exemplary command leadership in spite of the fact that his own daughter was the person trapped in the Ward Harvester warehouse." I called that just doing my job. The majority of the Council saw it differently, and it was made the law of the Town & County that I receive the reward.

Then I pinned the next four awards onto their recipients, while the Police or Fire Chief read the proclamations. They were the four that had come down with the stretcher to take Teresa out of the pit and to safety. First was Police Lieutenant Irwin, receiving the Police Medal. Then Fire Engineer Gregory Towson received the Fire Medal, his son loudly applauding from behind him among the people on the stage.

Then came Fire Marshal Zoe Singer. She was being awarded the EMS Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. As I was about to pin the medal on her uniform, I held it up for her to see. It was not red-bordered, as Fire Department medals were... it was green-bordered! Zoe looked shocked but happy.

Someone made the 'mistake' of letting Your Iron Crowbar write the language of the citations into the ordinance for the medals. After Zoe's, I inserted the words '(old style)'. Then I had the green-bordered medal, which was the old EMS medals and ribbons edges, made at my own expense. Zoe knew what it meant... I had not given up on bringing back the EMTs, and this was the first salvo in that operation.

Last was Fire Lieutenant Roy Easley's Fire Medal. He was last for a reason. He and I remained as the others sat down. Cindy and Chief Griswold came up. We all had one thing in common... red-ribboned Medals of Valor around our necks.

Fire Lt. Easley would read the proclamation. Chief Griswold escorted Teresa Croyle to the front of the stage, to tremendous applause. Cindy held the box, and it was my great honor to take the Medal of Valor from that box, drape it around Teresa's neck, and fasten it. Thankfully, I did it right. Then we backed up and a tremendous ovation erupted over Courthouse Square... and in the Cancer Center at the Hospital, into which the ceremony was being televised.

We'd all fought for the right to put the Medal around Teresa' neck. Ultimately she decided when she tearfully told Chief Moynahan and Sheriff Allgood that while Cindy was her best friend and Chief Griswold was like a father to her, only one person had gone to her hometown and found out her story and found that picture of her and Alexis, and that one man had given her a chance she did not deserve, brought her back to the TCPD, and backed her up all the way, thus saving her career and her life. Teresa had asked for me to do it. Cindy sulked (not really), and swore retribution in the Police Boxing Matches. Like she needed any motivation for that, but I digress...

As we all cheered her, Teresa acknowledged the ovation, and a moment later she felt something tugging at her leg. She looked down to see a four-year-old hugging her legs. My four-year-old. The same child Teresa had rescued from the Fires of Hell.

Teresa bent over and picked Carole up and told her to look at all those people. Carole just put her little arms around Teresa's neck and her head on Teresa's shoulder in a hug. The thousands on the Square were eating it up, applauding even more wildly.

I would later notice in the photos being taken that Teresa was smiling a beautiful, joyous smile... a smile that had not appeared on Teresa's face since she was sixteen years old and had been the first to cross the finish line in a race to earn her and her sister gold medals. The demons of Teresa's past were expiated.

Carole would not be making any such hugging trips again. Teresa would receive no more Purple Orders. The Fire Department would have a Medal of Valor about ten years from now, but the Police Force would not have another one for nearly a quarter of a century. At that time, Police Commander Teresa Croyle would drape the M.O.V. on the recipient's neck. The recipient's father, the Town & County Police Chief, would watch with tears in his eyes.

Like the beating of a butterfly's wings changing the wind currents of the world, the brutal words of an insane father set in motion an inexorable set of events leading to Teresa saving the life of a four-year-old girl... which ultimately led to the second Iron Crowbar, Town & County Police Detective Carole Troy, taking and barely surviving bullets meant to kill the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, foiling an attempt to create a chain of events leading to a nuclear world war.

Yes, Teresa, I thought as I watched her and my little daughter at the front of the stage, you are free from your father's curse. And no, you did not choose to be who you are. It is your karma.

Finis.