It was late when Megan finally strolled into the house and found her father asleep on the couch. Pulling a comforter over him she quietly made her way to the kitchen and began to prepare supper, running to the vegetable garden to pull greens, which she washed and spun before mixing them with roasted nuts and homemade dressing. Pulling chicken breasts from the refrigerator and slicing them into a pan of sizzling olive oil and garlic, she didn’t notice her father standing in the doorway until she turned away from the stove.

“You remind me so much of your mother,” he said. “A model of efficiency in the kitchen.”

“Thanks,” she said as she slid by him to pull plates and utensils from the cupboard. “Why don’t you go back and lay down while I get things ready.”

“I’m up now, I might as well stay up. Do you want a glass of wine?”

“Sure,” she said, wondering if this might be the lead in to another ‘father-daughter’ talk.”

“Red?”

“Sure.”

“I’m sorry about the sarcasm, today.”

“No worries,” said Megan. “You had a tough day.”

“I’m looking forward to pulling the pin.”

“Well, it’ll happen fast enough. Three more days and you are a free man.”

“And I couldn’t be more proud of you. The third generation of Haffcut’s to work in the outfit. Your mother would be so proud. And your granddad.”

“He wouldn’t be turning over in his grave?” she smiled.

“Maybe a little, but then your Mom would have given him the first spin. Women, doing a man’s work. I could hear him now.”

“I thought you had similar feelings, at first, when you and Mom first hooked up.”

“Well not exactly.”

“No? How was it different?”

“I knew she could do the job. Hell she could do it better than most men. Better than me, that’s for sure. I just didn’t like the notion of her dealing with some of the shitrats we had to deal with back then. It was dangerous.”

“And it isn’t now?”

“No, it still is, but now recruits are better trained. They’re professionals. Back then we flew by the seat of our pants. There was a lot of shithouse luck involved.”

“Sounds like there’s still some of that according to Dave’s story from this morning.”

John rolled his shoulders and hung his head.

“True enough. Dave saved my ass. But if it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else. Maybe you.”

“I’m sure my turn will come.”

“If we don’t start changing the way we handle people, I expect it will.”

“Is this the sermon again?”

“Call it what you like Megan, but if you think there is any chance for that little sow grizzly behind the lake, what’d Dave call her again?”

“Hope.”

“Yah, Hope. Good one. If you think there is any hope for Hope, something is going to have to change on the ground or the next thing you know she’ll be caught in a snare and looking down the barrel of a pump action shotgun.”

“And what are you proposing we change?” she asked, knowing full well what her father was driving at.

“First we have to stop trying to manage bears and manage the only thing we can,” said John.

“People,” said Megan, rolling her eyes and turning back to her work.

“Right,” said John, ready to start his tirade.

Sensing Megan’s reluctance to listen to him berate “the system” yet again John let it go and didn’t say anything further.

Noting the silence Megan turned to face her father.

“Let me see what shows up on the cameras. The area’s been re-posted with ‘Closure’ signs. Our communications folks are getting the word out. And the Superintendent has been briefed.”

“That useless …”

“Don’t,” she said, holding up a hand. “I don’t want to hear it. Let me see if I pick up any people on the remote cameras. If I do I’ll pass on the photos to the law enforcement guys and they can deal with it. If the sow is still in the area with her cubs then there will be a stronger case to proceed with charges.”

“Well if that happens it will be a first,” said John. “And I’ll leave it at that. Let’s eat.”

“Agreed. I’m starving.”

*****

John sat in the middle of several piles of paper and folders, effortlessly thumbing through each file before tossing them into the blue plastic recycle bins placed on either side of his chair. A single framed photo of Megan and her mother sat on the wooden desk. A tattered “Wall of Shame” banner was pinned to a corkboard above, covered with dozens of photographs of John at various stages in his career.

“Sorting out your life?” said a voice behind him.

John turned around as his boss pulled up a chair and sat down.

“Kind of,” said John, avoiding eye contact with Ben.

“Two bins. Keepers and junk?”

“Nope. No keepers. One bin just won’t take it all.”

Ben chuckled as he peered over John’s shoulder at ‘The Wall’.

“You haven’t changed one bit since I met you thirty years ago John.”

“Nope. Still that objective, by the book, fun-loving guy I always was.”

“Well, two out of three isn’t bad.”

“Objective and by the book?”

“Nope.”

“By the book and fun-loving.”

“Nope”

“But that only leaves …”

“Yup.”

“I guess you’re right,” said John. “By the book just seemed too …”

“You don’t have to say it,” said Ben. “I know the drill.”

“But hey,” said John. “No offence meant to you. I know you always had my back, even though there was that period of exile to the frozen gulag.”

“Who are you kidding?” said Ben, finally noticing the teary eyes but making no comment. “You loved the north. You could be as crazy as you wanted to be and no one was the wiser.”

“I did kind of fit in there,” said John, smiling sheepishly.

“And I brought you back, just like you wanted. You got to finish off with your daughter picking up right where you left off. How many parents can say that?”

“Not many. And I appreciate it. You were a man of your word.”

“She’s going to be a chip off the old block,” said Ben.

“Minus some of the rough edges,” said John.

“We can only hope,” said Ben, patting John on the shoulder and getting up to head for the door. “We can only hope.”

They both laughed.

As Ben disappeared into the hallway, Dave’s head popped around the corner.

“Just about ready?” he said.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” said John, picking up the remaining files and splitting them into the two bins before sliding the framed picture into his pack.

“Come on in gang,” said Dave as he entered the office followed by a large group of John’s coworkers and close friends. At the rear of the line, Megan walked in carefully balancing a large cake, its top ablaze with candles surrounding an icing covered grizzly bear charging through the top of the cake.”

“Nice touch,” said John as he helped Megan place the cake on a table in the corner of the office and gave her a hug.

“Happy retirement, Dad,” she said, kissing him on the cheek to the roaring approval of the others, as Ben walked back in and joined the crowd.

“Happy retirement, John,” they repeated.

Ben pulled a paper from his shirt pocket and stepped forward.

“Well John,” he started. “I just have a few words but first I wanted to pass on best wishes from the superintendent, and, wait for this, the Prime Minister himself.”

“Great,” said John, not hiding any hint of sarcasm.

“Okay, I was lying about that last guy, but seriously, the superintendent does pass on his best wishes for a speedy departure, I mean a healthy retirement,” Ben said with a chuckle.

“You’re on a roll,” said John as several others in the crowd added their two cents worth before Dave brought the room to order and continued with the send off.

“So John,” said Dave. “We’ve been through a lot together, most recently being the near-death experience you had a few days ago. I probably know more about you than you know yourself, but why don’t you sit back and regale us with a few of your prouder moments in the outfit.”

“And funniest?” someone added.

“And most embarrassing,” another piped in.

John sat back down and put his feet up on the desk

“Any more requests before I begin?” he said, canvassing the faces in the room.

Just then another head appeared in the doorway.

“Come in Trav,” said John. “We were just getting started.”

“Sorry,” said Trav. “But it might have to wait. There’s been another grizzly bear incident up back of the lake. We need a few first responders.”

… TO BE CONTINUED