On Monday morning, Police Chief MacDonald sat on his doctor’s examining table, wearing his shirt and boxers under the hospital gown the nurse had given him.
The doctor stood before him, examining his right knee. “How long has it been hurting?”
“The last few years, if it bothered me, I would wear a brace, and that seemed to take care of it.”
The doctor glanced up from the knee to Edward’s face. “There is nothing in your medical records about your knee bothering you.”
Edward shrugged. “It didn’t seem to be that big a deal, and the brace always helped. Not like it bothered me constantly. It was a random thing. If the brace hadn’t helped and it kept hurting, I would have come in earlier. But the last few months, it’s gotten worse, and when I fell last week, I thought I’d better have you look at it.”
“And you fell again this past weekend?” the doctor asked.
Edward nodded. “On Saturday, at the grocery store.”
“We need to get an X-ray.”
Less than an hour later, after the chief returned from the X-ray room, he sat on a chair while the doctor viewed his X-rays on a monitor overhead.
“What do you see?”
The doctor looked at him. “I’m referring you to an orthopedic surgeon.”
The chief groaned. “Are you saying I need surgery?”
“It depends on what the surgeon says. But looking at these X-rays, your knee is bone on bone. I’m surprised you’re getting along as well as you are.”
* * *
Before leaving the doctor’s office on Monday morning, the chief was told the orthopedic surgeon’s office would contact him to set up an appointment within the week. He was told it could take over a month to get an appointment. The chief returned to his office, and much to his surprise, the surgeon’s scheduler called to set up the appointment.
“I called you as soon as I received your referral,” the woman’s voice on the other end of the call explained. “This morning we had a cancelation for this afternoon. I already called the other people on our waiting list, and they can’t take the appointment. I can give you this one, but if it’s too last minute for you, the next opening is in June.”
“June?” The chief frowned. He glanced at his calendar. It was April 8. He then looked at his wall clock. “What time today?”
“In thirty minutes.”
* * *
“I need a new knee?” The chief repeated the diagnosis given to him by the orthopedic surgeon. The chief sat on the examining table while the surgeon sat nearby on a rolling stool.
To explain the current condition of Edward’s right knee, along with the proposed surgery, the surgeon quickly scribbled illustrations on a pad of paper, showing it to Edward as he continued adding to the drawing while elaborating on his explanation.
Finally, the doctor asked if the chief had any questions.
“How soon do I need to do this? What would you do if it were your knee?”
“You’ll need to talk to our person in scheduling. But if it were me, I’d want to take care of it as soon as possible.”
* * *
Late Monday afternoon, Police Chief MacDonald sat alone at his desk, looking at the calendar pulled up on the computer. While he wasn’t surprised to hear he needed a knee replacement, he hadn’t fully appreciated the impact the surgery would have on his life and those around him—until now.
A knock on the open door broke his concentration. He looked up to see Brian Henderson standing in his doorway.
“Hey, Chief, anything going on we should know about?” Brian asked.
Edward waved Brian into his office.
“Funny you should ask that.” Edward let out a sigh, pointed to the empty seat, leaned back in his office chair, and watched as Brian sat down.
“You’ve been in and out of the office most of the day, and on the phone most of the afternoon. What’s going on?”
“I had to go to the doctor today and then a specialist,” the chief began.
Brian sat up straight. “Oh crap, are you okay?”
The chief waved his right hand dismissively. “I’m okay, nothing life threatening, just a major pain in the butt. I have to have knee replacement surgery.”
Brian winced. “I’ve had a few friends who’ve gone through that, and they say the physical therapy can definitely be a major pain in the butt. But from what I understand, it’s a lot easier than it used to be.”
“Oh, I’m not concerned about the physical therapy or even the surgery, but I’m going to be off work for at least four months.”
“Joe and I can hold down the fort,” Brian told him.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought at first. From what the doctor told me, I’ll be going home the same day as the surgery. While I obviously won’t be running marathons until I’m completely healed—which, according to the doctor, can take between six months and a year—I figured I could still come into the office after a couple of weeks, oversee things with your help and Joe’s.”
“And you can’t?” Brian asked.
The chief shook his head. “I had several long phone conversations with Fred Lyons today. Unfortunately, he had knee replacement surgery five years ago.” Fred Lyons was the city manager.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“He insists there’s no way I’m returning to the office for at least twelve weeks, and he suggested our insurance might have a problem with me returning to work prematurely. If I injured myself by coming back too soon, and the city allowed it, he worries they would be liable. The fact he had the surgery himself, well, I guess he was laid up for a long time.”
“I suppose I can understand his concerns.” Brian leaned back in the chair.
“One problem, as you’re aware, we’re currently understaffed. Fred doesn’t want me to pull you or Joe from your duties to cover for me. He wants to bring someone in from the outside to serve as an interim police chief. Someone who can stay and act as my second-in-command. Which is obviously what he feels will fix our understaffing issue.”
“Really? And where would he find this replacement?”
“He’s already found one. That’s one reason I’ve been on the phone all day. He wants to hire Clay Bowman.”
Abruptly, Brian sat up straighter. “Clay Bowman? The same Clay Bowman who used to work here years ago?”
The chief nodded.
“How is he qualified to be a police chief? Or even assistant police chief? I know he’s Lyons’s brother-in-law. But isn’t that pushing nepotism a little too far?”
“According to Fred, Bowman is currently working as assistant police chief at the station he’s at. But he’s not happy there. Both Bowman and his wife miss living on the coast, and she wants to live close to her sister again. I guess Bowman called Fred a few months ago and told him that if there was ever an opening here, he’d like a shot at the job.”
“There’s been openings here for a few months. Why hasn’t he applied already?”
The chief smiled weakly. “I didn’t ask Fred, and he didn’t say, but I suspect Bowman was talking about if I ever left. He wanted my job.”
“Even if he comes, he’ll only have your job for a short time.”
“But he’ll be assistant chief when I come back, second-in-command, ready to take my job if I decide to retire. Standing in the wings,” the chief said dully.
“That kind of screws Joe,” Brian grumbled. “I always figured Joe would advance to chief when you retired. And isn’t this hiring your call?”
“Yes and no.”
* * *
When Brian got off work on Monday, he went straight to Heather’s house for dinner. While waiting for the dinner to finish cooking, they sat together at the kitchen table, each drinking a beer while rehashing their day. Brian had just finished telling Heather about his conversation with the chief before leaving the station thirty minutes earlier.
“So who is this Bowman dude?” Heather asked. “How do you know him?”
“He used to work with us. He’s a couple of years older than Joe. Honestly, I never cared for the guy. He always rubbed me the wrong way. He thought a lot of himself.” Brian took a drink of his beer.
“You seem to be especially annoyed how him getting his temporary job could screw Joe’s chances of moving up when the chief eventually retires. But you never seem to care about yourself.”
Brian laughed and set his beer on the table. “Unless you haven’t noticed, I’m older than the chief. I suspect I’ll retire before him.”
Heather studied Brian for a moment, cocking her head from side to side. “You never had dreams of moving up in the ranks and making chief someday?”
Brian smiled at Heather. “Will you think less of me if I say no?”
Heather returned his smile. “No. But I am curious.”
“Years ago, I turned down a promotion at the station. In retrospect, that probably had something to do with the demise of my second marriage.”
Heather arched her brows. “Why did you turn it down?”
“My ex asked the same thing.” Brian picked up his beer and took another drink and then continued, “I enjoy my job, but I have—had—no desire to be a police chief. I’m comfortable and will be content doing what I do until I eventually retire.”
“Is that what you told your wife?”
“You mean ex-wife?” Brian grinned.
Heather nodded.
“Pretty much. It took a while for it to sink in, but I eventually realized Camilla wanted someone who was more ambitious. At least, as ambitious as she was. When she told me she wanted a divorce, one reason she gave, she didn’t want to make more than her husband someday.”
“Seriously?”
Brian nodded. “I thought we were living a pretty good life. We had two decent incomes and good benefits.”
“What did Camilla do for a job?”
“She was an escrow officer. But she talked about getting her real estate license someday. After she moved, Homer told me he paid for her real estate classes so she could get her license. From what I understand, that’s what she does now. She sells real estate.”
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure.”
“You told me once that you and your second wife decided not to have kids. Did you ever want kids?”
“I grew up thinking people got married and had kids. That it was expected. But having kids wasn’t really something I thought about. Before I married Camilla, she told me she didn’t know if she ever wanted children. I was sorta surprised. I figured all women wanted children. But it got me to thinking. I realized I would be okay child-free. So we agreed to give our marriage a few years, revisit the topic of children, and if she still didn’t want them, I’d have a vasectomy.”
“So that’s when you had your vasectomy?”
“Actually, about a year after we got married, she was diagnosed with endometriosis and had a hysterectomy.”
“Umm… if Camilla had a hysterectomy, why did you get a vasectomy?” Early in Brian and Heather’s relationship, Brian had told Heather he could never father children, as he had gotten a vasectomy during his second marriage.
“It wasn’t because I wanted to cheat on my wife,” Brian assured her.
“I remember you telling me you had your vasectomy years ago, when you were with your second wife. I assumed it was because you both decided not to have kids.”
“Remember, when I got my vasectomy it was during a time in our marriage Camilla wanted to be with me. I think the only thing that bothered Camilla about her hysterectomy was that someday I might decide I wanted kids, and I might leave her for another woman who could give me babies. I tried to assure her I was fine with never having kids. But it bothered her. Finally, she asked me to have a vasectomy. I agreed.”