After another hard day at the Blue Ridge precinct, Captain Lee called a halt at 4:50. His men were doing better than they thought they were … they were very, very close to being at the readiness he wanted them in. They were also as frustrated as they could be and still be effective. He was careful not to push them too far, respecting that fine limit between refining and destroying men – they would go home determined to overcome his challenge instead of in despair.
5:15 – Captain Lee locked up the trailer, and even made a little joke about it.
“Eleven days and you will see the difference between yourselves and this trailer. This thing will be on the scrap heap of history. Y'all, on the other hand … .”
“You actually gonna let us live, Captain Lee?”
“Well, Christmas is coming.”
Captain Lee cracked a smile.
“Tis the season to spare something, fa la la la la, la la, la, la.”
His singing voice was gorgeous, and the timing was perfect – his men all started laughing for the first time since October.”
“Now, wait a minute now, that's a tactic,” Officer Treatmore said as he and Officer Kern were going toward their cars. “Yes, it was hilarious as all get out, but we have to stay on point. We may go slide up on a bar stool, but not for too long or drink too much – we made each other a promise after last week.”
“Right. We are going to get that [fill in whatever unholy word you can think of] Captain Lee this week after that mess he pulled last week on us out on this ridge. We gotta get him tomorrow – gotta stay on point.”
Captain Lee overheard this and smiled.
“Y'all are so, so close,” he murmured as he went to his truck. “Y'all are so, so close to being where I want you to be. Hate me or love me, I don't care, but I want you to get there and be ready, and if tomorrow is the day, so be it. Tis the season to be ready!”
And speaking of being ready … Captain Lee climbed into his truck and headed out for Roanoke for a date unlike any other, knowing his Lexus was being driven by his fiancee in the same direction.
Image by David Mark from Pixabay