PART 16 – I Never Expected My Father to See the Rescue, Because I Had No Idea the Evening News Was About to Put My Name in Front of Him

By the time I began to relax a little, I had stopped checking my phone so often.

I didn't want to spend the entire holiday waiting for a message.

My father knew I hadn't come home.

He knew why.

If he wanted to talk, he could call.

I had decided that much.

The rescue was still on my mind, though.

I kept remembering the moment Walt was carried away from the tanker.

The team had worked carefully.

The state trooper had held the door steady.

I had stayed close to Walt while we worked to free his leg.

It had been frightening.

There was no reason to pretend otherwise.

When the tanker moved farther toward the shoulder, I had felt the danger in a way I couldn't ignore.

My hands had started trembling.

I remembered looking down at them.

I remembered thinking that we had been very close to a much worse outcome.

But Walt was out.

The passengers were out.

That was what mattered.

I wondered whether the little boy remembered me.

I wondered whether he would remember the uniform or only the person who helped him through the hatch.

I hoped he would remember that he had been safe.

I hoped Walt was getting better.

I hoped the passengers had reached their families.

Those hopes were simple.

They didn't require anyone to recognize me.

They didn't require a news report.

They didn't require my father to say he was proud.

Still, something had changed.

I had begun to understand that my father and I were not looking at my career in the same way.

I had thought he understood what service meant.

I had believed that he knew why I sometimes couldn't attend family events.

But his call had shown me something else.

He was comfortable with my career when it happened somewhere far away.

He could mention that I was in the Army.

He could tell people I was serving.

But when my work became part of a conversation that might compete with Jason's achievement, he wanted it kept quiet.

That hurt more than I expected.

I didn't know how to explain it to him.

Perhaps I never would.

I didn't want to spend the rest of my life fighting for a place at a table.

I wanted my father to want me there.

There was a difference.

I checked the time.

The day continued.

Somewhere, the news footage was being prepared for a larger broadcast.

I didn't know that the report would include the rescue of the bus passengers.

I didn't know that it would show Walt being brought out of the cab.

And I didn't know that the anchor would identify me.

I had no reason to expect any of it.

I wasn't waiting for recognition.

I wasn't preparing to answer questions.

I wasn't thinking about what my father might say if he saw the footage.

I was simply trying to finish my responsibilities and get some rest.

The phone remained quiet.

Then I put it away again.

I had spent enough time thinking about the empty place at Christmas dinner.

I wanted to remember the people who had made it home because we had reached them in time.

That was the Christmas Eve I had lived.

I had no idea that, before the evening was over, my father would be watching that same night unfold on his television.

And this time, he wouldn't be able to avoid hearing my name.

Click here to continue reading: PART 17: My Father Had Gathered Everyone Around His Christmas Table, Never Expecting the National News to Show the Daughter He Had Sent Away