"So Holland looks to the Sheriff, as he tends to do in times when he needs the guidance of someone more experienced than him. 'What do we do now, Sheriff?' Holland asks. Well, the Sheriff looks back at Holland and says. 'Now? We ride.' And so me, Holland, the Sheriff, and all the other deputies in the posse mount up and ride out into the Wastes. After ridin' for about ten minutes, Holland looks to the Sheriff again and he says. 'Where... are we goin'?' And the Sheriff, he looks back at Holland and he says. 'What?' And Holland says again more clearly. 'Where are we goin'?'... And as it turned out, the Sheriff had no idea where we were goin'. And so we rode back to town, a little embarrassed by our mistake. And when we got back, standin' at the gate was none other than Mayor White herself, waiting to chew our drunk asses to pieces for ridin' out into the Wastes when we should have been doin' our jobs. And that is why the lawmen 'round these parts ain't allowed to drink on the job no more." With the story finished, the assembled crowd burst into cacophonous laughter.

Up until that point Independence's 5th anniversary had been quite peaceful by the standards of the place, probably because of the festivities keeping the usual trouble makers too distracted to cause trouble. Holland welcomed the respite. A break from keeping the peace around Independence was always welcome. That didn't mean he'd wasn't keeping an eye out though. Holland kept just enough of his wits about him to watch for signs of trouble, especially near the more prolific troublemakers. The fact that it was a more peaceful day than usual didn't mean that it couldn't become less peaceful at a moment's notice. With Willard's story about the time an entire posse got drunk while on duty and rode out into the Red Wastes for no reason concluded, Holland noticed many people heading towards the tower. Realizing that the Mayor's speech was close at hand, Holland righted himself from the post he had been leaning against and made to join the rest of the people at the speech.

Along the way, Holland ran into Sheriff Dalton. After learning that his day had also been relatively peaceful, the two of them decided to attend the speech together. The speech itself went about as well as one might expect. Right up until the person meant to be giving the speech turned out to be too ill to make the speech. Once Haskell had gotten in the last words and joined the rest of the big wigs inside the Tower, Holland stood there for a time as an air of nervousness washed over the assembled crowd. "Damn." Holland finally said after being silent for a time. "I knew somethin' like this was bound to happen sooner or later considerin' her age and all. But today of all days?"