Being prone to reverie, John caught himself thinking back to his first week on the job at his new station, Paradise City Police Headquarters. It was a bit more nerve racking than he had expected, as it was his home town. His family name was well known and respected within the wider community. He had a lot to prove, not only to himself, but to the citizens of Paradise City.
Unfortunately for John he had got off to an inauspicious start. Within his first week he had been reprimanded twice for lack of courtesy and respect to superior officers. He had tried to explain that he meant no disrespect; he had simply forgotten form in his eagerness to get his first ‘pinch’, as arrests are known among police. His senior officers did not see it that way. All they saw was the spoilt son of a Senator of questionable moral and ethical character. They felt he needed dressing down and being put in his place over any indiscretion that he offered. John was caught between a rock and a hard place, making his own way in life and his family name.
He still remembered his first arrest, even now, three months after the event. It was nothing startling by any means. John had arrested a well known vagrant for being drunk in a public place. The only really memorable aspect of the arrest was the vagrant, with that conviction had entered into the record books as the person who had been arrested the most times for public drunkenness.
Now though, with his remembrances fading, John found himself walking the beat along King Street in the city heart. His partner, police officer David Keller, was taking a criminal offence report from a shopkeeper just a few meters ahead of him. Keller stood an inch shorter than John and he had the ruddy complexion and sandy coloured hair that marked him as being from Irish stock. Apart from this Keller was a rather nondescript person with nothing that would mark him as memorable or personable. John liked him in spite of all his mediocrity and Keller returned the friendship without reservation.
Keller finished taking notes in his book and approached John saying, “Bloody kids. If we haven’t got enough to do without having to track down street kids stealing a meal every other day. What do you think John?”
John replied, “Oh, I don’t know. I kinda like to think that everything we do is important. It makes me feel as though what I’m doing is worthwhile. You know what I mean Dave?”
“Yeah. I know where you’re coming from.”
Although Keller agreed with John he had to puzzle over the singular tone of disillusionment that had crept into his partner’s voice. He knew things had been hard for John. Coming home to Paradise City was a real blow for him. It was tough but that still did not explain the depth of disappointment Keller had detected in John’s voice.
Keller looked at his watch and stated, “Hey, it’s almost knock-off time and we’ve got two days off. What are you going to do?”
“I haven’t got any plans at all. You got any suggestions?” replied John.
“Hell, yes. Why don’t we hit the beach, find ourselves some babes? We’ll get blind drunk and screw ourselves silly for the next two days. What do ya say to that?” said Keller.
“Sounds good to me. Meet you at the beach tomorrow at ten.”
With that John walked up the stairs into the main foyer of Paradise City Police Headquarters.
Once upstairs in the station proper John and Keller reported to the shift Sergeant and handed in their daily reports. Then it was on to the locker rooms, changed and down to the basement car-park. John got into his old and battered Datsun and in a cloud of blue oil smoke left for home. On his way out of the basement he stopped at the security checkpoint and the police officer on duty jokingly quipped about John’s old car blowing up one day.
This comment cut John to the core. He was proud of his appearance and he felt that his car was now letting him down. It was something that he would have to do something about. Taking the comment to heart John thought about his agreement to meet Keller at the beach this weekend. He would not go to the beach at all but instead he would go car shopping. He had saved a couple of grand. He figured that it should be enough to meet his needs and to update his car. In fact he thought, I might as well start now. With that he pulled onto the freeway and headed for one of the biggest used car dealers in the city.
***
Chapter Three will follow.
