Megan
It was near closing time on New Year’s Eve and the Shoppes at Chisholm Trail looked like a ghost town. Unwanted or ill-fitting Christmas gifts had already been returned, and shoppers looking for after-Christmas markdowns had already snatched up all the clearance merchandise they wanted. The carolers were gone, too, of course. Shame. They’d been a big hit with the customers.
The nail salon had been offering a New Year’s special, glittery gold polish with a teeny glass of champagne painted on your thumb. Cute. But it was too late now. The nail technician with the strawberry-blond hair turned off the lights in the salon, stepped outside, and headed off down the walkway.
Brigit and I weren’t far behind. Given that tonight marked citywide partying and general debauchery, we’d better get back out on the streets. It was sure to be a rough night. The only good news was that Mother Nature had apparently been given orders by Father Time to take it easy on us this New Year’s Eve. The outdoor temperature was mild, the winds light, the skies clear.
Over the next three hours, I issued two speeding tickets, arrested one drunk driver, and issued a teenager a citation for illegal fireworks. He’d been shooting off a Roman candle in his driveway, his friends gathered around to watch. The sound and the repeated explosions in the sky over his house had made him easy to find. I’d caught him red-handed. Literally. The last Roman candle he’d shot off had burned his fingers. That’s why the warning label says not to hold the thing, you nitwit.
The kid was just as burned about the ticket I issued to him. “I didn’t know fireworks were illegal! How can they sell them if they’re against the law?”
Here we go again. I explained the difference between the county and city regulations and jurisdiction, providing an impromptu civics lesson. Seeing my flashing lights at the curb, his parents came outside and tried to convince me to let the matter slide.
“They’re only having a little fun,” the boy’s mother said, her words slurred, her breath as flammable as the fireworks.
The dad piled on, giving me an unwelcome nudge and wink. “Surely you can just give a warning for a little violation like this.”
Not gonna happen. Not with me dating a firefighter who’d be putting his life on the line to extinguish any conflagrations caused by the illegal firecrackers. My roommate, too. Why should they pay the price for someone else’s careless and flagrant disregard of the law and warning labels? Besides, this guy had only offered me a weak attempt at charm. At least Vaughn and his cohort had had the decency to offer me hundreds of dollars to turn a blind eye to their criminal activity. Not that I’d take it from either of them, but at least there was some semblance of a quid pro quo.
“Sorry, folks,” I told them as I picked up the used fireworks and dropped them into an evidence bag. “This is a serious offense.”
Having not gotten his way, the boy’s father eyed the name badge on my chest and issued what he thought was a threat. “I’ll be contacting your superiors, Officer Luz.”
“Feel free,” I replied with a smile. “They’ll be happy to hear I’m doing my job.”
First the donkey bites Seth, then this jerk chews me out. Two jackasses in one week. What were the odds?
With that I returned to my cruiser and set back out on patrol. I cruised by the zoo every twenty minutes or so, slowly circumnavigating the parking lot with my flashing lights on. If I couldn’t figure out who’d taken Fabiana, Fernando, and Sarki, maybe I could at least deter them from attempting to steal another animal.
Random bursts of colored lights continued through the evening, accompanied by ka-bangs, pop-pop-pops, and the elongated wheeeeee of those whistling fireworks as they fell to earth. While patrolling the Ryan Place neighborhood, I came upon a small grass fire at the edge of a yard. Several people were gathered about, each of them with a bottle or cup in their hand. The homeowner had a garden hose aimed at the fire. When he noticed my cruiser approaching, he turned the stream of water on the conical firework that had started the mess and washed it down the storm drain, getting rid of the evidence.
He tossed the hose aside as I pulled to the curb and unrolled my window. I wagged a finger at him. “Don’t think I didn’t see what you did there. I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”
The group laughed and yukked it up as I drove away. This is such a thankless job sometimes.
As the night wore on the temperature plummeted and a light fog drifted in, the mist dressing the streetlights in halos and making the roads slick. The fog decreased visibility on the roads, too, on what was already a dangerous night. Mother Nature was toying with us.
At twenty to midnight, my cell phone chirped from the cup holder. The readout told me it was Frankie calling. Like me, she and Seth were both on duty tonight while the rest of the city was having fun.
I pulled to a stop down a side street and tapped the icon on the screen to take the call. “Hey, Frankenstein.” What were roommates for if not to bum hair spray from and razz a little?
Her tone was tense. “Any chance you can come to the station?”
“Something wrong?”
“It’s Seth. He was catching some sleep in the bunkroom and woke up screaming. I think he had a flashback. He acted like he’d shrugged it off, but he’s been sitting alone outside for half an hour now.”
“I’ll be right there.” I ended the call without saying good-bye, dropped my phone back in the cup holder, and hooked a U-turn to head to the station. I turned on my flashing lights. When someone I loved was hurting, it was an emergency.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I spotted Seth’s silhouette sitting atop the picnic table on the side of the station. Blast sat next to him, the dog’s eyes reflecting my headlights as he cast a look our way. I parked, rounded up Brigit, and walked down the side of the building.
Seth turned to look over his shoulder and sighed. “Frankie called you, didn’t she?”
“Yes. She was worried about you.”
He grunted. “They’re making a big deal over nothing.”
I circled around in front of him and looked him in the eye. “If it’s nothing, why are you out here alone in the dark?”
He sat up straighter and looked around, almost as if he hadn’t realized where he was. Another pop-pop-pop sounded in the distance, and Seth’s jaw flexed. “Those things should be outlawed.”
I wholeheartedly agreed. There were plenty of other ways to celebrate holidays without risking fire or the loss of life and limb. One could whack a parrot-shaped piñata, for instance.
I eyed him intently. “You had a bad dream, right?” No doubt the fireworks had activated his subconscious to cough up the nightmare. “You want to talk about it?”
He eyed me back for a long moment before saying, “No. People say talking about these things is supposed to make it better, but that doesn’t work for me.”
Though I hadn’t faced the horrors of war, my job provided me a thorough and repeated immersion into the seedy underworld of life, the depths of human depravity. I didn’t like to talk about the things I’d seen on my job, either.
“What would help?” I asked.
He reached out to pull me toward him. “Maybe a little of this…” He nuzzled my neck. “Or a little of this…” He nibbled at my ear. “Or a big bunch of this.” He put his lips to mine.
I was so lost in the kiss I didn’t hear footsteps approaching on the grass. Evidently Seth didn’t, either. Suddenly, a voice broke the darkness.
“Oh!” It was Alex, standing a few feet away. She bit her bottom lip. “Officer Megan. Hi. I didn’t mean to…”
Catch me and Seth kissing? She didn’t say it, didn’t seem to want to acknowledge what she had seen.
She raised her shoulders to her ears and offered a coy cringe. “I only came to see if Seth was okay. I’ll go now.” She swept her hand in an arc, waving awkwardly before turning around and scooting off.
I turned to Seth. “You know she’s got a crush on you, right?”
“Alex?” He snorted softly. “I don’t think so. She’s just a sweet kid.”
Frankie and the rest of the firefighters and paramedics streamed into the parking lot in front of the station, twirling noisemakers and blowing fringed horns. Someone carried a boom box tuned to a local radio station playing party music. Alex was among them, seemingly swept up in their current.
Frankie stepped to the edge of the lot and waved me and Seth over. “Come on, y’all! It’s almost time for the countdown!”
Seth slid down from the table. We gathered our dogs and hurried over to join the others. I scurried over to my cruiser and turned on my flashing lights. They might not be actual party lights, but we’d pretend they were for the moment.
We danced in the parking lot until the countdown on the local radio began. “Ten! Nine! Eight!”
All of us counted along with them. Next to me, Brigit wagged her tail.
“Seven! Six! Five! Four!”
Brigit woofed, as if counting down, too. Woof-woof-woof! Not to be left out, Blast raised his snout and sent up a howl. Aroooo!
“Three! Two! One!”
The sky erupted in light and color and bang-pop-wheees! Unlike the sounds that had invaded his sleep, Seth was prepared for these noises and even smiled softly as he looked up at the sky.
I tossed my partner a liver treat and cried, “Happy New Year!”, before turning to Seth for the traditional midnight kiss.
When we finally pulled away from each other, we looked down to see Blast and Brigit licking each other’s mouths. They were welcoming the new year with a kiss, too.