To Protect and Serve

by Pat Adeff

  Doug took a larger sip of his coffee.

  “I’ll bet you’re just chicken.”

  Doug took a good sized drink, finished the cup and set it down a little harder than usual.

  “What’s the worst that could happen, huh?”

  Doug gave Bill a sideways glance that would have made other men back down.

  But Bill wasn’t other men. He had worked with Doug for better than twenty years and considered himself to be Doug’s best friend. Bill and his wife, Patty, had watched Doug date over the years, and had tried several times to fix up Doug with someone. Bill and Patty wanted Doug to be as happy as they were.

  Doug had insisted that he was satisfied to be single and loved his job too much to even think about marrying and putting a wife through the hard task of being a cop’s wife.

  Patty had tried explaining to Doug that not all women considered it a burden; that many thought of their husbands as everyday heroes and it made their marriages special because they understood what their husbands had to deal with on a day to day basis.

  Doug would just shrug and change the subject.

  Now Doug had made the mistake of letting Bill know that he was interested in someone. And not just any someone. But someone who was so different from all the other women he’d dated that Bill’s radar went on high alert. When Bill’s radar went on high alert so did Patty’s. And now Doug had to deal with questions.

  Well, Doug grimaced, better Bill than Patty. When that woman got her teeth into something, she was worse than a wolf hound and wouldn’t let go. Maybe Bill would back off if Doug gave him some information.

  “Her name’s Nancy.”

  “And?”

  “And what?” Doug scowled again.

  “And so are you going to ask her out?”

  “We’ve only spoken a couple of times. I’m not sure she’s even interested in me.” This last was muttered under his breath, but Bill had ears like sonar.

  “Come on, buddy. What woman wouldn’t be interested in you? You’re witty, charming and a barrel of laughs.” Bill’s sarcasm could have further irritated Doug, except that he knew that underneath it was a true, caring friend.

  Doug sat still for a moment and realized that Bill was right. What was the worst that could happen? She’d say no, and he was right back where he’d started.

  Except something was different about Ms. Nancy Adams, and he felt he’d rather live with a ‘what-if’ hopefulness than a certain ‘no’ from her.

  Yeah, she sure was different. Usually he went for the Orange County highlighted blond hair, acrylic nails, and toned body from working out at a gym 4 days a week. He’d date the gal for a couple of weeks and then they’d go their separate ways, usually when the woman became aware that Doug wasn’t interested in a long term relationship. Bill liked to tease Doug that he was getting his dates from a cookie-cutter assembly line of Barbie wannabes. The only saving grace was that the women were also smart. Doug did not suffer fools easily. He saw on a daily basis what happened when not so bright people had dealings with other not so bright people. It was a shame too, because the last woman he’d dated had absolutely nothing wrong with her. Doug just didn’t feel anything stronger than physical attraction.

  And now his attention was so stuck on Nancy, he’d turned down two come-on’s he’d received while on the job over the past 3 weeks.

  He wasn’t sure if it was the way she really loved her kids, or the way she got so easily flustered every time he looked at her. It was cute. Also, she wasn’t pretentious. It was refreshing. However, none of that explained how strongly he was drawn to her. He’d never felt this way about any other woman, and he sure couldn’t explain it, even to himself. When he saw Bill staring at him, he relented.

  “Adams.”

  “What?” Bill leaned in exaggeratedly with one hand cupped around his ear.

  “Her last name is Adams.” Doug swallowed a sigh of relief when the sergeant stepped to the front of the room and started the briefing.

  “Okay, listen up. Remember, gang. Today is Halloween and we should expect all the usual shenanigans that go along with it.” Sgt. Peters was no more Irish than Doug was, but because he’d been born on St. Patrick’s Day, he’d adopted the green isle as his native homeland and everyone was used to him throwing out words he considered sounded Irish.

  “Saunders, Winston, you’ll be having the school duty. Make sure ta stop by the different carnivals throughout the late afternoon. There are a couple of candy bags for ya at the back table. Be sure and pass out the candy and pencils to the kids at the schools. It’s part of the Chief’s new PR program for the department.”

  Doug and Bill smiled and waved good-naturedly as they received hoots, hollers and wisecracks from the other officers in the room about pulling vacation duty.

  The rest of the briefing was short and Doug and Bill were on their way to their units in no time with sacks of candy tucked under their arms.

  After tossing the candy into the front seat, Bill rested his arms across the door of his black and white and looked over at Doug.

  “Well? Are you gonna ask her out?”

  Doug debated for a couple of seconds and decided it would be easier to do that than suffer through several more days of nagging from Bill.

  “Yes, I’ll ask her out. There, are you happy?”

  “Not yet. Bring her by the house and let Patty have a look at her.”

  “Huh-uh. No way, Bill. The both of you would scare her off for sure, what with all your questions and suggestions. You’ll meet her when I’m ready for you to meet her.”

  Doug slid behind the wheel of his own unit and checked to ensure that everything was in order. As usual, the unit’s computer was running in top condition. Sparky, the man in charge of the department’s computers and electronic devices took extreme pride in the fact that his department’s equipment was hardly ever on the fritz. The officers were thankful, too. The last guy in charge of the computers had been sincere, but not very fast when it came to repairs. Thank gawd he’d retired and they’d hired a kid right out of college. Sparky was a computer nerd in the very best sense of the word. Equipment that would not work for anyone else, purred at top speed and efficiency for Sparky. Also the fact that he could produce a top-of-the-line flash-bang, made him even more popular with the SWAT team guys. What was it about things that went “boom” that made guys happy? Any age guys.

  Doug pulled out of the parking lot after Bill did, and turned right onto Main Street from Struck. At Katella he turned right again and headed out for Cambridge Elementary for his first stop of the afternoon.

  Doug enjoyed working for the City of Orange. He’d been on the force for the past twenty-six years and knew every section of the city, as well as a good majority of its populace. Several years earlier he’d been promoted, but found that he wasn’t suited for sitting behind a desk. He did his best work dealing daily with the citizens and business owners of the city. After giving the desk job a year, he requested to be put back on a beat, and no one gave him a hard time for it. He knew that it wasn’t the best career move, but he’d rather be happy with his work and settle for a few less dollars, than continue to be frustrated with the politics of the job.

  His favorite part of the job was when he helped put together the bicycle safety classes for the local schools.

  Which reminded him of last week.

  He’d been assigned to run the safety class at a local private school. Since it was such a small school, there’d only been himself and Mike, another office he liked working with. Both he and Mike were good with kids and it made for a rewarding day for both of them. And for Doug, more than just civic duty.

  When he’d headed into the principal’s office to confirm where to set up the event, he ran into Nancy Adams as she came out of the office.

  They’d stopped about two feet from each other, said “Hi” and then just stood there smiling at each other.

  There was no embarrassment from either of them; that is, until the
school secretary giggled.

  Nancy was the first to speak. “It’s good to see you again, Doug. What are you doing here?”

  “Running the bicycle safety class. Will you be there?”

  “I wish. No, I’m the Drama Teacher. The homeroom teachers will be the ones taking the students to your class. Where are you holding it?”

  “I was just about to explain that all to him, Ms. Adams.” The principal, Victoria Newman smiled to soften her words.

  “And you probably need to get to class.” Doug didn’t want to see Nancy go, but he couldn’t figure out any other way to make her stay, especially when he had to speak with the principal.

  “I do. If you get the chance, stop by the theatre. We’re in rehearsal for a skit that the younger students will be doing at our Halloween Carnival.” Then she realized that Doug would be working with students all day, and probably wouldn’t have the time to stop by.

  “If I can, I will.” When Doug saw Nancy’s smile dim slightly, he added, “I’d really like to see you.”

  Nancy’s smile widened again, and she almost tripped when she started walking because she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going. I can’t believe I’m such a klutz around him! He’s going to think I’m perpetually clumsy. Nancy tried to maintain some form of dignity, but found it next to impossible to stop smiling at Doug. Who, in turn, couldn’t stop smiled at her.

  If it hadn’t been for Mrs. Newman, they probably would have stood there all day, lost in smiling at each other.

  Fortunately, Nancy was able to make it to her class on time.

  Unfortunately, Nancy’s advanced drama class let out late, and Doug got called away as soon as the bicycle safety class was finished.

  They both felt an odd combination of feeling let down, yet exhilarated because they’d seen each other.

  Later that afternoon, as Nancy unlocked her car to go home, she thought to herself, “Is this what a crush feels like at my age?”

  Throughout the rest of that day, Doug found himself smiling for no reason.

  CHAPTER 8

  Nancy grinned as she walked across campus to her classroom. She took in a deep breath and felt almost giddy.

  Nancy loved everything about autumn. She loved the smell of the air. The crispness that heralded the coming of colder weather. She even enjoyed the Santa Ana winds that kicked up now and again. This time of year always made her feel good. Another thing that made her feel good lately was whenever she spied a black and white unit drive slowly past her house. She liked to think that it might be that nice Officer Saunders. Then she would squelch the thought as though it was something forbidden.

  Nancy was really enjoying her class at the private school where she worked. Although she was first and foremost a drama teacher, they’d found she had a natural talent for making math understandable to students who were previously having trouble, so they’d also given her a couple of math classes a week. With only ten students in each class, it was more like tutoring than teaching.

  She felt that she was making a big difference for these kids, watching them comprehend fractions and long division. The look on the students’ faces when they finally understood the concept was worth all of the struggles and frustration getting there.

  Also, the school was having her favorite fundraiser that afternoon; the annual Halloween Carnival! Two years ago the school had vacillated on whether to call it a Halloween Carnival or a Fall Festival, after one of the new moms became upset that they were “celebrating the devil.”

  Well, it turned out that the lady wasn’t interested in having any sort of conversation about it, since she knew that she was right and the school was wrong. In the end, the woman removed her child (who had never been able to do anything up to her mother’s standards anyway) and homeschooled her. Nancy felt sorry for the little girl. The girl liked to sing and had an excellent voice, but the mother felt that singing was against God. Even though it was difficult, sometimes you just had to let some of them go and hope their lives turned out okay. It was heartbreaking.

  The rest of the families were just fine with a Halloween Carnival and enjoyed bobbing for apples, the bean-bag toss, fishing for prizes and pie eating contests that were part of the festivities.

  One of the booths that raised a lot of money for the school was the Fortune Telling booth. Nancy as the Performing Arts teacher, and a couple of the older girls would deck out one of the outside lunch areas with a tent, put up a bunch of scarves, tassels, and old jewelry, light some incense and pretend to tell fortunes.

  The fortunes ran along the lines of “Ah! I see that you need to work harder on your math homework!” or “I see that you have a boyfriend! Does his name begin with a ‘G’?” The kids loved it and it was fun for everyone.

  Nancy had fun with it, too, since she got a chance to perform (with a very bad accent, which ranged throughout the evening from Middle Croatia to Minnesota.) She wore an awful wig that looked as though someone had put the world’s largest brillo pad on her head, and more clanky jewelry than any respectable fortune teller would ever wear. It was clichéd, but fun.

  The carnival finally got underway and Nancy had been telling fortunes for about an hour. The draped door was pulled aside as Nancy’s next customer entered.

  “Come into my parlor,” Nancy tried to make it sound mysterious.

  “You have come to have me tell your future - yes?” Nancy looked up just then at the person standing in front of her.

  And stopped.

  Doug Saunders was there in all his uniformed glory. Shiny black lace-up shoes, pressed slacks, heavy utility belt, crisp uniform shirt over Nancy’s favorite part, the Kevlar vest. When her eyes reached his, she realized that she’d been staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

  Her mouth snapped shut in mortification. Nancy couldn’t believe that only the third time he’d seen her, she was now in one of the most ridiculous costumes imaginable. She sighed inwardly. Well, at least it’s different than her cleaning-house ensemble.

  “Ah! A member of our protection forces. A modern knight in armor! Please sit down and allow Madame Futurenata to tell your fortune. Yea, mon?” Now the accent had moved to Jamaica.

  Doug removed his cap and sunglasses and settled himself into the cushy draped chair across from the small round table in front of Nancy.

  It didn’t help that he was starting to smile as he took in all of Nancy’s gloriously over-the-top attire.

  “You look...ah...in character?” Doug’s grin threatened to get even wider.

  “Madame Futurenata sees all and tells all.” Nancy was trying her best to pretend that she wasn’t absolutely dying inside. “Are you here to see into your future?”

  “Yes, please.” Doug put his cap on the floor next to his chair, sat up and waited.

  Nancy raised both her arms a few inches, shook the forty bracelets she was wearing, so that they clamored and reached out her hands toward Doug. “Give me your hand.” Nancy always looked at the person’s palm as though she could actually read it. This gave her time to make up a fortune, based on the facts she already knew about the person.

  As she took Doug’s hand and turned it over she felt her chest get tight. Then she started to blush! She couldn’t believe that holding this man’s hand would cause this sort of reaction in her. The sort of reaction she hadn’t felt in years.

  “I see much hard work in your life.” Nancy’s voice now sounded like she was from Louisiana, as she ran her fingers over the calluses on the palm of his hand.

  He leaned in closer, like he was also looking into his palm to see what was there. Their heads were inches apart.

  Nancy’s first thought was thank goodness she was chewing peppermint gum. She didn’t like to offend the students with “coffee-breath” so she always chewed mint gum. Coffee was one of her remaining bad habits. She’d given up smoking after trying it for two months after Jonathon and she had split up. She didn’t drink much more than a glass of plum wine or a cold beer once in a blue m
oon. And she sure as heck hadn’t had sex for several years now. She’d been able to bury that urge when she realized her girls needed her first and foremost. Okay, okay, so approaching menopause had helped too.

  But right now she was holding the hand of one of nature’s more excellent specimens of human male. She could smell him. It was a clean crisp smell, Dial soap and 100% male, blended with the subtle undertone of pressed cotton and gun oil. When he exhaled she could smell coffee on his breath. It was nice, not sour. He smelled healthy. And virile. And entirely too good.

  “I also see a female...” Nancy let her voice trail off, waiting for him to fill in the blank. She thought she was being subtle.

  He saw right through her ploy and just grinned. “Huh-uh. I’m not giving any hints. I want my money’s worth! Fifty cents is a lot of money and I expect to find out my future.”

  Nancy smiled back and then realized that he was probably staring at her mouth because of the garish purply-red lipstick that was part of her character make-up. Her guess was that it was also on her teeth.

  Even though she had to consciously make herself relax, she hoped she appeared to not react at all to his proximity, while she tried to surreptitiously run her tongue over her teeth.

  “I see a female. A blond. The picture is vague and blurry. Please let me concentrate for a moment.” Nancy was struggling to come up with something, anything to say. Usually this was just plain old fun, but now it seemed her mind had gone on vacation.

  While inhaling all the pheromones that were swirling around and affecting her in oh, so many delicious ways, artistic inspiration struck.

  “I see flashing red and blue lights. I see a small curly-haired blond, clinging to you. I see many people grateful to you. I see...” Nancy stopped as Doug pulled his hand back.

  She looked up into his face and saw his face.

  “I’m sorry… I’m… What did I say? I was just making it up. Doug, I’m sorry… I’m…” Nancy was stumbling around trying to find the words that would put him back at ease.