ANTOINETTE'S SAVIOR
As Lauren got to the precinct she realized how early it still was, so she made for her desk and plopped her head on it, where sleep took charge of her for about an hour, then a voice awakened her, “coffee?” this was obviously more like the third time the voice had uttered the word “coffee”, Lauren recognizes Danny immediately, he is the precinct’s unofficial comedian, unofficial care-taker of all, and officially the coroner. Lauren has awakened but she hasn’t responded, she has a melody in her head that is making her feel good, younger and carefree, her mind conjuring words somewhere that ring, “we girls are being washed by the sun’s watering rays, we girls are being washed by the sun’s watering rays…” but Danny doesn’t give up, he has always been attentive towards Lauren and realizes that she is not all there and needs either electric shock treatment or coffee. Finally she acknowledges him, “yes, coffee would be nice.” He stops leaning on the door frame, and goes to his endearing task; returning almost immediately.
They remain silent while he hands her the coffee, and she seems to be redefining her relationship with him, she knows that he is the one that never ceases to make sure everyone is somehow happy, his days are spent diagnosing corpses and telling the living humorous stories that some how are always genuine, and warming even as they storm unrest from the norm with their wit; and yet Danny is a loner too, he hasn’t married, is rather antisocial outside of work, hangs around his computer or creating animated film clips to show to his friends at the precinct, that’s where he is really always at, the coroner and his bodies and his buddies are all in that one nesting ground for criminal handlers. Danny has been there for as long as anyone can remember, he is fifty three, he has a Chihuahua, a dog that only he can stand, and he is the medium by which all events and peoples are somehow tied together here, only no one knows that, or if they know it they don’t say it, but as detectives and captains and beat cops and criminals come and go, they all register through the Danny medium, their stories recollected when needed, their unresolved nature there to assist with continuity.
Lauren sips her coffee, he has sat down without asking for permission, “hey the whole place is lit up with talk about you.” Holding her cup tilted right up to her lips, “what are they saying?” that maybe the stress of the work has gotten into your wiring, that maybe you should see a psychiatrist, you know those types of things; your two investigators haven’t been very helpful lately, they seem to be rather busier digging you a grave.” Lauren smiles, “And what do you think Danny? …you think I’ve lost it?” Danny rearranges himself on the chair so as to look like a country squire, “Well I know that you are not going to see a shrink so I am not sitting here to tell you that you need to see someone, but the rumors warrant some attention, at least to prevent that they remove your case load.” That was the beautiful thing about Danny, he could be so realistic and nonjudgmental at the same time, a difficult twist here, Lauren please pay attention to reality, Lauren your case load, indeed what Danny was doing was throwing her an anchor, and Lauren repeated the anchoring word in her head, “case load,” yes Lauren the damn case load, Antoinette isn’t your only case, you have others, your work has been suffering your negligence.
A large tall dark man walks in, greets them both, he doesn’t seem happy to see Lauren and Lauren had already suspected as much, Danny senses the suing tension and greets his way out of the office. Ogle draws himself close to the desk but remains standing, “Lauren, Michael has leveled more charges against Antoinette, I have ordered that he request a transfer to a federal facility, I cant hold her here anymore, why I feel guilty every time I see that woman here,” Lauren interrupts “Captain listen to me, I have some very good news, Habakkuk went back to the seventh century BC and inspected the Akashic records and has confirmed that we are on the right track.” The captain yelling and pounding on her desk, “what are you talking about Lauren! What is going on inside of your head!” Lauren, feisty, replies, “Captain they killed the five parrots that were going to tell us something leading to the Antoinette case!” The captain reaches and grabs Lauren’s shoulders, “What case! What case Lauren! You don’t have a case, your talking about a woman that you brought into detention without just cause, and now your talking about parrots that are dead because they were going to snitch!” the captain pauses long enough to catch his breath, “Your off! Your off Lauren, I don’t want you in here anymore until a clinical evaluation clears you back for duty.” Lauren yelling, “Captain don’t do this to me, I need to clear my name, I know this is crazy to you now but we are trying to save three people from being murdered!” The captain looks at Lauren with disdain, and he realizes that he has to place distance in-between or else he is going to kill her so as to wake her up.
Lauren is left standing in her office, then it hits her again, “the first hostage.” Lauren is holding the first hostage. She runs for the phone and rings Michael, surprisingly, and maybe because of the early morning hour, he answers, “Hello Michael its me, I need your help, I need you to release Antoinette…” knowing he was going to put a negative on that she continued, “I don’t care how you do it you must release her!” Michael is at the other end dealing with a thousand issues, “Lauren I am not having this conversation with you!” Hangs up and that was that!
Lauren is not in a position to listen or think right now, she knows, some how she knows that she has to release the “first hostage” she is aware that there is something colluding to include her and everyone around in some centuries old plot, and she has to get the hostage out in order to make sure that she herself isn’t also the killer. There is one hostage, she is the hostage taker, it stands the test of logic that she could be Antoinette’s killer, and certainly what happened with her ex boyfriend is motive enough. She calls Danny.
His warm and loving personality, holds her for an instant. “I need your help.” He doesn’t bother to evaluate he just says “sure what do you need me to do.” Moments later she reaches Michael, invites him over to her apartment for dinner to forget about the Antoinette case, and everything that happened between them. Michael arrives at around seven pm, he has a bottle of white wine with him, Lauren only drinks red, but he is fortunate that today he could have forgotten to brush his teeth and she would still sleep with him. Lauren has made a very delicious Pasta Primavera, it has massive amounts of cream and prosciutto and peas and Lauren’s favorite vegetable, asparagus. Sourdough bread, and of course the disgusting white wine.
They chat about many things, both profusely avoiding the case, after much chatting and laughing and agreeing how foolish they have been for not sleeping together, they manage to launch themselves on the couch, and well just fuck the shit out of each other. I wish there was something more thematically correct, gentle loving, caressing, silk kisses, but no, these two just went at each other immediately and the whole thing did not last long enough for Lauren to have an orgasm, nor for them to consider birth control, though she was probably eternally on the pill, always ready Lauren for the magical event that would never arrive due to her reasonable selectiveness. Today Michael got his girl, and he was definitely satisfied, he got up not more than minutes from coming, and said to her, “your wonderful, I got to go.” Michael, I may have forgotten to mention was married, and he had to get home at a decent hour.
There is the kiss off and Danny comes out of hiding. Lauren is not romantically inclined so she immediately wants to see the pictures, Danny hands her the digital camera, “oh yes great, these are perfect, you’re the best Danny.” She gives him a happy kiss on the cheek, and he wipes it, he really didn’t enjoy watching all that.
The next day, Michael is happy to receive Lauren in his office, he believes that they have broken new ground and it is all sneaky cute motels and salamander alcoholic evenings, but he is a little wrong. “Lauren avoids him at the entrance to his office, she doesn’t want to kiss him, just walks past him with that, and sits down, “I am here on business.” Michael is a little slow when it comes to emotional relations, “Hey if your mad because I had to leave so suddenly last night, please forgive me I promise I will make it up to you.” “Michael, our days of friendship are over, I didn’t want to sleep with you last night, I did it for my job and I’ve always been aware that I never wanted to sleep with you and last night certified my distaste of you.” Lauren was being so direct so that she could forgive and respect herself after the act; she throws an envelop on the desk, “open it.” Lauren waits to watch with some satisfaction the fainted look in Michael’s face, the social climber that suddenly realizes that he has taken a false and perhaps fatal step in his career path. She doesn’t wait however for him to speak, “Release her!” she then gets up, confidently, walks towards the door, and before closing it, “release her, you have twenty four hours, else Ann will have to see those pictures and lose her chocolate candy home.”
They remain silent while he hands her the coffee, and she seems to be redefining her relationship with him, she knows that he is the one that never ceases to make sure everyone is somehow happy, his days are spent diagnosing corpses and telling the living humorous stories that some how are always genuine, and warming even as they storm unrest from the norm with their wit; and yet Danny is a loner too, he hasn’t married, is rather antisocial outside of work, hangs around his computer or creating animated film clips to show to his friends at the precinct, that’s where he is really always at, the coroner and his bodies and his buddies are all in that one nesting ground for criminal handlers. Danny has been there for as long as anyone can remember, he is fifty three, he has a Chihuahua, a dog that only he can stand, and he is the medium by which all events and peoples are somehow tied together here, only no one knows that, or if they know it they don’t say it, but as detectives and captains and beat cops and criminals come and go, they all register through the Danny medium, their stories recollected when needed, their unresolved nature there to assist with continuity.
Lauren sips her coffee, he has sat down without asking for permission, “hey the whole place is lit up with talk about you.” Holding her cup tilted right up to her lips, “what are they saying?” that maybe the stress of the work has gotten into your wiring, that maybe you should see a psychiatrist, you know those types of things; your two investigators haven’t been very helpful lately, they seem to be rather busier digging you a grave.” Lauren smiles, “And what do you think Danny? …you think I’ve lost it?” Danny rearranges himself on the chair so as to look like a country squire, “Well I know that you are not going to see a shrink so I am not sitting here to tell you that you need to see someone, but the rumors warrant some attention, at least to prevent that they remove your case load.” That was the beautiful thing about Danny, he could be so realistic and nonjudgmental at the same time, a difficult twist here, Lauren please pay attention to reality, Lauren your case load, indeed what Danny was doing was throwing her an anchor, and Lauren repeated the anchoring word in her head, “case load,” yes Lauren the damn case load, Antoinette isn’t your only case, you have others, your work has been suffering your negligence.
A large tall dark man walks in, greets them both, he doesn’t seem happy to see Lauren and Lauren had already suspected as much, Danny senses the suing tension and greets his way out of the office. Ogle draws himself close to the desk but remains standing, “Lauren, Michael has leveled more charges against Antoinette, I have ordered that he request a transfer to a federal facility, I cant hold her here anymore, why I feel guilty every time I see that woman here,” Lauren interrupts “Captain listen to me, I have some very good news, Habakkuk went back to the seventh century BC and inspected the Akashic records and has confirmed that we are on the right track.” The captain yelling and pounding on her desk, “what are you talking about Lauren! What is going on inside of your head!” Lauren, feisty, replies, “Captain they killed the five parrots that were going to tell us something leading to the Antoinette case!” The captain reaches and grabs Lauren’s shoulders, “What case! What case Lauren! You don’t have a case, your talking about a woman that you brought into detention without just cause, and now your talking about parrots that are dead because they were going to snitch!” the captain pauses long enough to catch his breath, “Your off! Your off Lauren, I don’t want you in here anymore until a clinical evaluation clears you back for duty.” Lauren yelling, “Captain don’t do this to me, I need to clear my name, I know this is crazy to you now but we are trying to save three people from being murdered!” The captain looks at Lauren with disdain, and he realizes that he has to place distance in-between or else he is going to kill her so as to wake her up.
Lauren is left standing in her office, then it hits her again, “the first hostage.” Lauren is holding the first hostage. She runs for the phone and rings Michael, surprisingly, and maybe because of the early morning hour, he answers, “Hello Michael its me, I need your help, I need you to release Antoinette…” knowing he was going to put a negative on that she continued, “I don’t care how you do it you must release her!” Michael is at the other end dealing with a thousand issues, “Lauren I am not having this conversation with you!” Hangs up and that was that!
Lauren is not in a position to listen or think right now, she knows, some how she knows that she has to release the “first hostage” she is aware that there is something colluding to include her and everyone around in some centuries old plot, and she has to get the hostage out in order to make sure that she herself isn’t also the killer. There is one hostage, she is the hostage taker, it stands the test of logic that she could be Antoinette’s killer, and certainly what happened with her ex boyfriend is motive enough. She calls Danny.
His warm and loving personality, holds her for an instant. “I need your help.” He doesn’t bother to evaluate he just says “sure what do you need me to do.” Moments later she reaches Michael, invites him over to her apartment for dinner to forget about the Antoinette case, and everything that happened between them. Michael arrives at around seven pm, he has a bottle of white wine with him, Lauren only drinks red, but he is fortunate that today he could have forgotten to brush his teeth and she would still sleep with him. Lauren has made a very delicious Pasta Primavera, it has massive amounts of cream and prosciutto and peas and Lauren’s favorite vegetable, asparagus. Sourdough bread, and of course the disgusting white wine.
They chat about many things, both profusely avoiding the case, after much chatting and laughing and agreeing how foolish they have been for not sleeping together, they manage to launch themselves on the couch, and well just fuck the shit out of each other. I wish there was something more thematically correct, gentle loving, caressing, silk kisses, but no, these two just went at each other immediately and the whole thing did not last long enough for Lauren to have an orgasm, nor for them to consider birth control, though she was probably eternally on the pill, always ready Lauren for the magical event that would never arrive due to her reasonable selectiveness. Today Michael got his girl, and he was definitely satisfied, he got up not more than minutes from coming, and said to her, “your wonderful, I got to go.” Michael, I may have forgotten to mention was married, and he had to get home at a decent hour.
There is the kiss off and Danny comes out of hiding. Lauren is not romantically inclined so she immediately wants to see the pictures, Danny hands her the digital camera, “oh yes great, these are perfect, you’re the best Danny.” She gives him a happy kiss on the cheek, and he wipes it, he really didn’t enjoy watching all that.
The next day, Michael is happy to receive Lauren in his office, he believes that they have broken new ground and it is all sneaky cute motels and salamander alcoholic evenings, but he is a little wrong. “Lauren avoids him at the entrance to his office, she doesn’t want to kiss him, just walks past him with that, and sits down, “I am here on business.” Michael is a little slow when it comes to emotional relations, “Hey if your mad because I had to leave so suddenly last night, please forgive me I promise I will make it up to you.” “Michael, our days of friendship are over, I didn’t want to sleep with you last night, I did it for my job and I’ve always been aware that I never wanted to sleep with you and last night certified my distaste of you.” Lauren was being so direct so that she could forgive and respect herself after the act; she throws an envelop on the desk, “open it.” Lauren waits to watch with some satisfaction the fainted look in Michael’s face, the social climber that suddenly realizes that he has taken a false and perhaps fatal step in his career path. She doesn’t wait however for him to speak, “Release her!” she then gets up, confidently, walks towards the door, and before closing it, “release her, you have twenty four hours, else Ann will have to see those pictures and lose her chocolate candy home.”
posted by Ricardo Correa at 10:02 PM
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