Wednesday September 17th, 2014

The exercise:

Write about: the captain.

Went up to Penticton to run a few errands today. The plan was to grab some lunch there and take it to a park to eat so that Max could get out and run around for a bit to make up for all that car time.

But then he fell asleep just as we pulled up to the lunch place. So Kat got the food and ate hers on the way home. Before we could switch drivers Max, of course, woke up. I parked at a playground in OK Falls and the boys got to eat, and then play on the equipment.

Just before we left a guy I had been staring at on and off the whole time we were there, trying to figure out if I knew him or not, came up to me with his son and asked if I was Marc. I nodded and asked, "Jesse?"

Wouldn't you know it, one of my roommates from university. We hadn't seen each other in years. He was visiting with his family for a week from Vancouver, playing at a park we'd had no intention of stopping at.

Funny little thing, this world we live in.

Mine:

The station was filled with the low rumble of quiet conversation, pierced occasionally by a sudden burst of laughter. Fingers hammered against keyboards, phones rang, and papers were endlessly shuffled.

The captain was mostly pleased.

Mostly.

"Attention!" It was not quite a shout but it had the effect of a whip crack. All heads turned in his direction, without even a chair daring to creak into the sudden silence. "There will be no more laughter."

"He's joking, right?" It was Riley's first day on the force. After that rookie mistake, it was likely also his last in that department.

"You." The captain's stare found Riley with alarming speed. "I have grown tired of the Pierre Gang. Go find and arrest their leader."

"I... you..."

"By yourself." The captain watched as the young cop gathered his things with shaking hands and headed for the door, bumping into at least a half dozen desks along the way. "Any other questions?"

The silence continued uninterrupted.

The captain was pleased.