Please vote on this poll with regard to the future of JP’s career direction!
- - - - -
Get caught up:
|
|
- - - - -
One of Max’s favorite movies when he was a teenager was GREASE. Perhaps his second favorite was GREASE II. He couldn’t really tell you why if you asked him. Don’t all teenage boys like fast cars, motorcycles and girls who dress to show off their curves? Add in some plot about teachers who say funny things and pad it all with a bit of romance coupled with slap-stick comedy and it just appealed to him. It was, he thought everyone would agree, better than real life – at least for the couple hours you immersed yourself in watching it.
School was on his mind. During roll call that morning, Eddie had reminded the squad that today was the first day back to school for the city. It was the squad’s overlap day – they were the extra squad – so they had been tasked with visiting both of the high schools, all of the middle schools and as many of the elementary schools as they could manage. Roll call started at 0615 and they were cut loose pretty quick because the high schools had students rolling in at 0715. Max & Eddie were going to Northern while Bill & JP were going to Southern. Both teams were giving a brief presentation to the faculty and staff at the schools before the students started rolling in. About what? The murders that had occurred over the summer and general safety.
As Eddie drove toward Northern High School (NHS), Max sipped his coffee and remembered what the first day of school was like. His summers had been filled with activity. As much as he liked to sleep in and be lazy in the morning – like most teenagers he had known – he also enjoyed the country club pool, the local parks, hiking, camping, serving at the firehouse as an EMT, etc. Summers had been an active time for him; not just spent being lazy and playing video games. Of course, every year there was the “family vacation” to the Bahamas. He and his sister would spend time at the beach and local shops where they’d come to know the owners. His mother spent the time drinking cold mixed drinks with her friends and his father would work from a different office. Max couldn’t remember a time when his father – his adopted father that was – didn’t work every day except Sunday; even when they were on vacation. And Sunday was “family” day whether they were on vacation or not so the day was spent together even if there was nothing to do together.
Max shook his head to dismiss the memory and took another sip of his coffee. He focused his memory on his elementary school days and thought about walking to school every morning. In a lot of places that didn’t happen anymore. When Max had been in elementary school, the crossing guards had been other kids; his peers; the ones who had demonstrated a higher level of responsibility and had the honor of being chosen to serve as crossing guards. They took pride in that bright orange belt that went around their waist and crossed their torso on a diagonal from left shoulder to right hip. In fact, some were so excited about it that they had to be reminded to take it off once they’d gotten to school. Max had been a crossing guard during the fifth grade. In retrospect, he guessed it was probably the first time he’d ever put on anything that marked his post and served the community in some fashion.
- - - - - - - - - - -
All of Season 2 of The Oceanside Chronicles, including officer survival notes and an alphabetical list of characters can be purchased as an anthology on Amazon.com via Amazon Prime.
http://amzn.to/2duah34
