Sunday, April 24, 2005

   Nougat: Origins (Chapter VI)
[Here's something slightly un-story related. Recently the brother and I lost track of where the basement nail clipper is. And this sucks, because that was a damn good nail clipper! It had a really strong "lever" that didn't bend, the clipper was sharp and actually cut, AND it was thin enough to really get at hard-to-reach areas, like the edges of the large toenails (mine are slightly ingrown), or under cuticles. Oh yeah, and not to mention the "blade" part of it was especially fine and also good at chipping away at the cruddy stuff . . . grr . . . . . 'cause for the past week my dry, peeling cuticles have been such a pain, especially at work (flowers, dirt, water, y'know . . .). Grr . . . . . anyway, story time!]


"Man, I'm tellin' ya," Nougat complained to Henry as the other constable drove the cruiser through the dark city, "In the fifteen months I've been with this squad, I've maybe driven about ten times during my shifts . . . and half the times were because Flint just wanted an excuse to call me his 'chariot driver' . . ." Henry nodded along passively.
"Uh huh . . ." he mutteredas they came to a red light. Nougat just kept on talking.
"I mean seriously, all that driving training at the academy's gonna rust up on me . . . it's an injustice, I tell ya! An injustice!"
"Uh huh . . ."
"I'm not even that new anymore, ya know?"
"Yup . . ."
"I'd like to think that I've earned my right to drive a . . ."
"That's true . . . . ."

Nougat stopped himself after Henry replied at such an odd time. He finally looked to his left and saw Henry biting the inside of his cheeks, trying as hard as he can not to laugh out loud. Sensing Nougat's lull, Henry looked over as well.
"Oh, did I chime in too early?" He asked sarcastically. "Sorry man. Please continue your griping . . . just make sure you end your sentences really noticably, I'm a little tired tonight . . ." Nougat shook his head and chuckled quietly.
"Sorry man, I've been bitching about that enough tonight," he said.
"Nah, not at all," Henry answered back reassuringly, "it's good to get these feelings out before they all build up inside ya . . . y'know, kinda like Roch when he gets into his times of the month and all . . ." Nougat let himself laugh harder while thinking about the most aloof member of their squad - though he granted that "aloof" barely fit the older officer's description, especially when considering the character of the squad as a whole.

"But hey," Henry continued, "you shouldn't feel too bad about anything. I mean, at least they're not calling you 'new guy' anymore, right?" Nougat nodded and rested his head ont his arm that he had propped up against the car door.
"So how long did they keep calling you 'new guy'?" he asked.
"Until you came," Henry answered, "and that was almost two years after I first joined." Nougat jolted up and turned, locking his seatbelt and pulling him back down into his seat abruptly.
"You're friggin' kidding me!" he exclaimed while trying to get more slack in his shoulderbelt. Henry laughed again.
"Well . . . maybe a little . . . it was more like a year and a half . . ."

Just as the light turned green, a red sports car blasted past their squad car on the left, elliciting more coarse language from the two constables.
"Wanna bag 'im?" Henry asked rhetorically while already reaching for the siren controls.
"Stupid enough to speed past a police cruiser?" Nougat replied, "Oh hell yeah."

The pulling over and ticketing went over extremely quickly. The man told them he was in a hurry and actually asked for the ticket as quickly as he could get it. Once the driver went off - after being told extensively to slow down - Nougat returned to the car and his partner, who had stayed behind in the car.
"Nice guy," Nougat commented as he walked up to Henry's window. "Absentminded as hell and a bit of a flake, but nice."
"I'm sure," Henry said back, "I bet you're just sad you didn't get to shoot anyth . . ."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah . . ." Nougat interjected as harshly as he could. Henry laughed mischievously once again.
"Alright you dope, get in the car," he said.
"Hey, shift's almost over," Nougat said, "how'zabout you let me drive?"
"No way!" Henry said sharply, "I've been waiting two years to get to drive more often!"
"Come on man!" Nougat pleaded, "we need to break this cycle of pain before it's too late!"

Henry finally conceded after Nougat began to make a bit of a spectacle of himself and switched sides. Nougat, victorious, roared in triumph and took his place behind the cruiser's wheel.
"I'm gonna tell everyone how much you begged to drive," Henry added before buckling his seatbelt.
"You do that and I'll tell everyone how you let me," Nougat answered back with a grin while adjusting his seat.

The final hour or so of their shift was basically uneventful. For the most part the two officers just patrolled their district while listening to the various bits of chatter on their radio.
"Alright, it's 2am," Henry stated, "take me home, O chariot driver . . ." Nougat scoffed.
"Wiseass," he shot back to the amusement of both parties.

They came upon another red light when the radio flared up with what sounded like rather serious dialogue.
"ERT units on call report to Cambie and 49th, and be sure not to stop too close to the warehouses down there or else you might jeopardise the officer inside," the radio operator explained.
"Damn, sounds like somethin' wild's gonna go down . . ." Henry said before trailing off; he looked towards his partner and saw his expression change dramatically. "Noug'?"
"Y'know, we're about five minutes' drive away from there . . ." Nougat said. "And, since our shift's over, it's not like we're gonna be leaving our posts or anything . . ." After being paired with the newest member of the team several times over the past few months, Henry already knew what Nougat was thinking.
"No Noug', let's not do this," he said, trying to convince his partner to change his already made up mind.
"Come on now," Nougat said, an impish smile growing on his face, "what are the odds that Flint could actually be there? This just sounds like a big bust, and I wanna see it up close.
"Damnit, I knew it was a bad idea to let you drive! Take me . . ."

Once the light turned green, the excited constable floored it.


[So check this out . . . final exam's on Tuesday, so going by my story schedule, that'd put me in writing the night before. Clearly we can't have that . . . . . that said, this shall be the ONLY time I write two chapters in consecutive days for this story. So yeah, I guess I'll see you all tomorrow. Peace!]
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