Saturday, May 29, 2004

   Cream Filling & Nougat: Third Helping (Chapter VIII)
"How?!" Nougat said, angered, "How the hell does this happen?! And why now, of all times?!" Nougat placed his fingers along the sides of his head as he let his elbows drop to his desk.
"That's a free government for ya," Sergeant Rato said from the doorway, "it's good for lotsa things, but there's still the odd man who'll shake it for all it's got." Pastille, who had driven Nougat back to the precinct from the hospital, broke his silence and looked towards the internal affairs officer.
"Yeah, thanks for that sarge," he said, "you're just know exactly what t' say t' brighten a mood."
"It's my job!" Rato said back, taking offense. "Like it or not it's what I'm required to do, and not doing it right would get us all in more trouble than we're already in. Don't you get that, 'Stille?"

"Alright, cool it, everyone," the chief said from the side of the opposing desks, "we're all on the same side here." Pastille and Rato both calmed down and nodded towards each other. Nougat, meanwhile, remained silent, eyes staring at nothing in particular. The chief resumed his speaking. "Okay, so we got a guy from the riot three months ago suing the precinct, specifically Lieutenant Nougat, for use of excessive force resulting in the loss of time away from work, teeth, peace of mind, yada yada yada . . . thoughts? Anyone?" The office remained quiet for a brief moment.
"People are stupid," Pastille said, breaking the silence once again.

Though the precinct in the evening was generally quite active from all the activity required by the city, tonight seemed eerily calm, which left the four men in the small office quite agitated.
"Seriously!" Pastille said, getting up from Cream's chair, "the entire city is going monkey-crap, we go in there and try to calm it all down, and one of the monkey-crappers gets upset at what he brought down on himself?!"
"According to the guy," Rato said, "he got mace in the face before he did anything." Pastille scoffed, not buying any of it.
"He was probably doped up on light like all the others in the riot, so . . . his his memory of how it all happened is probably sketchy at best!" The chief stepped in.
"If that were the case, he wouldn't have had the clearness of mind to sue the precinct. No, he was clean." The chief stopped and noticed Nougat saying something. "What was that?" he asked.
"Not doing anything . . . well, it wasn't not doing anything at home during it all, for one . . . . ."

"Look, Nougat," the chief said, "you're one of the best men here . . ." Nougat took his head off his hands and looked over, a dishonest smile over his face.
"But?" he returned. The chief continued.
"But . . . . . even you won't be able to handle something like alongside your own responsibilities . . ." Nougat nodded quickly in understanding and stood, chin up.
"I won't need the blindfold, chief, just shoot . . ." The chief was caught off guard for a moment before realising what Nougat really meant.
"Nougat, I'm taking you off the cryssal case."

Again, Pastille was the first to say anything.
"What?! Sir, don't you think that's a bit drastic? I mean, the dude's probably being a retard anyway, you can't take the lieutenant out of the picture, especially when he's so close to . . ."
"'Stille, shut up," Nougat said, freezing the junior officer in his place. "He's right in doing this. Even if the guy's just being a a complete ass-clown . . . and going by what I remember of him, he is . . . the media'll chew this one up and regurgitate it everywhere else. And the last thing we need is the precinct going down for what this can save." Pastille stood, silent. He knew what kind of a job he was getting into, but never expected the fringe benefits to affect him so quickly in his career.

"Swearing to serve and to protect the people who in turn find every reason to hate you for doing it . . ." Rato said before he turned around and started heading into the hallway.
"Hey, Rato . . ." Nougat said, catching the sergeant before he was able to disappear from view. ". . . . . if you're suggesting that I dress up in a spandex spider outfit and fight crime, I'm gonna hafta veto that." Rato smiled, trying not to laugh for sake of etiquette.
"Good night, Nougat," he said before finally leaving the office.

"I should get going too," the chief said, rising from his seat. "I'm sure I've got some other poor officers who need to be beaten up about something stupid . . ." Nougat grinned. ". . . Constable Pastille, you need to get going too, don't ya?" Pastille snapped out of his frozen state.
"Huh? Wha'? Oh, I don't really need to . . . . . . . . you're right, chief, I do have somewhere I need to be right now. Lieutenant, I'll catch ya later." Nougat raised his fingers in acknowledment. The chief hurried Pastille out the door. Before leaving himself, he turned back to Nougat.
"Nougat, lots of officers have been charged before you. Some got hit, some got out. You . . . you'll get out." Nougat allowed another smile to come to his face.
"I'm gonna tell everyone you said that, chief."
"Yeah, you do and I'll bust you down to constable so hard you'll be drivin' on the wrong side of the road for weeks." Nougat continued to smile. "Good night, lieutenant."

Finally alone in the office, Nougat let the smile linger on his face as he leaned back into his chair. He breathed in and out deeply as he stretched himself out, and settled back into the silence of the office. The flourescent lights were humming softly, being the one constant sound in the entire room, and Nougat couldn't help but notice them. As he continued to sit, the humming was all he could focus on . . . it was all he could do to keep from thinking about anything else. As the humming resonated in his head, he looked across his desk to Cream's. Like its missing occupant, the desk seemed especially quiet as well. Indeed, to Nougat, the entire office seemed too voluminous, too quiet.

Nougat got out of his chair, walked towards the back wall, and after pausing a short moment to listen to the ever crescendoing hum of the lights he let go . . . . . he punched the wall as hard as he could, breaking through the plaster with his largest knuckles.


About half an hour later, Nougat was finished with the last of his work and headed out the precinct doors. Immediately, a volley of voices shouting his name hit him, catching him completely off guard.
"Detective Nougat! Detective Nougat!" the first reporter shouted, forcing a microphone in front of him. A second microphone quickly followed, and a third. Within seconds, Nougat was surrounded by news reporters and cameras as he walked away from the building. He knew it was going to be another long week . . .
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