Holiday Traditions

“So,” Diane asked after the waitress had taken their orders at Freddy’s diner, “what made you want to be a cop?”

“Well, I’d have to say it all started when two of my cousins were killed in their apartment by some skel. My uncle was a security guard at a local bank, and he came home from work to find them dead. It was ironic. The skel got away with maybe forty bucks’ worth of costume jewelry. Their family was really poor. My cousins died for nothing. Nothing. Anyway, that pissed me off, and after college, I signed up.”

“What would you have been if you didn’t become a cop?”

“Diane, you’re starting to sound like my mother,” Claire smiled at her and took a sip of her hot tea.

“C’mon. I want to know. I never had any other dreams besides being a cop. I always like to know what other people dream in the dark.”

“Okay, but don’t tell anyone in the squad,” Claire took a big breath. “I wanted to be a CFO for a large corporation. I was studying for my MBA before I switched gears.”

“That’s a big switch.”

“No kidding. I stripped a few gears in the process. My family was not happy about that decision. And we weren’t close to that branch of the family tree anyway. My uncle is a hardcore alcoholic, and my folks were mystified that I would identify with them. They won’t talk to me at all now. And I have no desire to see my uncle, who just lost it after the murders. He’s on disability now. Drank himself into a stroke, and now he stays holed up in some shit hole apartment watching TV from his wheelchair all day.”

“I’m so sorry. I’m also sorry to say that we have very similar backgrounds in that regard.” Diane shared a few bits of her own story with Claire. Kelly and Russell seemed to be made for one another as partners. Before the meal was over, they were able to finish one another’s sentences.

“I’ve never connected so quickly with anyone before,” said Claire, looking nervous for the first time in the nine hours since Diane and she met. “I don’t know if I can trust it.”

“I know what you mean. It’s eerie,” Diane said.