Just having fun…
Don't own them…
But wish I did.
The '70s
By Pegbronco
What am I going to do with that partner of mine? It's been tens years of a partnership that I wouldn't trade a world for. But sometimes the man can just…well…I love him anyways.
The first few months of knowing him, my world was woven into his. Seeing how he worked, lived, what he liked, disliked. Boy did I get my eyes opened. The street savvy, quick thinking New Yorker, taught me a few good things about being a cop. His survival instincts are the best I've ever seen. Guess that comes from surviving the jungles of New York and Vietnam.
At times, he's jump first ask questions later, and an endless source of energy in motion. But there are also times that he could close himself off from the world and sulk, especially if there had been a girl involved.
Aside from his great smile, he's got the moves the girls flip for, from that swagger of his when he walks into a room, that smooth strut, to the disco moves out on the floor. He loves a good dance partner, though he has tried getting me to learn the latest, 'The Hustle', 'The Slide', 'The Box Step'. But for me, though I have tried, I just don't have the rhythm that he possesses.
He choice of attire isn't the best in the world. Those tattered crummy Levi jeans, seem to be painted on. And those jean cut-off shorts of his, at least he could do is cut the threads off the bottom. We do interchange our shirts. I do find a sweater of mine, or could be his, in his closet every now and then. And let me tell you… those blue Adidas, he goes through a pair every few months.
For him, the '70s has been the era of the muscle car. Our days are spent running down the criminals of the inner city streets in that parade float that he calls a car. The 'tomato', I mean Torino, is his prized possession. Oh he'll test drive the new Comaro that come out every year, but his love for that big red and white monster of his, keeps him from buying it.
He has tried to get me to buy something new. When 'The Rockford Files' aired, off we went to look at the Pontiac Firebirds. When 'Smokey and the Bandit' came out, off we went to the car dealership to look at the Pontiac Trans-Am.. When 'Dukes of Hazzard' aired, he made me ride down to his uncle's car lot with him and look at a Dodge Charger that was painted just as bright as his Torino. He means well, but I'm happy with that short of mine, the LTD has done fine for me, much to his disliking.
He did switched tactics on me once when 'Chips' came out, off we went to look at motorcycles. I did think about the Harley Davidson. Still thinking about it. Might surprise him one day and pull up at his place with one under me. Can see the smile on his face now. Maybe I'll think harder about getting one.
There had been times that he would drag me to the movie theater to see the latest science fiction or horror movie. There was 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', 'Halloween', and he didn't swim in the ocean for months after 'Jaws' showed. 'The Godfather' with Marlon Brando, left him thinking about home and the murder of his father. There was the occasional western and the James Bond movies. But the two films that he refused to go watch were 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Deer Hunter'. Being a prisoner of war himself, I understood. They hit to close to home for him. He settled for a XXX movie instead on those nights.
I can thank Huggy for some of the fads that he gets caught up in. Huggy convinced him that he needed a Pet Rock, and almost got him to buy a Vampire Kit. His superstition was getting the best of him at that time. But there was other novelties that he has acquired over the years. A lava lamp, a mood ring, though I think he gave that to Captain Dobey's daughter. The magic 8-ball is somewhere in the bottom of his desk drawer. The 'Chinchilla' that turned out to be a Guinea Pig was joined by the Mexican Jumping Beans and Sea Monkeys. One of the girls down in Filling now has that menagerie.
The one thing that he did get me to join into was the stuffing of a telephone booth. With the booths becoming replaced with the non-enclosed pay phones, Starsky thought that we should have some fun and stuff the booth that was still enclosed, behind the precinct. One afternoon a few of us from work decided to see how many we could stuff into the booth. Turns out that we only got nine, three guys and six girls. But whose counting? It was all in fun. Dobey even joined in and took the picture, then handed us two days of traffic duty for the stunt.
Starsky is also one to keep up with the current news. Reading the news paper, magazine, or watching the news on the TV. The arrest of Patty Hearst for robbing a bank had caught his attention. The Viking I Landing on Mars kept him chattering about space for days. In '73 when the Allied Forces pulled out of Vietnam, that left him quiet. When the 3-Mile Island Nuclear Plant had it's accident, he was on the phone to his family almost daily. And when Hustler's Larry Flint was shot, I thought he was going to cry, scared that one of his favorite magazine was doomed. Then when California announced gas rationing, we both knew that we were in for a lot of headaches.
Over all, living the '70's with my friend and partner has left me in aw. From his quietness that lingers from the war, to the excitement that he gets about the newest 'pet', to his need for more power under his butt. I love every side of him. What the next ten years brings, will be an adventure.
END