Mop and Broom: Tales of the Twelfth
Chapter One
"What is it about humans and their little ones?" Mop moaned.
"Funny you should complain, considering your intense interest in how they're produced," Broom jeered, his handle swaying in self-righteousness.
"It's just that Ryan has been in the break room half the morning regaling anyone who'll listen with stories of Sarah Grace. Espresso says he's exhausted, he's put out three times as much coffee as usual and I've been in there three times already when people have spilled it," Mop complained.
"That is your job," Broom pointed out. "I've had a pretty full morning myself with all the doughnut crumbs. I guess Ryan and Esposito have no case and with Scary Lady at some kind of function at 1PP, there is some slacking off going on."
"That's putting it mildly!" Mop exclaimed.
"So what was Ryan saying about Sarah Grace?" Broom inquired.
"Well you recall all the fuss he made when she started to walk?" Mop asked.
"Not all of it," Broom admitted.
"Well that was nothing compared to this. You remember how Sarah Grace took her first steps while Jenny was out shopping? I don't know why that's such a big deal to human's but you would have thought she got elected president. Anyway, Ryan tried to catch it on his cell phone, but by the time he'd gotten it out of his pocket, Sarah'd sat down on the floor to play with some sort of spinning toy. Apparently, he spent over an hour trying to coax her to walk again so he could get some video for Jenny, but Sarah Grace wouldn't budge.
"Ryan was really upset, afraid that Jenny would be furious that he hadn't caught the moment, but the joke was on him. It turned out that Jenny had the nanny cam on to make sure that Ryan wasn't sneaking snacks to to the baby. So not only were Sarah's first steps recorded, all of Ryan's efforts to repeat them were too. Well the this was even better," Mop declared.
"How?" Broom queried.
"Well Jenny was out again, helping her mother with something, and Esposito came to visit with Ryan. They were watching some sort of sporting event, basketball I think. I guess Esposito must have forgotten the baby was there. Anyway, he didn't watch his mouth and dropped the F-bomb - several times. Apparently Sarah Grace thought it was just the funniest thing she'd ever heard and repeated it.
"Ryan got really frantic and tried to stop her, but the more he tried to stop her, the funnier she thought it was and just repeated it more. Then when Jenny came home, Sarah greeted her with a huge smile and her first word. Ryan and Jenny are still trying to keep Sarah Grace from saying it, especially around Jenny's mother."
"Whoa, Ryan must be furious at Esposito," Broom remarked.
"From what I heard, not as furious as Jenny is. Jenny's banned Esposito from the Ryan's apartment," Mop added, "although I don't know how much that will help. Jenny is supposed to be bringing the baby to the precinct this afternoon to keep Ryan company. Esposito's on shift. He'll have to be here."
"He could come hide with us," Broom suggested.
"Yeah, he raised the temperature in here but good when he used to come in here with that lady doctor," Mop recalled fondly, his tendrils dancing against the floor. "But I haven't seen them do anything in months. He's no fun anymore."
Broom scratched against the floor disgustedly. "That would be all you'd think of. The poor man is lonely. That's probably why he was at the at the Ryan's apartment in the first place. Now it's just going to be worse for him. Hey! What's all the commotion out there?"
"I don't know," Mop replied. "I suppose sooner or later someone will spill something or knock something over and we'll find out. Is that a dog? Ugh! That may be the worst kind of job."
"So what happened?" Broom asked as Mop was returned to his place.
"Well the dog wasn't the problem the way I thought," Mop reported. "You remember that airhead Kay Cappuccio who was here a few years ago?"
"Yeah," Broom recalled. "She had half the cops in the precinct salivating over her, especially Esposito. I heard from those wipes they keep in the tech room that he was in there with her for hours just looking at pictures of her. I guess they were sort of taken with each other. She's come to visit from time to time. It always causes a stir."
"And at least one spilled drink," Mop added. "Anyway, I got the story from a couple of the hand disinfectant pumps on the desks out there. You know some of those detectives really like to use those after dealing with some of the suspects."
Broom's bristles trembled. "I can understand that."
"Kay was in the precinct this morning reporting a robbery," Mop continued. "Apparently some sort of fancy collar for Lilly, that obnoxious little ball of fur she carries around, was stolen. Kay showed up with Lilly and Royal, the big gold dog - much better behaved than the little one. She decided that as long as she was here, she'd come up to visit Esposito.
"Jenny had Sarah Grace on a blanket on the floor of the lounge playing with some kind of toy. I don't know what it was, but it squeaked. Lilly got away from Kay and grabbed the toy and ran away with it. Sarah Grace started bawling. Royal chased after Lilly and Kay tried to chase after both of them, but she couldn't go very fast with those heels she wears."
"She could get lessons from Kate on that," Broom observed.
"You're right," Mop agreed. "Anyway, someone dropped a soda during the chase. That's why they needed me. From what I was told, Esposito finally grabbed Lilly and got the toy away from her. He almost got bitten for his trouble."
"That must have helped put him back in Jenny's good graces," Broom speculated.
Mop's handle swayed slightly. "Maybe. Jenny was not happy. It took her a while to calm Sarah Grace down and she made Ryan disinfect the toy three times before she'd let Sarah Grace near it again. Then she decided to take the baby home before anything else happened."
"So where were Rick and Kate during all this?" Broom asked. "Kate's supposed to be in charge while Scary Lady is gone, isn't she?"
"She is," Mop confirmed. "She was trying to cope with all those calls from the D.A.'s office Scary Lady is always getting. It didn't look like she was enjoying it. Rick was having a great time, though. He watched the whole chase and took notes. According to the lotion on Kate's desk, he said he was going to mention the chase in an interview he was giving to a magazine - at least until Kate gave him one of those looks." Mop twirled his tendrils in anticipation. "Oooh, maybe they'll come in later. When she gets mad at him, they like to come back here and make up."
A discouraged sigh rustled through Broom's bristles. "And you are ever hopeful of a front row seat."