The Reason for THIS Season
By: Jan in VA
Genre: Story, Gen.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned them, but alas I don't…
Summary: Thinking about what Starsky and Hutch might think about the 4th of July
Dedication: Thank you to the self sacrificing men and women who thought that freedom, for themselves and ultimately for you and I who reside in the United States, was worth risking their fortunes…their lives for.
The Reason for THIS Season
By: Jan in VA
Starsky looked out the window of his kitchen.
'Rain. Rain on the 4th of July no less! How depressing is this?' thought Starsky.
He and his partner, Ken Hutchinson, had a rare holiday off and were going to go and hang out at the Dodges ball game, throw back a few hot dogs…well Starsky was anyway…and bottom out a few paper cups of beer watching the Dodges slug it out that afternoon.
They had stepped into a gold mine when the tickets just ended up on their desks at the station. Milligan and his partner were going to go to the game, but Milligan's wife had just given birth to the cutest little girl they had ever seen. Starsky and Hutch happened to be writing up reports and were the only other set of partners in the squad room the day of Jennifer Milligan's arrival into the world so they lucked out on the tickets.
Of course, luck wasn't going to be with them today…rain out!
'Man…no ball game…no game dogs…no FIREWORKS! This is going to be the WORST!' again mused Starsky.
Starsky rinsed his coffee cup and put it in the sink to dry. As he walked into the living room, his partner came pounding up the stairs and knocked on the door. Starsky let him in.
"Hey, Hutch," greeted a depressed Starsky.
"Hey yourself, partner. Ready to get this show on the road?" replied Hutch, his face beaming with delight.
"In case you didn't realize it…those are not tears on your shoulder buddy boy. That's rain! You know RAIN…BUCKETS of rain! No ballgame, no fireworks…just another botched up day off for us my friend," exploded Starsky. " I'm REALLY beginning to think someone up there has it in for us!"
"Yes, I realize it's raining…and yes I realize no fireworks, but here we are and we are celebrating the 4th of July together…on a DAY OFF no less. Come on Starsk…where's that celebratory spirit I've come to expect from my partner of the last 4 years?" inquired Hutch.
"Well, he's gone down the sewer along with this deluge of rain that has succeeded in messing up a perfectly wonderful holiday," answered his disgruntled partner.
"Starsky," sighed Hutch getting his sulking partner to meet his gaze.
"Since when has July 4th only become a holiday when Americans get the day off, stuff their faces with enough food to feed a small country and watch fireworks? You know what this day is supposed to be all about. It's about a bunch of ordinary people who had the idea that people should manage their own affairs. That people should be able to dictate how they should be governed, and where their money and resources should go to benefit those people as a whole. It's a day when we honor those brave people who in 1776, who signed a document that put everything they had worked for, their lives and the lives of their families in peril if the struggle they were about to undertake was lost," said Hutch placing his arm on Starsky's shoulder.
"Starsk..it's the reason you went through a living hell in Vietnam for!" Hutch looked his partner straight in the eye. "It's a day to celebrate bravery…a day to celebrate FREEDOM…a freedom that was and IS worth fighting and dying for. That, my friend, is worth celebrating! All that other stuff is nice, but remember why we are celebrating partner!" concluded Hutch.
"Yeah…thanks Hutch…I sometimes get so wrapped up in the "things" that I forget that FREEDOM is the REASON for this SEASON!" smiled Starsky.
Revised 2012