Ponch sat at the front desk, sadly. His ribs and wrist were broken, and still recovering. He was well enough for light duty though. He was bored, and kept throwing paper airplanes into Getraer's office, or Bates' office. He decided to do something to get their attention, so he made a noise as if he were in extreme pain. Getraer came running.
"Are you ok?" he asked. Ponch tried not to laugh, since it hurt.
"I'm fine, just wanted your attention," he said with a smile.
"Poncherello, what am I gonna do with you? First you start throwing paper airplanes into my office, then you do it to the Lieutenant too. Before that a few days earlier, it was throwing rocks with eyes, or small messages on them. Now it's making noises to get our attention…."
"I'm bored, what can I say."
"Well, do you think you can at least act your age for a few minutes, or the rest of the day?"
"I've never been this age before, I don't know how to act," Ponch said innocently. Getraer rolled his eyes. Ponch smiled,
"Maybe, if someone was out here with me at the desk I'd behave myself," he said. Getraer ignored him,
"Frank, do you think that you could just be calm, and keep to yourself for a few hours?"
"I can try, I won't make any promises," Ponch said. Getraer looked at Ponch,
"Try hard," he said, then walked away. Ponch was sitting silently again, when he suddenly felt like doing something again. It was just way too quiet today. So, he went and put a stuffed dog that looked super real outside of the office. How he got that dog, no one will ever know, but he set it there, then hid, and made dog noises making it sound like the dog was hurt. Getraer rushed out, and began to check the dog.
"What is wrong with this dog?" he asked.
"It looks like its dead," Bates said. Getraer glared at him,
"Help me with this dog please," he said. Bates looked at it,
"It really looks dead, it hasn't blinked."
"But the noises…Poncherello," Getraer said suddenly realizing something. He looked around a bit, and found Ponch.
"Hi, Sarge," Ponch said with a smile.
"What am I gonna do with you?"
"I don't know, but I feel like you just asked that," Ponch replied. Getraer rolled his eyes.
"Ok, go back to the desk, and behave," Getraer said.
"Ok," Ponch said sadly.
Meanwhile…..
The next day, Ponch hadn't done anything yet. Getraer and the others thought it was odd, and he liked it. Ponch was sitting nicely at the desk, when the phone started to ring. Ponch answered it,
"Hello."
"I don't know who you are…I shouldn't be talking to strangers." Came a voice, and the person was crying,
"Ok," Ponch said, then when no one said anything for a few minutes, he just hung up.
"Well that was strange." Then the phone rang again.
"Hi."
"Hey there, I wanna order a pepperoni pizza, and a cheese pizza please."
"This is the California Highway Patrol, not some pizza place," Ponch said.
"Oh, sorry, I knew we had the wrong number," the guy said, then hung up. Ponch smiled slightly. Then the phone rang again, the same guys,
"You sure this is the CHP?" they asked. Ponch laughed,
"Yeah," he replied. They hung up sadly.
"Wow, this is really strange," he thought aloud. Then the phone rang again.
"Can I place an order for a nice big birthday cake? I want it to say, "Happy Birthday Jessie" Can you do that?" They asked, it was the same people.
"Yeah, I can do that, but this is the CHP we don't make cakes," Ponch replied. They were speechless, they hung up.
"They better not call again," Ponch said then the phone rang,
"What did you say your name was?" they asked.
"I never said my name, I'm Officer Frank Poncherello," Ponch replied. Then they laughed,
"Got ya!" they yelled.
"What?" Ponch asked confused.
"This is, Sgt. Joe Getraer, and Lt. Harold Bates," they said. Ponch's eyes got really wide, he set the phone down, and rushed to Getraer's office. He found Bates and Getraer laughing their heads off. Ponch smiled, slightly embarrassed, that he didn't realize it was them. But he got over it soon enough and began to laugh really hard, even though his ribs hurt as he laughed.
"We figured, we'd get you back, since the past few days it has been you doing stuff to us," Getraer said.
"Well, you did good, that was hilarious," Ponch said, in between breaths since he was laughing so hard.
"Well, now you know better than to mess with the Sergeant and Lieutenant, because we get you back," Bates said laughing. Ponch was in tears with how hard he was laughing.
"You guys, are the best," he said finally. He learned two things new that day, authority figures can have real fun just as much as everyone else working at the front desk can be fun sometimes too.