Just a little story Ponchygirl and I wrote together.
Officer Frank Poncherello sat in the break room at the California Highway Patrol. Sitting in front of him on the table was a box of ding dongs he had brought with him, and a bottle of Mt. Dew. Sitting in a chair on the other side of the table was his best friend and partner Officer Jon Baker.
"Hey partner," Jon started. "You sure you should be eating all that before patrol?"
Ponch smiled, "Are you kidding me? I couldn't last the whole day if I didn't eat this," Ponch replied after swallowing a bite of his ding dong. "Besides wouldn't you rather have a happy and hyper partner...instead of a grumpy tired one?"
Jon couldn't help but smile. "Yeah I would rather have a happy, hyper partner but just don't get too hyper… I wouldn't know how to deal with you." Ponch laughed.
"Jon, you always have to deal with me when I'm hyper," he reminded him.
"True… You should hurry up and finish so we aren't late for briefing." Ponch stared at Jon for a while before replying.
"Well...ok...but do you know how long it'll take to finish all this?" Before Jon could respond to that, Officers Barry Baricza and Artie Grossman walked in.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Grossie asked looking at all the empty wrappers. "Did you eat all of that, Jon?" he joked.
"Of course not." Jon said with a laugh and pointed at Ponch. "Our dear friend over here did."
"Oh no...Ponch you didn't eat all that and drink all that Mt. Dew...did you?" Bear asked with a fearful expression on his face. "You're gonna be sick."
Ponch stared at them. "Geeze guys you act like I'm gonna be crazy! I'm not any crazier than normal," Ponch told them.
"Yes but I've never seen you eat and drink that much sugar before work," Jon stated.
Ponch rolled his eyes at Jon. "Well I hope you're happy that you finally got to see me do it. I mean I eat like this all the time at home," Ponch said then looked towards the door. "OMG! Jon is that what I think it is!?" he asked excitedly hopping up from his seat and running to the door. "Jon look!"
Jon got up from his seat and walked over to the door. He looked around and didn't see anything exciting. Just the usual empty hallway with a few officers chatting here and there. He look over at Ponch. "Umm Ponch? There's nothing here." He announced. Grossie and Bear walked over to see what was going on.
"What are you so jumpy about?" Grossie asked. Ponch's eyes got wide with excitement.
"Your enthusiasm over nothing just kills me," Bear said trying not to be mean to him. Ponch grabbed Jon and put his face against the window.
"Look at that, Baker!" Grossie got close to look too.
"What exactly are we looking at?" he asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't understand, Grossie," Ponch replied quickly. "Jon I know you might not see it like I do...but you see those officers out there?" he started.
"Yes. What about them?" Jon asked raising an eyebrow curiously. Ponch just smiled even brighter.
"They are the perfect people to play duck duck goose with! I mean seriously they're just right there waiting!" Ponch exclaimed. Getting a little jumpy with joy. Grossie and Bear both looked at each other.
"Um...Jon?" Bear asked motioning towards Ponch while mouthing the words "Get him away from the door."
Jon nodded in agreement then walked over to Ponch. Ponch grabbed Jon's arm and pulled on him. "Come on, Baker let's go play with them," he said trying to open the door and pull Jon at the same time. Ponch pushed the door open but then felt two hands grab his arms. He tried to still get out anyway. He raised his right hand and waved to the officers. "HI!" he yelled. But then was pulled back into the room.
The officers all shared confused looks and started to walk towards the break room to find out what was going on. Soon the door popped open again. "Let go of me, guys. I wanna go hang out with them," Ponch said. He pulled on Jon's arm some more trying to take Jon with him.
"What's going on?" asked an officer named Justin.
Jon looked over at Justin, "I think he's had enough sugar for one day."
"I never had too much sugar," Ponch argued. He then looked at Justin. "I really wanna play a game with you guys. You were so just standing there waiting for me," he informed them. The officers all shared the same confused glances.
"Ponch...we weren't…" Justin started but then felt Sindy Cahill punched him in the arm. In an attempt to tell him to keep his mouth shut or Ponch would get upset.
"What kind of game?" Sindy asked. Ponch smiled his eyes lighting up a bit too.
"Duck duck goose," he told them. They all looked at each other.
"I haven't played that since preschool," admitted Officer Steven Jacobs. The other officers were all pretty much saying the same. Soon Getraer came over.
"Ooh, Sarge you gotta play with us!" Ponch said as he finally broke free from Grossie and Bear. He let go of Jon and ran to Getraer grabbing onto his arm. "Come on," he said. "You'll have fun!"
Getraer looked at all the other officers in the room in confusion. "What exactly is going on?" He asked.
"I think it's from all the Ding Dongs and Mt. Dew, Sarge," Jon stated.
"Sarge, you can sit right here," Ponch said pointing to a spot in the middle of the hall. After saying that he just went around showing everyone where to sit. When he got to Jon he smiled. "You get to go first," he told him then took a seat next to Steven.
Jon looked at everyone then back to Getraer. "Do we just go along with this then?"
"I guess so. It's not gonna hurt is it?" The captain peeked out of his office real quick and at first thought they were just having briefing on the floor but when he saw Jon going around calling everyone a duck he knew what was going on. He laughed at them.
"I thought you stopped playing that game after preschool," he teased.
Jon stopped and looked up at the captain. "We did sir. It's just that Ponch thought it would be a good idea to re-live memories."
"Well as long as you don't act like this out on the streets…" he started.
"Oh no, sir...I wouldn't be caught dead acting like this on the street," replied Steven. Ponch made a face at him. The captain went back into his office. Sindy leaned her head on Bear's shoulder.
"I hope this doesn't last long," she whispered. Bear just laughed ran his fingers through her hair.
"Hey, on the bright side we are making Ponch happy," he replied. Then he cringed a little when Jon touched his head and called out 'goose' "Dang it," he said under his breath as he hopped up and chased Jon around the circle while Ponch laughed like crazy. Jon was able to make it to Bear's spot before Bear could tag him so now Bear was 'it'
"You better not go for me," Jon said while trying to stop laughing. He'd forgotten how much fun he used to have with this game. And playing it at this age in the middle of the hall at the CHP was funny to him. "I have a really strange partner," he thought.
Bear walked around and by the time he made it to Grossie got bored so he called out 'goose' after touching Grossie's head then took off running around the circle already knowing Grossie wasn't gonna catch him. By the time Grossie finally stood up Bear was able to steal a seat between Getraer and Steven. Grossie huffed.
"Well darn...I wasn't ready for this," he complained.
"Don't worry, Grossie no one is ready for it. That's what makes the game more fun," Ponch said. Grossie rolled his eyes. He already made up his mind after that little statement Ponch was gonna be the goose this time. So Grossie wanting to make it more interesting went around three times before finally touching Ponch's head and calling out 'goose' Ponch laughed and hopped up quickly made it around and back to his seat before Grossie could catch him. He laughed. "Sorry, Grossie."
Getraer laughed at that as well. It was easy to admit, it was funny. Grossie glared at Getraer.
This time Grossie went around and when he made it to Getraer he said 'goose'. Getraer knew he should've been expecting this but he wasn't prepared. He got up and chased Grossie around the circle but because of his delayed reaction Grossie made it around and sat down.
"Haha you go Grossie!" Ponch cheered then gave him a high five.
Getraer started back around the circle again. He went around twice before deciding to call out 'goose' to Sindy. She got up and chased Getraer around. He sat down right before she was about to tag him.
"Darn," She said out loud before making another journey around the circle of officers. She stopped by Justin and waited a while then reached behind her and tapped Steven and announced 'goose'. Steven hopped up quickly and chased her. He made it back to his seat before being tagged. He stuck his tongue out at her.
"You forgot, Sindy...I'm faster than you," he taunted.
She rolled her eyes and went around again. This time she picked Justin to be 'goose'. Justin chased her, but he wasn't fast enough to get her.
"Looks like I found someone who isn't faster than me," She teased Steven. Steven rolled his eyes. Justin began to walk around the circle.
"Duck, duck, duck…" he then came to Jon who was sitting there happily not thinking he'd be picked. Soon he felt the hand on his head and Justin saying loudly "Goose!" then he took off running around the circle and made it to Jon's spot before being tagged.
Getraer looked at his watch. "It's almost time for briefing," he said.
"Aww no," Ponch said sadly.
"Hey, Ponch cheer up. Maybe we can do this again sometime. I actually had fun," Jon admitted. Ponch smiled.
"Really?" he asked. The other officers all looked at Jon their eyes begging him that he wouldn't let them be involved.
"Yeah really," He smiled. "Maybe the others enjoyed it as well." the others looked at Jon all with the same 'No' look in their eyes.
"Well let's go," Getraer said hopping up. The rest of them followed suit.
"Hey, Jon I got two ding dongs left," Ponch said heading for the break room.
"Uh, I don't think so partner. Maybe later," Jon replied heading after him.