CHAPTER 3
A/N: Been moving all day and I am exhausted but the new house is really nice and it's really close to everything! My internet connection won't be transferred and back up and running for awhile so in the meantime I will have to bounce off other signals and not sure how reliable that will be.
Dave Starsky and Johnny Wagoner walked out of the building in time to see Hutchinson's car pull out of the student parking lot and turn into the street
"There goes the Ice King home for the weekend." Johnny said with a smirk. He shook his head. "Man, that guy gets under my skin. What do you wanna bet that with his connections he pulls down some cushy assignment in Beverly Hills or somewhere like that?"
"Come on, he can't be that bad or he wouldn't have lasted this long." Starsky said as the two friends began to walk across the parking lot. "You gotta admit that he can handle himself pretty good in the self defense classes and he has the academics aced."
"Maybe he does but he's still a cold fish." Johnny said dryly. "He thinks he's better than us and you know it."
"Maybe that's because he is. He's had all the advantages that his daddy's money could buy. That's more than you or me ever had."
"You going soft on me, Davy boy?" Johnny asked with an arch of an eyebrow. "I ain't never seen you going out of your way to talk him."
"It ain't that." Starsky said in his best Brooklyn brogue. "He sorta helped me out once when I was in the library trying to work on that paper for Mendalton's class. I didn't even ask him too, he just kinda volunteered. And he was cool about it, ya know? He explained it so I could understand without using all them big words or anything. " His trademark crooked smile tugged at his lips. "I aced that paper too…got a B on it."
Their conversation was abruptly interrupted by a metallic blue mustang that roared past them. John Colby grinned through the windshield and showed them his middle finger as he tore out of the lot.
"Now that's one guy I wouldn't mind pounding into the ground." Starsky growled. His sapphire eyes narrowed as he watched the mustang disappear into the street. "He's had it in for me since day one and I'll be damned if I know why."
"He's just a fucking jerk. That's all." Johnny said "Don't let him get to you. That's what he wants…he gets off on it."
"I never said I was letting him get to me." Starsky said with a smug smile. "I just said I wouldn't mind pounding him into the ground."
"Yeah, and get yourself kicked out for fighting two months before graduation." Johnny said
"Why do you think I haven't done it yet?" Starsky chuckled as he slipped his fingers into the pocket of his skintight jeans to dig out his car keys. His car was parked near the back of the lot. It was a distinctive looking vehicle with a custom paint job. It was an older model Ford Maverick that was painted a turquoise blue with yellow flames on either side of the hood. It helped to have an Uncle who had his own used car business with one of the best car detailers in the city working for him. Starsky had done most of the body work himself and souped up the engine until it purred like a kitten. Starsky had moved to Bay City when he was thirteen to live with his Uncle Al and Aunt Rosie. He had spent every summer vacation and most of his weekends helping his uncle work in his garage until he could tear an engine apart and put it back together by himself. The car might be old but it was still his pride and joy.
As he unlocked the door, he turned to look back at Johnny. "Do you need a lift anywhere?"
"Naw, I'm just gonna grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria and then hit the sack. Maybe we could hook up tomorrow night."
"Sounds good to me. How about O'Hares around seven-thirty?" Starsky suggested.
"Great. See ya then." Johnny said. He stepped back as the Maverick roared to life and Starsky peeled out of the lot.
Starsky barely noticed the heavy traffic as he maneuvered his way through the busy city streets. He loved driving. It relaxed him when he was tired and it calmed him down when he was angry. His reputation for having a short fuse and a volatile temper had followed him throughout his life. He tended to act first and then deal with the consequences later. His impulsive nature had landed him in trouble with the law when he was younger but two years in the military and an all expense paid trip to southeastern Asia courtesy of Uncle Sam had helped to curb that impulsiveness somewhat.
Starsky's aunt and uncle lived in a small two bedroom house in a quiet middle class neighborhood. The older couple had never been blessed with children of their own so they hadn't been prepared to deal with an angry, rebellious teenager with a major chip on his shoulder. But, with patience and understanding, mixed with a whole lot of love, they had managed to bust down the barriers the wounded boy had built around his emotions. There had been more than a few rough patches along the way and some hard lessons learned with the help of his uncle's belt but Starsky had finally settled down and turned his life around.
But, a neighbor named John Blaine and his wife, Maggie, had been one of the biggest influences in the troubled boys adolescence. Another childless couple, John was a police officer with the Bay City Police Department who had taken Starsky under his wing. Starsky didn't know until years later that Al had talked to John and told him about the circumstances that had led to Starsky being sent to California.
Very few people knew about Starsky's life in New York where he had been born and raised until just after his thirteen birthday. He had lived with his mom, his younger brother, Nicky and his father, Micheal, who was a police officer with the New York PD.
They had lived in a quiet, predominantly Jewish neighborhood, in Brooklyn and life had been good to the little family.
Michael and Rachel were loving parents who raised their two sons with just the right mix of love and discipline. That all ended when Starsky was twelve and his father was gunned down in front of his own house by unknown assailants. He had died in his oldest son's arms.
Starsky hadn't known how to deal with his grief and the loss of his father. He began running wild, hanging out with a neighborhood gang and getting into trouble. When he was picked up for being out past his curfew or stealing from one of the neighborhood stores, he usually got a stiff lecture and then was escorted home by one of his father's former co-workers.
Rachel Starsky did her best but she found it increasingly harder to deal with her eldest son's rebelliousness. Finally, when he was involved in a fight with a neighboring gang and ended up in the hospital, in desperation, she had contacted her brother-in-law in Bay City about sending Starsky to live with him and his wife. They had agreed and when he was released from the hospital, Starsky had found himself on a bus headed for California.
He had hated his mother for sending him away. In his mind, it meant that she didn't love him or want him anymore which only fueled his deep seated rage even more. Mother and son had spent a few years estranged but as he grew older and matured, Starsky eventually came to realize that his mother had had nothing but his best interests at heart. She had paid dearly for her decision but eventually, they had worked things out and now they were as close as they had ever been. Starsky called her faithfully every Friday night at seven o'clock California time. If for some reason he couldn't call at the appointed time, he called her as soon as possible afterwards. The only time he had broken that routine was during his time in Viet Nam.
Viet Nam had been his own personal version of hell on earth. He had spent the last three months of his enlistment as a POW. He had finally returned home a bitter, disillusioned man who was even more filled with rage than he had been as a teenager. He had gone back to New York for a few months but that was no longer home so he had returned to Bay City. He bummed around New Mexico for two months before making the decision to join the police academy and follow in his father's footsteps.
His mother had not been happy about his decision but she wasn't surprised by it. She didn't want to lost her son to the same violence that she had lost his father to. Regardless of her own feelings, she had accepted his decision and supported it even if she didn't agree with it. Rosie and Al had also been supportive of his choice and John Blaine had even put in a good word for him with the admittance committee at the Academy who reviewed the individual applications.
Despite some of his problems with the academic part of the program, Starsky adjusted well to the training. It wasn't that much different from the army. The police department was based on a military structure that was painfully familiar to Starsky. Trained as a sniper in the Army, Starsky was at the top of his class in both weapons and shooting. He was also one of the highest ranking cadets in self defense, blending his own unique mix of military training and down and dirty street fighting. And nobody could beat him when it came to the course in defensive driving, his skills behind the wheel surprising both his classmates and his instructors.
Starsky was whistling to himself as he pulled into the driveway beside his aunt and uncle's house. Climbing out of his car, he jogged up to the front door and let himself inside. The delicious aroma of home cooking filled the air. His Aunt Rosie could be a creative cook at times but she could also cook all the traditional Jewish dishes that Starsky had eaten as a child. His nose told him that tonight she was making stuffed cabbage and Knishes which was a potato and flour dumpling stuffed with mashed potatoes and onions and then baked in the oven.
"Hey, it smells great in here!" Starsky said enthusiastically as he walked into the kitchen.
His aunt smiled and turned her head for a kiss on the cheek.
"Of course," Rosie said sweetly "I knew you'd be starving as usual." She chuckled as she turned back to her meal preparations. "How were your classes this week?"
"Same as usual." Starsky said as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out the milk. He tipped it and drank straight from the carton earning him a dirty look from his aunt.
"David Michael Starsky!" she scolded him "You know better than that. Get a glass young man."
Starsky grinned as he did as she told him. He knew she wasn't really angry with him and she knew that he only drank from the carton to tease her. He poured himself a tall glass of milk and grabbed a handful of cookies from the jar sitting on the counter.
"Don't spoil your supper." Rosie said automatically, then she shook her head and added "What am I saying? Nothing spoils your appetite."
Starsky chuckled as he settled in his usual spot at the kitchen table to enjoy his snack. The affection between Rosie and her nephew was plain to see. As she passed the table to get some plates out of the cabinet, she reached out and ruffled his dark curls causing Starsky to duck his head playfully.
"What are your plans for the weekend?" Rosie asked as she returned to the stove.
"Thought I'd hang around here tonight with you and Al." Starsky said "Maybe have a couple of drinks with some of the guys tomorrow night."
"Just make sure you get home at a decent hour." Rosie told him automatically. It was the same thing she told him whenever he went out ever since he was thirteen. She knew that her David was a man now but in her eyes he would always be a scared and angry little boy that she had come to love as if he were her own. She was proud of the way he had turned out and how much he had matured through the years.
Al came home and greeted his nephew warmly. It was apparent from the older man's appearance that he carried the Starsky genes. His thick dark curls held just a touch of gray and his sapphire eyes sparkled with life. He had the same lean, muscular build as his nephew with just a bit of extra weight showing around the middle.
Conversation during supper centered around Al's work at the garage, Rosie's volunteer work at the hospital and Starsky's classes at the academy. Rosie also caught Starsky up on the neighborhood gossip even though he came home every weekend. After they had eaten, Starsky helped his aunt with the dishes and then settled down on in the living room to watch the evening news with his uncle.
At seven o'clock, Starsky picked up the phone and made his weekly call to his mother in New York.
"Hey, Maw." He said when Rachel answered the phone.
"Davy!" Rachel said, her voice sounding as if she hadn't heard from her wayward son in months. "How are you, darling?"
"I'm fine, Maw." Starsky said with a soft chuckle under his breath. "Same as I was last week."
"Davy, don't tease your poor old mama." Rachel chided him. "How was your week? Are you seeing any nice girls?"
"No, Maw," Starsky said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not seeing anyone right now and my week was okay."
"Mrs. Goldberg's daughter, Sarah, moved back home last week. Such a lovely girl. Maybe you can call her the next time you come to visit."
"Maybe…" Starsky said evasively. He knew better than to pursue this subject or he'd never get off the phone. A typical Jewish mother, Rachel was constantly nagging her eldest son about finding a nice Jewish girl and settling down so she could have a lot of grandbabies to spoil.
"How's Nicky doing?" Starsky subtly changing the subject to his mother's second most favorite topic..
"Oh, you know Nicky…he's always busy with one thing or another." Rachel said "He's talking about getting his own place…but I think he's too young."
"Maw, he's nineteen. Maybe he needs to move out for awhile…find out what it's really like out there." After Starsky left home, his mom had lavished all of her attention and love onto her younger son. Nicky had grown up pampered and spoiled. He had been the one to get into the trouble that Rachel had been so desperate to keep his older brother out of. Starsky couldn't prove it but he suspected that Nicky was skirting on the fringes of the law and headed for trouble.
"Well, I'm sure I'll be able to talk him out of it." Rachel said "He just started a new job with Uncle Joe…maybe I can get Joe to talk to him."
Starsky stayed silent. Joe Durnick had been Michael Starsky's friend even though they had operated on opposite sides of the law. Starsky and Nicky had grown up calling him Uncle Joey and he had even stepped in to help pay for Michael Starsky's headstone. Starsky also suspected that he had given Rachel the money to buy the bus ticket to send him to California but he had never asked. There were too many secrets connected with Joey's connection to the Starsky family.
"When are you coming home for a visit?" Rachel asked
"Maw, you know I can't do that right now. Besides I thought you and Nicky were coming out here when I graduate from the Academy."
"We're going to try." Rachel promised. "I just miss you and want to see you."
"I know you do, Maw. I miss you too." Starsky said. He knew it was time to bring his call to a close before Rachel started getting too emotional. He hated soapy scenes. "Look, Maw, I gotta go. I'll call you at the same time next week. I love you."
"I love you too. Don't forget to call me."
"Maw, I'm not going to forget." Starsky said with a laugh. "Bye. I love you." He hung up before his mother could start talking again and settled back down on the sofa beside his uncle. The two men exchanged an amused glance, then turned their attention to the tv in front of them.