Chapter Two- "Lights..."
*****[55 David is driving over to the set location]
As Bosco drives, Faith is smiling as she fixes her hair and brushes the lint off her uniform. Bosco stares over at her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm fixing myself up. We may meet some big producer or some stars. I don't want to look frumpy."
"Oh please. We're gonna be standing guard in some junk filled alley rousting off drug addicts, while their dream police team graze on the buffet and keep people like you away from the stars."
"I don't even know who the stars are. I've never seen the show."
"There's nobody big in the show. It's about these cops, EMTs, and firemen all worken the same shift that we work."
"Is it a good show?"
"It's not even close to being real. There is this hotheaded cop, that is so annoying that I'd like to shoot him myself. And he has a female partner that's always maken him look stupid. He should shoot her. Oh...and of course everyone on the show is beautiful and their hair never gets messed, and they never get shot, even when they do something stupid. And then there's this..." He stops abruptly, realizing that she is staring at him funny. "What?"
"How do you know all this? We work the same hours."
" I have a VCR. And sometimes I catch the re-runs on A&E if we get off early enough."
"I thought you didn't like the show." She says sarcastically.
They arrive at the set. Red Hook is what they call Brooklyn's 'Junkyard district', because it is where the people of New York toss broken and unwanted items, ranging from beds to junk cars. It is a neighborhood of abandoned buildings and New York's 'less desirables'.
Bosco pulls in and parks next to three other RMPs. They are both amazed at how the set looks. About three blocks of this filthy neighborhood, is all cleaned up, with cars parked on each side. The abandoned buildings are all freshly painted with the graffiti cleaned off. There are people milling around, eating and drinking. The store fronts have lights on and they actually look as though they are open for business. There is one working stop light and five working street lights, and it looks like a regular street anywhere else in the city. You'd never guess that twenty yards away, in every direction, are dark and dirty abandoned streets, littered with garbage, discarded junk, and strung out junkies, wandering like zombies in their underworld.
There is a crew, hurrying to put up huge sets of lights before it gets dark, and moving around pieces of equipment that are different types of cameras and sound devices, mounted on cranes and other vehicles. But most of the commotion is at the far end where a crane and a crew of eight are strategically placing one wrecked vehicle on top of another. Above that, a guy is talking through a bull horn to the workers below, explaining the scene, and behind him, inside the building, the pyro experts are wiring up explosives. In the middle of this fake city, is another guy with his own bull horn, barking orders to everyone. Including Bosco. "Where the hell did that extra squad car come from? Someone move it."
A guy with a clipboard approaches them and says angrily, "What the hell are you doing? Who told you to bring another car over here?"
Bosco snaps back "Hey jag-off, we were told to report here. This wasn't my idea."
"Who are you?" Mr. clipboard asks, placing his hands on his hips.
Faith steps in to explain. "We're from the 55th. They sent us for added security. We're suppose to report to a sergeant Peterson."
"Well you're in the wrong place. You need to go two blocks that way." he says pointing. "Look for the security trailer. You can't miss it. It's the one with the big star on it." His sarcasm changes to annoyed, "And don't drive on this street, we're laying out a scene here." He shakes his head as he walks away.
They drive out the way they came in, and circle around to the next few blocks. It is like driving into another world. Down in the alleyways they are passing, they can see the creepy images of the homeless peeking at them from behind dumpsters, picking through the garbage, placing things in their coats and wandering through the abandoned buildings like ghosts of the people they once were.
"It's sad, don't ya think?" Faith says glancing out the window.
"Sad? It's pathetic. Who does that jerk think he is. He talks to me like that again and..."
"Not that." She says annoyed. "I mean these people living here."
Bosco barks at her, "They're losers. They let drugs take over their lives and turn them into this. And they're perfectly happy wasting away out here. This is a perfect place for them to be."
"But don't you think it's sad that this production company can spend all that money, and in one day make that street look livable, but not spend a dime to help these people who really need it?"
"You can't help these people. They don't want it. And if they spent the money on fixing this place up for them, they'd have it ruined in a week anyway."
They drive down a few blocks and cut over one street and find themselves in another area that doesn't belong in this neighborhood. There are trailers and trucks, and people setting up tables of food. There are cops and paramedics walking around talking and laughing and you can't tell if they are real or make believe.
"Do you see any actors from the show?" Faith asks Bosco.
"I don't know. I told you, none of them are really famous."
They pull up to the security trailer, and inside they meet sergeant Peterson. He is an older looking cop, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with a small radio stuck in his ear like the kind the secret service wear. He is looking at a grid of the production set and pointing out locations by numbered sectors, to a group of men, some in uniform and some not. The uniformed officers are the real cops from the city, sent like 55 David was, and the others are all wearing black security t-shirts, and work for the production company.
The cops are instructed to patrol one block over, to keep the 'undesirables' from wandering up to the set, and the production officers are to position themselves on the perimeter of the set in case any of them get through. Peterson seems to be a real down to earth kind of guy. He sets up the security teams like he is laying out a police blockade. He obviously was a real cop at one time. He tells the officers that they can swing by the food area before they go to their positions. They can help themselves to coffee and a snack now, and also when they go on break, but they are not allowed to talk to the actors or any of the crew. That is a policy of the production company.
All the officers walk across the pavement that once was a parking lot, and head towards the table that is loaded with food. There is everything from pastries to cold cuts, fruits to nuts, and huge silver trays of pasta, salads, and vegetables. And even trays of fancy finger foods. As they walk to the table, Bosco smiles and nods at all the people he passes, and they all just glance at him and keep walking.
"Theses people are rude." Bosco says.
"Just keep walking. We aren't suppose to talk to them." She reminds him.
He grabs her arm and says, "What did I tell ya? We are gonna be stuck over in no man's land, while all these stuck up big shots and their glorified rent a cops, mingle around in this safe little fake city they made." She tries to keep walking, but her pulls her by the arm and stops her. "Tonight, we tell Lieu that we don't want to come back here."
"Bosco..."
"I mean it. Get your autographs tonight. We're not doing this two nights in a row."
Faith pulls her arm out of his grasp and starts heading over to the table again. She is still talking to him, not noticing that he did not continue walking with her. She is now walking and talking to no one. "You always ruin it for me. I'm enjoying not being spit on or shot at. This is a gravy detail."
"Are you practicing your lines or do you really get spit on and shot at?"
Faith looks up at the woman approaching her, and then back at Bosco, who is just standing and staring about eight steps behind her. "Oh...I was...I'm a real cop." She can feel her face turning red. "I thought I was talking to my partner, who is making me look stupid..." Then she adds glaring back at him, "...and pissing me off."
"Are you married?" The woman asks.
"Am I Married?" Faith repeats as she raises her eyebrows, "Yes...I'm married...with children." The question makes her a bit uncomfortable.
The woman puts her hands on Faiths arm and says, "Most of the female cops I've met are gay."
Faith is getting a bit nervous and glances down at her arm where the woman is holding her. She starts to say, "I know that every one assumes..."
The woman smiles and says, "I hope you don't mind my asking, but are you married to a cop?"
"A cop?...No, I'm not."
"Perfect!" The woman says. "Do you think that we can sit down and talk later?"
"Well...I don't know. We have to go out on patrol, you know, guard the area. And we were told not to talk to anyone, so..."
"Ya know what, I'll see if I can clear you. In about an hour or so. Do you mind? I have some questions."
A good looking guy approaches the woman and says, "Ya wanna go over that scene now? I have a few minutes."
"Yah." she says to him, then turning back to Faith she asks, "What's your name?"
"Officer Yokas, Faith Yokas."
"All right then Faith, I'll see you in about an hour." Then as a second thought she adds, "My name is Polly, and this is Jay." And they shake her hand.
Faith nods and tells her that she can be reached on her radio if they say it's ok. The two walk away from her and she turns her attention back to Bosco, who is still standing back staring. "Bosco, what the hell are you doing? Get over here. What's wrong with you?"
He walks up to her looking like he saw a ghost. "What did they say to you?"
"I think I just got hit on. Don't leave me alone around these people." She chuckles.
"Seriously, what did they say?" He presses.
"I'm telling you, I think that woman is trying to pick me up. She asked if I was gay. It was weird. I told her I'm not but she wants to talk to me later."
"Did you ask if you can have their autographs?"
Looking puzzled she says, "Why...should I have?"
"They are the stars of the show." He says in disbelief. "Didn't you recognize them."
"I told you, I've never seen the show. Oh man...she must have thought I was a moron. Why didn't you tell me? What were you doing any w...Bosco...you were star struck." She says laughing.
"No. I wasn't." He says angrily.
"You were. You saw them and you froze." She lets out a laugh, but then her expression changes to worry, "I wonder what she wants to talk to me about." She laughs again. "I love this assignment."
*****[55 David is driving over to the set location]
As Bosco drives, Faith is smiling as she fixes her hair and brushes the lint off her uniform. Bosco stares over at her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm fixing myself up. We may meet some big producer or some stars. I don't want to look frumpy."
"Oh please. We're gonna be standing guard in some junk filled alley rousting off drug addicts, while their dream police team graze on the buffet and keep people like you away from the stars."
"I don't even know who the stars are. I've never seen the show."
"There's nobody big in the show. It's about these cops, EMTs, and firemen all worken the same shift that we work."
"Is it a good show?"
"It's not even close to being real. There is this hotheaded cop, that is so annoying that I'd like to shoot him myself. And he has a female partner that's always maken him look stupid. He should shoot her. Oh...and of course everyone on the show is beautiful and their hair never gets messed, and they never get shot, even when they do something stupid. And then there's this..." He stops abruptly, realizing that she is staring at him funny. "What?"
"How do you know all this? We work the same hours."
" I have a VCR. And sometimes I catch the re-runs on A&E if we get off early enough."
"I thought you didn't like the show." She says sarcastically.
They arrive at the set. Red Hook is what they call Brooklyn's 'Junkyard district', because it is where the people of New York toss broken and unwanted items, ranging from beds to junk cars. It is a neighborhood of abandoned buildings and New York's 'less desirables'.
Bosco pulls in and parks next to three other RMPs. They are both amazed at how the set looks. About three blocks of this filthy neighborhood, is all cleaned up, with cars parked on each side. The abandoned buildings are all freshly painted with the graffiti cleaned off. There are people milling around, eating and drinking. The store fronts have lights on and they actually look as though they are open for business. There is one working stop light and five working street lights, and it looks like a regular street anywhere else in the city. You'd never guess that twenty yards away, in every direction, are dark and dirty abandoned streets, littered with garbage, discarded junk, and strung out junkies, wandering like zombies in their underworld.
There is a crew, hurrying to put up huge sets of lights before it gets dark, and moving around pieces of equipment that are different types of cameras and sound devices, mounted on cranes and other vehicles. But most of the commotion is at the far end where a crane and a crew of eight are strategically placing one wrecked vehicle on top of another. Above that, a guy is talking through a bull horn to the workers below, explaining the scene, and behind him, inside the building, the pyro experts are wiring up explosives. In the middle of this fake city, is another guy with his own bull horn, barking orders to everyone. Including Bosco. "Where the hell did that extra squad car come from? Someone move it."
A guy with a clipboard approaches them and says angrily, "What the hell are you doing? Who told you to bring another car over here?"
Bosco snaps back "Hey jag-off, we were told to report here. This wasn't my idea."
"Who are you?" Mr. clipboard asks, placing his hands on his hips.
Faith steps in to explain. "We're from the 55th. They sent us for added security. We're suppose to report to a sergeant Peterson."
"Well you're in the wrong place. You need to go two blocks that way." he says pointing. "Look for the security trailer. You can't miss it. It's the one with the big star on it." His sarcasm changes to annoyed, "And don't drive on this street, we're laying out a scene here." He shakes his head as he walks away.
They drive out the way they came in, and circle around to the next few blocks. It is like driving into another world. Down in the alleyways they are passing, they can see the creepy images of the homeless peeking at them from behind dumpsters, picking through the garbage, placing things in their coats and wandering through the abandoned buildings like ghosts of the people they once were.
"It's sad, don't ya think?" Faith says glancing out the window.
"Sad? It's pathetic. Who does that jerk think he is. He talks to me like that again and..."
"Not that." She says annoyed. "I mean these people living here."
Bosco barks at her, "They're losers. They let drugs take over their lives and turn them into this. And they're perfectly happy wasting away out here. This is a perfect place for them to be."
"But don't you think it's sad that this production company can spend all that money, and in one day make that street look livable, but not spend a dime to help these people who really need it?"
"You can't help these people. They don't want it. And if they spent the money on fixing this place up for them, they'd have it ruined in a week anyway."
They drive down a few blocks and cut over one street and find themselves in another area that doesn't belong in this neighborhood. There are trailers and trucks, and people setting up tables of food. There are cops and paramedics walking around talking and laughing and you can't tell if they are real or make believe.
"Do you see any actors from the show?" Faith asks Bosco.
"I don't know. I told you, none of them are really famous."
They pull up to the security trailer, and inside they meet sergeant Peterson. He is an older looking cop, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with a small radio stuck in his ear like the kind the secret service wear. He is looking at a grid of the production set and pointing out locations by numbered sectors, to a group of men, some in uniform and some not. The uniformed officers are the real cops from the city, sent like 55 David was, and the others are all wearing black security t-shirts, and work for the production company.
The cops are instructed to patrol one block over, to keep the 'undesirables' from wandering up to the set, and the production officers are to position themselves on the perimeter of the set in case any of them get through. Peterson seems to be a real down to earth kind of guy. He sets up the security teams like he is laying out a police blockade. He obviously was a real cop at one time. He tells the officers that they can swing by the food area before they go to their positions. They can help themselves to coffee and a snack now, and also when they go on break, but they are not allowed to talk to the actors or any of the crew. That is a policy of the production company.
All the officers walk across the pavement that once was a parking lot, and head towards the table that is loaded with food. There is everything from pastries to cold cuts, fruits to nuts, and huge silver trays of pasta, salads, and vegetables. And even trays of fancy finger foods. As they walk to the table, Bosco smiles and nods at all the people he passes, and they all just glance at him and keep walking.
"Theses people are rude." Bosco says.
"Just keep walking. We aren't suppose to talk to them." She reminds him.
He grabs her arm and says, "What did I tell ya? We are gonna be stuck over in no man's land, while all these stuck up big shots and their glorified rent a cops, mingle around in this safe little fake city they made." She tries to keep walking, but her pulls her by the arm and stops her. "Tonight, we tell Lieu that we don't want to come back here."
"Bosco..."
"I mean it. Get your autographs tonight. We're not doing this two nights in a row."
Faith pulls her arm out of his grasp and starts heading over to the table again. She is still talking to him, not noticing that he did not continue walking with her. She is now walking and talking to no one. "You always ruin it for me. I'm enjoying not being spit on or shot at. This is a gravy detail."
"Are you practicing your lines or do you really get spit on and shot at?"
Faith looks up at the woman approaching her, and then back at Bosco, who is just standing and staring about eight steps behind her. "Oh...I was...I'm a real cop." She can feel her face turning red. "I thought I was talking to my partner, who is making me look stupid..." Then she adds glaring back at him, "...and pissing me off."
"Are you married?" The woman asks.
"Am I Married?" Faith repeats as she raises her eyebrows, "Yes...I'm married...with children." The question makes her a bit uncomfortable.
The woman puts her hands on Faiths arm and says, "Most of the female cops I've met are gay."
Faith is getting a bit nervous and glances down at her arm where the woman is holding her. She starts to say, "I know that every one assumes..."
The woman smiles and says, "I hope you don't mind my asking, but are you married to a cop?"
"A cop?...No, I'm not."
"Perfect!" The woman says. "Do you think that we can sit down and talk later?"
"Well...I don't know. We have to go out on patrol, you know, guard the area. And we were told not to talk to anyone, so..."
"Ya know what, I'll see if I can clear you. In about an hour or so. Do you mind? I have some questions."
A good looking guy approaches the woman and says, "Ya wanna go over that scene now? I have a few minutes."
"Yah." she says to him, then turning back to Faith she asks, "What's your name?"
"Officer Yokas, Faith Yokas."
"All right then Faith, I'll see you in about an hour." Then as a second thought she adds, "My name is Polly, and this is Jay." And they shake her hand.
Faith nods and tells her that she can be reached on her radio if they say it's ok. The two walk away from her and she turns her attention back to Bosco, who is still standing back staring. "Bosco, what the hell are you doing? Get over here. What's wrong with you?"
He walks up to her looking like he saw a ghost. "What did they say to you?"
"I think I just got hit on. Don't leave me alone around these people." She chuckles.
"Seriously, what did they say?" He presses.
"I'm telling you, I think that woman is trying to pick me up. She asked if I was gay. It was weird. I told her I'm not but she wants to talk to me later."
"Did you ask if you can have their autographs?"
Looking puzzled she says, "Why...should I have?"
"They are the stars of the show." He says in disbelief. "Didn't you recognize them."
"I told you, I've never seen the show. Oh man...she must have thought I was a moron. Why didn't you tell me? What were you doing any w...Bosco...you were star struck." She says laughing.
"No. I wasn't." He says angrily.
"You were. You saw them and you froze." She lets out a laugh, but then her expression changes to worry, "I wonder what she wants to talk to me about." She laughs again. "I love this assignment."
