Day 2: 'Flexible'
"To work as both a detective and an actor, you need to be flexible. I, for one, am very flexible."
"Yeah, sure you are, pal."
"Why so sarcastic? I'm being serious."
"Because I remember that time you were in the play across town, right as those 4 homicide cases opened? You were a frantic mess, pal!"
Anthony's head hanged. Gumshoe was right. That was a good example of how he needed to be flexible too.
He was a frantic mess, the curls in his hair a Gordian knot and his face a dragging mess, arms full of files and a cup of coffee as he rushed back to his desk, sifting through the files and the gathered evidence. He rubbed his eyes, dark with bags hanging underneath. He knew he had to rush out soon, but he didn't. He kept paging through files, blabbering into the phone about details he found at the crime scene. As he glanced at his watch, he screamed in horror, forcing most of the officers around him to jump or snap to attention, as he threw himself up and started running, becoming a shambling pile of trash as he quickly hobbled his way to the office door, Gumshoe watching on in slight worry and amusement. He chuckled, and called out to Anthony as he got close to the door.
"Pal? Ya know your car broke down after I went to get your coffee, right?"
This groan was supernaturally loud and dead-sounding, and Anthony seemed even more of a mess now.
"I'm screwed! My goose is cooked! I'm finished! My requiem will be my opus! My success was just a red herring!"
"Why don't I drive you? We can take the squad car so we skip traffic." Gumshoe suggested, smirking at the wreck formerly known as Anthony. Anthony nodded so enthusiastically he might've snapped his neck if he had gone any further.
As they sat in the car, Gumshoe looked at the distraught Anthony, and chuckled.
"If you're gonna do the whole two career thing, you gotta be flexible, alright? If you've got a show, I can take a couple of cases for ya, pal." He offered, nudging Anthony. "Cause I support ya. Lofty dreams, and you're doin' public service at the same time. It's ambitious. And it's good. I've seen you on break when you do those poetry things and you get up and read Shakespeare. You've got that talent. Skill. The emotion for acting. You're a natural, pal."
Anthony nodded his head quietly in gratitude.
"Thanks, Dick. You're a great friend."
The rest of the ride was silent.