MEMORIES
HUTCH
Like I told you before, I was pretty messed up in the head when I first got back from 'Nam. Hell, most of us were that managed to make it back home in one piece. Today they would call it post traumatic stress but back then they didn't have a name for the nightmares and the flashbacks we all experienced to some degree or another when we got back. I drove a taxi for a few months until I decided that what I really wanted to do was be a cop just like Pop. I applied just before my twenty-first birthday and managed to pass all the written and physical tests to qualify.
I don't think my decision really surprised anybody. And I was looking forward to it. I eventually wanted to work undercover as a detective and I knew that someday I would achieve that goal. I had no idea when I went to the police academy that I would meet a man who would become the best friend I could ever hope for. My partner, my friend, the other half of my soul. Hutch.
Now I wasn't too fond of Ken Hutchinson when we first got paired together as roommates at the academy. I thought he was a just a spoiled rich kid who had no idea what he was getting into. See, Hutch's family had money and so he'd been raised with all the advantages that money could buy. He'd also gone to college for three years studying pre-med. You could just tell by looking at Hutch that he had what most folks would call 'class' and 'breeding'.
It only took me a few days to realize that underneath the nice clothes and good looks, Hutch was a contradicting mess of insecurities, vulnerabilities and uncertainties. I'm not sure which one of us was the most surprised when we ended up such close friends after the initial misconceptions from our first meeting. I guess being roommates and being around each other twenty-four hours a day for six months while we were in the academy had a lot to do with it. You learn just about everything there is to know about another person under those conditions. There isn't much else to do after lights out except to talk.
I soon found out that Hutch wasn't that close to his family. They had high expectations for their only son and they were bitterly disappointed when he dropped out of college and decided to go to the police academy. He hadn't even talked to them in months. From the bits and pieces he told me in those early days of our friendship, I learned that he had been raised in a cold, sterile environment without much affection or love. That was the reason he was so insecure and vulnerable. He had turned his back on everything his father held sacred to make his own way in life and to become his own man.
He was also in the middle of a nasty divorce from a woman that had married him for his family's money and the prestige of being a Hutchinson. I only met the future ex-Mrs. Hutchinson a couple of times in those early days and she came off as a cold, unfeeling bitch. She didn't like me and I sure didn't like her. I found out much later that she had tricked Hutch into marrying her by getting pregnant and then aborting the baby when she found out the marriage couldn't offer her all the things she thought it would. She really messed up his head when it came to women and relationships. Taking a close look at his relationships with women since then, Hutch just seems like the kind of guy who attracts all the crazies there are out there.
I'll be the first one to admit that I would never have made it through the academy without Hutch's help. School work and books had never been one of my strong points and in the Academy, we had more than our share of both. If it wasn't for Hutch helping me with that part of the training, I would never have been able to keep my grades high enough to graduate. We soon discovered that we each had our own strengths that helped to balance out the other one's weaknesses and we learned to use that to our advantage.
I take credit for giving Hutch his nickname. Hutchinson just seemed to be too much of a mouthful and Kenneth seemed so formal, so I'm the one who started calling him Hutch. It caught on and he's been Hutch to his friends ever since. And he's called me Starsky or Starsk from the beginning. So there we were, a tough streetwise guy from New York and a classy guy from Minnesota, on our way to becoming the best of friends. We vowed back then that someday we would be partners.
We each spent eighteen months as probationary officers working different beats while still in uniform. I was eligible to take the exam for detective first and I passed with flying colors. I was assigned to the Metro Division and Hutch joined me there a couple of months later. We were finally partners just like we had always planned and we became the best team in the department with the highest arrest and conviction rate of anyone. We started making a name for ourselves almost immediately and soon the most difficult and high-risk cases starting coming our way. Today, we're considered somewhat of a legend in the department.
We were a Zebra three unit from the beginning. What that means is that even though the majority of our cases dealt with homicides, we also handled other kinds of cases too and had our own sector that we patrolled. A Zebra unit is an elite unit within the police department. And we were both proud to be known as Zebra Three.
Hutch and I have always spent most of our time together, both on and off duty. It just seemed to come naturally to us and helped to strengthen our bond even more. Even though we both have our own apartment, it isn't unusual for one of us to end up spending the night with the other one at their place. Our friendship and our bond goes far beyond our relationship as partners on the job. We really are the best of friends and always will be. We are even closer than brothers, we are the other half of each other and sometimes it seems as if neither one of us was complete until we met. Karma and fate brought us together and it's that same Karma and fate that has made us as close as we are. We would gladly die to protect one another and we have each made our share of sacrifices for each other. Very few people are ever lucky enough to find someone like Hutch to share their lives with. I know that if anything ever happened to him, my life as I know it would be over.
Hutch and I are so close that we share a unique form of communication, almost as if we can read each other's minds at time. A look, a gesture, that's all it takes for us to know what the other one has in mind or is going to do. Sometimes we even have a habit of finishing each other's thoughts or sentences. It can be unnerving to be around us if you're not used to it. Ask some of the women that we've double dated with. But it's that same communication that makes us so good on the streets as a team. In a tense situation, we know exactly what the other one is going to do before he does it.
There have always been rumors floating around about me and Hutch and our unique relationship. Usually we just laugh them off and make a joke out of it. People just can't seem to accept the fact that two men can have the deep friendship we have and not be gay. But, I'm here to tell you that Hutch and I are both normal, straight guys who just happen to love each other dearly. Of course part of the misconception about our true relationship comes about because we are not ashamed to show our feelings for one another and to be openly affectionate with each other.
Most of that comes from my own upbringing and my family. Everyone in my family is big on hugs, kisses and showing affection. It just comes second nature to me. And once Hutch thawed out, it started becoming second nature to him, at least where I was concerned. We've held each other when we were hurt, physically or emotionally, and comforted each other with our touch. There is a tender, sensitive side to Hutch that most people never see but me. We've even shared the same bed a time or two without even thinking anything about it. We trust one another completely and without question, with our lives, with our secrets, and with our souls. Together we are one, opposite sides of the same coin.
Sometimes it isn't easy being Hutch's friend. He can be intimidating, cynical, and downright obnoxious. He can be cold as ice one minute and then warm and friendly the next. But I know how to deal with his moods and he knows how to deal with mine. We level each other out and keep each other grounded. We keep each other sane in the crazy world we live in day by day. I will always be there for him and he will always be there for me. Nobody and nothing will ever come between us. We are joined at the heart for all eternity.
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