She was about to go to her bedroom and lie down when the doorbell rang. An annoyed sigh escaped as she pulled on her 49rs sweatshirt and made her way to
the front door. This better be good. It was hard enough trying to do things with one hand, but she also realized that doing so wore her out. She wished that she
hadn't told Julie that it was okay to go to a friend's house because at that moment she really could have used someone else to answer the door. She was
exhausted beyond measure and it couldn't be good for her to be using her non-dominant hand to do things that she would normally do with her broken wrist.
Wearily she unlatched the chain and turned the knob. Thankfully it wasn't a sales person or even the annoying kid down the street.
"Captain Stottlemeyer! What are you doing here? Oh God, please don't tell me there's been another murder! I'm so wiped out!"
"Actually I've come on an order."
"An order? What are you talking about?"
Stottlemeyer held up a paper bag and smiled. "This…" he said, handing it to her "… is for you."
She took the bag for him and opened the door wider. "Oh, thanks. I can't imagine what it is. I didn't order anything."
"Well, actually-."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want to come in?"
"Nah, I'm fine. Actually, I need to go back to the station and finish up some paperwork. But I was given specific orders to deliver that to you at this precise
moment!"
Natalie's eyebrows rose. "Precise moment? That sounds like a line from Back to the Future Part Three. You know where Marty is standing in the rain and the
Western Union guy comes and says-"
The Captain looked at her blankly. Clearly he wasn't familiar with Marty McFly, the time- traveling DeLorean or the infamous Doc Brown.
"Um, never mind." She said quickly. "You said this was a delivery?"
"Well, kind of. I hope it's all there. I double checked it, but I'll never hear the end of it if it's wrong!"
She peered into the bag and began to remove the items. "What is all of this?"
"Honestly, I don't know and I didn't ask any questions. I wouldn't have understood the answer anyway."
"I'm not following you."
"Don't worry about it. Just… how are you doing?"
She was growing tired of that question but she smiled anyway. "I'm fine."
"You look exhausted."
"That's an understatement."
"Well, get some rest, all right?"
"Okay, thanks, Captain."
"No problem."
He turned on his heels to go back to his car, but her curiosity got the better of her and she reached into the bag. One by one she removed each item and looked
at it. Inside were tiny boxes of every kind of pain reliever imaginable (some even contained a nighttime sleep aid), a CD of soothing music and a bottle of ginger
ale.
"What is all of this?"
"I told you, I don't know."
"Okay, well, thank you."
"Don't thank me, thank Monk!"
"Mr. Monk, why?"
"Because he's the one who called me and insisted that I bring you the bag! Goodnight, Natalie."
"Goodnight…"
In a daze she closed the door, wondering what had just happened.
