"I'm tired and there is no rush to speak to the brass today. Besides, I know you, you'll tell everyone the news as soon as you get to the station."
Pete put on a pair of sunglasses, a Dodgers baseball cap pulled low over his eyes and reclined the seat as much as one could in a corvette. The fact that Jim wholeheartedly agreed to let him nap made Pete nervous; he'd been a cop too long to not know that his partner was up to something. Val Moore had tagged him with the nickname "Fox" for his intelligence. Any connotation having to do with women came later
"Make the next left Partner."
"What?" Jim hemmed and hawed. "I thought you were sleeping." Reed had slowed down but had yet to move over to the proper lane to make a left turn from.
"I wasn't, now take the next left." Pete still had on the dark glasses and the baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. "If you don't, I'm going to get out and walk home.
"Are you accusing me of doing something devious? I'm insulted." The younger man felt that he had nothing to lose by using one of Pete's lines.
Pete shook his head, laughing. "I'm stating a fact. My apartment is to the left; the station is a few blocks straight along this road." Reluctantly, Jim turned the car towards Pete's place.
"Your voice is too high to pull off that line…."
"Alright…alright, I promise that I won't tell anyone but Mac about you being cleared for light duty." Pete couldn't help himself and chuckled at Jim's tone of voice, which would have conveyed his annoyance even to people who spoke no English. "What's so funny?"
"The cat in the tree behind you was trying to catch a bird and fell out instead." After all, discretion is the better part of valor.
"Uh huh." Pete was already getting out of the car when Jim continued. "Wait a minute. Where is your promise?"
The older man stood at attention, right hand in the air and left hand out as if it were resting on a Bible. "I solemnly swear that I will go straight to my apartment, take all my medication and lay down to rest. Satisfied?"
"Maybe I should go with you…." Pete cut Jim off mid-sentence.
"I already have an overprotective mother, so the job isn't open. GO!"
O~O~O
To his credit, Pete did head to his apartment…
With each step, he became more and more aware of the warmth of the sun on his shoulders. He heard the soft tingle of Mrs. O'Brien's wind chimes, the sounds of kids playing, dogs barking and the scent of flowers floating in the wind. Nature was calling him towards the park and who was he to say no to mother nature?
Pete chatted with the mailman, the guy who ran the drink stand and anyone he came in contact with. From a bench by the lake, he watched the ducks scrambling for breadcrumbs and noticed the scantily clad young women laying out in the sun. He tossed a ball around with a couple of kids, got an ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles and lost all track of time. It was the most relaxing afternoon he had had in months.
O~O~O
"Peter Malloy! Where have you been, worrying me by disappearing. You know I have a bad heart."
"Your heart will still be beating ten years after they put you in the grave." The one thing Pete didn't need today was Mrs. O'Brien. "I was unaware that I needed your permission to take a walk."
The old woman waggled her parasol at him, insisting that his mother had left her in charge of him when his parents went back to Seattle. He was about to respond when the phone in his apartment started to ring.
"It's been ringing every five minutes for the last two hours. If you hadn't taken away my key, I could have answered it." His landlord put her hand out, palm up. "I'll take it back now."
"You lost that privilege when you tried to sneak in during the middle of the night to snoop on us. You're lucky that Sally didn't belt you when you caught her getting out of the shower." Pete hurried up the stairs to his apartment before the phone stopped ringing.
O~O~O
"Malloy", Pete took a few quick breaths as he answered the phone to find Mac on the other end.
"You okay Pete? You sound out of breath." Typical to his nature, Mac was more concerned about Pete than angry about having a hard time reaching him.
"I'm fine Mac…rushed to get the phone. Let me guess, Jim told you about this morning's doctor visit?"
"I'm afraid your secret is out." MacDonald chuckled. "Jim told me, but with him strutting around the station, smiling and whistling, the other guys on the watch figured it out."
"Why am I not surprised?" While the words were cynical, they were spoken with a chuckle.
"I'm glad to have you coming back. There must be three months of paperwork just waiting for someone to wade through the mess."
"You better be joking Mac, cause if you're not, I'm absconding to the Academy." This is what Pete missed the most about being away so long, the banter of the station. "I'm cleared to start restricted duty on Wednesday. When do you want me to start?"
"Wednesday day watch is fine. That will give you three days back before the sergeants' exam on Saturday."
"Great, I'll see you then."