Crystal Bella (18 page)

“D
id you notice the door open when we kissed and the music came in,” Ethan said.

“I did. How cool!
”

They
stayed on the balcony for a while holding each other, so together now, they were one and they just laughed and talked under the starry night and the blue moon.

~~~~

Across town Lenard was not having such a great time. He was at the police station and was placed into a cell. The policeman who had brought him back was Lance. He was an eccentric cop. He had dyed blond hair with a dark brown moustache, he wouldn’t admit to it but he had dyed his hair blond to look like the character from his favorite TV show, Topper Copper. A program about a rebellious, quirky, honest cop.

On
e of the annoying factors for the other police officers with Lance was his desire to watch the telly at the police station. When Topper Copper was on, Wednesday 7.30 for an hour, nothing could get him away from the TV and then he would talk about the show for the next two hours. If there was an emergency at that time, Lance would do his best to make excuses. He had recently got a call out for a drive by shooting in a good area of San Francisco. It was in the afternoon and they just happened to have a replay special of Topper Copper at the time and he took forever to leave. He eventually did get going and when asked about his late departure by his boss he said he was just multi tasking and he knew everything would be fine, and it always was with Lance. Everything seemed to work out for him. His boss described him as an instinctive cop with a good hunch. He would say some silly things but he always got results.

Lance was in the station talking to his work friend, Tom who had
accompanied him out to the scene with Lenard. They had been talking about Lenard and what he had said in the car on the way over. Lenard had completely denied any wrong doing and when Lance and Tom discussed the case they realized it was impossible for Lenard to have done it. If Lenard had the ability to beat up an officer, then the San Francisco police were in for a bit of trouble. Lance had also highlighted that Tom’s forearms were twice the size of Lenard’s thighs. They reassured each other that they were great cops, it was just the costume, it made Lenard look very muscley and the truth was that was why Lenard had chosen it. When they had got back to the police station with Lenard and they removed his bird’s suite they were almost stunned to see how slim he was. Right then they knew they had the wrong man, but quietly put him in the cell anyway.

“
We have to let him go. I feel a bit mean keeping him here,” Lance said.

“
Yep.”

“
He did fit the description, being a bird and all. He reminds me of a chicken bone actually.”

“Which
bone?”

“The wish bone,
not the leg. Of course he is the thin bone of the wish bone.”

Tom was aware Lance could rant on
about things and he had that look in his eyes that he wanted to say more so Tom obliged and asked him.

“A
nd what bone would you be Lance.”

“Breastbone!” Lance said, “s
olid, dependable, lots of different bones coming into it, tough, tasty, but not too tough.”

He seemed serious and Tom thought it was t
ime for him to go somewhere else and he got up and mentioned to Lance to let Lenard go.

Lance
walked over to the cell where Lenard was. He lit up a cigarette on the way over and opened the door. Lenard looked like a startled chicken.

“
I believe…you’re free to go, so the rumor goes,” Lance said.

“
Really? Great.”

“
You fit the description, but my hunch says you’re innocent.”

“
Thank you for finding your common sense, I appreciate that.”

“I will say this though,” Lance said taking a drag on his smoke, “before I was a cop I had a fascination with wild bird life, especially exotics….I don’t care for your costume.” He blew smoke directly into Lenard’s face in a interrogating manner.

“
It’s just a bird,” Lenard said trying not to cough from all the smoke.

“
That's not just any bird.”

“I
t’s a Kiwi, no big deal.”

“
I know my birds and that's no Kiwi.”

“
I’m sorry to say but it is. I’m dressed as a Kiwi.”

“It’s a Moa bird.”

“
No it isn’t, I’m a Kiwi. The Moa was around 12 feet tall.”

“The K
iwi is very little. 1.5 feet tall I believe,” Lance said matter-of-factly.

They stared at one another. Lenard just wanted to get out of here
, get out of his prison cell and was getting to the stage where he would say anything to get himself out.

“
If you love birds,” Lenard said, “then why is my costume a problem?”

“The Moa
is nearly extinct that’s all. It’s like you are trying to take the piss.”

Lenard knew the Moa had been extinct
for over a hundred years but felt he better not tell Lance that. He may never get out if he did, so he made up a lie.

“Well with all sin
cerity I do hope you get the opportunity to go to New Zealand one day and visit the Moa. I believe they are thriving in some areas in the deep bush,” Lenard said it hoping he would take his bluff.

“You’re a top man. You can go! I knew from the moment I saw you
that you’re innocent!” And with that he led Lenard out. “Please don’t sue us,” Lance said with a smile.

“Of course not
, bye.”

“I would offer
you a lift, but I have some very important work to do.”

A replay of Topper
Copper was coming up in 20 minutes and he knew he might miss it if Lenard lived far away.

“I’m fine to get a taxi than
k you,” Lenard said.

“Just follow your balls
, you’ll be fine.”

Lenard
was unsure what he meant by that but he didn’t want to ask. He left, found a taxi and was driven home.

Lance returned
to the main area of the police station. He saw Tom coming his way. He had just got off the phone from the hospital regarding the condition of Chuck and had smelt smoke and was on his way to locate it.

“It’s a non smoking department here
, Lance.”

“My
apologies, it was for effect, for the bird, that was all. They are herbal and from New York, but I guess it’s still smoke. So I’ll refrain in the future....or I’ll try very hard.”

They both headed back to their main office
.

“
I just got off the phone before from the hospital. Officer Bobby Hanson (Chuck) has a fractured vertebrae and a fractured humerus. He will be off work for a while,” Tom said.

“
That’s really sad, he’s a good man,” Lance replied.

Lance walk
ed over to the side and poured himself a coffee and then took a seat.

“I never had a good feeling about this project Bobby was on. The name he chose, I just didn’t feel it was the right call.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Going by the name of Chuck. I just felt it was dangerous. Sounds too much like duck and we know what happens to a duck…”

Tom
was unsure what to say, uncertain what happens to a duck. He just stood there and to change the subject he said he had to go and file a report. Lance could see him about to walk away so he kept talking to make Tom stay.

“
He should have just changed his name slightly from Bobby to Booby, that would be better, far more suitable. Booby is a name of a bird by the way, they have spectacular feet, so colorful. You have the blue footed, the red footed and the masked booby.”

Tom slowly
walked away, Lance wanted him to stay. “Those bloody masked booby’s!” Lance said, and as he took a sip of his coffee it gave Tom enough time to bolt and leave. Lance was by himself now and with that privacy started whistling bird tunes. He did his best to imitate the Moa bird and the Kiwi bird and tried a combo.

Tom was a few rooms over talking to his boss and they could hear Lance.

“What the hell is that noise?” Tom’s boss asked.

“It
’s Lance.”

“Sound
s like a retarded Eagle has entered the building and having an eating frenzy on a half dead carcass!”

Tom
went and filed his report. Lance eventually finished up with his bird whistling and was walking around doing very little just counting down the minutes to Topper Copper. Tom came back and sat on his desk and starting reading through one of his community newspapers. He came to a page with a picture of an old lady and it was an article on how she had scared away a burglar with her fire arm. It was the same old lady that had shot at Christian, Carl and Ethan. She had a big grin in the photo, she looked quite cool, very street smart.

“Hey Lance
isn’t this the call out you went too?” He yelled out. Lance walked over.

“Indeed it is,
” he said looking at the picture. “I remember this very clearly. I was watching Topper Copper at the time and it came through as a drive by shooting. No way my balls told me and sure enough after finishing Topper Copper I turned up and it was just a break in and she had scared them away.”

“Interesting
.”

“Yes it was
. She had a gun attached to her knickers.”

“
Dangerous.”

“
Very. I would’ve liked to have known her 10 years ago.”

Tom did
n’t know what to say to that and gave a nervous whistle and then thought,
shit I’m becoming like him.
Lance continued talking.

“
She seemed pretty chirpy considering what had happened. It was like her day in the lime light. It was quite a happy story in the end, no one got hurt, she chased them away and I believe the community is tighter for the experience. As for the gun in the thong, I simply said, if you’re gonna do that, get a proper leather upholstery.”

W
ith that all said Lance left and went to the cafeteria that had a TV. He passed another police officer on the way.

“Topper C
opper’s on!” he excitedly said.

H
e turned on Topper Copper and sparked up his cigarette and said aloud, “last one for the night. I promise!”

The old lady from the shooting was at home l
ooking at the same community newspaper. She liked the photo of herself. She looked edgy she had decided, a rough diamond with a quirky smile. She had not had any speed for a few days now and was regaining her senses back. She turned on her TV and saw that Topper Copper was on. Not her thing, too soft. She put a video into her recorder instead, one of her favorite movies about an older woman with a gun who didn’t care much for men, and sparked up her joint. She fast forwarded it to her favorite part where the main character comes back for revenge on her past lover. She loved this part.

“Get the
mongrel. Get em. Get the bloody mongrel!!” She yelled.

~~~~

At the college party, it was 12.30 and the party started to wind down and everyone was leaving. Most heading off to another venue to continue to party.

Ethan and
Kali left and they both walked hand in hand. Just the faintest of rain as they walked outside, but it felt good to feel the mist. They headed towards Ethan’s car. The night flowed on, the many strange looking students in their costumes all entering the night. A new night emerged now as most seemed to seek adventure. Ethan and Kali blurred amongst those walking the similar path until they were separated and found themselves just walking alone.

“I hope Christian is okay
,” Ethan said.

“
I hope the other guy is okay, Chuck?”

“
Yeah I'm sure it's not his real name though.”                                                                            

They kept walking and wer
e holding each other. Holding hands was good but sometimes cuddling was better. It felt good for them both to be gliding along going through the night and it seemed fitting to finally be by themselves. They arrived at Ethan’s car. The slight rain had stopped but it had kept their skin moist. Ethan looked at Kali almost in awe that he was with her, holding her, looking right into her eyes. He felt like 16, he was with his angel and Kali looked so young, it was as if she had transformed into a 16 year old girl. It was so innocent and pure that their moments together were intermixed with so many feelings of different times and right now they both felt like teenagers. They sat on the bonnet of Ethan’s car.

“
Do you believe in fate?” She asked.