Discovering Ashes (part 3)

"Hey, Jack, you gotta light?" I heard next to me. My partner, Dexter Thomas had this weird thing with his voice. Sounded like he was from New York or something. I didn't want to make it worse on his throat by giving him my lighter either, but... the guy helped me out now and then. Gave me and the kids some extra cash when he could afford it. I owed him a lot, even if he did get kinda annoying now and then. Especially with his constant "Fuck dis JAHB" talk.

"Yeah, gimme a sec," I told 'im. I reached into the right breast pocket of my uniform and pulled out my lighter. I loved that lighter. I could say it was because it was the last thing my Dad ever gave me or some bullshit like that, but I'd be lying. It was just the only Lighter I'd ever had. My lucky charm, too. The thing actually saved my life once. Don't know how the hell it managed to do it, but somehow, by the grace of God, the thing set some douchebag with a Glock on fire a few years ago. Poor guy must've had some oil on 'im or something, 'cause boy did he ever light up!

"Here," I handed him the black and white Zippo. "Just don't lose it, alright? Thing saved my-"

"Saved ya ass, I know Jack, ya told me tha fuckin' story a hundred times!"

"It's a good fuckin' story, you lousy son of a bitch! And you know it!"

We shared a laugh together before Dex flicked the flame on. What, you want me to give you a technical rundown of how the sparks lit the gas? Fuck that, I ain't no engineer. I didn't build the damn thing! No matter, 'cause he put the fire up to the end of his cigar and drew a few breathes to get it going. I don't know why, but I've always liked the smell of cigar smoke. Me? I prefer cigarettes, but the smell of cigars are beautiful, y'know? Kinda like that smell you get when a match burns only with some extra kick! Some oomph that you don't get anywhere else!

Dex nodded his thanks, flicking his wrist and closing the lid. I heard the small little noise that flames make when they die out, and knew that it didn't have to check twice to make sure it'd gone out. Not many people can hear the sound of the flame blowing out, but I can. Only on my lighter, though. Kinda weird, but me and that lighter've been through hell and back together. I know every little detail like the back of my hand. The small spade emblem in the center, engraved, felt perfect on my thumb while I put the lighter back in it's proper spot behind my carton of menthols. With Dex smoking his cigar - I swear those babies were Cuban - I didn't dare ruin the smell with my menthols.

Discovering Ashes (part 2)

I was one of the lucky ones to just get a transfer. Problem was, I went from patrolling the southeast side of the city – one of the more useful spots to patrol since it got hit with a lot of house intruders, burglaries, etc - to sitting in my car with a partner who couldn't give two shits about his job. Oh, he was a good cop – when he wanted to be. Problem was, he was tired of the job. Can't blame the guy for it; he was almost forty-five for Chrissakes. I was just pissed about going from a quick response to some kid's Xstation or Playbox or whatever getting stolen to “Okay Ma'am, and you say it was a brown cat who stole your laundry?” I went from actually facing down some scared-shitless punk with a 9mm every now and then to dealing with some of the weirdest sons-of-bitches I've ever seen.

Y'know what the biggest problem we had thanks to that arrogant prick in office was? It was fuckin' Christmas. Yeah – along with all of that “winter is a magical time” crap comes “Peace on Earth and Goodwill t'wards men” which nobody but us cops actually practice. Christmas time is usually my busiest time 'cause of the number of assaults (Also the reason I hate it when I get scheduled with work on Thanksgiving Night), robberies, and even one or two rapes. It gets interesting when you respond to a call about Santa raping one of his elves. There's some fucked up people in this world, and that jackoff had the balls to actually shrink the force? What kind of stupid decision is that? Hell, what kinda idiot voted him in?

​

Discovering Ashes (part 1)

An original story. Copyright Aaron Matney 2010

Some people romanticize winter. Talk about how 'beautiful' or 'majestic' the snow is, maybe even how 'magical' it seems to be. Hell, some people might even go so far as to say that its the most wonderful time of the year! That's all well and good and perfectly alright for them to say so – unless you're a cop. I'll be the first to tell you that a cop's work is dirty work. Probably the dirtiest out there outside of maybe running drugs for some faceless crime boss. And even then, some cops do that too.

Me? I'm the kind of cop you see in the blue uniform on the city streets. Call me a streetcop if you want, I'll take it as a God damn compliment. That guy you see on the movie, with the trenchcoat and gloves? Detectives. They're the guys who make the streetcop in the movie look like some dumb idiot who only writes up tickets and cracks jokes while cramming donuts into his face. No, see cops like me? We do all the dirty work. We get to the shootouts, we bust the druggies, we catch the God damn murderers! That Law and Order bullshit is just that – Bull. Shit. But hey, that's why I love this job. I get to clean up the streets as best as I can! Make it a safer city for my kids! And really, ain't that all any self-respecting person wants to do?

I do a lot of good for this city. Or at least I did, before that two-bit, two-faced sleezebag of a mayor got elected. I still can't believe his first “official business” trip was to the station to let the chief know that they were closing down the precinct. Said that the 5^th and 4^th would “pick up the slack”. Jesus, did this guy know how many good cops, guys I'd actually bled beside, he'd be firing? Of course he did! Politicians always know what the hell they're doing! They just don't give a rat's ass who it hurts as long as it puts Grant and Franklin in their fat fuckin' wallets.

The Pheonix City

So I'm writing a story. I'm not sure what it's about yet, but it takes place in the Pheonix City. No, that's not it's actual "Name", but that's the nickname it has because of how many times it's hit the precipice of destruction and nearly ceased to exist and still somehow managed to come through it all even stronger than before. I don't know what the main character's gonna look like or sound like, or live like or any kinda like you can think of. I just... have this idea for a city. It's partly due to my renewed love for my own hometown, and partly due to the fact that I just love this idea of a city that keeps failing due to different reasons only to succeed more than it ever had before.

Thoughts?