New Hope
By Ed Van Cise
"Hold it right there, boys. This is the police. Put your hands up," barked Officer Frank Poncherello, ducking behind a tree. "Son of a…!" shouted Ponch suddenly as a stick clattered on the ground behind him, having barely missing his head. When he looked up, the boys were gone.
"That’s it," he cursed, "those kids are toast! Come on, partner, let’s go!" Ponch and his partner, Officer Jon Baker, stood up from behind a shrub line. They had been observing three youth throwing rocks and sticks at the windows of an abandoned warehouse. The stakeout had been going well until Ponch stepped on a twig, causing it to snap loudly. Showing no fear, the vandals began throwing rocks and sticks into the dark night towards the officers.
Ponch and Jon leaped over the shrubs and took off after the boys, flashlights creating eerie shadows on the ground. It did not take long to chase them down a dead end alley next to the warehouse. Jon cornered two of them against a fence, but one of the boys was trying to squeeze under a small opening. With a lunge and a loud grunt, Ponch caught onto the boy’s feet and pulled him back.
The two officers quickly had the three juveniles handcuffed. When they had recovered their breath, Jon shined his flashlight towards Ponch and chuckled, "Man, I can’t believe you got that dirty apprehending one kid. I caught two and I’m perfectly clean. I can hear Getraer now…"
"Aw be quiet," grumbled Ponch, trying to sweep his once tan uniform clean with his hands, "that’s all I need to hear about. As if it’s not bad enough we have to be out here playing baby sitter for LA’s children." He looked at the kid he had caught and asked, "So, why were you breaking windows anyway?"
"We didn’t mean any harm officer, really. I mean, it’s the night before Halloween. We’re supposed to do bad stuff, right? It’s not like we were setting things on fire or anything, we were just having a little fun."
"A little fun?" asked Jon as he led the group back along the trail towards the parking lot where the officers had parked their motors. "When I was your age we used to toilet paper our neighbor’s yard or go cow tipping. We never felt we had to be vandals."
One of the kids Jon was leading spoke up, "I don’t know why we did it, sir. There are so many people getting all excited about this night, we wanted to see what the fuss was about. I mean, it’s all over the news about how in Detroit they are never able to prevent the massive fires that get set every year. We just wanted to get in on the fun, I guess."
"Well, son, do you enjoy wearing those bracelets?" Ponch asked, pointing at the handcuffs. "It might seem petty to you now, but if you keep it up, you’ll end up in the county prison getting really scared, understand?"
"Yes, sir," the boys replied quietly. Suddenly, the boy in front of Ponch stiffened. He brought a quivering hand up and pointed into the trees.
"Now what’s the matter?" growled Ponch as he tried not to trip over the boy.
"Shhhh…" the boy said, "didn’t you hear that?"
"Hear what? I didn’t hear…"
SNAP!
Jon and Ponch quickly switched off their flashlights and ducked to the ground pulling the boys with one hand, the other hand reaching for their holsters. "Ok, even I heard that," said Jon.
Suddenly behind them a torrent of pebbles went cluttering into the underbrush. "It’s a ghost!" whispered one of the boys.
"It is not, now be quiet," snapped Ponch.
Suddenly, a bright white light shone into the their eyes. All
five shrieked with surprise. The light seemed to come from
everywhere as they all lost their night vision with the sudden
onslaught of light.
"Here they are!" exclaimed a deep, steady, yet vaguely familiar voice.
Suddenly a large being burst from the other side of the trail into the light, making a deep throated laugh. As Jon recovered his sight, he recognized the two forms in front of him.
"Grossman, Jed! I am going to skin you two alive! Why the devil did you sneak up on us like that!?" he shouted, still trying to catch his breath.
Grossman’s deep laugh quickly turned into a giggle as he pointed at Ponch and Jon, "You should have heard yourselves! I’ve never heard women scream that loudly! Too bad I didn’t have my tape recorder, the guys would have loved to have heard the ‘Baker and Poncherello Howl.’"
Jed used his flashlight to gesture up the trail and replied, "Dispatch hadn’t heard from you two for a while and Sarge got nervous. He sent us out to look for you. We didn’t mean to startle you, really. Sorry about that."
Ponch was about to reply when the youngest boy began to giggle, chuckle, then all out laugh. The laughter became contagious as the other boys joined in. Making a loud sigh, Ponch pulled the boys to their feet and began moving them up the trail again towards Jed’s waiting cruiser.
***
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," he stammered, " I still don’t understand why children today feel they need to be so destructful, but at least this turned out to be a happy ending," he continued, recovering quickly. "The parents picked the kids up within an hour and each of the boys promised me they’d stick to less exciting activities. You should have seen the look on one mother’s face, though, when one of the boys asked me what cow tipping was," Jon answered with a smile and a swipe of his napkin across his own face.
"Well," she replied, "we had better clean up this table before the trick or treaters get here. I’ll rinse -- you dry."
"Fair enough," Jon replied. He began clearing away the plates from the small dinner table, pausing over Jennifer just long enough to give her a quick peck on the head. In a few minutes, all the dishes were done and Jennifer excused herself to the bathroom with a wink. With a puzzled smile Jon winked back and proceeded to get out the Halloween candy and candy bowl.
A few minutes later, Jennifer emerged from the bathroom. Her long brown hair was now braided and coiled around her ears. She wore a long flowing white cloak and an elegant belt with long dark boots. Jon could simply stare at the stunning transformation. Finally, he asked, "Who, pray tell, is this lovely creature and what have you done with my date?"
"You silly," laughed Jennifer as she gave Jon a big hug. When his curious gaze didn’t go away, she asked, "Do you seriously not know?"
"Give me the benefit of the doubt, ok?"
"Wow, I really need to get you out more. I’m Princess Leia. You know, from Star Wars."
"Oh," responded Jon, rather unconvincingly.
"Oh come on, you surely have seen the movie, haven’t you? It’s been out over a month now!"
"Well, I’ve been awfully busy at Central lately, and…" Jon started. He didn’t get to finish because Jennifer had grabbed him by the hand was leading him into the bathroom.
"What about the kids…" he started with a smile.
"Oh you hush," she chided. "Well this isn’t going to be as much fun as I had hoped, since you haven’t seen the movie, but I brought you a costume too." Jon’s mouth quivered as he was about to protest ,when she said, "Don’t’ bother. You’re going to wear it, and all these kids will think you’re really neat. Besides, Mister Luke Skywalker, you just might get to kiss the Princess at the end of the night. Now hurry up before the kids get here."
Five minutes later, the two emerged from the bathroom. Jon no longer looked like a confident CHP officer, but rather resembled a freedom fighter of the Rebellion from a galaxy far, far away. He was dressed in a white top that revealed just enough chest to make Jennifer smile constantly. His tight fitting white pants fit snugly into a pair of knee high brown boots. A heavy black utility belt hung from his waist, a light saber bouncing off his hip.
Jennifer clapped her hands with delight as Jon smiled unsuredly. She reached up and tousled his hair to give it more of an unkempt look and declared with a smile, "There, my lover, it’s time to go make the Alliance proud. Just be careful where you put that light saber, ok?"
"Whatever you say, ma’am, as long I get to see how you convinced your hair to stay all wrapped up like that," he winked. Jennifer was about to reply when a chorus of "Trick Or Treat!" drew them both to the door.
Jon opened the door as Jennifer went to get the candy. As he turned to face the candy seekers, he stared into three black clad figures, each trailing a cape. One of the boys looked at Jon and said in a deep voice, "The force is with you young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet. Provide candy and I will let you live…until we meet again." The child’s gloved black hands then thrust out his orange bag, the mask covered eyes gleaming. Jon turned to Jennifer who quickly tossed some candy into each child’s open bag. As the three were about to leave, one of them said in a voice very much out of character, "Thank you, Princess."
Jennifer replied with a nod of her head and said, "You are welcome, my lord."
Jon simply sighed, shook his head, shut the door and said, "This is going to be the longest Halloween yet."
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