Nine Drabbles

[smallhobbit]

Drabbles written for the weekly drabble challenge at Lifein1973

The Mistake

Sam curled up into a ball on his bed and fought the sheet that was trying to engulf him.  His head ached, his stomach ached, and his shoulders ached.  He gave up thinking about how much of him ached and wiggled his toes in the hope that they didn’t ache.  But they did.  He peered cautiously at the television expecting to see the blurry face of a doctor saying that there was a problem with his medication.  Nothing.  He groaned pathetically.  It had been a very bad mistake to bet Chris that he could beat him at Ray’s drinking game.

---000---

The Local News

It was a quiet afternoon so Chris was passing his time by reading the local paper.

All of a sudden he looked up, “This paper’s useless - it’s always getting things wrong.  You know that Rogers said he couldn’t have been at that blag last Wednesday ‘cos he was at his old man’s funeral.  They’ve put in the paper the funeral was on Tuesday.”

Gene swore, “Or maybe the funeral was in fact on Tuesday, leaving Mr Rogers conveniently free to do a blag on Wednesday.  You know Chris, you reading that paper may just have proved very useful after all.”

---000---

Rain

Phyllis didn’t like the rain.

It increased the number of umbrellas in Lost and Found.

It added to the number of old folk who came to report they’d lost an umbrella.

It worsened the Guv’s temper when he fell over the extra umbrellas she’d put in Lost and Found.

It meant the floors were muddy where everyone had tramped in and out.

It led to a large puddle where DCI Hunt had dripped in revenge for falling over the umbrellas.

But it brought out her unexpected motherly side when DI Tyler came into the station looking like a drowned rat.

---000---

The Secret

“Where’s Phyllis?” Gene demanded.

 

“Dunno, Guv,” but Chris looked furtive.

 

“No idea,” Ray was equally evasive.

 

Gene stomped back to the front desk, but there was still no sign of the desk sergeant, just a couple of plonks with silly smiles on their faces and a box that he thought moved slightly.

 

Gene went back to his office and didn’t emerge until just before beer o’clock.  He went for one last look for the errant sergeant only to discover her handing out six small kittens to their proud new owners with Ray and Chris at the head of the line.

---000---

Icon challenge

They were standing in the art gallery looking at a portrait of a Civil War soldier with a scar on his face.

 

To Gene he was a man who stood up for his beliefs and protected those he cared for. 

 

To Annie he was a lover who would be devoted to one woman, from the moment he first saw her.

 

To Sam he was someone who had started out unfeeling and uncaring but had slowly been brought into another life.  A life of joy and hope that had come about because of one with whom he had fallen in love.

---000---

The Team

The smell of aftershave wafted down the corridor.  Gene sniffed and disappeared into his office, shutting the door firmly against all comers.  Ray remembered a witness who needed to be interviewed urgently, despite having put it off for the past three days.  He took pity on Chris and took him with him as backup, because one could never be sure how aggressive an eighty year old lady was going to be.  So it was left to Sam to confront an extremely angry DCI Litton when he stormed into the office demanding to know why CID had freed his prime suspect.

---000---

Umbrellas

It was another wet day and Annie was looking at the umbrellas, mentally assigning them to their owners. A black one for the Guv, the check one would be for Chris, borrowed from his mum, the other sensible black one for Sam and the blue gingham, Ray?

She watched as Ray collected one of the black umbrellas, then Chris came and looking guilty, took the other, “It’s my Dad’s, he doesn’t know”.

Sam blushed slightly as he picked up the check one, “Phyllis said I could use it.”

So that just left the blue gingham one. “Don’t ask,” said Gene.

---000---

In Trouble

Sam stood outside Rathbone’s office feeling very embarrassed and shuffling from one foot to the other.

“Come in!” Sam entered.

Rathbone stood up and began to lecture him, “I do not expect this sort of behaviour from my senior officers. I would have thought that you, of all people, should be setting a better example.”

He droned on and on and Sam started to laugh.

“What’s so funny, Inspector?”

“Nothing, Sir.” He didn’t think he could explain that he was laughing because for the first time in his life he was being told off for playing football in the corridor.

---000---

The Solution

Sam absentmindedly stroked the cat that was rubbing round his ankles. It was yet another night when he couldn’t sleep, so he’d come out in the early morning hoping that the fresh air would clear his head. The case they were working on didn’t add up: a murdered woman who had been cheating on her husband, but the husband had a perfect alibi. Sam rubbed the cat’s neck, so much like Ivanhoe they could have been twins. He remembered two boys in his class who played jokes on the teachers, they were twins. And the husband had a twin brother!