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Chapter 2
Luis walked back into the station house after finishing
his afternoon patrol. Beth was sitting on the edge of Quinlan’s desk flirting dangerously with him. Luis felt the
anger build with in him at watching this little display. He wasn’t jealous which rather surprised him, but angry
that she was making a fool out of herself and him in front of all his peers. Slamming the door loudly behind him
Luis walked over to where Beth was sitting.
Marty knew by the sound of the door that Luis had just returned. He stiffened in his chair when he thought about
what Luis’ reaction would be. He never had any intention of doing anything with Luis’ girl, she was the one that
approached him and wouldn’t leave.
"Hi Luis" Marty greeted hiding his nervousness. "I was just telling Beth you were out on patrol
and would be back any minute."
"I have no doubt about that Marty" Luis replied dryly. He knew both Marty and Beth well enough to know
who instigated this scene. "What’s up Beth? I told you I was working a double today and wouldn’t get out of
here till nearly midnight."
"Yes, I know" Beth smiled slyly. Luis firmly took Beth’s arm and guided her to his desk. She winked at
Marty over her shoulder as she walked away.
Luis saw her still flirting with Marty and took a deep breath to keep his temper under control. "What’s up
Beth?" He asked again, this time his voice demanding an answer.
"I dropped by to give you these" Beth said as she handed Luis a large manila envelope.
"What’s in here?" He asked as he started opening the clasp. Before she had a chance to speak, Luis groaned
loudly. "Oh no! Not this again!"
"Yes this again" Bath answered with exasperation in her voice. "Luis I told you I need to get out
of this town. I want to see more of the world and I thought you wanted that too!"
"You know I want to travel Beth, but I don’t want to move. Harmony is my home."
"You can always come back and visit Luis" Beth offered hopefully. "New York is only a few hours
from here and there you’ll have the world at your fingertips."
"Beth, don’t you get it? I don’t want to move to New York or Chicago or Boston. I want to visit those places
and others, especially Spain, but I don’t want to live there. Harmony is where my family is, my friends. I know
everyone who lives here and they know me. It’s who I am Beth." Luis wasn’t completely surprised that she had
brought this up again. She’d been dropping little hints for weeks about wanting to move to the Big Apple and for
the most part he’d managed to ignore it.
"All right Luis" Beth said feigning a small grin. "Forget I said anything. Call me in the morning
when you wake up."
"Sure thing Beth" Luis answered. He was glad this round was over, but in the back of his mind he knew
it would be just a matter of time before they did this again. At one time Luis was sure Beth was the right girl
for him, but the strain in their relationship was becoming greater with each passing day. A thought fled through
his mind that caused him almost to smile but he quickly curbed it. For the first time in his life he was glad something
happened to prevent him from marrying Beth right out of high school. Granted he wasn’t happy about his father’s
disappearance, but that was the reason he never married. With his family almost grown, Luis could if he wanted
to, finally settle down, but he’d never admit that to Beth. Right now at this moment Luis actually admitted to
himself that he wanted out of his relationship with Beth. The question now was how?
"Have a good night Luis" Beth said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
"You too Beth" Luis smiled at her. Beth looked at Luis with surprise as she raised a brow. She shrugged
it off immediately, smiled back and left the station house.
Luis sat down at his desk and let out a huge sigh. He didn’t want to think anymore about his problems with Beth,
not right now. He pulled his notebook out of his pocket and began flipping through the pages making sure everything
was in order. Satisfied he had written down everything that had happened while on patrol, he decided to check his
email hoping to have a response from Jay. When he opened it he swallowed hard when he saw there was mail from KC
Girl, not Jay. Luis clicked the icon and quickly opened his mail.
Dear PezzMan,
Thank you for your lovely note regarding my post of Spain on the Travel Board. I must say Spain is probably my
favorite place to visit of all the places I’ve been. I find the life in the small villages there much more real
that the hustle and bustle of big cities such as where I live. Maybe it’s just the feel of small towns that appeals
to me. As a young child I lived in a very small town and can still remember the warm feeling I had. I live in a
big city now and though it is filled with charm, I feel lost every time I walk down the street.
Sorry to get carried away, I didn’t mean to really. I just wanted to thank you for your thoughtful note and to
tell you not to hesitate if you ever want to hear more about Spain or any other place I’ve traveled to. I’d be
more than happy to share my experiences with you and perhaps you can remind me what living in a small town is like.
KC Girl
Without even thinking about it Luis decided to respond
to his new cyber pal’s email. This was just what he needed to take his mind off his problems with Beth.
Sheridan had just finished making herself a cup of tea when she heard her computer calling her. "You’ve got
mail."
"Maybe Godis is home early" Sheridan said hopefully as she walked towards her computer dunking her tea
bag up and down in the cup. Placing her cup down on her desk, Sheridan opened her mail finding that it was from
PezzMan, not Godis. A rush of adrenalin coursed through her as she opened her mail and devoured his words. Like
the man she didn’t know, Sheridan decided to respond to his email and now he was writing back again. She had no
idea why she was so drawn to this person she knew nothing about. For that matter she didn’t even know if he was
a man for sure, after all people can pretend to be anyone or anything on the internet.
Truthfully right now she didn’t care. Her real life was anything but what she dreamed it would be and this was
a nice distraction. Jean Luc never wanted to hear about her travels or anything else for that matter. Thinking
about it, she wondered what it was Jean Luc loved about her? He’d wined and dined her until she’d agreed to marry
him and now it seemed like he found every excuse possible to spend time away from her. She took a sip of her hot
tea then clicked on her email to read.
Hi KC Girl,
You didn’t get carried away, not at all. Thanks for your offer to share more of your travel experiences with me.
I might just take you up on that at some point in the future. For now I’m curious as to how many times you’ve been
there? Your description is so vivid it’s almost as if you’ve been there many times. If you have been there more
than once, do you know which way is the best to go there? I mean, is it better to travel alone, with friends or
what?
You asked me about life in a small town, well I am an expert since that’s really all I know, so this should be
easy! Well for starters, it seems like you know everyone in town. You walk down the street and each face you meet
is familiar, you call each other by name. Most of the businesses are family run, no big chain stores like Wal Mart
here. Holidays like 4th of July are celebrated in the town square with a huge festival. Most of the townspeople
participate in one way or another.
I can’t explain what it is about a small town that really appeals to me. Maybe it’s the fact that I like walking
down the street and having people say "Hi" to me knowing who I am instead of people rushing past not
even taking the time to see who it is they just brushed by. I like being able to interact with people one on one
instead of as a faceless name in the crowd. I like the way the townspeople rally around their friends and neighbors
offering them support in time of need.
Now it’s my turn to get carried away. I’ll stop now that you know far more than you ever dreamed about. I need
to get back to work anyway. I have a tyrant for a boss! ;-)
PezzMan
Sheridan grinned and quickly hit the reply button and began
typing. She couldn’t keep the wistful grin off her face as she envisioned what life in a small town must be like.
It sounded like heaven to her and made her long to go home to Harmony. She knew it was out of the question though.
Jean Luc’s life was in Paris and that would be where she must stay.
Luis returned to the station house to finish up his shift. He hurriedly did all his required paperwork, hoping
to spend a little time on the internet before it was time to go home. Once he’d completed his work, he logged onto
the computer. Waiting for him were several emails. Among them were ones from Jay and KC Girl. For some reason,
he felt a sense of relief when he saw a response from KC. He couldn’t really explain how he felt and didn’t really
want to think about it. Not yet. He decided to see what was up with his old partner first.
Luis,
Tell Sam "hi" back. It's nice to know I'm still missed. Tell him that until he figures out how to make
in not snow in Harmony, I'm staying here where it's warm all year round. Were you writing on your lunch hour? Lucky
thing you have an understanding boss there - LOL.
I checked out that post on Spain. You are right, it was a great post and reading it made me feel like I was in
Spain. Actually, mi amigo, I did you one better. I went to that music site I told you about and downloaded some
songs from Spain and played them while I read the travel post. You ought to try it next time you re-read that post.
And don't even try to deny it! I know you, you'll be reading it over and over again. Some day - you will get to
Spain yourself - I know you will.
As far as why you decided to email instead of posting a reply, I don't know. I'm not feeling like playing shrink
today. But I wouldn't worry about it. What's the worst that could happen? She'll ignore you 'cause she thinks you
are weird. Who knows, maybe she'll answer you. If she only knew how weird you really are! Ha I love it when you
make it so easy to rag on you.
Tell Beth to put a sock in it. I keep telling you she is not the right woman for you. Let her go to the big city
if she wants to go. You'll be better off without her.
Did you see the Lakers last night? They rocked.
Take care - I'm out of here,
J
Luis laughed when he read his friend’s note. She’s not
getting away with that one, no way!"
Jay,
Who are you kidding? The Lakers got lucky last night! Wait till they play the Celts next week, they'll mop the
court up with the Lakers! Talk about a turncoat. I never figured you’d be one to turn on a New England team.
As for that poster thinking I’m weird, I guess she doesn’t because she replied to me earlier and I wrote back again.
Right now I have another unopened email from her that I’ll read as soon as I’m done here. I’m really looking forward
to reading it. It seems she loves small towns and asked me to tell her what it’s like to live in one. She said
she lived in one as a small girl but now lives in a big city. I told her she asked the right person about that!
I hate to admit this, but you might be right about Beth. She came by this afternoon and handed me a manila envelope
with job applications in it. She wants me to fill them out and move with her to New York or wherever. I told her
I had no intention of moving from Harmony and she dropped it. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ve heard the end of
it.
Oh, and you should have seen her flirting with Marty! She’s always been a bit of a flirt, but this was downright
embarrassing.
Going to read KC Girl’s email. Talk to you tomorrow I hope.
Luis
Luis sent his email to his friend and turned his attention
to KC’s latest note. He was just about to open it when Sam walked into the squad room. "Still here buddy?"
Sam asked.
"Yeah Sam" Luis responded. "I’ll be leaving in a few minutes. I’m just finishing up a few things."
Sam shook his head. "I would think that after working 16 hours you’d be happy to go home."
"I will be happy to go home Sam" Luis told him. "Just as soon as I finish up here."
"Problems with Beth again?" Sam asked knowing it was true. Marty had told him what happened earlier in
the day.
"You heard?"
"Yeah, Marty told me."
"Sorry about that. I’ve asked her not to stop by the station, but she wanted to drop off some applications
for me."
"You’re not seriously considering moving from Harmony, are you Luis?"
"Of course not Sam! Why would you even think that?"
"When you mentioned Beth dropped off..."
She’s on her kick again, Sam. She’s done this before. She applies for jobs and never hears from them. She’ll get
over it."
"You might want to check into it this time Luis" Sam said knowingly. "Hank told me Beth received
a job offer in New York last week."
"What?" Luis asked incredulously. "She told Hank about this and didn’t tell me?"
"She probably knew what your reaction would be."
Luis shook his head. "I don’t know Sam. This might be the end of the road for us. I’ll have to talk to her
tomorrow and find out what’s going on.
"Good luck man" Sam said patting Luis on the back. "I’m going home to my wife. Don’t stay too much
longer all right? Remember, you’ve got to be back here tomorrow."
"I’ll be out of here soon Sam, I promise."
"Goodnight Luis."
"Goodnight Sam."
Sam grabbed his coat and left the police station headed home to his wife and children. Sometimes Luis envied Sam
and this was one of those times.
Luis turned back to his computer and opened the email that was waiting for him.
Dear PezzMan,
Now it is my turn to thank you! Your description of small town life was simply heavenly. Right now all I want to
do is hop on a plane and go back to the town I was born in. Unfortunately circumstances are keeping me from going
home, at least for now. I think you should post that so other people can enjoy it. I bet there are others who long
for the simple life of small town life. I especially like the part of passing people in the street and saying "Hi"
to them by name. I’ve walked the streets here everyday for over ten years and can’t recall ever running into a
friend or neighbor.
As a matter of fact, I don’t even know my neighbors and I’ve lived here for three years. It seems like everyone
is in their own little world and no one has the time to get to know each other. Well, I’m not going to dwell on
that anymore.
You asked me how many times I’ve been to Spain. Actually I have been there three times. The first time I went with
some of my college friends. We went to all the popular places and tourist destinations. It was a wonderful time,
but very much like visiting any other city in Europe.
The second time I went I was alone and was there for the whole summer. I had a chance to tour the countryside and
mix with the locals. I’m pretty good with the Spanish language and was fluent by the time I left. It was a wonderful
experience. I attended local festivals and learned different customs associated with different regions of Spain.
That was the best summer I ever spent. It will always be engrained in my mind.
The last time I was there was last Christmas. I became quite friendly with a family there in Costa de Marbella
and they invited me for the holidays. Marianna, my host was disappointed I didn’t have a companion with me. She
told me the only way to see Spain was with a loved one. She assured me I’d see her country in an entirely different
light. She invited me to come back anytime with him and she would show me everything I’d missed. I laughed at her
and told her when that happened I would take her up on it.
To sum it up I enjoyed it much more alone than with friends, but have never had the chance to experience it the
way the locals suggest. If you have a girlfriend, I suggest you take her with you. Spain is truly a magical place.
It’s late here and time for me to go to bed. Good night.
KC Girl
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