In Cahoots Chapter 2

In Cahoots Chapter 2

Mike: “ I went on my time off back to Sloan’s neighborhood. Asked neighbors about the couple. Everyone pretty much said the same thing, Geraldine is fine when she is not drinking, Sloan is just a nice guy would do anything for anybody. The neighbor directly across the street said she and Geraldine were good friends until she made the mistake and suggested she stopped drinking everyday. That sealed the fate of the relationship right there on the spot. Geraldine got up and walked out giving her once best friend the finger.”

Millie my waitress heard this part and said “You went on your time off to ask these neighbors, there was nothing in the paper about that, why did the neighbors turn on you? The Facebook account was just horrible, guess some don’t care about the truth they just want to seem important.”

Mike looked over at Millie and said “Sadly the police are the bad guys, until they need you, then you are their servant, there to do their bidding, there are still some out there that respect what we do, respect the uniform, the media seems to enjoy using us as the bully of the streets to enrage the readers who are so busy being busy bodies, and Springer anger management seminar they watch on tv, believing this is how civilized people problem solve.

Millie nodded placed her hand on Mike’s shoulder, leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, whispered something in his ear which I could not hear, then took her tray and served her customers. Mike’s eyes were moist but he controlled the flow, this was a man on the edge of a breakdown.

Mike: “One good thing came from all this my X called and we are now at least on speaking terms. She had a sit down with Joe’s wife, seemed to help patch things over, the papers saying Joe and I went carousing after work chasing tail, which was not true. Joe is devoted to his wife Eva, his high school sweet heart, he would always say, there was no other. I believed him.”

What happened next just pissed me off royally, the door opened another person came in, camera running, I took the bat from behind the counter. Told the reporter if he wanted a quiet drink he was welcome, if he was here to stir up more lies and shit, he needed to turn around and walk out. The reporter spewed out the rhetoric about freedom of the press, and such, I told him this was my bar and I had the right to serve or throw out, I choose he leave. He continued to move towards Mike, Mike did not even look his way he stared into his empty shot glass, every customer got up and stood in the reporters way. One customer reached for the reporters camera, the reporter jerked to the right, lost his grip and the camera when careening to the floor, where a customer gave it a kick, the game started, the camera was now a hockey puck, everyone kept it batting; the reporter was swearing, the customers playing keep away. After one customer picked up the camera and walked out of the bar with it, the reporter followed, from that point I do not know what happened.

Once things settled down, I placed a fresh burger in front of Mike, leaned in and said, “Please eat something, I will not serve you another drink till you eat that burger.” I set a glass of water on the bar told Mike he could wash it down with the water. Mike took a bite but you could tell he was having trouble swallowing it, Millie had made herself a burger grabbed a water sat down next to Mike and started to eat her burger, after that Mike seemed to swallow a bit easier. I think he was finally catching on he was not in this alone any more.

After Mike ate the burger, Millie went back to servicing her customers, by this time the place was packed, still subdued, someone started to play the jukebox, some old time country which seemed to fit the mood of the place.

Another big sigh from Mike, his shoulders did not seem as slumped but he was still a man that was beaten down. At this point I was hoping he and Millie would get together, the man could use some tenderness.

Mike:” I went to the meeting one night that Sloan said he was going to, he was thrilled to see me, said he was trying to talk Geraldine into joining him. Said that he was still staying with his brother and family, figuring to give time for Geraldine to come to her senses. She did not she only became angrier at Sloan, saying they do not do anything together anymore they may as well get divorced, Sloan told her that if she wanted a divorce she would have to do the filing, he told her he still loved her, loved her enough to wait till she got better.”

Another pause, Mike asked for a beer, I would not give him another shot, he shrugged and drank his beer.

Mike:” Joe and I got a call to Sloan’s place, when we arrived he was in his truck, Geraldine was taking a baseball bat to it, standing behind it so he could not leave, Sloan just sat still, she seen us pull up came around to the drivers side of the truck and wound up ready to hit the window, I caught the bat before it made contact, that put Geraldine off balance and she landed on her ass in the grass, screaming police brutality.”

I closed my eyes for a moment remembering how I heard about Mike being brought up on charges for unnecessary force, seems Geraldine went into the house locked herself in called the department and told dispatch there were two uniformed officers on her front porch trying to break the door down. Geraldine must have been on Facebook and Twitter, because one of my customers said “Hey that Mike guy, the cop, he is trying to break into a woman’s home she claims he took a bat to her.”

There were too many witness’s which disproved her account but that did not stop the media storm, which blew the whole thing so out of proportion Mike got a few days off with pay hoping the media dust would settle.