Pleasant Plumeria #10

It was a mild, breezy day in downtown Chicago, and the crowd milling around the bus stop was calm but distracted. Bankers were checking their watches, students were bopping to their iPods, and no one paid much attention when a slightly disheveled police officer trudged up to the CTA sign. It wasn't until he began muttering to himself that people began to take notice. There seemed to be nothing very odd about the man aside from his rumpled appearance, except for--

"Hey man, are you carrying a fishbowl?"

The officer looked up, jolted from his thoughts, and glanced at the young man who had spoken to him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but are you carrying around a goldfish?"

"Oh. Yeah." The harried man raked his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. "My squad car broke down a few miles back and I had to hoof it up here to catch a ride. My partner, Jenkins, and I were on a stakeout, and things had just started to heat up, when BAM! The engine starts knocking, smoke's coming out from under the hood, and we're going nowhere fast."

"Whoa, bummer man," said the student, somewhat awed. "You were on a stakeout and everything, wow."

Hearing this conversation, a few others stopped what they were doing to direct their attention toward the trio--the cop, the student, and the fish.

"Right, WERE being the operative word. Or was. Whatever. All that matters now is that those bastards are getting away with the drugs, and I'm stuck here waiting for the damn bus!" He shook his fist in frustration and water sloshed over the sides of the fishbowl.

The splash onto the grey sidewalk drew even more stares, and the two men had a small audience as they continued their conversation.

"Drugs, really?" Said the younger man, "Drug runners, wow. Are you allowed to talk about this shit? Isn't there some rule about an ongoing investigation or something?"

"Pshhh, naw." The officer blew off the student's suggestion as though it was nonsense. "That's just Law and Order crap. I can say whatever I want. Like the ringleader? Sam Stein."

"What?!" The younger man was dumbfounded, as were most of the bystanders now openly gaping. "Dude, Sam Stein's the MAYOR."

"Uh, yeah!" Barked the officer. "Why do you think it was so juicy? And his biggest campaign contributors are really his best customers. YEAH! Chew on that!" Increasingly agitated, he shifted his weight from side to side, peering down the road for the bus.

"So what you're saying is that all those community leaders, they're all druggies? What are they doing, coke, heroin?"

"LSD man." Said the officer distractedly, still scanning the street. "PCP too. And shrooms--mountains of them! Freaking hippies, the lot of them."

The crowd now began muttering amongst itself. Although their mayor was a bit of a crackpot, it seemed like quite a stretch that he was leading a drug smuggling operation, and even more of a stretch that some of the most public figures in the city were all addicted to hallucinogenic drugs. People began casting wary glances in the direction of the officer, and inched slightly away from his shifting, agitated form.

"And the best part!" He practically shouted this, and thrust the fishbowl in the air, nearly tossing the goldfish to the pavement. "The best part of all is that once me and my partner had them cornered, we were going to be promoted. Like, BIG promotion. We're talking CIA level clearance."

The student wrinkled his brow at this. "What, in Chicago?"

"Oh, believe it." Said the officer. "We're talking the big time here, no more B&E, arson, petty larceny. Major crimes, stuff I could really sink my teeth into. Ah, finally!"

The officer was bordering on manic now, almost hopping from foot to foot, the goldfish slapping wetly against the sides of its bowl. As the pneumatic brakes on the Pace bus squealed to a halt, he lunged towards the door.

“Hey man, be careful!” called out the young man, now clearly concerned about the rumpled cop.

“You think a Pace Bus could stop me? Ha! Not this late in the game. No, I’m taking this one all the way. Downtown. Down to China Town, YEAH!” The man took one step onto the bus before gazing determinedly into the fishbowl. “Come on Jenkins, we have work to do.”