Frigid Nights

Chapter Eight

The problem with bad days is that they start off like any other. You never know when you're going to get blindsided and lose your job, when the stock market is going to crash and your investments drown, or when that drunk driver is going to blow a red light at seventy miles-per-hour, turning your car into a smoldering hunk of twisted metal, sending you to the emergency room, if you make it that far. Some people, cops in particular, are there on a lot of people's "worst day." The oddity of it is, to those cops, it's just another day.

When Derek walked out of roll call and set up his old Ford Explorer with the blue stripe along the sides and the red lettering that read "Chicago Police" along the doors, it was just another day. He had been married to Jamie for just over a year and he had been on the street for three. He and his partner Reggie, a massive dark-skinned bodybuilder from the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago whose mother had raised him and three other kids, had been riding together since Derek got off probation. While Derek was better at understanding the legal aspects of things, Reggie was good with people. People listened to Reggie not only because of his dominating presence in any room he occupied due to his monstrous arms and barrel-chested physique but because he was very well-spoken. He read people. He spoke to people on their level and it gave them a feeling of comfort. When you spoke with Reggie, you felt like he'd known you for years.

They were a great team. Both young, in shape, and carried the attitude that many young cops do. Their dicks were so big, they couldn't help but step on them every once in a while.

They were driving around their beat, patrolling for once. Usually, there were so many calls stacked for them out of roll call they wouldn't get to all of them in a day and they would be held over until the next shift. But that day, there wasn't much going on. They enjoyed the calm. They were on afternoons, typically the busiest shift. They had time to get coffee, catch up on the news, or find a spot to park and bullshit for a while.

Derek drove the snow-slicked streets aimlessly as Reggie laid his head back against the headrest, resting his eyes while he could. They passed some section eight housing, some bangers on street corners loitering but for the moment not causing any problems. As Derek cruised by, the two younger bangers, kids, standing in front of a tiny set of cracked stairs waved their middle fingers his way. The older banger, the OG, was leaning back on the stoop he called his throne. He nodded at Derek and Reggie. The OGs understood the game. They would sell drugs to make money to feed themselves and those close to them, but the drugs they sold were only as valuable as they were because of their illegality. Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers. Everyone plays their part.

"Reg," Derek started. "How did you manage to get out?"

"Get out of what?" Reggie asked without opening his eyes.

Derek looked around him. The rundown buildings with splintering panes, crumbling bricks surrounding decaying plaster, the streams of rain trickling off shards of shattered glass, a neighborhood in Chicago similar to the one Reggie grew up in. "Where you grew up. Most people who live there stay there and either join a gang or go freelance. How'd you get out?"

Reggie sighed, "my mom." He opened up his eyes and looked out the window. "My mom raised the four of us. She made sure we stayed in school, got decent grades, played sports to keep us off corners, and made us read all the time. Parenting got me out of there," said Reggie, shifting in his seat and closing his eyes again. "As far as gangs go, I was more scared of my mother than anything a gang could bring my way. That hasn't changed," Reggie said, smirking.

Derek saw young kids and teenagers sitting on street corners, either dealing or being the lookout. There were too many single moms in the world, he thought to himself. Where the dad ran off, went to prison, died, or just wasn't present. Not just in this area, but all around the country. Too many moms were left with kids that they had to improvise every parenting move they made. Unfortunately, many stopped parenting once the kids were old enough to go to school.