The subway killer topples down the
stairs as I collapse against the railing, wondering why he was tailing me, and
who is "The Frenchman"?
OK. it isn't quite a French Connection
Tail-adega night. My actual experience is a bit tamer, more tortoise and hare
than ire of the tiger.
I drive a wind-powered hybrid maxing at
55 MPH. I leave the expressway several times but on each return the Zipcar moves
in right behind me.
Who is that guy? No matter how I zig and
zag through traffic the Zipcar stays with me. I use every trick I know to shake
him with no effect.
It doesn't help that I must pull over to
the shoulder to tweet each update. The Zipcar zips past me but is behind me
when I resume driving.
I finally give up and go all the way
into town, the Zipcar in tow. I pull up in front of my office and the Zipcar
parks across the street.
Who is that guy? Not one to shrink from
confrontation, apparently. His persistence is disquieting. Without effort he
tracked me to my lair.
Is he a stooge for the medical school I
just left? Or could he be someone I sent up the river at some point in the
past, out for revenge?
There were those losers in the
"Rough in the Diamond" gang who stole the pedestal holding the
Hopewell Diamond, but left the diamond behind.
Then there was the infamous "Wall
in the Hole" break-in where I found the rotund perp in an awkward position
after consuming too much honey.
I don't know why I ate so much honey but
I sure was alert to trapped trangressors! I also recovered a missing juvenile
doing his wild thing.
I investigated and brought to justice
the French pilot responsible for a minor regicide, trusting my heart, not my
eyes to see the truth.
I was the only cop on the force to scope
out where the elusive Waldo was hiding, forcing him to exchange his street
stripes for prison bars.
Over my combative career I’ve busted a
hodgepodge of offenders, including garrulous auto-toads, wordy web spinners and
melodramatic dragons.
I’ve collared furtive teens, rascally
rabbits, grasping grinches, mischievous mice and flying freaks. Any of them may
be out for vengeance.
Any of them could be my Zipcar shadow,
although some of them are too young to have a driver's license and many of them
don't have hands.
I walk over and tap on the tinted
windshield. No response. I say "Whatever juvenile fiction you operate
under, come out with your hands up."
No response. There's a place you go in
your mind at times like these. You don't know who's behind the glass. You don't
know what to expect.
Anticipating possibilities, I turn
sideways to shrink my target area. I shift to my heels and bend my knees to
lower my center of gravity.
Without taking my eyes off the Zipcar, I
remove my jacket which I wrap around my left arm and my necktie which I wind
around my right fist.
I'm ready, certain I'll withstand a
gun blast, a knife stab, a fistfight, jujitsu or anything else, up to and
including a vehicular assault.(The Twitter Mystery continues daily at @Twitstery)
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