{"id":134,"date":"2017-06-13T03:10:52","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T03:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/?p=134"},"modified":"2017-06-13T03:10:52","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T03:10:52","slug":"june-13th-in-custody-by-dandelion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"June 13th- In Custody by Dandelion"},"content":{"rendered":"

An excerpt from the novel, \u201cLosing Starsky\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The novel can soon be found at starskyandhutch.info\/fiction\/ <\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky wouldn\u2019t let Hutch out of the handcuffs. From the moment he\u2019d attached the one bracelet to Hutch\u2019s wrist, he made Hutch wear it throughout their entire stay at the remote cabin. Of course, Starsky used it a couple of times to their benefit: Once, to cuff Hutch to the queen bed\u2019s headboard and have his way with the man. And, again, another time for a similar purpose. But he didn\u2019t remove it, even when they went into town for lunch or shopped for supplies, or even on the day they left the mountain to begin the journey home, having stopped for fuel at a highway filling station, and to browse the mini mart for travel snacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutch\u2019s pleas to have the cuff taken off him, especially in public, had fallen on deaf ears.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like knowing it\u2019s there,\u201d Starsky explained in a hushed voice, \u201cin case I need to use it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve used it plenty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSays you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t leave it on me forever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t I?\u201d Starsky quipped with a snicker.<\/span><\/p>\n

He certainly set out to do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, so, there they were at that mountain gas station, waiting for the car to fill up, while they wandered the mini mart collecting edibles, and Hutch trying his best to keep the handcuff, both bracelets attached to the same wrist, under his sleeve so no one would see and ask about it \u2014 or assume anything, good, bad, or otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky, on the other hand, didn\u2019t think about it at all. He only remembered the handcuffs were fastened to his partner when they were near a bed, and there wasn\u2019t one in sight during that excursion. Starsky was carefree that sunny morning, relaxed, and fixated on his decision to either buy peanuts or cashews.<\/span><\/p>\n

The affable shop clerk tried to help him decide. \u201cBuy both bags,\u201d the amused, older man suggested.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy partner will eat what I don\u2019t,\u201d Starsky assumed. He set two small bags of nuts on the counter. Of course, Starsky meant his \u2018work partner,\u2019 not his boyfriend partner, but he became aware of the distinction when the clerk simply said, \u201cOh?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPolice officer,\u201d Starsky said to clarify, realizing only after he said it that the clerk had already assumed it. \u201cThat guy over there,\u201d he added, pointing to Hutch who was barely visible on the other side of an aisle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a coupla cops bought the old Harmon cabin a short while back,\u201d the clerk recalled. \u201cYou guys be them?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe guys be them,\u201d Starsky replied. He didn\u2019t want to get into the private details of his life\u2019s journey, despite how friendly the shopkeeper\u2019s intentions appeared, so he let it ride that he and Hutch were detectives and not street officers, and then asked to be pointed in the direction of the cookie counter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky and Hutch were both at the lowest point in their lives when it came to thoughts about their jobs. The mountain retreat had truly become just that: A refuge from which they escaped the violence and troubling news of their times. It didn\u2019t matter to either of them that they had skills and convictions that had saved lives and prevented murders and gave hope to so many others. On that day, after nearly a week of indulging each other in the fine art of carnal pleasures, they were mentally drained as well. They were simply just a couple of guys.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Starsky didn\u2019t pick up on the immediate cues. It wasn\u2019t until they were forced on him that he had to snap out of his personal romp through life and transform into what he\u2019d been for most of his adult life: A seasoned police officer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The jolt came from a light tug on his jacket sleeve, at the elbow, so subtle he only noticed it because he felt the presence of someone near him, someone other than Hutch. So he turned, more curious than alarmed, to investigate the contact.<\/span><\/p>\n

A nine-year-old girl dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and shorts, dirty hiking boots, and a lopsided pigtail, stood near him, maybe a couple of feet away. She stared into the shelved collection of processed food packages \u2014 and didn\u2019t move. Starsky had to glance over his shoulder behind him, and then to his left, as well, because he wasn\u2019t certain the girl was the one who\u2019d tried for his attention. But no one else stood in the aisle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutch was on the other side of the shoulder-height counter, browsing the healthier snacks, whistling while he mused.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Starsky waited for another cue \u2014 to either confirm the one he’d gotten or dismiss it, and instead studied the girl\u2019s posture, noticing only then how frozen she appeared \u2014 while he circled back through his mind exactly what he\u2019d felt when she presumably tugged on his sleeve. It hadn\u2019t been an accident, had it? A prank? He looked around again, made eye contact with Hutch from the other side of the counter, got that playful, mischievous wink and shy smile, and then turned further to his right. The only other person in the market, besides the clerk, was a younger, somewhat disheveled man in soiled camouflage clothes who stood with his back to Starsky at the beer cooler.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky closed half the gap between himself and the girl to solicit a reaction so he could better assess the situation \u2014 and the one he got both instantly sickened and alarmed him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHelp,\u201d she whispered, not looking at him, as rigid as she\u2019d been. \u201cPlease help me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs he buying beer?\u201d Starsky quietly asked her, audible only to the girl.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d she said, a cry in her voice.<\/span><\/p>\n

By gut reaction alone, though his mind sped at a hundred miles an hour, Starsky realized he’d just become a critical player in the crime of a child abduction in progress. \u201cDon\u2019t you move,\u201d he firmly told her. \u201cDon\u2019t move a muscle.\u201d He instinctively knew she\u2019d overheard him tell the shopkeeper that he and his partner were police detectives, and that she had reached out to him because of it. She would trust his direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHutch,\u201d he then called, sounding nonchalant.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutch lifted his head from the shelves on the other side of the counter and met Starsky\u2019s eyes with his own. But he, too, transformed immediately into professional mode when he saw the look on his partner\u2019s face. There was no disguising the seriousness of it, no misinterpretation of its meaning was possible. He knew the man that well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky nodded toward the hunter at the beer cooler. \u201cTake him,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll get the girl.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutch didn\u2019t need to see the girl to know there was one. The evidence was in Starsky\u2019s narrowed eyes. The conversation was as swift as it was silent \u2014 and they were uniformly ready for action.<\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky watched as Hutch pretended to walk casually around the aisle toward the perp, as if Hutch still shopped for groceries. But the ensuing tackle was anything but casual; it was instantaneous, brutal, noisy \u2014 and highly successful. At the same second Hutch grabbed the unsuspecting man around the neck, dropped, and then pinned him to the floor, Starsky grabbed the girl in his arms and ran outside with her.<\/span><\/p>\n

The moment he seized her, she began to scream, and not because she was terrified of Starsky, but because she was utterly overwhelmed by the relief of her rescue. He knew that because of how tightly she gripped him, her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, how desperately she clung to him, how absolutely heartbreakingly she wailed. He held as tightly to her in reply and, once in the warming sunshine, fought to ease her cries. \u201cShh,\u201d he repeated, gently rocking her in his safe embrace, \u201cit\u2019s okay now, honey. It\u2019s over. It\u2019s over.\u201d The world around him didn’t seep back in until she had stopped screaming and instead purely sobbed with relief.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutch had ordered the clerk outside to guard the girl so Starsky could help him neutralize the suspect. \u201cHe said for me to take her,\u201d the shopkeeper explained to Starsky when he caught up with him as instructed. \u201cHe needs you in there, he said.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Starsky raced back into the market, found Hutch on the floor in front of the beer cooler with the immobilized assailant barely struggling beneath him, Hutch\u2019s knee firmly in the guy\u2019s lower back, the suspect\u2019s arm cranked behind him and close to breaking if he further resisted, and Starsky knew Hutch had things under control. \u201cWhat’dya need me for?\u201d he heatedly asked, somewhat irritated, a snarl in his deep blue eyes. They\u2019d taken care of the situation without the use of their fists or guns, and he’d rather have comforted the victim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutch looked up at him, panting, with a similarly annoyed, sort of reluctantly playful expression in those reprimanding blue eyes, and then said, \u201cI don\u2019t suppose you know where I can find a pair of handcuffs?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An excerpt from the novel, \u201cLosing Starsky\u201d The novel can soon be found at starskyandhutch.info\/fiction\/ Starsky wouldn\u2019t let Hutch out of the handcuffs. From the moment he\u2019d attached the one bracelet to Hutch\u2019s wrist, he made Hutch wear it throughout … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fic","category-slash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":180,"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/solstice.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2017\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}