Love Hurts: A Valentine's Blog Event

On January 17, Patti Abbott invited readers of her blog to write stories 750 words or less on the theme of love and crime, to be posted today.

My contribution:


Connect the Dots

by Gerald So


I never expected to fall in love again. Particularly not with Witt. We'd been partners in Burglary five years when one day she looked up from a case file—green eyes magnified by reading glasses—and I melted. Me. Fifty-one year-old Ron Reinhart.

That first day, almost everyone asked, "What are you smiling about?"

"Gas," I said. Works every time.

Witt didn't notice. She was used to looking past me, not at me. Calling me Reinhart, never Ron. It was a year before she even brushed her hair in front of me.

(I gasped, said, "I thought you were a guy!" and she gave me the finger.)

Far as I could tell, she had no social life. Off-duty, she went home, nuked dinner, and watched PBS. I'd been over lots of times. Most serious thing we did was watch Ken Burns' Civil War.

Don't get me wrong. Witt was the best partner. Didn't talk too much. Never complained. Told great jokes. But when you want more, you want more.

It would take skywriting to ask her out, I remember thinking. Take her to a Jets game around Christmas, declare my love on the Jumbo-Tron.

That's when I got the idea. I debated a week before my first act of larceny. No one suspected a cop of swiping small valuables, and, working Burglary, Witt and I were called in to investigate. Shortly after which I sneaked back in and returned the stuff.

Made everybody happy. The press dubbed me The Put-That-Back Bandit.

I stuck to small businesses and residences in our jurisdiction. I figured Witt had to be catching on.

But after seven jobs, seven pushpins in the precinct map, she seemed none the wiser.

Finally, I took a pencil to the map. When I was through, Witt burst out laughing.

"A heart," she said. "Gotta be kidding me."

I stopped short of writing R.R. + K.W. in the center. Always was just a little too clever.


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Notes

Perennial readers of my blog know I have much unluck in love on which to draw. I didn't see Patti's invitation until January 24th, but by the wee hours of the 25th, I hit on Ron Reinhart's too-clever voice.

If you liked "Connect the Dots", you may enjoy my 2007 Valentine's offering, "Call Me Cupid".


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Others Tackle The Topic

Patricia Abbott, "Tongues"

Stephen Allan, "The Many Forms of Love"

Patrick Shawn Bagley, "Leaving Rachel"

Cormac Brown, "Warmer"

Aldo Calcagno, "Love on the Rocks"

Clair Dickson, "Cupid's Bullet"

Sophie Littlefield, "Rival Passions"

Todd Mason, "Afterward"

John McAuley, "Since I've Been Loving You"

Christa M. Miller, "Beautiful Trouble"

Graham Powell, "The Last Time"

Bryon Quertermous, "Stand Up on Blow Pops"

r2, "Doctor, Doctor"

Sandra Seamans, "Bye, Bye Love"

WellesFan, "A Day Late"