Badges

Especially since I don’t really know anyone around here.”

    Frank reached into his wallet, pulled out one of his police business cards, and wrote his phone number on it.

    “Here’s my cell number. Tell you what, give me a call early Friday, and we’ll set up the details. Sound good?”

    Scott’s smile said it all. “You bet, talk to you on Friday. Here comes the wife.”

    The lady got into the ambulance with her highly inebriated husband, and Frank watched them pull away. He waited until he couldn’t see the very attractive paramedic through the rear windows any longer before he got back into his cruiser and cleared the call, putting him back in service.

    Frank couldn’t stop thinking about the handsome new paramedic that he had a dinner date with on Friday night, though he wasn’t even certain Scott was gay. He got the vibe that Scott was homosexual, but many guys who weren’t put off a certain vibe that could be mistaken for gay. He ran their brief meeting over and over in his head looking for any clues and failed to find anything that definitely said that Scott Sanders was a gay man.

    On Friday morning, Frank was sipping his coffee while enjoying his break from work when his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Scott calling. He smiled and felt something move in his crotch.

    “Good morning!”

    “Hiya, Frank, hope this isn’t too early,” Scott said.

    “Nope, not at all. So, you up for dinner tonight?”

    “Sure am. In fact, I’m gonna skip lunch today so that I’m good and hungry tonight. Where are we going?”

    “I thought we’d go down to the wharf and eat in one of those restaurants. That okay?”

    “That sounds really nice, since I’ve only eaten in one restaurant since arriving here in San Francisco.”

    “You got any plans later in the evening, after dinner?”

    “Nope. I’m free ’til second shift tomorrow, so I don’t have to be up until about eleven. What did you have in mind?”

    “Oh, nothing really. We’ll talk at dinner, okay?”

    “Sure. What time?”

    “Why don’t you give me your address, and I’ll pick you up at say… seven?”

    “Sure, I live at 229 Mulberry Street. You know where that is?”

    “Of course, I’m a cop, and this is my city!”

    Scott laughed and replied, “Yeah, I did forget about that. Great, I’ll look for you at seven then.”

    “See you tonight,” Frank said, and he hung up.

    If the neighbors had looked into the windows of the apartment of a certain man on Mulberry Street, they would have seen him dancing around with the occasional leap for emphasis. Scott was obviously happy about something.

    Scott smiled. Damn, do I have a date or not?

    That night, Frank showed up at Scott’s house just before seven o’clock. He parked and walked up to the first-floor apartment of his date for the evening. He knocked on the door as he looked around at the neighborhood with the eye of a cop, which never forgot that even though he was off duty, danger could be anywhere.

    Scott opened the door, and Frank had to catch himself from swooning. Scott stood in the entryway smiling, wearing black slacks, a white long-sleeved shirt, a gold watch, and a neck chain that flashed against his skin in the fading light of day.

    “Is something wrong?” Scott asked.

    “Wrong? Oh, no, nothing wrong. I just spaced out for a moment. You ready?” Frank asked with a smile as he fought to keep his eyes on Scott’s face.

    “Yeah, just let me grab something, and we’ll go,” he said.

    Frank looked into a very neat apartment that was nicely furnished and empty of anyone except for Scott.

    “Ready?” Scott asked when he returned with a shoulder bag.

    “Nice apartment. You live alone?”

    “Yep, sure do,” Scott replied as he closed the door and locked it.

    “What’s in the bag?” Frank asked.

    “Oh, just some emergency medical stuff. I never know when it might be needed.”

    Frank thought that was a bit odd but dropped the subject. They jumped into the car and arrived at the wharf ten minutes later, finding a parking space that was reserved for emergency vehicles. Frank opened the glove compartment, pulled out a sign marked “Police,” and put it on the dashboard.

    “Let’s go,” he said with a smile.

    “Can I lock this in the trunk?” Scott held up his bag.

    “Sure.”

    A couple of minutes later and they were sitting at a table looking out at the water and watching the sea lions frolic