#59: A difficulty with Legs

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One day Captain was strolling along his beat. He was chatting with Tommy and the little girl who’s kitten he had saved. Captain had been having some troubles with one of his legs. He’d not taken time to look into the problem though. He’d been too busy doing one thing or another. He discovered to his dismay that he’d waited too long. The leg suddenly froze up. He stumbled and fell face forward onto the ground. He caught himself with his hands.

“Ooops.” he said as he rolled over onto his back and sat up. “Looks like I need some grease or something.”

The kids had gathered around him. They were concerned about his well being. They were used to seeing Captain’s robot legs so that didn’t concern them much but they were curious as cats.

“Are you hurt?” Tommy asked

“I bet it was from jumping out of trees.” the little girl said “Mommy warned you that you could hurt yourself jumping out of trees. Have you jumped out of more trees since you saved my kitty?”

“Your mommy is right” Captain said “You should always listen to your mother.”

Captain tried to stand up but couldn’t with the one leg stretched out as stiff as a board. “Hmmm...It looks like I might have to try plan B.”

“What’s a plan B?” Tommy asked

“Plan B is where I hear your mother calling for you” Captain told him with a straight face. “Take sally here with you. There might be cookies and milk”

“Oh!” Tommy was wide eyed. The little girl, no fool she, had already left. She was all in favor of cookies and milk. She called back to Tommy ”I’ll race you.”

Tommy was torn. He wanted to see what Captain was going to do but he couldn’t bear the thought of a GURL outrunning him. With a despairing look at Captain he took off running after the little girl “I’ll see you later Officer Parmalee.”

Captain rolled over and pulled out his cell phone. He had Tommy’s mother on speed dial. In seconds he was talking to her. “Sorry to bother you ma’am. I’ve run into a slight difficulty and it’d be better if Tommy and Sally weren’t involved. I told them that I heard you calling and that you had cookies and milk.”

“Yes ma’am. I know it was wrong to lie. I’ll carry the stigma with me to my grave” He said.

“No ma’am. It’s nothing dangerous. It’s just something I don’t think you would want me to have them see. I have to remove a leg and grease it.“ he said.

“Yes ma’am’. That’s perfectly all right. I just thought it was your choice. They’re not my kids and it’s not my place to say. You’re welcome” he concluded.

“Damn I love these cell phones.” he muttered to himself.

Captain hadn’t wanted the children to watch him remove his leg. It wasn’t that he would be embarrassed, he would not be. He didn’t know how they would react. He was afraid it might be traumatic or something. Captain released the stiff leg from his stump then used it as a crutch to lever himself off the ground. Soon he was balancing on one leg. “A fine mess I’ve got myself into. Now what am I going to do?”

He hopped on one leg, using the other leg to keep his balance, to a tree and sat down under it, leaning against the tree trunk. He muttered to himself. “Ok..let’s see here.”

He began removing panels. It wasn’t long before he spotted the problem. Suddenly he felt that he was being watched. He looked around and there was the little girl and Tommy watching him. They were eating ice cream cones.

“No cookies, she was out.” Tommy said “We have Ice Cream Cones though. You want one? I brought you one. Do you think you can get your leg fixed. Can I help?”

Tommy handed Captain a slightly melted ice cream cone.

“Thank you” Captain said taking the cone from Tommy and licking it, then he handed it back.“This is very good. Tell your mother thank you. Yeah I could use some help. I need a part.”

“What kind of part?” Tommy asked. He began to empty out his pockets. Like all boys he was a pack rat. Sally was fascinated. Captain was pretty impressed too.

“Like that piece right there. It looks like it’ll do the trick, and that piece of wire. What is it anyway?” he asked Tommy.

“I dunno. I found it laying around somewhere. ” Tommy said.

“Ok...here’s what I need you two to do.” Captain told them. Best to get them both involved.

“Sally...you hold that piece right there...Tommy you hold that piece. Ok. Lemme wrap it with wire. Hold on...ahhh. Got it” Captain put on a show. He actually did need the part but it was a ten second job to make it do what needed to be done. He spent half an hour interacting with the kids.

“Ok....now I need to put the leg on. Step back a bit please” he asked them.

They did so. He attached the leg in no time. He expected his jury rigged fix would last out the shift. He continued on his beat with the two children. Every now and then they would share their ice cream cones with him. Out of the corner of his eye he notice a pair of young mothers peeking thru the curtains of their houses. He pretended not to notice.

Captain loved his job. He loved his people.

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The Next Episode is
#60: Attempted Home invasion
The Previous Episode was
#58; Cody
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

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@everittdmickey
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