Ministry Fiction Irritant #010

De Pasada Blues

Everyone knows Al’s Sausage on Avenue de Pasada is a cop hangout. Been that way thirty years.

Even the dumbest criminals avoid de Pasada. But that doesn’t make it quiet.

“Yo!” shouts a skinny teenager from behind Sergeant Jimmy Corbett. “Can you help me out?”

Corbett lowers the combo sandwich from his mouth. “What?”

“Need a jumpstart. Battery keeps dyin’. ”

“Call a tow truck, kid.”

“Man, I’m broke. Not a dime.”

Corbett nods and turns back to the counter. “Officer Grabowski!”

Benny Grabowski, the rookie, at the back of the line.

“Again?” says Benny

“Car needs a jump.”

“Jimmy, I walked that lost kid home, I helped grandma with her groceries and then you had me send that drunk up to Southtown. My break’s almost over and I haven’t even ordered.”

Corbett smiles. “That’s awful. You should talk to your supervisor. Where’s he at?”