Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:55:40 -0800 (PST)
From: Farrell Mc Nulty <brendanchenowith@yahoo.com>
Subject: Detectives Log - Chapter 38

  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT - Let's Go Away for Awhile

"LOCAL GYM EMPLOYEE KILLED IN HOSTAGE RESCUE" - Bobby Reed, a 19 year-old
Assistant Manager of the "Buff and Beautiful" gym, was murdered in an
otherwise successful hostage rescue operation. It was reported Reed
deliberately gave up his life to alleviate the danger for the two
hostages, Det. Eddie Robinson and adult film star George Richard
Binghamton, otherwise known as "Dickie Biggs", as well as Det. Michael
Batzinger, aka Mike Batz PI.

EDDIE WAS STARING AT THE NEWSPAPER CLIPPING HE'D CUT AND PASTED INTO THE
SCRAPBOOK HE KEPT OF MIKE ALL THESE YEARS. HE SAW IT ONLY FITTING THAT
ALL HEROES OCCUPY THIS TOME.

MIKE - I walked into the kitchen one morning and Eddie's sittin' there. I
says "hi ya, kiddo", and he comes up to me and gives me such a kiss and
looks deep into my eyes, "hi ya, Boss-man". Outta the corner of my eyes,
I see the scrapbook he keeps and what looks like Bobby's obit.

EDDIE - A huge smile comes over Mike's face when he spots the clipping I
saved of Bobby. "Aw, kid, that's real sweet - REAL sweet." "He was
somethin' special, wasn't he?"

MIKE - Then Eddie sits back down and starts gettin' all thinkin' and
stuff. He says to me, "Hey, Mike, are we the good guys?" I'm tooken by
surprise by this - ARE WE THE GOOD GUYS - I didn't know what to say to
that, 'cept the truth, that is. "Why d'ya ask?" "well, I figure with all
the rotten stuff that happens to us" "Nothin' rotten happens to us" "What
about the kidnappin', shootin', stuff like that - we almost get killed
ev'ry time". I sat down next to him, put one arm around him and take his
hand with my other one. I look deeply into his eyes and say, "okay, I'll
give it to ya straight. We got a good home, got a good job, we eat good,
me-n-you are okay. The other stuff, the stuff we go through is all just a
bump in the road. See, when ya go out for somethin' ya want, there's
always a price to pay. Me-n-you are on the side of good and we wanna
protect that - but sometimes we gotta pay a little somethin'. A bullet in
the arm, a sock in the gut, a rope 'round the wrist, a gag in the mouth,
that's what we gotta take to get what we want, and we always get it. The
bad guys wanna wipe us out and take over these parts, and what they gotta
pay is a lot harder, toss the troublemakers in the tank for a whole lotta
years. If ya want somethin' for good, the price ain't that high, but if
ya want somethin' for bad, ya pay til ya drop. Ya with me so far?" Eddie
seemed to be. But he says, "when I was chained up in the basement, I
started to wonder if maybe we were doin' the wrong thing, he kept gettin'
at me that I gotta pay for my sins and all that. Why would he keep
pumpin' me like that if he didn't think it was true?" "Cuz it ain't -
that's the first giveaway. Guys like that don't want ya to think anything
other than what they are. Now, listen up, I'm glad you asked me about all
of this, 'cuz that's what I'm good at. Good and evil is my job - I know
all about it. Right, so ya wonder if you did somethin' to be punished for
- who sent ya to me in that back alley? Who sent me to you in that
closet? Whp put the idea in your head that I was okay? Who put the idea
in my head that I'd be nuts if I blew ya off and just took ya back home
and never saw ya again? The Man Upstairs, that's who. Now, would he give
us all what we'd been gettin' so far if He didn't think we were okay?
Naw, not at all. If he didn't want us together and to stay that way,
youda been somewhere else that day and I woulda been cremated. Our union
is an act of God, it's an act of love. Yeah, I know I was tempted by
Bobby, but when I was really weak, God stepped in and got Bobby to tell
me this wasn't it. What my ex-boss did to ya was outta hate, he wanted ya
to fall apart and get away from me. He's no man of God, he just uses His
name like a puppet to drive other people nuts. Now, you gotta notice our
whole lives are built on love and that's what keeps it goin'. Our love of
doin' good, people out there - their love for us 'cuz we do our job so
good, and none of that woulda been possible if it weren't for my love for
you and your love for me. Take away ev'rything on the outside, what's
goin' on is that me an' you are what's good. You cheer me up when I'm
down, you're very kindhearted, you care about so many people and so many
things. Your smile brightens my heart, your kisses are soothing and
reassuring. You're sexy and that's great and all, but that was just to
get me to look at ya long enough to know your mind, your heart and your
soul. If we were in any other job - we could be bean counters, shysters,
anything, you name it - you would still be the love of my life because
ours is truly a gift from God."

EDDIE - This was unreal. I couldn't believe I was hearin' stuff like this
from Mike. I been with this guy for a while now, but this was like I was
meetin' the real him for the first time. He wasn't Mike Batz PI right
now. He was Michael Batzinger. "Mike, I - I never knew ya felt that way
about me." "Ya never knew how much I loved ya?" "No, it's not that. I
know how ya feel about me, but I never really knew how deep it went
before. Did you?" "I always knew I couldn't do without ya and I never
wanted to think about it, but with you gone missin' for that week, I went
through ev'rything. I cried, I threw stuff, I shouted, I felt really
ripped apart, and I was, too, 'cuz you weren't there. My boy was missin',
my boy was in trouble, my boy wasn't here by my side." He started cryin',
his eyes got red and wet and his mouth stated shakin'. He stood up and
took my hand and stood me up, too, and then he wrapped his arms around
me, "oh, Eddie, you're my life. I hope nothin'like this happens again. To
think I mighta never seen ya again, I can't..." I stroked the back of his
head and lightly kissed his cheek a few times, "it's okay, Mike, I'm
here. I love you. I always have and always will." Then I put his head
back a little 'cuz I wanted to see his face, and I wanted him to see
mine. "Ya know, when you rescued me, anything coulda happened. My life
coulda been anything, 'cuz I was just a kid back then. But the thing was
was that I was alive for whatever it woulda been. I think it was God
tellin' me to go help ya out there in the alley. I'd been drawn to ya all
them years. As handsome as you are, and were back then, too, what I fell
in love with was a man who really cared about me. I kinda wanted ya to
take me home that day - to your home. I wanted ya to be my new dad. I'm
glad that didn't happen 'cuz we woulda missed out on all-a that great
sex, but it's like you said, you're one of the good guys, the best darn
good-guy I ever knew. I love you with all my heart, even more than what I
got in me. I love your voice, your face, the way you strut your stuff,
the way ya get all heated up when we're on a case, the way ya dress, when
ya call me "kiddo". I look at ya when ya drive." "Huh?" "Yeah, you sit so
upright behind the wheel with that dogged determination on your face,
when you make a left turn, I love how your arms go up and sweep across
your body, then I look at your stomach, your lap, your legs and I can't
take my eyes off any of that, because a really good man is underneath all
that. You don't like it when someone's hurtin' and ya really wanna make
it go away 'cuz ya just want ev'rything to be okay. Ya just wanted that
nightclub owner to get his business back, 'cuz he wanted it. Ya wanted to
get Dickie away from them thugs 'cuz he and his boss wanted it. When that
mobster's girlfriend told ya there was a contract out on her, ya still
stood by her even when it meant she had to kill you. Ya risked your life
just so she could have hers back. Ya know it's strange, ya got all
uptight when your boss turned into a Christian, but you've always been 10
times the Christian he ever said he was, and what's really beautiful
about you is you've never even known it." "Ya stood right there and took
it in the ribs, too. Remember?" "I just wanted to walk the path you were
walkin', 'cuz it was good." Then the two of us just looked at each other
for a little bit. "Eddie, I got an idea" "What's that?" "Ever been to
Canada?" "No." "Would ya like to?" "Sure, what's up there?" "Gay marriage
is okay up there." Aw, man I was stunned. The Boss-man wanted to make it
legal. "You wanna marry me? Ya wanna spend the rest of your life with
me?" "I want ya with me always. I wanna tell ya ev'rything I said to ya
here in front of a JP, put our names on a piece of paper that says it
all. Eddie Robinson, will you marry me?" I started gettin' teary-eyed,
too, all I could do was take a real heavy breath and say, "yes".

Long and short of it, me and Eddie went up to Toronto and got hitched.
Went to the JP's office, did all the papers and stuff and made it
official. Now I know there's a bunch of ya guys out there who don't
really think ya need it, but I gotta tell ya - you're livin' in some real
nice place and ya know it, this-n-that, you're drivin' a real nice car,
etc., but when ya look at that registration, ya look at that lease and
see your name on it, and it tells ya ev'ry time ya read it that it's
true. Pride of ownership, pride that ya wake up next to someone special
ev'ry day, pride that the best thing that God ever did for ya was right
next to ya, ridin' shotgun, watchin' ya drive.

After we tied the knot, I thought it'd be good to do a honeymoon. Neither
of us been to Miami Beach before, so we thought why not! But, hey, I
gotta tell ya, - hoo, boy! - ya won't believe what happens to us down
there! Catch ya next time.