Joneses – 16.2 Despair

Eliza struggled to keep her head held high. Each day, she strutted into the police station, with her nose in the air, ready to take on the day and do excellent police work hoping someone would agree she operated far beyond her position. She hadn’t worked that hard since her rookie days and grew weary of it. There was no way she’d let anyone see her head down despite how low she got. Keeping a smile on her face was the real battle.

The Captain felt defeated and had lost sight of her dream to become the Chief of Police. This thing that was happening to her, it had gone on so long, she figured it was her new life. Booking criminals, taking statements from civilians and going on patrol. She would never go to another crime scene, analyze evidence, or arrest a perpetrator ever again. The end of the road had come. She let everyone down: Robert, the girls, and everyone who looked up to her. Thoughts of throwing in the towel crossed her mind many times. Her salary would be missed, but perhaps she’d be happier staying at home to raise her girls; it beat all those lazy nannies they wasted money on. Yes. Perhaps there was no use continuing to shine brighter than everyone else. Fighting the chief, Detective Farris and whoever else was involved was futile. The time had come for Captain Pancakes to surrender.

It was true what they said about working mothers: they can’t do both. Climbing to the top of a career and being a successful mother were mutually exclusive. How arrogant of her to think she’d be able to beat the odds. The children were not to blame, of course; they were innocent. Her own ambition and pride were to blame. Perhaps at the next crossroads, she wouldn’t think so highly of herself.

Poor Breanne. She had it the worst, being cared for by nannies while her parents went after their own dreams. Who knows what kinds of poison those oafs could have poured into her head. Eliza was used to seeing children behind bars, but the thought of seeing her own child there sent chills down her spine. Breanne had never been in trouble, but perhaps she could one day. Perhaps she wasn’t at home enough to teach her anything of importance. If she ever walked into the cell area and saw her own daughter, she would have no one to blame except herself.

How can children be so foolish to end up in such a place? They do their dirt all in the name of fun and think they are invincible only to get caught and end up in this cesspool of vermin. At one point in her life, she promised to create prevention programs aimed at keeping children on the straight and narrow. Perhaps they could come to the police station and see what it’s like–scare them into submission. But, she’ll never be Chief. She could kiss all those brilliant ideas goodbye.

“Captain Pancakes. Captain Pancakes!”

It was that tall, beautiful idiot, Detective Romeo. How he ever graduated from the academy, she would never know. How he made it all the way to detective would remain a mystery for all time.

“Hey, Captain Pancakes! It’s a great day for kicking butt and taking names, huh? Yeah!”

It was beyond her how someone could talk so much and say so little.

“Any word on when you’re getting off noob duty? We could sure use your sage wisdom out there, heh. Oh! I didn’t mean that in a bad way, like, you’re old or anything just…well, you know, you practically built this place! You’re the best of the best. You don’t need to be in here cleaning cages like a dweeb…no offense.”

She wasn’t quite sure what he said but was quite sure there was a compliment in there somewhere. “Thank you, Detective.”

“So…what are you gonna do? It’s not like you to mope around and let people handle you. You’re Captain Pancakes! Queen of kicking butts and taking names! I’d love to know what the ethics committee thinks of this. I mean, dude, the Chief of Police trying to protect his job by making noob sauce out of his best Captain? That’s, like–”

“What did you say?”

“Making noob sauce out of his best Captain? Oh, that’s just a thing I say when–”

“No, before then. About the ethics committee.”

“Oh, uhhh, yeah! I wonder what the ethics committee thinks of this. You have filed a claim, right?”

That was the answer! How could she not see it before? It was there available to her the entire time. How much time had she wasted on drowning in despair and finding fault with everything? Perhaps she was losing it. But, thanks to the rookie detective fresh from the academy, her losing days were numbered, and some heads were about to roll.

“If you would excuse me, I have a very important and urgent task to complete.”