New Online Store

Today is the official 1st day of my new online store:

http://www.zazzle.com/Franklin79

Leave comments and suggestions on how you think I can make the store to serve you better!

“SHOOTING STAR” Chapter II: Friend or Foe?

Location: Inner Harbor, Baltimore, Maryland

The current time is approximately 1200hrs., and Sandra and Tommy have now found another survivor of a mysterious disaster that occurred, but they don’t know if the gunman they have encountered is friend or foe.  Now the gunman has marched them to downtown Baltimore near the Inner Harbor and during their walk they see more of the city destroyed and buildings that were supposed to be there not standing anymore.  They were ordered to march through the streets with their hands up as the gunman continuously pointed his rifle in their backs.  Tommy and Sandra would glance at each other the entire time while they are being marched through the streets, but no words were exchanged.  They had no clue of where they were being lead to, but they dared not to ask for the fear of being shot.

After about thirty minutes of walking they found themselves walking near the piers and Navy ship engulfed in flames floating in the water.  The gunman gives them to the order to stop and face the water.  They followed his orders and then got pushed closer to the water to the very edge of the dock.  They were then told to get on their knees and keep their hands up and don’t move.  At this point Sandra began to shed tears and the positive knowledge of her dying with a execution style shot in the back of the head just overwhelmed her.  Tommy closed his eyes thinking that he will be first and waiting for the shot to the back of the head and him go falling into the contaminated water.  As they waited quitely on their knees to be executed it remained silent behind them and was wondering what was the gunman waiting for.  Tommy began to figure that the gunman lost the nerve to continue with the act and probably left the scene, but didn’t attempt to get up and find out.

So Tommy and Sandra continued to wait there on their knees for about another few more minutes, but nothing happened.  Tommy looked at Sandra and she looked back at him and they began to lower their arms slowly by their side.  Tommy signals to her that he will stand up and see what is going on behind him and she nodded in fear of something might happen.  Tommy stands up very slowly and can feel the knee part of his pants soaked from the rain that occured earlier in the day.  He stood up completely still facing the harbor waters and slowly turned around to see what was behind him and he was shocked to see what was there.  He looked down and saw the gunman laying dead, but no blood could be seen on or around the body.  He looked back up and saw at least five men dressed in all chemical gear, gas masks, and two white suits in two plastic wraps.

He reached down and told Sandra it was okay to stand up and she followed his instructions.  She stood up and turned around and saw the same thing Tommy was looking at and her knees on her pants were soaked as well.  The five men standing there with maching guns hanging from their shoulders directed the two to follow them.  Tommy and Sandra were hesitant in following the men, but they did and as they walked they had one in front of them, one of either side of them and two directly behind them.  They followed the men around a corner and saw a military hummvvee, black, parked with a sixth man standing on top manning a .50 caliber machin gun.  The five men guided them into the hummvvee and told the driver to pull off to the location to have them decontaminated.  They sat in the backseat and as they pulled away they stared at the five men as they stared back and continued on through the streets of the rubbled city.  Tommy and Sandra both looked out of their windows and just saw the rubble of the city landscape going them by and burned out vehicles and downed bridges.

After a while the landscape began to look the same until they arrived to what looked like the headquarters of where they were going.  They approached the main gate and saw a sign that stated “WELCOME TO FORT CURTIS” as they passed it.  They remained quite the entire time during the transport and saw other people walking around in gas masks preparing to go out and others dressed in woodland camo doing hard labor, working on vehicles, or conducting drills and training.  They entered a building and once they drove up they saw people dressed in all yellow chemical suits and gas masks awaiting for their arrival.  The hummvvee stopped and they got out and directed over to the first station to fill out a card with their name, date of birth, and social security number.  After they filled it out they were then directed to go behind their respective curtains and stip down completely.  From that point on they couldn’t see each other until they were at the end of the decontamination phase where they receive new clothes and their own bio-suite.  They saw each other at the end of the decontamination phase and Sandra’s hair was completely wet and hanging down and naturally curled.  Tommy’s hair was completely drenched and static took affect because his hair had a hard time staying down on his scalp.

Two men in dress uniforms lead them to a dark room and they saw two chairs in the middle of the room.  Once they were lead into the room the door closed behind them and the ceiling lights came on, but were very dull.  They could see a projector in front of them and the screen already down, but saw no one else in the room.  Sandra breaks the silence for the first time in the last couple of hours.

SANDRA: Tommy? Do you know what is going on or what is happening?

TOMMY: I haven’t the slightess clue.  Just go with the flow of it.

Suddenly the projector turns on and caused Sandra to jump in fear, but she regained her composure.  A video appeared on the screen and they began to watch it and trying to make sense of it as it plays.  The opening scene of the video was a group of people fighting amongst each other with sticks, bats, and other weapons causing serious harm to people and killing them.  Then suddenly shots rang out and they saw the people falling like flies receiving gunshots in the head and upper torso of the body.  They watch in horror as they are looking at this video as if it was really happening in front of them live.  Suddenly the video goes black for a few seconds and then returns showing dead bodies of people with radiation burns, animals dead in the street still on fire, and when the video zoomed out they saw an entire city engulfed in flames and smoke just flowing into the air blocking the sunlight.

The video lasted about three minutes and they were in horror the entire time watching the video.  When it finished the room got dark and the lights came back on and a person in a military style uniform was standing behind them.  Tommy and Sandra looked at each other and saw the gentlemen in the back standing there with his hands in front of him.  He looks at them and walks towards the front and pulls up the projector screen and moves the projector out of the way.  He stands there in front of them and they get a good look at his dressed uniform and see ribbons galore on his uniform.  He looks at them and they look at him back and he begins to speak to them.

COLONEL JAMES J. WALKER: Good afternoon, my name is Colonel James J. Walker, Commander of Fort Curtis Security Forces and liaison officer.  I welcome you to Fort Curtis and I assure you that you are safe here and will be well taken care of.  The video you just saw was footage from Annapolis, Maryland and the chaos that ensued there.  This is the same type of chaos and sadly the results that happened in Annapolis are occurring everywhere.  Every survivor we find we show them this video and unfortunately we have not come across any except today, you two.  You will be asked questions to help us know what is out there and what you have encountered.  My men behind you will lead you to your sleeping quarters where you can get some rest and soon after you will be fed.

Colonel Walker motions to the two men behind them to lead them to their sleeping quarters and to report back to him.  Tommy and Sandra are lead to their sleeping quarters and when they entered into their own rooms the only thing they saw was a cot, radio, one window, and a make-shift bathroom.  Sandra walked in and heard the door behind her close and she slammed her stuff down on the floor in disguss.  Tommy entered his room next door to her and he wasn’t happy either and threw his belongings across the room hitting the wall next to the window.  He paces the room running his hands through his hair trying to figure out what is going on and hopefully if he pays attention he can figure that mystery out.  At this point all he knows is that him and Sandra nearly died from a mysterious gunman who was killed by five men wearing chemical suits and gas masks, and the next thing he knows he’s at a military style base being debriefed on chaos going on in the outside world and people dying.  Is there a virus going around and the military is ordered to control the situation by deadly force? If so, why the chemical suits and masks?  Who would know exactly what is going and what will definitely happen to them?

SOLDIER: (Knocked on the door and it opened) Tommy Harrison, Colonel Walker will be seeing you.

-End of Chapter II-

Next Posting: October 15, 2009 (Chapter III: Obvious Clues)

Season I: Episode I: “Vince Black”

Time line:  Late 2009

NEWS REPORTER (ANNE BEECHER): Good evening and welcome to NewsPress at 7, I’m Anne Beecher.  Tonight I have an exclusive interview with one of the presidential hopefulls, Senator of Minnesota Vince Black, who represents the Independent Party.  Senator Black has gone through a tough road to get to where he is now by overcoming the death of his mother suddenly one night to loosing his wife in a horrific car crash about two years ago.  His journey through his childhood was fun, loving, and numerous amounts of friends, but somewhere along that line tragedy began to tear the family apart.  We begin from where he was about 8 years old.

While the news program is running the storyline of Vince Black’s past from his childhood, he is behind the camera getting himself ready and making last preparations before the interview.  While the men and women around him continue to work it is like life at that present time slowed down in slow motion as he began to take it all in.  America was about to hear from him and how different his life was and why no other Senator has ever gone through what his has faced.  He hears the program running in the background as they flashback on his life and some of the tragedies that occurred in his family.  He turns around to the television behind and watches the video clips and pictures as they are shown on the screen as the narrator speaks.  Vince was given a cue to when to walk up on the front stage and to take a seat next to Anne Beecher to get ready for his interview.

As he makes his approach life around him then suddenly picks back up in normal fashion.  When he approaches the stage he sees the bright lights and all eyes on him as he takes his seat.  Almost immediately he sees a group of three people approach him with make-up kits in their hands to make the final touches.  He hears the producer in the background counting down from 10 all the way down to 1.  Suddenly the make-up artists rush off stage and when they clear he turns towards the camera to where he was directed to face.  As Anne comes back on television he leans back and interlocks his fingers and takes a couple of deep breaths to relax himself before he looses his train of thought.  He thinks about crossing his legs, but knowing that wouldn’t look professional he decided against it and just keep his feet on the floor.

ANNE BEECHER: …………..tonight with me I have Senator Vince Black for an exclusive interview so America can know his story. She turns her chair around to face him and her long black hair swings around with her.  Thanks for being here tonight Senator.

VINCE BLACK: Thanks for having me.  I’m honored. (Cracks a smile).

ANNE BEECHER: What made you decide to do this interview?

VINCE BLACK: Well, most of America’s idea of a politician is someone who lies, cheats, steals, and committs all kinds illegal acts and then doesn’t get punished.  I’m not going to claim that I am a saint and that I am the savior of all, but the point is that I want to let America know that I am who I am.

ANNE BEECHER: So you want the people of this country to get to know who you are and not what you are?

VINCE BLACK: Exactly.

ANNE BEECHER: In your words how would you describe your life now?

VINCE BLACK: Life is good and I’m proud of the things that I accomplished to get here.  I was the president of my senior class in high school, secretary of my class in college, executive editor of my community newspaper, and everything that leads up to me becoming Senator of the state of Minnesota.  I wouldn’t change any of it even if I had the opportunity too.

ANNE BEECHER: With the lost of your wife in that terrible car accident a couple of years ago, how was you able to bounce back?

VINCE BLACK: (He sighs slowly getting his thoughts together)  When I lost my wife, Brenda, it was really heart-wrenching and I spent many nights wondering what was her last moments, thoughts before she passed away.  I know her family was always on her mind and she would do anything to make sure her family was taken care of.  I miss her very much and that time of mourning was very, very difficult and especially for our two daughters.  It was an easier time with other family members coming to help me and loving friends who wanted me to recover from this.  Without their help I would’ve had a difficult time and probably gave up the seat.

ANNE BEECHER: How are your daughters doing with all of this?  The press, the attention, and the busy schedule you have?

VINCE BLACK: They have handled all of this very well since the lost of Brenda and they have totally amazed me on their attitudes.  The youngest, Katie who just turned 9, is very funny at times and demands nothing but time with her father.  I can be going out of town for whatever the reason is and they will be with the nanny.  Katie will run up to me sometimes and tell me that I need to spend time with her when I get back and always tells me to be safe.  Melissa, who is a teenager at age 14, is like a normal teenager, but I love them both.  I always told them that they are number one in my life and that if I need to I will give up being a Senator if it came to it.

As the interview continues they later go on to a commercial break where the people behind the scenes begin to run around again.  Someone brings him and Anne a glass of water and says that they have a minute and a half before they return to the program.  Vince’s picks up the glass of water and hears his phone ringing in his suit pocket.  He forgot to turn off his cellphone and rushes to get it and to see who is calling him.  He grabs his cellphone and looks up at the guy yelling 30 seconds people!  He looks at the caller ID and sees that it is his secretary, but doesn’t answer it right away.  He turns off the ringer and puts the phone back in his suit pocket inside his blazer and gets himself ready for the rest of the interview with Anne.

Back at Capitol Hill the other congressman and senators are wrapping up their night and getting ready for tomorrow.  Secretary, Amanda Wright who works for Vince, approaches one of the congressmen in the hallway just outside of Black’s office.

SECRETARY AMANDA: Congressman Nicholson! (She runs out of the office to catch up to him as he is walking with other members.)

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: (He turns around and acknowledges her)  Yes, Amanda?

SECRETARY AMANDA: I called Vince during the commerical break, but he didn’t answer the phone.  I left him a message to call immediately after hearing the message.  I don’t know how long it will be before he responds.

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: Is he doing that interview with Anne Beecher?

SECRETARY AMANDA: Yes.

CONGRESSMAN NICOLSON: (Sighs and excuses himself from the other members of congress.)  I told him to not do that interview.  It can hurt his chances in running for president.  I need to know what his vote is going to be for this economic bill that is to be signed by the president by Friday morning.  You need to keep trying to get a hold of him until he answers back.

SECRETARY AMANDA: Yes. (She rushes back to the office and closes the door.)  Nicholson looks around the hallway and walks at a fast pace down the hallway.

Once the interview was over Vince shook Anne’s hand and they exchanged a few words before he left.  As he was walking out of the studio his phone rings once more and sees that it is his secretary once again.  This time he answers the phone with his driver standing by his side.  He motions to his driver to retrieve the vehicle while he is talking to Amanda.

VINCE BLACK: Yes, Amanda?  I see you called earlier during the interview.

SECRETARY AMANDA: Yes, sir.  Congressman Nicholson was asking about your whereabouts and they need your vote on the economic bill ASAP.

VINCE BLACK: I’m on my way back now and if anyone asks you just tell them that.  I’ll see you when I get there. (He hangs up the phone and sighs to himself as his vehicle pulls up.)

He gets in on the passenger side rear and silently rides back to the office at Capitol Hill.  Once he arrives there he is met by Nicholson, who excuses himself from other congressmen and rushes to Black.

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: Where have you been?  Was you doing that interview with Anne?

VINCE BLACK: I did the interview with her so people can know me in a better light.

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: Are you insane?  I told you that could hurt your chances in becoming president of the United States.  Anyway, we need your vote on this economic bill that the president wants on his desk by Friday morning.

VINCE BLACK: Are you telling me I am the only one who hasn’t voted?

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: No, your not the only one, but everyone didn’t leave office without telling someone.

VINCE BLACK: What do you mean I didn’t tell anyone?  I told Amanda that I was going to do my interview with Anne, who is by the way a very lovely woman in person.  I might…….

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: (Cuts him off.)  Lets focus on the task at hand, Vince.  You can save all that womanizning stuff later I just need you to vote on this bill.  Yay or nay?

VINCE BLACK: Does it still have that clause in it to give money to the national homeless program and to give money to schools that meet the federal standards of excellent education?

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: Yes, and it has all the other clauses that you like and don’t like.  This bill has been in the process for weeks now and with our nation’s economic trouble we need to pass this thing like yesterday.  What’s your vote?

VINCE BLACK: (Looks at Nicholson in the eye before answering.)  I vote yay for the bill.

CONGRESSMAN NICHOLSON: (Smiles and hugs him.)  Great! I will give your vote to the majority leader and once they confirm it were that closer to getting the bill passed. (He rushes off passed the congressmen he was with before seeing Vince.)

Vince watches him walk off and heads to his office and when he enters he doesn’t see Amanda at her desk.  He just hears music coming from her computer and only the desk lamp on.  He glances at her desk as he walks past and enters his office by opening the door and then he sees a woman standing by the window adjacent to his desk.  He closes the door behind him so no one can see that he has a vistor.  The woman turns around and then suddenly he hears commotion in the hallway outside of his office.  He opens his door and heads out to the hallway and sees police officers rushing towards the front of the Capitol.  He went out into the hallway to see what is going on and and then turned back into his office and the woman was gone.  He sees his secretary and asks her who was the woman in the office.  Amanda replies, “What woman?”

“SHOOTING STAR” Chapter I: The Sky is Falling!

 LOCATION: Baltimore, Maryland

At about 5:15am Tommy and Sandra find themselves approaching the city limits of Baltimore, Maryland coming down U.S. Route 1.  They approach an intersection shortly after crossing the city limits and see a huge pile of rubble approximately 20 feet in height and maybe about 50 feet wide.  Obviously the pile is blocking their view ahead and they know the only way to around it is to climb the pile, which maybe unstable.  Tommy looks at Sandra and encourages her to follow him up the rubble to the top.  Tommy begins first and then a few steps behind Sandra followed up the pile.  A few times they slid back down the pile a few inches getting poked and cut by pieces of glass and metal sticking out.  After a few minutes of struggling to climb the pile Tommy makes it finally to the top and pauses.  Sandra looks up at him viewing his rear side and is struggling to climb to the top to meet him.  She continues to climb breathing hard and calls out his name at least a few times, but he never responds.

Sandra gets to the top and grabs his arm and calls to him as she stands up.  Tommy was still facing forward and a tear streamed down his face and Sandra looked perplexed until she faced the same direction.  When she faced forward she was looking at the same scene he was and she placed her hands over her mouth in disbelief.  As they both analyze what they were looking at she grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard as he did her hand as well.  About 100 feet in front of them were several vehicles on fire and all the buildings that followed the road in front of them were either completely destroyed or completely in flames.  They can feel the heat of the many fires from the scene in front of them as they still struggle to make sense of it all.  Tommy looks up in the sky with tears still streaming down his face and most of the air above them was filled with smoke, the smell of burnt rubber, cement, and metal invading their smelling senses. 

Tommy looks at his watch and sees that it is almost 6am and that the sun is trying to peak itself over the once city landscape.  With the smoke filled air the rays and sunlight struggles to peep through, but since the air is so thick it remains to be dark on the ground.  They make their way slowly off of the rubble and back on the main street slowly making their way through the maze of destruction.  After about a half hour of walking down the main strip Sandra complains about her feet hurting and the need of wanting to sit down for a few minutes.  Tommy locates a bench around the corner on a side street and guides her over to it.  The sun is well above the horizon and some sunlight is able to peep through and cast itself along the ground.  They sit down and get themselves together as they rest their legs and feet from their long extensive journey from northern New Jersey. 

As they were sitting their Tommy stands up as if he heard something that was strange to his ears.  Sandra calls to him and ask him what was wrong, but he didn’t respond to her like he did at the pile of rubble.  She began to raise her voice to get his attention, but he put up his hand and told her to be quite.  Sandra is listening very carefully, but hears nothing but the wind gently blowing through the air. 

TOMMY:  Wow.

SANDRA:  What’s wow?  I don’t hear a damn thing, Tommy.

TOMMY:  That’s the point Sandra.  No planes, cars, or train blowing its horn.  We hear nothing of any type of civilization around us. 

SANDRA:  You’re right.  No type of civilization whatsoever around us.  This is real spooky, Tommy.  What happened?

TOMMY:  I don’t know, Sandra.  Everywhere we go we see a different world.  I can only hope that we can find something or someone that will somehow explain all of this.  We go from watching shooting stars to seeing cities demolished before our eyes.  You ready?

SANDRA:  Yeah, but lets see if we can find some food or something.  I’m hungry and thirsty as hell.

They begin to walk again down the main strip heading southbound still looking for any place that would look like they may have food stored inside.  At one point they walked and looked up and could see the sky clearly, but saw grey clouds and thunder amongst the clouds.  Sandra asks him if that was a storm coming and he replied with a maybe, but knowing that shelter will be needed soon he continued down the street quickly.  They kept looking around and they began to think that they might not find any food or water since every building they see is basically crumbled to the ground.  Just as they begin to loose hope they get to an intersection and see a building that is partially still standing with its windows blown out and a truck partially cinged.  They make their approach towards the building and heard glass breaking loudly as if it happened right next to them.  They both stopped in their tracks and quickly ran towards the burnt truck to hide. 

Sandra asks Tommy does he see anyone and he acknowledges that he doesn’t see anyone.  Tommy lays on the ground and peeps around the rear tires and it was silence.  He continues to peep around the rear tires and tells Sandra to stay put.  He slowly makes his way out from behind the truck and suddenly he hears more glass breaking.  He dives back behind the truck and tells Sandra to stay quite.  He leans over past the rear tires again and all he could see is darkness beyond the busted out windows and the front doors.  Then a pair of feet wearing black boots emerge from the darkness and stops.  Tommy slips back behind the truck a little bit and whispers to Sandra that he sees someone coming out of the store.  He leans over past the rear tire again and watches the feet begin to walk towards the main strip down the sidewalk.  He follows the feet until the whole person was revealed and all he could see was the entire back side of the person.  The individual is wearing all black with a black hoodie on with the hood on their head.  He waits until the person clears the corner and out of sight and that is when he grabbed Sandra by the hand to follow them.

Tommy and Sandra slowly make their way towards the corner and peep around and he can see the person walking down the street.  They had at least a three block head start, but Tommy still follows the person with his eyes and wait until they clear another corner.  Tommy urges Sandra to hurry up and they pick up the pace a little bit jogging over debris and seeing the storm above them closing in fast.  They both reach the corner where the individual made a right, but when he peeped around their was no sign of the individual anywhere.  Tommy slowly stands up careful not to expose himself looking around for the individual.  He steps out and stands in middle of the street filled with demolished and destroyed cars still burning.  Sandra still hiding behind the corner looking at Tommy crazy of why he is standing out in the open all exposed.

He looks at her and waves her out from around the corner to join him.  She hesitates for a few seconds and slowly makes her approach towards him watching her surroundings.

SANDRA:  Where did he go, Tommy?

TOMMY:  The hell if I know.  I don’t know if the person was a man or woman, but whoever it was they disappeared very quickly.

Suddenly, machine gun fire rang out and rounds rapidly hit the ground around them kicking up debris and almost hitting them.  They both went dodging behind the closes object, which ended up being a shell of a car.  Sandra clutched to Tommy’s arm and expressed her fear to him as rounds hit the car and the wall  near them.  The gunfire stopped for a few minutes and Tommy poked his head up exposing his eyes only and the gunfire rang out once more.  He ducked back down for safety and held Sandra in his arms to protect her.  With the gunfire breaking through the silence it echoed through the destroyed landscape making it sound like machine gunfire was happening elsewhere.  Then again the gunfire stopped and this time they waited about ten minutes before making a move.  Tommy and Sandra point to an object across the street near the building where the gunman was firing from.  Sandra begins to have second thoughts, but with the risk and daring of Tommy’s personality he rushes across the street to the unrecognizable object.  No gunfire erupted and Tommy waved his hand at Sandra to come on and again she hesitated to do so, but found the courage to rush across the street.  Once she met up with him they ran into an opening of the building and hid behind the wall looking behind them.  Tommy saw no one behind him and was satisfied to keep going.

Once in the building they began to peep around, but couldn’t see anything since it was mostly dark.  Then suddenly they heard a loud thunder and the rain poured out of the sky and made it seem like they were going to see a flood happen.  They find a set of stairs and climb them to the second level, what was left of the second level from the fires.  They find a corner to settle in and Tommy leans his body up agains the wall with Sandra sitting between his legs and her back leaning up against him.  He wraps his arms around her to keep her warm, but knowing that the gunman is still out there he tells her that he will stay awake as she sleeps.  She crosses her arms and leans her head back into his chest and falls asleep almost immediately.  Tommy sits there and has a good view of the pouring rain and the sound of the rain falling calms him down and slows his hear rate.  Reality hits him and he realizes that the life that he once knew has been destroyed and that they must live in a new world.  Suddenly, Tommy is awaken by a sense of someone near them and he sees the gunman standing over them with his rifle pointed at them.  Sandra wakes up and is frightened by the sight of the rifle in her face and Tommy clutches her tighter. 

GUNMAN:  Who the hell are you?

 

“Blue Line” New Blog Series!

The City of Berwyn Park is located in the central region of one of the richest counties in the United States, Lakewood County, which is just east of the nation’s capital.  Even though Berwyn Park is the largest city in the county, they face numerous challenges, more than some of the biggest police agencies within a 100 mile radius.  The Berwyn Park Police Department was created near the beginning of the year 2000 and has grown in numbers.  Just like any other agency or more so than most, they have a high turnover rate of officers resigning and going to neighboring agencies, bigger police departments, or just in another career field all together.

Many romances have come and gone within the agency and in some cases life-long partnerships have come out of it.  Like everywhere else they have the same issues when it comes to funding, equipment, and personnel.  Even though the department is funded by the city they are also getting funding from the local college, Mid-Atlantic University, who has an agreement with the city to allow Berwyn Park police officers to patrol the university grounds and enforce their policies while having full authority since the campus and it’s properties belong to the state.

The agreement between the city and the university is still in its early stages of growing pains, since the signing of the contract in 2005.  The chief of police for Berwyn Park Police Department is a military veteran and has a hardcore way of doing things.  He doesn’t see things eye to eye with the mayor in some cases, but he gets the job done and does what needs to be done to keep the citizens safe of Berwyn Park.  Since the city is within close proximity of the nationa’s capital they call upon the county police on the regular for assistance and to make up for their lack of resources since the agency is so young.  The relationship between Berwyn Park and Lakewood County Police Departments is on an even playing field.  Although the county police doesn’t patrol the city as much anymore, some still look upon the city police as babies in an adult world.

All these challenges face the Berwyn Park Police Department daily and they continue to face scrutiny from politicians and even some of their own citizens.  The growing pains of a new agency can be hard, but the loyalty, confidence, and dedication of the officers will allow the city and agency to prevail.

Season begins (To Be Announced at a later date.)

Random Post Series

SHOOTING STAR!

Tommy pulls up in front of Sandra’s house and honks the horn for her to come out.  Sandra peeps out of her front window and quickly closes it and comes out of the front door.  Quickly comes down the front steps and gets into the car with Tommy, who owns a blacked out Chevy Impala.  Tommy pulls off and one neighbor watches them as they pull off into the night heading towards the city.  The radio clock in the car is reading 11:30pm and Sandra smiles and looks at him.

SANDRA: Where are you taking me?

TOMMY: Somewhere where we can be alone outside enjoying the cool weather, overlooking the city.

SANDRA: How sexy.

Sandra sits there in the passenger seat and watches the people in the city walking down the street.  She sees that Tommy is getting futher and further away from the nightlife in the city and towards a mountain region that partially surrounds the city.  She sits there and remains quite and enjoys the cool breeze, wind blowing in her face coming through the passenger window.  Finally Tommy pulls up to an entrance to the scenic overlook and glances at her and smiles.  As he proceeds further down the road to the scenic lot they come up on to the closed gate.

SANDRA: Damn!  We don’t have the key to get in.

TOMMY: What? Don’t worry about getting a key.  I have bolt cutters in the trunk. He gets out and walks towards the trunk and pulls out the bolt cutters.  He walks up to the gate and in his second attempt to cut the bolt lock he succeeds and they proceed into the scenic lot.

As soon as he pulls into a spot facing the city they get out of the car and walk up to the edge.  The sight was beautiful from their persepective, seeing the entire city and the cars going through the landscape.  She sighs deeply with a big smile on her face and lets him know how beautiful the thought of bringing her up there was.  He smiles back at her and they kiss each other and do so for a moment.

They walk backwards towards the car and lean on the hood.  She grabs his hand and they interlock their fingers and look at each other in the eyes.  Tommy looks up and points to her some of the constellations above their heads.

TOMMY: I figured tonight would be a great night since the sky is clear and we can see the stars alot easier from up here.  Those city lights drown out the sight in the sky and hopefully we can see a falling star and make a wish upon it.

SANDRA: Oh that would be beautiful.  I already know what my wish is, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to wish over and over again.

TOMMY: My wish is basically true already, but I will wish that it stays true for a very, very long time.

They lean towards each other and kiss on the lips and his hand gently caresses her face.  They pull back from each other and he looks up and sees something moving in the sky.

TOMMY: I think that’s either a satellite or the space station.

SANDRA: WOW!  I’ve never seen the space station in the sky.  Is that what it normally looks like on a clear night like this?

TOMMY: Yep.  I think we are suppose to see it tonight since it is clear.

SANDRA: AWESOME!

They bring their heads back down and look over the city and just watching life living in the far distance.  Then Sandra spotted a shooting star in the very far distance past the city landscape and pointed out to Tommy, but it burned up before they could make a wish.  Then another one was seen falling above them and it was spotted by Tommy out of the corner of his eyes.  They followed it and made their wishes and then it burnt up in the atmosphere.

SANDRA: We did it!

TOMMY: Yeah we did and our wishes shall remain the same.  Always together.

As they walked back towards the car Tommy spotted another one, but it looked real bright to be a shooting star.  He saw how fast it was travelling downward and pointed out to Sandra.  She turned her head and saw the same thing coming down as well and they figured it was a shooting star that is bigger than normal.  They continued to wach it and then a sudden bright flash of light caused them to cover their faces and duck for cover.  Partially blind Tommy looks up and hears a sonic boom and sees a mushroom cloud growing over the their city.

Down below they both could see the city getting swallowed up by fire and intense heat.  Sandra covers up her mouth in disbelief and immediately starts crying in fear as Tommy tries to comfort her.  They both watched in horror as the fire continued to spread in a circular motion wiping everything out reducing it to a burning rumble.  Then they see and begin to feel the intense heat of the fire quickly coming upon them and he grabs her hand and runs towards a ditch on the rear end of the scenic lot.  They both jump down inside the ditch and cover themselves with earth debris.

When the coast was clear they both raised up out of the ditch covered in mud, dirt, and other natural things.  They slowly walk over towards the cliff they were once standing at and see that Tommy’s car was practically burned.  Their coughing and hacking up things out of their lungs and still slowly making their way towards the cliff.  As they made it to the cliff they looked over where the city was once standing alive with full of people is now a city of complete fire, and chaos.  Sandra breaks down crying and falls to her knees as Tommy stands their in disbelief seeing that his city was destroyed beyond recognition.  That is when he began to guess was the country at war and if so who struck first?  He knew finding answers would be extremely tough and with radiation in the air their life expectancy has just dropped more than 50%.

Random Post Series

 Animal Liberation Army (ALA)

On December 1, 2010 it was a very cold day in the nation’s capital and the snow began to fall.  Just as the snow was falling a red Honda sedan came screeching around the corner on to New York Avenue barely keeping control.  People walking down the street near the intersection where the car came from stop and look in disbelief.  Suddenly the backdoor on the passenger side opens up and a dog gets tossed at speeds of 50 mph.  People look in horror as they watch this dog fly through the air and into parked cars on the side.  A few people rush to the dogs rescue before it was ran over by a box truck coming behind the Honda. 

The dog was rescued just in time and brought to the sidewalk out of the street.  As people examined the dog closer they could see that the dog was extremely skinny, shaking, and real wet all over.  The bystander that rescued the dog out of the street took it to the nearest animal shelter and left it there for treatment.  Later that day around early evening hours the team that deals with individuals that abuse animals was called into the veterinary hospital housing the abused dog.  The ALA (Animal Liberation Army) consists of five individuals that serve the nations’ capital area.  Once they were called into the hospital they were briefed on what was going on.

VETERINARY DOCTOR:  I called you here this evening because this lady named Brenda Connor brought in a german sheppard of about 8 weeks earlier today.  The dog was seen thrown from the vehicle as it started to snow and slid into some parked vehicles.  Luckily the dog survived this long in its condition.

ALA COMMANDER:  Do you have the information given to you from the bystander?

VETERINARY DOCTOR:  It was a red Honda sedan with MD registration and here is the information you need.  The dog was found skinny, fractured back legs, and at the time he was tossed he suffered a laceration in his gums. 

ALA COMMANDER:  Thanks doc.  We’ll take it from here.  Turns to his troops behind him.  Let’s go hunting.

The ALA team goes out and follows the lead that they were given by the doctor.  When they arrive at the address given under the registration they see the red Honda sitting in the driveway.  They approach the house slowly and cautiously putting on their black leather gloves.  They get to the car and one of the members break into the vehicle and disconnect the ignition.  One approaches the front door, one on either side of the house, and two in the back climbing the deck.  The commander knocks on the door and waits patiently for someone to answer.  As soon as the door opens the lady sees a tall man wearing black military style boots, black BDU’s, and an patch on his left shoulder saying “ALA”. 

LADY AT THE DOOR:  May I help you?

ALA COMMANDER:  Are you the owner of the red Honda in the driveway?

LADY AT THE DOOR:  I am.  Why and who wants to know?

The commander busts open the door and knocks the lady down on her back.  She crawls on her back to get away from the crazed man and gets to her feet to run to the bedroom.  She runs into the bedroom with him pursuing her and closed the door.  She locks the door and backs away towards her window and then suddenly that window breaks sending glass everywhere.  She screams and reaches for the telephone, but the line was cut.  She runs towards the bedroom door and sees the commander standing there.  She screams and backs up into another member of the ALA and then she goes out. 

When she wakes up she realizes she is naked and tied to a wooden chair from her kitchen.  She tries to scream, but her mouth is restricted due to a rope tightly placed between her lips.  She looks around and sees five members of the ALA standing around her.  She has fear in her eyes and knows that she is in trouble, but doesn’t know why.  The commander walks up in front of her and shows her a picture of the dog that she threw out of the car in D.C. ealier that day.  She pretneds to don’t know what he was talking about, but as he was describing the scene in detail she knew that she was caught.  She begins to cry and tries to talk, but can’t form words for them to listen.

The commander made the statement that she was going to pay for abusing the dog the way she did and will suffer the same consequences.  The female member of the ALA approaches the women in front of her and back hands her across the face.  Then delivers a powerful right hook making her head go side to side as she repeats this for about two minutes.  The lady was nearly out when the ALA member stopped hitting her in the face.  The commander gave the order to take her to the van out front and take her to the streets of D.C.

So they blindfolded  her and and took her to the van afte rthey untied her from the chair.  By this time it was about five to six inches of snow on the ground and more was expected to come later that night.  They drive off from her house and look for a place to drop her off at.  They arrive in Southeast, D.C. on Benning Road and saw numerous people outside mingling around.  The van pulls over on the side of the vehicle and the woman member of the ALA takes off the blindfolds.  The lady is crying and pleading that she was sorry and that she won’t ever do what she did again if they release her.  The commander was not moved by her tears and her plead for sympathy.

He flew open the side door and he pushed her out of the van as she fell into a pile of snow on the sidewalk naked.  He closes the door and has the van speed off into the night on the streets of D.C. She screams to the van and begins to shiver from the cold and bleeding badly from the mouth and nose.  Her eyes were black and swollen, but she can still see out of them, but not very good.  The group of people got closer to her to see what was going on and she started see all black, young guys surrounding her.  With her hands still tied behind her back she makes her way into the street looking for help.  She finds an opening and begins to run down the street yelling for help as bystanders and drivers keep on going refusing to help her. 

She gets to a corner and sees her picture on the news in one of the corner stores.  She saw herself labeled as a vicious animal abuser and that she was the owner of a red Honda seen throwing a puppy out of the car.  She wasn’t in the car by herself, but she didn’t have a chance to give up that person.  She yelled out screaming and ran into the night and no one saw or heard from her again.

Random Post Series

AMANDA & MIKE

Mike pulled up to the restaurant in his brand new 2009 Ford Focus, blue metallic, 20 inch rims shinning as the parking lot lights bounce off and reflect the spotless chrome.  He arrived at a restaurant named “Flaming Pot” meeting a woman for dinner who he met a few days ago in the grocery store.  He parks and gets out and heads towards the entrance of the restaurant and sees that it is packed up front and people waiting outside.  Mike’s not worried because he called in reservations the night before so he’s good to go.  He walks up to the hostess at the front and makes eye contact with her and gives her his name.  She checks the book in front of her under reservations for his name and confirms the reservation and the time.

HOSTESS: Yes, Mr. Street I have your table ready right this way.  Your 30 minutes early.  Your reservation is for 2 at 10pm?

MIKE: Yeah, I’m waiting for a beautiful lady to meet me.  Her name is Amanda and when she comes in you can just send her my way.

HOSTESS: Will do.  Here’s your table.  Enjoy your night.

The hostess goes back to the front to resume her duties as Mike sits there patiently waiting for Amanda.  While he is waiting he decides to have a beer and relax watching the crowd coming and going.  About 10 minutes later Amanda walks in and he spots her immediately and is turned on by what she was wearing.  She gets directed by the hostess and she sees him sitting at a booth and waves with a big smile.  She starts to walk over to him and he’s finishing up his beer and puts the empty glass down on the table.

She gets to the table and reaches out to hug him and he stands up to retrieve and give her a hug back.  When he does he gives her a big one and feeling her breasts plant up against his chest.  She sits down and they order their food when the waitress comes over to them.  Once they ate their dinner she wanted to order desert and he decided against it for himself.  She ordered a gigantic cookie with vanilla ice cream on top covered in caramel instead of fudge.  In attempting to play with Mike’s mind she licks the spoon all slow and making her tongue going in a circular motion.  They are having a conversation  while she is eating her desert and he’s trying to keep his mind on what he is talking about, but he’s struggling.  She finally finishes the desert and they ask for the check and got one more round of soft drinks after paying for the meal.

AMANDA: So what are we going to do now?

MIKE: Well, the way you was playing with your desert I think I know what’s on your mind?

AMANDA: Really?  How was I playing with my desert?  What’s on my mind?

MIKE: Come on I’m not stupid.  Using your tongue to play with my emotions and getting my harmones all worked up so I can just melt.  You pretty good.

AMANDA: What in the world are you talking about, Mike?  I was simply enjoying my ice cream.  Besides, I’m not that type of girl who does thinks like that on the first date.

They look at each other and laugh on that comment she just made.  They get their personal belongings and exits the restaurant to her car.  He sees that she drives a black Mercedes seven series with 20 inch rims.  He gets excited and tries to show her his car, but he only has Ford Focus so he doesn’t take that chance to embarrass himself.  They talk some more and just before she gets in her vehicle he stops her by putting his hand on her shoulder.

MIKE: Listen, I had a great time and all, but I would like to, you know, finish this up at my place or yours.

AMANDA: You are really persistent I see, but again I don’t do that on the first date.  I barely know you now so lets get to know each other a little more and then who knows what might happen.

MIKE: So you just basically led me on at the dinner table and you not going to finish the job?  That really sucks.  Never mind everything.  You have a good night. He starts to walk away from her.

AMANDA: She gets upset on that statement and closes her door after him.  Excuse me! Mike I only know you for a short while, a few hours and you getting all upset because I didn’t give you any ass?  I had my reservations about you, but you know what your right forget everything. She walks away from him going back to her car.

MIKE: He chases after her and grabs her arm forcing her to turn around.  Don’t you ever speak to me like that!  I will put you in your place woman don’t play with me.

AMANDA: Get the hell off me! She tries to pull her arm away, but his grip is too tight and she can feel his grip getting tighter.

She attempts to yank her arm out of his grip, but he just won’t give up.  She yells, but he grabs her by the neck cutting off her windpipe.  She grabs his hand to release her neck from his grip, but she’s struggling with that as well.  He then attempts to drag her to his car as other patrons watch from the front of the restaurant and in the parking lot.  He’s dragging her and both of her high heels come off with her barefeet dragging on the ground by the heels.  He gets to his car and slams her up against the passenger door.

MIKE: I’m going to show you what happens when you refuse to submit to a man!

She looks at him in the eyes and knees him between the legs loosening his grip on her neck.  He bends over and she knees him in the face sending him down to the ground holding his face on his back.  She yells down to him and kicks him twice in the ribs and stomps on his head and takes off running towards her car.  He gets up and chases after her and tackles her just before she gets there.  She’s crawling screaming for help, but still no one is coming to her rescue.

He rolls her over and attempts to slap her, but his hand gets caught and he’s yanked off of her harshly.  He lands on his back trying to figure out what happened and jumps up.  Another woman dressed in black heels and a black dress is standing in between him and Amanda.  Mike jumps up and wrecklessly charges at this mysterious woman.  He found out it was a mistake when he got dropped kicked in the face, which caused his head to snap backwards.  He stumbled backwards stunned and received a roundhouse kick and a back roundhouse kick.  Mike fell to the ground knocked out.

The mysterious woman looked back and told Amanda to leave the area and to reassure her that she won’t hear from this creep again.  Amanda leaves without question and never looked back and headed home.

Random Post Series

JACK & JILL

It was a windy, cool October afternoon and the sun is setting in the backdrop of the Colorado Rockies.  Jack and Jill standing on top of one of the tallest points in the Rockies watching the sun set.  They both are at awe as they watch the sun setting and the sky had a pinkish-shadow hue from the horizon fading into the dark sky above them.  They both look at each other with a smile and talking to each other with their eyes enjoying themselves.  Suddenly a cool breeze comes across their face and blows Jack’s hat off of his head and into the valley below thousands of feet down.  Jack and Jill both watch his hat float down to the bottom until it was out of sight and disappeared into the valley of darkness.

JACK:  Shit!  What the hell!

JILL:  It’s alright Jack we can go get another one.

JACK:  I don’t want another one.  I want that one plus it has my secret note inside of the hat for you.

JILL:  A secret note?  What type of note?

JACK:  I was going to give it to you once we were done watching the sunset.

JILL:  Awwww….youre so sweet.  If that note is for me then how will we get your hat?

JACK:  I guess we will have to climb down into the valley and retrieve it.  After it took us all day to get up here.  He stood up and yelled at the top of his lungs and her himself echoing throughout the mountain region.  THIS IS BULLSHIT!

After their conversation they glanced down into the valley and looked back at the sunset.  Looking towards the horizon they could see the mountain region getting dark and they can feel the chill in the air.  So they carefully stand up and start making their way down the mountain peak towards the valley.  Jack digs into Jills backpack for a flashlight and turns it on so they can see their steps.  Jack knows that by the time they hit the bottom it will be completely dark so he urges Jill to hurry to the bottom as fast as she can without falling.  They get about a quarter of the way down and heard a coyote howling in the night.  That made Jill stop in her tracks and gasp for air because the noise frightened her.  Jack nudges her to keep going and don’t stop.

Jack and Jill continue down the mountain and by the time they get about halfway the darkness has just about settled in the region.  Jill stops for a minute to put on her knitted sweater that her mom made a year ago.  After she put it on they continued down the side of the mountain and finally after a few hours they reach the bottom. 

JACK:  Finally we are here.  Let’s see where this hat went.

JILL:  I don’t like this Jack.  Maybe we should just go home and look for it when the sun is up.

JACK:  Hell no.  I want to find my hat so you can have that secret note.

JILL:  Is it that serious?  It’s too dark and I can gaurantee you that our parents will be wondering where we are.

JACK:  So are you going to just leave me out here or help me look for this hat and then we can beat feet.

Jill stands there with a worried look on her face, but reluctantly helps him.  The clouds depart and the full moon is in plain sight and shines its spaceous light into the valley where they are.  They take that opportunity to look for the hat as quickly as possible before more clouds shade the light of the moon.  Jill is following Jack since he has the flashlight and then feels something under her foot.  She looks down and sees that she stepped on his hat crushing it flat.

JILL:  Jack I found your hat.

JACK:  Yeah! Where?!

JILL:  Under my foot.  Sorry.

JACK:  He falls to his knees and pushes her foot out of the way.  You did this on purpose didn’t you?  You’re mad because I kept us out here!

JILL:  Shut the hell up, Jack!  I couldn’t see your hat because I don’t have the flashlight genious! 

JACK:  You know what?!  Here’s your freakin’ note!  He grabs his hat and unflattens it and looks inside, but no note.  What the hell?! The note’s gone!

JILL:  Just great jackass!  You didn’t write a note did you?  You wanted an excuse to come down here to get your sorry ass hat.  Great!  We got your hat now, can we go?

JACK:  Looks at her with an evil eye and starts walking.  Lets go then.

They start walking and about a few moments later they hear noises behind them.  Jill quickly turns around and doesn’t see anything.  Jack turns around and pulls Jill by her arm to make her keep moving.  She hears the noise again as if someone was followig them.  They started picking up their speed to get away from whoever or whatever was behind them.  The noise gets louder and louder to the point that it sounded like it was on top of them.  Jack starts to run at full speed and Jill right behind him.

Soon they found themselves at a stream that they don’t remember crossing to get there.  Jack and Jill stops at the banks of the stream and turn around with the flashlight lighting up the area where they just ran from.  No noise is heard, but then they heard something splash in the water behind them.  They both jump and Jill grabs Jack’s arm clenching his shirt.  They back up from the water shining the flashlight on the surface to see what was behind them.  They stop backing up and stand quite for a few seconds.  Jill suddenly feels something dripping on her shoulder and she turns her head to see what it was.  She brushed her hand across her shoulder and felt something wet on her fingers.  She ask Jack for the flashlight to see what was on her fingers and then the flashlight went out.

JACK:  Great! Now what?………….Jill?  You still there?

He beats on the flashlight a few times and finally gets the power back into the flashlight.  He shines it where Jill was standing and the only thing he sees in front of him is Jill’s feet hanging in the air at about eye level.  He moves the flashlight upward following her body as the fear begins to set in.  He gets to her face and sees that her face was ripped completely off.  He was wondering how was she suspended in the air and wanted to know what killed her.  He began to back up still with the flashlight shining at her missing face.  He saw some black hairy, huge arm holding her up by her hair.  He follows the arm until he sees the face of a beast showing red eyes and teeth of about 10 inches long.  He screams at the top of his lungs and that is when the hairy beast let out a loud roar.  The flashlight went out for the last time and the last thing Jack felt was wet substance on his face and then complete darkness. 

All New Blog Series!

“VINCE BLACK”

Beginning this fall season I have a new blog series beginning in September that depicts an Independent Party candidate attempting to run for the President of the United States.  The American people have been faced with dealing with either the Democrats or Republicans winning the White House and controlling the nation’s reputation amongst its allies and enemies.  In recent years the citizens of this country have been chanting for another, new governmental party that can rise up and take charge and spearhead the nation forward.  The scary thing is that the people know by calling for a third party to gain the seat in the White House that uncertainty comes along with it.

Not to many people even know that the Independent Party even exist in the U.S. Government.  So technically we have a “tri-partisan” government and with the Independents not gaining alot of popularity people have the right to be apprehensive.  At the same time they want to see change and have to deal with the uncertainty that comes with change and putting in a third party in the White House.

A senator from the state Minnesota has that challenge to look forward to if he wants to gain the White House.  With many issues facing the nation today he is coming in on a level that can easily overshadow his qualifications and promises to the country.  Of course, he faces opposition from the other two parties that have placed their political footprints in history and for most Americans that is all they know.  People are looking for a savior that can rescue them out of the economic mess they are in, bring their lovely troops home, and solve other issues that plague the U.S. today.  So, with such a challenged road ahead of Vince Black, Senator of Minnesota and also member of the Independent Party, can he gain the muster and the knowledge to overcome obstacles that can damage his politcal career if not careful?

Series begins September 27th!