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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
District Attorney Skitters stepped gingerly out of his car, sidled up to Deputy Chief Estrada, and rubbed against the policeman\u2019s leg as much as was appropriate.\u00a0 He\u2019d always liked Estrada, and the respect between the two of them was mutual.\u00a0 They\u2019d both cracked a few skulls in the early days, young firebrands with ambition to fill and a hot city willing to serve it up to them.\u00a0 The status quo said cops and prosecutors blamed each other for faults in the system.\u00a0 Skitters and Estrada had little to say for the status quo.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, old man,\u201d Skitters said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey yourself.\u201d\u00a0 He offered out his pack of cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI quit,\u201d Skitters announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince when?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince after four heart attacks and two strokes I\u2019m down to just two lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe missus is always after me to quit,\u201d said Estrada, stuffing the pack back into his trenchcoat.\u00a0 \u201cI tell her, \u2018You want me to live longer, then learn to cook!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters chuckled, but the grim landscape before them brought his mind back to business.\u00a0 His pupils grew wide, enhancing his night vision.\u00a0 The two of them stared out over the Unfriendlies, a broad section of town left to wither and rot after the manufacturing bust of the 80s.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo murders a week at least,\u201d Estrada said.\u00a0 \u201cYou could set your watch by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters\u2019 ears clicked side to side, discerning far off screams, gunshots, and portable radios.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are the brass thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe brass have their heads so far up their ass they don\u2019t have to wait for their tummies to rumble before they know they\u2019re hungry.\u00a0 Cause they can see it.\u00a0 Their empty stomachs.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for a new approach, but I\u2019m going to need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYou know I\u2019m good for it.\u00a0 I grew up on these streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally now?\u201d Estrada grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI never would\u2019ve figured you for an alley cat.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let the three piece suit and pocket square fool you, I\u2019ve had to scavenge a few meals in my day.\u00a0 Hell, I never even knew my dad.\u00a0 Half my litter got left behind in the first two weeks, mom had to move us around so much.\u00a0 And when she died later that year, well\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t gotta talk about it, man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skitters sighed.\u00a0 \u201cNo, no, it\u2019s all right.\u00a0 I got adopted by a nice family out in the suburbs.\u00a0 They raised me right.\u00a0 But the streets\u2026.they\u2019re in my blood, Jose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Estrada exhaled one last stream of smoke and flicked his butt to the other side of the street.\u00a0 \u201cThen let\u2019s fight<\/em> for them, hermano!\u201d<\/p>\n Skitters began to purr.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[68,77],"class_list":["post-639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-cassander","tag-skitters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}