Starsky and Hutch

In the Hands of a Child

 

Hutch's POV

 

Well, this time, I did it. I couldn't do it the first time. I couldn't shoot a kid, even though she was aiming a .38 at me.  Vivian was seventeen, but looked twelve. She took me by surprise. I mean, who would think a kid would be robbing houses? Starsky and I were expecting an experienced theft ring, not a couple of kids that looked like they belonged in Junior High. So I stood there, frozen to the spot, and let her do her damnedest to blow me away.

But this time, I had no choice. Betty Miller wasn't pointing a .38 at me; she was aiming a sub-machine gun at my partner. She had Starsky in her sights, and if I waited a second longer, he would have looked like Swiss cheese. I couldn't risk winging her, either. If I had shot her in the shoulder, or the leg, she could still have pulled the trigger. Those things are touchy. It only takes a gentle squeeze to empty a clip into someone. So I forgot what she looked like, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger on my Magnum before she let go with the Uzi.

What kind of society puts guns in the hands of a child? Betty was sixteen years old, a year younger than Vivian. She belonged on the floor of a gymnasium, cheering the Varsity team on, not standing in the middle of a liquor store, trying to take my partner out. She should have been waving pom-poms, not a gun that was almost as big as she was.  

I took an oath to serve this city and protect the innocent. But what happens when the innocent ones turn violent? Well, now I have a new term for the district attorney: babycide. That's what happens when a cop comes face to face with a kid holding a gun. I couldn't think about how young she was. I couldn't think about her mom and dad, or her brothers and sisters. I couldn't notice her blonde hair done up in pig tails, or the freckles on her fair skin. All I could do was look at that weapon in her hands and do what I had to do. Now I have to live with it for the rest of my life.

Starsky hasn't left me alone since it happened. He knows what I'm going through. It's been years since he had to shoot Lonnie Craig, but he remembers how it felt when he looked at Lonnie's face, and realized a sixteen year old kid was never going to grow up. Yeah, he knows that he did the right thing. Then he'll see a kid on a basketball court that reminds him of Lonnie, and it all comes back to him. And he'll remember how Lonnie's mom kneeled over his body that day, begging God not to take her baby.

At least I was spared that memory. Captain Dobey sent someone else to Betty's parents' house to tell them that their daughter was dead. I guess he thought I'd had all I could take right then. In a way, that was worse. I was the one that took their kid away from them. I should have been the one to break the news. But Dobey knows me too well. He could see that underneath all the grief, I was so damned angry that I could barely speak. What the Hell was she doing at that liquor store? Why wasn't she in her room, doing her homework, or gossiping on the phone? Don't parents know where their kids are any more? I know that's not fair. Parents don't deliberately raise their children to be murderers, or thieves. They do the best that they can, hope it all works out, and wonder what went wrong when it doesn't.

So who's to blame when a kid winds up on the wrong side of the law? Is it really society? Are they simply products of their environment? Or, is there a gene that makes some kids succeed and others go bad? If I had the answer to those questions, I wouldn't be a cop. I'd sell it to parents all over the world and be the richest man alive.

Who am I kidding? I don't have the answers. I'm just a cop; trying to get through this roller coaster we call life, one day at a time. All I can do is keep on keepin' on. I put on this badge for a reason, although sometimes, that reason escapes me. I have to remember that I saved four lives today: mine, Starsky's, Mr. Purdle's (the owner of the liquor store) and the seventeen year old boy's that was supposed to be watching Betty's back. Yeah, I killed a kid today, but damn it, I didn't put that gun in her hands. I did my job, and I intend to find the scum that put Betty on the wrong end of that Uzi. When I find him, he'd better watch out.

 

Starsky's POV

 

I know you're awake, Hutch. I can hear you tossin' and turnin' in that bed. This old couch ain't much to sleep on, but that's not why I'm up at two in the morning. I know what's going through that blond head right now. I've been there before, buddy. I wish I could tell you that tomorrow you'll wake up and it will all be forgotten. I can't though, and if I did, we'd both know I was lying. After all these years, I can still pass by a school and see a kid that reminds me of Lonnie, and suddenly I'm back in that dirty alley, watching a masked gunman aiming his piece at me. I did what they taught us to do in the academy. I yelled then let a shot go in the air, and then I put a bullet in that suspect. I saved a whole lot of people that day. They were all standing behind me, and if that perp had gotten a shot off, any one of those innocent bystanders could have gotten killed. Did that make me feel any better when the cop pulled the perp's mask off, and I saw Lonnie's face for the first time? Of course not. You don't get over something like that. And when Eunice Craig pushed through the crowd and dropped to her knees, begging God not to take her baby, another tiny piece of me died. Eventually, Eunice forgave me. She said she knew what her son had become. Someday, if I live long enough, I might even forgive myself.

I saw the way your face looked right before you pulled the trigger today. I know what it cost you. I didn't see Vivian shoot you that day, because I was too busy fighting Bruce. By the time I got him handcuffed, it was all over. Even with blood soaking your jacket, you kept saying that you just couldn't do it. You couldn't shoot a kid. But you did it today. You didn't do it to save yourself, or old Mr. Purdle, or the kid that was supposed to be watching Betty's back. I saw what was happening. I was trying to bring my gun up and saying my prayers at the same time, but I knew it would be too late. You didn't let yourself think about how young she was. You didn't let yourself see her pig tails, or her freckles. All you saw was that Uzi pointing right at me. You're the reason I'm not laid out in a coffin, instead of Betty Miller. You didn't kill her to save yourself, Hutch. You did it for me. I guess that's something we'll both have to live with, partner.

I know the thoughts that are going through that head of yours. That famous Hutchinson guilt is rearin' its ugly head again. You're beatin' yourself up over something you couldn't control. What kind of society puts guns in the hands of a child? It's the same society that pins badges on guys like us. Betty might have looked like the kid next door, but she wasn't. What was it you said to me that day in Dobey's office? She was an armed felon that had me in her sights. I don't have all the answers, Hutch. There isn't a magic pill out there that parents can give to their kids. They raise them the best they can, and when something goes wrong, we're all left to wonder why. Don't bleed too much for her, buddy. You saved four people today. Damn it, you didn't put that gun in her hands. You did what you had to do. We'll find the scum that put Betty on the wrong end of that Uzi. And when we do, he'd better watch out.

 

The End

 

 

Back to A Walk on the Dark Side             Back to FanFic2      Index