New Recruit

Michael had gone to bed at ten but he had not been able to sleep. He had lain on his back and rerun the day's events over and over, then he had spent an hour or so turning from side to side until the bed was in total disarray . Finally, he had got out of bed and walked to the window, through which a beam of moonlight was illuminating the room well enough to make out all the furnishings. He stood looking out at the full moon and the gentle, clean cloak it spread over the town. Everything appeared softer, without hard edges. The definition seemed perfectly adequate , without the necessity of detail. The garbage cans were rounded shapes without the clarity of spillages and thankfully, without the accompanying smells.

Yesterday; it must be yesterday by now, Michael had lost his job. It was all very civilised and thoughtful, and accompanied by a well written letter of recommendation , commenting on his honesty and attention to detail and general reliability. He could probably obtain another position quite soon, if he knew just what he wanted to do, but he had been thrown into a state of mental confusion by the realization that he had not anticipated It, not seen signs that it was coming. Downsizing, reorganizing, whatever it was. Last in, first out was the accepted formula .His gaze scanned the surface of the moon, which seemed to be so near tonight. What would happen if people colonized the moon ? he wondered. Probably they would mess that up as they were messing up the earth. He should go back to bed. He had to set about getting a new job. No point in brooding over the past. It was calming just standing here though.

A glint of moonlight caught his attention. What was reflecting the light ? A window. It was light reflecting off the glass, but what was a window doing at that wide open angle , when it had not been noticeable until now ? It had just been opened was the obvious answer. Michael continued to watch the glittering pane. His eyes adjusted and just like one of those trick photos, designed to confuse you, there it was ! The window had been opened from the outside by someone who must be on a long ladder; someone who most probably should not be gaining access through that window.

Michael felt impelled to continue to watch , and not to make any assumptions. After all, this could be something agreed between the person on the ladder and a person on the inside of the house. Perhaps it was an elopement. Did people actually elope these days ? Who would need to ? Anyone over eighteen could walk out of the front door and marry whomever they chose.....at least that should be so, but there were all sorts of parents, all sorts of situations. He must wait to see what happened .

The man on the ladder climbed inside the open window. There were no female arms which welcomed him into the house. He was an intruder. Michael realized that he was standing back and allowing a burglary to take place, a burglary at best, he told himself. There could be people asleep , who might wake up, only to be silenced by the man whose left foot was still to be seen slowly following the rest of him into the premises. Was this man an intruder ? Couldn't it be that he was an errant husband or a disobedient teenager, just making his way home in the best he could ? Was he perhaps the lover of a woman or a girl....oh, he was back to the elopement theory....or at least a variation on that theme. What was he doing ? Phone the police ! O.K. but a few minutes wouldn't hurt. Michael suddenly realized that this was the most intriguing and exciting thing that had happened to him in, well, for ever ! That was why he was in no hurry to hand it over to others, to phone the police and to be free to go back to bed. He wanted to continue this involvement .

What would happen if he hurried downstairs and across the road and down Hanover street and waited at the foot of the ladder to confront the burglar, or maybe to simply remove the ladder ? Would the man even exit via the window and ladder, or would he open the front door and leave, carrying his booty with him ? What did burglars usually do he wondered ? He wanted to find out. When he told this story to his workmates or his friends at the badminton club, he wanted to have all the details...no ending on a feeble ''I don't know.'' !

Michael reached for his jeans, which were on the back of a chair , and quickly pulled them on while keeping one eye on the house across the way. He thrust his feet into his sneakers, grabbed his keys and cell phone . Then hurrying across Hanover Street, he concealed himself behind a tree and dialed the emergency number. He followed instructions not to engage the suspect, but to await the arrival of the police. They arrived more quickly than he had anticipated and without blaring sirens. They advised him to stand well back , and took up positions to await the descent of the culprit. He did indeed climb down the ladder, and it was not until he was gripping the sides preparatory to replace it alongside the house, that the two police officers apprehended him. He was handcuffed to one officer while the other prepared to drive off, after taking Michael's particulars.

Michael felt a distinct glow. This was it ! No amount of thinking or tossing and turning could have produced this absolute certainty. This was what he wanted to do. The vocation he had not known he had ! He spoke to the driver just as he was about to get into the cart. ''Er, could you tell me how I set about joining the force ?''

ENDS.