What Jerry Wants

by Howie Amourscow

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Jerry went to the cafeteria for a cup and discovered he didn’t want to drink it.

He nodded at a hospital rent-a-cop and checked the time. He was supposed to be back in his car, but figured the duty sergeant wouldn’t care if he started his report here instead of trying to do it in the car with the heater going full blast.

Not that he had much to report.

Tessa Smothers. Twenty-four, lives over on Clairemont with her ten-year old kid. Frostbite, malnourished, denied using. Started screaming at him when he hinted maybe she’d been rolled by a john, seemed sincere.

But the main thing: her face, neck, hands and forearms were covered with welts she claimed were bug bites even though it was below freezing outside. Like she was fooling him: they tased everyone who took nonlethal force training.

But she wouldn’t give him a name. Just said it was bugs and looked at her hands.

He shook his head. The only thing he wanted more than a cigarette right now was five minutes with whoever had done the number on the girl.

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Comments

Average Reader Rating: 5.0 stars out of 5

  1. What Jerry Wants

    Howie Amourscow's Buddy Icon Howie Amourscow

    Posted 10 months ago

    I wasn’t going to do a “What X Wants” title, but the original title (“Bad Mornings”) just didn’t work when I needed to trim it down to ficlet length.
    So here it is.
    (In another universe, nobody finds Tessa. And in another universe after that one, she dies in the culvert. Just so you know. But if you see into one of those other universes, you should write about it so we can all see how things went. Or if you want to write some more about Jerry, that might be nice, too.)

  2. What Jerry Wants

    blueyedwonder's Buddy Icon blueyedwonder

    Posted 10 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    nice, very nice…like it!

  3. What Jerry Wants

    Howie Amourscow's Buddy Icon Howie Amourscow

    Posted 10 months ago

    Wasn’t happy with her last name. Changed it.

  4. What Jerry Wants

    SKermitgorf's Buddy Icon SKermitgorf

    Posted 10 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    tessas’ very troubled. You painted a very clear picture of her

  5. What Jerry Wants

    THX 0477's Buddy Icon THX 0477

    Posted 10 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Gotta’ love the plasticity of ficlet reality. I liked this, another jump into another character’s perspective but still related to the base idea.

  6. What Jerry Wants

    The_Count's Buddy Icon The_Count

    Posted 10 months ago

    4.0 out of 5 stars

    I like it aswell keep it going.

  7. What Jerry Wants

    Alexa ♥'s Buddy Icon Alexa ♥

    Posted 9 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I think it provides us with just what Tessa needs: another man in her life.

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