J. Bucello's Home

J. Bucello's Home

778 Phoxlind Road - Apt. 3A

Description: 800 sq. feet with one bedroom, one bathroom, kitchen, living room, dining room and balcony. Much of the living room is decorated with traditional furniture (i.e. nothing modern or postmodern.) My living space has flags of the world arranged around my desk, with the US and UN flags displayed prominently. POV Ford Fusion parallel parked outside.

Residents(Family, Relations, Pets):
None

**After a short drive home, I walk up the stairs to the third floor. My apartment is closest to the stairs, so that I can leave quickly if needed. I unlock the door and enter my security code into the panel beside the door. It's a small apartment, but it still feels empty with me as its only occupant.**

'I need to get out more...'

**I sit down and turn the TV to CNN, which is broadcasting the State of the Union address.**

'I should probably invite some guys from the force over. Or maybe a friend from high school. Either way, I can't keep coming back to an empty apartment every day.'

**The State of the Union is over. I decide to call up my old friend, Thomas, who lives in a neighboring town. I call is cell phone.**

Thomas: 'Hello?'
Me: 'Hey Thomas, it's me, James.'
Thomas: 'Dude! We haven't spoken in a while. How are you?'
Me: 'Well, I got a great new job not long ago here in Phoxlind...'
Thomas: 'That place sounds dangerous from all the news reports coming out of there.'
Me: 'Well, I work for the people that keep it safe.'
Thomas: 'Nice! What do you do there?'
Me: 'I'm basically on SWAT. We call it TAC - Tee Ay See - but it's the same thing.'
Thomas: 'Woah...I knew you would be doing big things after high school/'
Me: 'Do you want to visit me?'
Thomas: 'Sure, why not?'
Me: 'Awesome! So I live at 778 Phoxlind Road in Apt. 3A. Can you get here on Friday?'
Thomas: 'Sure! See you later!'

**I hang up and dial Cressler to invite him over. I get his answering machine, and I leave a message inviting him to my apartment and telling him that he can bring another friend if he wants to.**

**It's Monday, and I won't be having people over until the end of the week. There's an ad on TV for Phoxlind City Restaurant offering 15% off all orders for the next three days, and an extra 10% off for military veterans and active duty soldiers, as well as emergency personnel. I decide to take them up on the offer, seeing as I'd otherwise be by myself in my apartment microwaving a pizza.

**I walk outside to my Ford Fusion, parked beside the curb, and get inside. My badge and some of my uniform is in the car, in case I'm needed, as is the single red rotating "cherry" beacon inside the car, in the event that I need to get to the ERT compound quickly, or pull someone over. I start the engine and drive to the restaurant.**

**I drive home in my POV. As I get close to my house, I notice a garbage can knocked over. I park near my apartment building and walk to the overturned can. As I start putting the garbage away, the waitress from the reataurant, Sharon, walks by.**

Sharon: 'Hey, aren't you the cop from the restaurant the other day?'
Me: 'Yep, that's me.'
Sharon: 'I thought you lived down the street.'
Me: 'I do, in building 778, but I saw someone's garbage can was knocked over, so I decided to help them out with it.'
Sharon: 'That's nice of you.'
Me: 'Well, it's my job to help people, but thank you.'
Sharon: 'No problem! So, was there anything exciting at your work today?'
Me: 'It's not as exciting as people make it out to be; a lot of what I do is just train and stay on stand-by, waiting to get called out to the scene of a crime.'
Sharon: 'Come on, don't be modest. It's a lot more exciting than my work.'
Me: 'Hey, I could never remember all of those orders. I'd lose my mind. I wouldn't take this job over anything else.'

**I finish putting the garbage away.**

Me: 'By the way, are you doing anything tomorrow?'
Sharon: 'I'm busy until five. Why?'
Me: 'Well, a friend of mine was coming over to my place at 6:30. You're welcome to come, if you want.'
Sharon: 'Sure! You said you were in building 778?'
Me: 'Yeah, it's Apartment 3A.'
Sharon: 'Alright, I'll try to get there on time. See you later!'

**She continues down the street; I go the other way, back into my apartment.**

**I'm sitting in my apartment when the doorbell rihgs. I go to answer it. Both Thomas and Sharon are standing outside**

Me/Thomas/Sharon: 'HEY! How are you?'
Me: 'Come inside!'

**They step in the door. Thomas sets down a bag of pretzels. Sharon puts a 2-liter bottle of soda on the table, as well as a cake that looks homemade.**

Me: 'You guys, you didn't have to bring anything.'
Sharon: 'I wanted to bring something; you are hosting us, after all.
Thomas: 'Love the setup here! A little too small for my liking, though.'
Me: 'What can I say? It takes a lot to live here. It's not like I'm a doctor or anything.'
Thomas: **sarcasm** 'Yeah, not like being on TAC is a big deal or anything.'
Sharon: 'You never told me you were on TAC! Isn't that dangerous?'
Me: 'Someone has to do it.'
Sharon: 'That's amazing! Do you, like, carry a machine gun or something?'
Me: 'We have whatever we need to one-up the bad guys. That's our job.'

**Thomas finds the TV and turns it to SportsCenter, which is predicting the Super Bowl outcome. I go into the kitchen while Sharon stands in the door.**

Sharon: 'Did you make something?'
Me: 'I'm not much of a cook; I ordered pizza for us. Half cheese and half pepperoni. Is that OK?'
Sharon: 'Sure!'
Me: 'I'm glad you brought something, actually. I didn't want it to be just pizza.'
Sharon: **smiles** 'No problem!'

**I retrieve some tortilla chips from the pantry, as well as some diced tomatoes and some spices. I put the diced tomatoes in a bowl and mix the spices in to create a homemade dip. I set it out on the dining room table behind the TV.**

**As people help themselves to the snacks that are laid out, the pizza arives. I tip the delivery guy and bring in the pizza. Soon, everyone is stuffing their faces.**

Me: 'Does anyone need anything else?'
Sharon/Thonmas: 'We're OK.'
Me: 'Alright.'
Sharon: 'Did you give us a tour of the apartment yet?'
Me: 'There's not too much to show here. The living and dining room...' **pointing** '...the kitchen...' **pointing** '...the bathroom...' **walking through the door** '...the bedroom...' **walking through the sliding glass door** '...and the balcony.'
Sharon: 'Ooh, I like it out here. My apartment doesn't have a balcony.'
Thomas: 'Woah...do I sense some connections being made out here?'
Sharon/Me: 'NO.'
Thomas: 'Whatever, I'll be inside.'

**Thomas leaves, and Sharon and I kill a half hour discussing everything from our work to our apartments, and seemingly everything in between. We want to keep talking, but it's getting cold out, and in about an hour, everyone will have to leave. The last hour or so is spent with Thomas, who changed the channel to COPS.**

Thomas: 'Is your work really like that?'
Me: 'There's less hitting people. They film about four hundred hours an episode and pick the most eventful thirty minutes.'

**The show ends, and I say goodbye to everyone.**

Me: 'Bye! Come back soon, guys!'
Thomas: 'Sure, no problem!'
Sharon: 'OK, and you're welcome at my place!'

**After an exchange of phone numbers, I close the door and go into my bedroom to go to sleep.**

**As I'm about to go to bed, I hear the call-out for responders to go to a crime two blocks from my apartment. I quickly get my uniform on and get in my POV, with its single cherry beacon behind the winshield.**

"Bucello will respond stealth, Code 1, and report on activity."

**I leave, only to find the scene secure. I return home, very tired. I'll probably end up sleeping in.**

**I wake up to radio chatter from the general police net that Antoine's house was bronen into, and that he was assaulted. I hurry to get my uniform and TAC stuff together, and I head out the door. Granted, it's a bit suspicious for someone to be walking out of an apartment with a UMP at the ready, but the landlord notified the residents about me. I get into my POV and turn on my light and siren.**

**I had arrived from work a while ago. As I sit and watch TV, the phone rings. I pick up; its Sharon.**

Me: 'Hello?'
Sharon: 'Hey, its Sharon. Remember me?'
Me: 'Of course! How are you?'
Sharon: 'I'm great! I just wanted to know if you're doing anything on Saturday afternoon.'
Me: 'I can make time. Wahat did you want to do?'
Sharon: 'Well, a friend of mine wanted to go to the race track with me, and she's bringing her boyfriend, so I thought I'd ask you if you wanted to come.'
Me: 'Sure! I might have to leave or cancel, though. You never know when things come up.'
Sharon: 'That's fine. I'll see you Saturday at 3 in the afternoon at the track.'
Me: 'Ok, bye!'

**I return home to a note on my door.**

Dear James,

I'm sure you're busy, but I haven't been able to reach you at all. Please let me know if you have any free time in the near future.

- Sharon

**I go inside and call her.**

Sharon: 'Hello?'
Me: 'It's me, James. Sorry I missed the race.'
Sharon: 'That's fine; I know you're busy.'
Me: 'I want to make it up to you. Is there a race tomorrow?'
Sharon: 'I think so. They usually have one semiprofessional race each day at 3 in the afternoon, and after that, the track is opened up to amateurs.'
Me: 'I can make it to an amateur race. Is that OK with you?'
Sharon: 'Sure! I'll see you then!'

**I unlock the door and go into the kitchen. I'm not in the mood to actually cook anything, so I put a frozen pizza in the oven for about fifteen minutes. When it's ready, I sit down in front of the TV and watch a CNN special on the Regan assassination attempt. When it ends, I go to bed, wondering if something like that could happen again.**

**I rush out the door to my POV. I almost turn the siren on, but we're supposed to keep this low key. I report to the station Code 1, but I'm still going at high speed. I notify the rest of TAC that we may need to bring out the bomb disposal equipment.**

**I return home and turn on the TV. As I flip through the news channels, I see myself moving the reporters away from the bomb scene.**

Me (on TV): 'We'll answer questions later. All I can say right now is that there are fatalities reported, arrests have been made, and there are possibly more explosives in the building. We don't know if the threat is limited to the stock exchange. Don't make me come back here, because you won't be doing more reporting today if you cross that barricade again.'
Reporter (on TV): 'Well, you heard it there. Obviously a very secure scene here; we haven't even been able to get close, but we can now confirm that there are fatalities - not sure how many - and there are also an undisclosed number of arrests.'
Anchorman (on TV): 'That was recorded from earlier today...'

**The phone rings.**

Me: 'Hello?'
Sharon: 'Jamie! I wasn't sure if I would reach you. Was that you on Channel 9?'
Me: 'Yeah, some of the newsies felt a little more entitled than they should've. It's not something I like doing, but it's necessary.'
Sharon: 'What happened down there?'
Me: 'There's a lot that I can't really talk about. I'll tell you later, OK?'
Sharon: 'OK. Tired?'
Me: 'I'm tired beyond imagination.'
Sharon: ' Okay, I'll let you rest. Bye!'
Me: 'Bye!'

(where i'm from you owe us a case of beer for being on T.V. haha)

((Let me fix this...))

**I start to nod off, but the TV is still on.**

Anchorman (on TV): 'Here is some earlier footage from today. You can see from our SkyCam both the ERT and the city fire departments staging outside of the building. We also have images from the triage center - I do have to warn you, they are graphic - there you see several injured people being brought in, many bleeding heavily, many are burned. A few of those, you see, are covered with a black tarp. Those are the ones who were killed.'

((I don't even buy beer for myself, so you shouldn't expect any from me anyway. ))

**The boss was very generous for giving us time off, especially immediately after a major terrorist attack. I figure that I'll take it and do something meaningful. I call Sharon and hope she isn't busy.**

Sharon: 'Hello?'
Me: 'Hey! Did I catch you at a bad time?'
Sharon: 'No such thing! Did you get your rest?'
Me: 'Did I, ever. I was given two awards by the boss - the Phoxlind Attacks Bar and the Excellence in Duty Award.'
Sharon: 'I can't wait to see them!'
Me: 'Sure! Well, the reason I called is...are you busy today?'
Sharon: 'I'm not working today. Why?'
Me: 'I was wondering if you wanted to come on a quick hike with me on Trulit Lake Trail.'
Sharon: 'Sounds great! I'll come right over and we can drive there.'
Me: 'OK, but I won't have time to change out of my Class A uniform.'
Sharon: 'That's fine; I want to see those medals anyway. I'll be right over; bye!'

**A few minutes later, my doorbell rings, and Sharon steps inside. We go to my car and drive to the Trulit Wildlife Preserve.**

**I return home and order a small pizza from Hoboken Pizza. I have it delivered; it will take 30 minutes to get here. I give Sharon a call to see if she wants to join me, but she's busy. Looks like I'm alone. Thirty minutes later, the doorbell rigngs.**

Delivery person: 'Small cheese?'
Me: 'Yes.'
Delivery person: 'That's $7.10, please.'

**I give $7.10, plus three dollars as a tip. I sit down with my pizza and red velvet, happy for myself but wishing I could celebrate with someone else.**

**I get back home from the two calls I was out on. I hear a beeping sound; it's my voice mail. I hit the playback button.**

Voice: 'You have...one...new message.'
Sharon: 'Hey, it's me, Sharon. I just saw you on TV, and I wanted to know if everything's OK. I haven't heard from you in a while. Anyway, I really want to spend more time with you whenever we can. I miss seeing you. Please call me back.'
Voice: 'End of messages.'

I decide to call Sharon and ask her if she wants to do anything later.

Sharon: 'Hello?'
Me: 'Hi, it's me, Jamie.'
Sharon: 'Hi! How are you?'
Me: 'I'll be honest, it's been kinda lonely.'
Sharon: 'Aww, that's a shame. Maybe we should get together soon.'
Me: 'I'd love to! Maybe we could go to The View restaurant on Friday - oh right, you work there.'
Sharon: 'Actually, I just got a new job at a design firm in the business district.'
Me: 'That's great! Can we talk about it on Friday?'
Sharon: 'Sure! Sounds like a plan!'
Me: 'I'll pick you up at six, and we can have dinner, OK?'
Sharon: 'Sure, I can't wait!'