“Red Light”

by Pepper Ckua

 

One red light, and it’s all over.

Hutch watched the truck at the scene.

He felt an overwhelming anger, then despair.

“One minute, it’s there, then it’s not.”

He felt the hand on his shoulder.

He turned to the man standing there.

“Hey blintz, babe, it’s only a car.”

 

One red light, and it’s all over.

The mars light shone in his mirror.

Looking down at the dash, he swore.

The rusted Gremlin was already pushing seventy-five.

No way this dump could outrun them.

Rolly promised himself some sort of freedom.

There’s no way they’d take him alive.

 

One red light, and it’s all over.

This time, the light was a number.

Hutch thought that maybe luck would help.

Or the directions scrawled on a napkin.

But tonight, there simply wasn’t enough time.

The blue, the red, the yellow wire?

Doesn’t matter when the detonator says zero.

 

One red light, and it’s all over.

It’s too many beers at the bar.

It’s clouded thoughts in the parking lot.

It’s lying about calling for a cab.

Nobody wakes up and decides this plan.

She didn’t mean to be a murderer.

When she started the engine, she was.

 

One red light, and it’s all over.

“I swear, if you take that elevator…”

“I take it, and you’ll do what?

Cry like the baby you really are?

Tell Bernice about the two of us?

Send those photos to the Daily Dispatch?”

And Simonetti found out the next day.

 

 One red light, and it’s all over.

“Forget it, Starsky, just barkin’ forget it.”

Starsky took the booklet from Hutch’s hand.

“Hey, blondie, it can’t be that bad.”

Starsky put on his glasses and squinted.

It actually turned out to be worse.

The directions to the VCR went flying.

 

One red light, and it’s all over.

Kiko looked up at the security camera.

That thing wasn’t supposed to be on.

That’s what Ricardo Montel had promised him.

Kiko realized he had no freakin’ mask.

He knew Hutch would see that tape.

Kiko dreaded the look in his eyes.