The Dutiful Son

Kenneth Hutchinson’s life has always been about playing by and following the rules.

The challenge was to use a song from the top 10 songs of 1976. I chose December 1963 (Oh What a Night) by The Four Seasons. This is a pre-series fic.

December 63:

Kenneth Hutchinson was a dutiful son. He minded his manners, was kind to others and animals. He always obeyed his parents (mostly), didn’t fight with his older sister (too much), and sat in church with the family every Sunday even though his shoes pinched and the pastor’s sermons bored him.

He got good grades, respected his teachers, and only got detention one time when he and Jack Mitchell skipped a class with a substitute teacher they didn’t like. He played sports because that was what Hutchisons did. He worked as a life guard at the country club because that also was what Hutchinsons did. He didn’t dare think of going to college for anything like music or art or sociology or heaven forbid, botany. No, Hutchinsons didn’t do that—they went to college and got a degree in something respectable and then went to law school.

So what if Kenneth Hutchinson, the good boy, stole his sister’s movie magazines once she threw them in the trash after one reading and pored over the pages and dreamed of California and Rock Hudson and James Dean? So what if when he took a shower, he got hard thinking of Rock Hudson and James Dean and came all over his hand? He was a good boy otherwise.

It was his sister’s wedding and at the reception that December night in 1963, his new cousin-in-law, Gregory Stephens, smiled at him. Gregory was short and compact with slicked back dark hair and hazel eyes that danced in the moonlight, and he tilted his head towards the country club’s snow covered garden. Kenneth smiled back and followed.

He and Gregory stood in the shadows and kissed. Gregory wrapped his arms around Kenneth’s waist, while he worked his hands under Gregory’s shirt. They ground their hips together, dry humping because it was all they could do without making a mess. And when the brief passion was over, Kenneth pulled himself together and walked back into his life of being the perfect son.

Oh What a Night:

It turned out being the perfect son didn’t last forever. Not when he changed his major to sociology, not when he married Vanessa Brown his junior year of college (she of the no-name Browns whose father worked in a factory), and certainly not when he decided to become a cop after one semester of law school (a cop? What kind of job is that, Kenneth?). When Vanessa decided to file for divorce (oh the horror, the scandal that would bring to the Hutchinson family name), Kenneth knew for certain that only the appearances had ever mattered to his parents, and it was time to set himself free.

It was a warm summer night—the night before his first classes as a cadet at the Bay City Police Academy—and Kenneth was at the reception/party for said new cadets. There was music and sodas (no alcohol—wouldn’t do for the cadets to face their first day with hangovers) and lots of food. Kenneth stood back, watching, observing, wondering if he’d made the right decision. His stomach churned just a bit at the thought of making the leap he’d been so sure of just months ago.

Someone came up to him with his hands filled with two overflowing plates.

“You wanna get the Coke bottle outta my pocket?” the someone said.

He was just a few inches shorter than Kenneth with curly brown hair that had been cut barely regulation length and blue eyes that he was sure would sometimes look violet. He had a crooked smile that lit up his whole face.

“Sure.” Kenneth grabbed the bottle and then took one of the plates the other man handed him.

“Name’s Dave Starsky,” the man said. His accent was one Kenneth couldn’t quite place—New York, Boston—somewhere East Coast. “But you can call me Starsky.”

Kenneth nodded. “Ken Hutchinson. You can call me…”

“Hutch.” Starsky nodded. “Yep. Hutch is perfect.” He took a big bite of the burger on his plate and then a long swig of the Coke. He motioned with the bottle to the plate Hutch held. “Eat up. You’re gonna need the calories for the next coupla months.”

Hutch picked up the burger and took a bite.

“So whadda ya say we be partners?” Starsky said. He’d already finished his burger and was eyeing Hutch’s half-eaten one. Hutch handed it over.

“Partners?” Hutch asked. “Isn’t it a little early to decide that?”

Starsky grinned again and Hutch felt his belly give a little lurch that had nothing to do with the burger and next day jitters and everything to do with Rock Hudson and James Dean and now, David Starsky.

“Nah. The way I figure is, you gotta find the person you’re meant to be with while you’re going through the Academy together. That way you learn together and get the groove going from the very beginning. I figure that’s the way you get through and that’s the way you become the best.”

Starsky looked at him with those twilight/midnight blue-violet eyes and that earnest smile, and Hutch knew in that moment his life was about to change forever. He took a deep breath.

“Yeah. I say yeah. Let’s be partners.”