Brooklyn Drabble

This story was originally five separate 100 words drabbles, written in response to a challenge to write a drabble involving NY City (Starsky’s hometown). Once I started, the story poured out of me and grew into five, connected drabbles, each a complete moment, but together a tale. Hope you enjoy.

Out of excuses to give to Ma and Hutch, one year they headed home to Brooklyn for Thanksgiving.

They’d done all the touristy sights before they ended up here, an unremarkable, dimly-lit alley. Starsky had gone silent, which always spoke volumes.

Hutch raised an eyebrow and set a hand on the back of his neck, exposed by his downcast head. “Starsk?” he asked gently.

Starsky raised his head enough to meet his partner’s eyes. His gaze shifted to a nearby brick with small marks — three initials, a year. “Nicky carved that. This is where they gunned down my Dad.”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

“Aw, Starsk, I’m sorry.” He ruffled the hair just above his neck before lowering his arm. “You didn’t have to bring me here.”

“Yeah, I did . . . I stop here each trip home. Don’t tell Ma.”

He nodded. “Isn’t it painful to come here? Be reminded?”

“I don’t need to be reminded.” He glanced down at his pinky rings, twisting them absently. “I remember every day. My biggest mistake.”

He reached out, resting his fingertips lightly on Starsky’s forearm. “You couldn’t do anything, you were just a kid.”

“It’s not what I didn’t do, it’s what I did.”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

He hadn’t told anyone since it happened and wasn’t sure he could now, but it was Hutch, and somehow he had to. “I’m the one that found the cash. I gave it to my Dad and he turned it in. To protect me, he said he found it.”

“You did the right thing.”

“Losing someone you love for some kinda justice?” His eyes met Hutch’s and didn’t waver. “Not worth the cost.”

Hutch couldn’t argue that. He pressed, “Did Nicky and your Mom know?”

He swallowed hard and looked away. “Hutch, why d’ya think they shipped me off to California?”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

“I thought your Mom sent you to your Aunt Rosie’s to get you away from the wrong crowd, for a fresh start.”

He shook his head. “If I hadn’t found the cash and given it to my Dad, none of this woulda happened. She knew it was my fault, and I don’t think she could stand to look at me.”

“That can’t be true, she loves you.”

“You see that when you look at her now, but back then was a different story.”

“Starsk, trust me, when you love someone, that’s just not something you can turn off and on.”

= = = = = = = = = = = =

Hutch woke early enough to catch Ma alone. When Starsky entered the kitchen, the conversation stopped.

Ma walked up to him, so close her head tipped back as she looked into her son’s eyes. “Davey, I never blamed you. I sent you to California to be safe, not to punish you. I couldn’t lose the two of you.”

“But, Ma . . .”

“No ‘buts’ young man, you did the right thing. Your father was proud of you and so am I.”

And with that, Hutch’s intervention had managed a small miracle for his partner, as years of guilt faded.