Gotta Live For Now

Hutch decides to be spontaneous.

I wanted to write something to mark the passing of David Soul, a week ago now and this popped into my head after hearing the song “Live for now” by Jeremy Renner.

Hutch was being too quiet. It was annoying Starsky.

They were on their way home after a 12 hour shift, with a whole weekend off and a promise from Dobey that they wouldn’t be called in. They’d talked a little about what they could do with it; beach, cabin, sex marathon, but somewhere during the conversation Hutch went quiet and showed little interest in discussing it. He vaguely agreed to go fishing, but didn’t share Starsky’s enthusiasm.

Starsky had left the squad room with a spring in his step, while Hutch had been so lost in thought he nearly walked into the door.

Hutch had driven them in that day and apart from the odd grunt hadn’t said a word since they’d left the precinct.

Starsky tried to fill the silence with inane chatter, a few leading questions and even a couple of digs at Hutch’s trash heap of a car, but nothing worked.

Even being direct and asking if something was wrong was just been met with a shrug.

“I give up,” Starsky said, throwing up his arms in defeat. “If you want to spend the weekend upholding your vow of silence that’s fine, but don’t plan on wasting…”

Starsky was cut off when the car did a sudden U-turn, causing the tires to screech in protest and Starsky to bang his head on the door window.

“What are you doing?” Starsky cried, once the turn had been completed. “You’re going the wrong way.”

“We’re not going home,” Hutch stated.

“So where are we going?” Starsky asked, rubbing his sore head. “A hospital if you keep driving like that.”

“I don’t know where we’re going,” Hutch said. “I just plan on driving and see where we end up.”

Starsky was speechless for a moment. Had his partner gone nuts?

“Wherever it is better do food. I’m starving.”

“I’m serious, Starsk. I’m not stopping until I feel like it. Until I see something that makes me stop.” He was silent for a moment. “If you don’t want to join me, I’ll drop you off but right now, I need this.”

“Need what?” Starsky asked “To get us lost?”

“Yes, if that’s what happens. I need to get out of this town, I need to get away from crime, from routine, from knowing what’s going to happen next because it’s been planned in advance.”

Hutch took his eyes off the road for a moment to look over at his life partner.

“I need a little excitement, a little spontaneity.”

“What brought this on?” Starsky asked.

Hutch sighed, rubbing his head with one hand. “I think it’s been building for a while. A little after I survived the plague and then a lot after you survived Gunther. We come so close to death too often, we can’t waste the free time we have doing the same things every day. We could live to be a hundred or die tomorrow.” He stole another quick glance at Starsky. “We gotta live for now.”

There was silence while Starsky contemplated Hutch’s words and their meaning. What Hutch was asking and what he was saying he needed. Starsky liked a little spontaneity, to go with the flow, but was this too sudden? Too badly planned. What if they got lost, or broke down in the middle of nowhere or encountered some unsavory types. But then again, what if they ended up having a road trip of discovery. Meeting new people and trying new things. It could be a little of both. Either way it would be an adventure. Just the two of them. As it was and would always be.

Starsky had his answer.

“But I haven’t packed a toothbrush.” He smiled. That was his way of telling Hutch all he needed. Starsky placed his hand on top of Hutch’s on the steering wheel. “You lead the way.”

Fingers intertwined they set off out of Bay City and into the greater world.