Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Marin County, California was compared to Oz in the 1970s–but Starsky and Hutch have visit San Quentin before indulging.

Written for the twenty minute challenge.

Hutch stopped the rental car at the guard’s gate, waiting until a uniformed man came out to ask the reason for their visit.

“We’re here to question Archie Villanova.” Hutch held up his badge, and was nearly clipped in the ear when Starsky shoved his forward from the passenger seat.

“Hutchinson and Starsky,” the prison guard intoned with a nod. “You’re on the list. Drive down the slope and park in the visitor’s lot.”

“This place always gives me the willies,” Starsky grunted, staring out at the water.

“Gorgeous scenery.” Hutch turned the Ford Fairmont into the parking space.

San Quentin prison sat on some of the most prime real estate in the world. Marin County, California was a haven for millionaires and rock stars, and described as Oz by an inventive TV reporter, yet one of the most famous prisons in the country shared the acreage. It sat on a small peninsula between two cities: Larkspur and San Rafael. He and Starsky had come often enough either to escort a prisoner south to Bay City or interview some suspect, as they were today, that they both had favorite places to eat and stay for the night.

“Yeah, but what if there was some kinda prison riot while we were here?” Starsky persisted, getting out of the car. “And we were trapped inside, without our guns or—”

“You watch too many badly scripted TV cop shows,” Hutch said dismissively. “That hasn’t happened here.”

“You sure?” Starsky eyed the barbed wire and electrified fences.

Hutch looked up at the cream colored stucco building that resembled an old fashioned Mexican architecture castle, far more picturesque than most prisons—if one ignored the locks, metal gates, and armed guards. To be honest, he had no idea if there’d ever been a riot inside the walls, where some of the most notorious killers were housed on death row. And he really didn’t care to dwell on that.

“Starsk, let’s just talk to Villanova and then I’ll take you to Marin Joe’s for a steak.”

“And Double Rainbow ice cream after?” Starsky turned to him, his blue eyes both hopeful and a little bleak. “I really hate going into a prison.”

“I know.” Hutch nodded, wishing he could lean over and kiss that worry off his lover’s face. That would come later when they were holed up in the hotel, alone.

“Starsky and Hutchinson,” Starsky announced to the guard inside the main building.

“Welcome to San Quentin, gentlemen. Guns in the lock box until you’re finished,” a burly guy with a bald head and skin the color of rich coffee said in a voice deeper than the bass in the Temptations. “Sign right there.”

Starsky’s signature took almost all the space allotted and Hutch had to squeeze his longer name in next to it. He chuckled at Starsky’s blatant proof that he existed.

“Making sure they know you were inside, in case of…” Hutch nudged Starsky with his elbow, speaking quietly enough that the guard didn’t hear them as they passed.

Starsky gave him the stink eye, glowering as they headed down the corridor to interrogation.

“Don’t worry, dummy,” Hutch whispered. “I’ll save your sorry hide it there’s an insurrection. I wouldn’t want to be alone in that hotel, all by myself, tonight.”

“As long as we’re getting ice cream?” Starsky wheedled.

“Have we ever come to San Rafael and not gotten Double Rainbow?” Hutch laughed.

FIN