Prompt Week # 6:

The keys were tossed on the table like an invitation.

I knew that he had just tossed the keys on the kitchen table after his shift because he was too tired to lock them in the cabinet with his gun and badge. It was just after 7am. He had parked behind the ’73 Pinto that I was driving. I thought about waking him. Took one look at the clock and decided what the hell, I’d move the car myself.

I fired up the Crown Victoria (1979) and revved the engine. Just to see what it would sound like. She purred like the first born kitten. I put it in reverse, backed it out of the driveway and was going to park it on the street in front of the house. I glanced over to the front door and saw Bob standing there in his boxers; a look of sheer dread and terror on his sleepy face. Well what could I do then but rev her a few more times and take off sirens aflashin!

Bob was my stepfather. A 6’7” 280 lb North Carolina State Trooper. Let me tell you, I didn’t get a lot of second dates in those days. He’d conveniently be at home and in his uniform before each of my dates. He’d clean his gun or repack the rifles in his car just as my date was pulling in. Way I saw it that morning; he had it coming…fair and square.

I smiled that smile, flipped on the siren and squealed away from the house before he could take step one towards me. I took a quick trip around the block (totally illegal) and pulled back into the driveway. He was sitting at the kitchen table when I came in. I threw the keys on the table, like an invitation and left for school.

He got me back that day. Sent a couple of his buddies in to the school in uniform and hauled me out in handcuffs. They didn’t take me far, just far enough for an uncomfortable walk back home but I didn’t mind. It was totally worth it just to see that look on his face as I drove away. He didn’t leave his keys on the table after that. Otherwise, I’d have considered it an invitation.