I started calling him uncle Jerry. He taught me to always have a 5% error of margin, be objective, double check your facts, put the case away then look at it with fresh new eyes. Det. Pete Salerno help me to understand that the police dept is more science than gut feelings. I started smelling blood types because of Det. Pete Salerno guidance. The police dept want facts: I am going to give them facts.

COPS & ROBBER

(THIS WAS A HOMEWORK PROJECT)

The Bob Marley Music Store on 5th and Marine Street is where I work from 3pm to 11pm. I am the Sale Clerk girl who sways her wide hips to the bouncing-megahertz of reggae music. Assisting the customers with their fickle decisions. I munch on my chocolate Entemann’s donut. Singing along with the mellow melodies, I check out the long lines.

The evening goes fast. Minutes to closing, a tall, concealed-clothing man rushes fiercely into the store. Demanding money, he waves a handgun directly at us. The petrified, silent audience lies on the floor. I choke back my feelings and tears. Defiantly I push a mute alarm button while listening to the anxious, angry thief’s demands.

My heart beats rapidly as I stare into his icy-cold blue eyes. I open the cash register, but he slams it shut. He points to the back. I instantly walk to the office safe. Fearing for my life, I opened the grey wall safe. The huge, bulky-green stacks slips through my hands into his white cloth bag. I can feel the shiny black gun burning my back. I pray as we walk out the office door. Suddenly, a police officer pushes me out the way while his partner floors the masked man. My relief is replace by shock. The masked man is the district manager.