The Las Vegas Police Department. Crime Scene Investigation Unit. Detectives, Sleuths, Agents, Psychologists, Scientists, Coroners, Medical Examiners. I’m part of it. In the Behavioural Science Unit.

“But that was just a dream”-REM (Losing my Religion)

The job was for maintaining peace and order. Even it’s just a temporary solution. It is a noble job, only the intrepid and strong dares venture a career where your life hangs only by a thread. It is the backbone of law enforcement. It was my father’s job for almost 25 years.

            As a sergeant, my father had this ambition of becoming a general. He is dedicated to his job and he even had this “Most Industrious Non Commissioned Officer” award. He is an investigator and a prosecutor. He is also famous to the indigents in our town for his good treatment towards them. He told me once that he never dreamed of this job, but he loved it.

            My older brother failed the police service because of his ill health. My father was disappointed about it. My older sister can’t apply for this job. She didn’t tip the scale for the height requirement. I was even taller than she was.

            My dad handed me this Application Form for the

Police

Academy

. Only 17-21 years old are admitted. I’ll be 17 on the day after the exam. He was so excited and he told me I could pass the exam. He even gave me books to review. Chicken. But I felt pressured a week before the exam. I was thinking, “What if I failed?” I knew dad would be so disappointed again. But there’s another thing I was worried about. What if I wasn’t even able to take the damn examination? I stood up nervously on the scale. Shit. I knew it. I was 0.5 centimetres short. 157 centimetres. They require 157.5 cm. ¼ of an inch. Approximately. My father thought for a while. He said “that will do, some of my fellow cops are shorter than the height requirement.”  He was so sure about it. It was still dubious. I was still nervous. I wasn’t even able to have a good night sleep at the hotel. I was thinking about my ominous tomorrow.

            The next day, I wasn’t feeling that very well. I wanted to go home. And my mother bought to much for breakfast. I was about to puke but a candy stopped me. Here I am in a mob of people I barely know. This is a very big problem to me. I’m not good at making friends. So I just stood at a corner. With nobody to talk to. Well, it was quite a long wait. A girl on my side asked me if I had that self stamped envelope. And the next second I had a friend. I wasn’t able to ask her name. That’s another problem. I don’t ask for names. But she was just hopeful just as I am. She said she would die if she didn’t pass. That’s not exactly what she said, but she said something like that. And these people thought they had science on the exam. Morons. Its only English and Math.  Okay. So it’s my turn to be scaled. If I passed the height requirement. 5”2. “You can come back next year.” The examiner told me. Five words only. But it is enough to devastate me. And my dream. Well I shouldn’t really hope because I knew I was short but a fourth of an inch anyway. As the Scottish saying says, “A single leak can sink a great ship.” I missed the dream by one-fourth inch. It was my birthday the next day. What a drag. What a nice surprise. All I needed is ¼ inch. Just like this |      |. You could miss a dream by that. I can’t believe my luck. But on the bright side, I’m going to have enough time to build a muscular body and strong resistance and a high stamina. Maybe that’s the reason behind it. I’ll still be able to grow. And I hope higher than that. After all, what’s ¼ inch? Chicken.