His name was chase . no one really knew his last name or where he came from but his dog tag said chase ... Just the lone name and then right below it were the number 2018-1987. he was an odd man and a homeless man. He was dirty and looked like he had been through a lot in his life time. He limped as he walked, never used a Kane or a walking stick . He also never talked to anyone unless they spoke to him first . Didn't do what the Normal homeless people did. All he did was walk . All over town . It was t a big town a few thousand people big enough to have a major super market that stayed open 27/7 . I had been on the same patrols for the last 15 years and that's how long chase had been in town and I had never seen him sleep one . He never stayed at the halfway house or the small homeless shelter . I had asked other cops who worked day shift if they had ever seen Him sleep in any abandoned houses or under any bridges and they had all said all he ever did was walk around . It was truly odd, he was truly odd. I had stopped him a few times and asked him routine questions and he always answered the same, his name was chase he came from another town down the road and he was homeless . But once I asked him what the numbers on his dog tags meant and he liked down and smiled a little and said "we'll that's the year I was born and that's the year I die. At that I let him go and be continued his seemingly never ending walk . That winter I was on my normal patrol right after Christmas and the weather had turned sour so I was out looking for chase to give him some coffee and an old coat of mine I found him walking down a old side street near the 24/7 super store I stopped him and gave him the coat and coffee and $10 that I had in my pocket he thanked me and continued on . I was going to drive on but something told me to invite him to a dinner I was throwing on New Year's Eve in two nights, so I did and he looked like he was the happiest man alive . He said he would be there . the two days passed with ease and come New Year's Eve everybody was there except chase . I got a little worried because I really wanted him to be there so I called the station and they put me through to Tom miller who was on patrol he said that he hadn't seen him since yesterday . I let it go and started having fun the night went on and the count down began . It was 1 hour before the new year so I decided now would be a good time to give my yearly speech.
" ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention please" I said with a loud voice.
Everyone looked at me most were already drunk or getting there.
" in one hour will mark fifteen years on the force for me, back in 1972 when I started I never thought I would have come this far. I never dreamed I would see any of the 80's let alone 1987. it has been one hell of a ride . That being said I would like to thank everyone in here for their support and friendship" just the chase walked In and he was clean shaven and bathed, had a new suit on his hair was all slicked back and he looked nothing like he did two days ago . I finished my speech and everyone went back to their own little groups of people talking . I walked up to chase and shook his hand and offered him a drink , he turned it down and just stood off in a corner by himself looking over the crowd of people . He kept glancing at one person who was standing in the doorway to the kitchen . I didn't know the man . I had kept seeming him all night and it had just dawned on me that he staring at me and had been all night. There was something familiar about him but I couldn't recall what it was . It was now five minutes to midnight and the tv was tuned to a local station everyone gathered in the living room and waited for the countdown . 3 minutes till . The man had his eyes locked on me and chase had his eyes locked on him . At one minute till chase moved within feet of me and the man began to move closer too. I became uneasy and checked for my side arm but didn't have it. It was in my safe in the back of my house 30 seconds and people began to count down 15 seconds . The tension was massive . All at once we counted
" 10. 9 .8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1 " everybody started cheering and hugging and toasting each other and the mystery man came at me and out of his waist band he drew a pistol and aimed it right at my heart and fired but before the bullet hit chase jumped in front of me and it hit him square in the chest and he went down . People started screaming and a few off duty cops wrestled the gun away from the man and took him Down . Chase lay on the ground his chest bleeding bad he started to turn white and he motioned for me to come closer , I bent down and put pressure on his wound tried to stop the bleeding . He looked up at me and smiled.. I felt complete and utter sadness for the man . He i tried to tell him he would be ok and he opened his mouth and said
"It is ok . " grabbing his dog tags he pulled them off and handed to me " keep these and give them to your great grandson."
That when he died . The bullet had went through his lung and hit his spine . After that we arrested the mystery man and . But somehow on the way to the police station he had escaped and was never seen again. Two days later my oldest zone called me and told me I was a grandfather and my grand son grew up to become the president of the united federation for world peace. In the year 2018 his wife gave birth to my first grandchild . A boy . My grandson named him chase at my request. Him and his wife said they liked the name I gave him the dog tags when he turned 10 years old. He had asked me what they were for and I smiled and pointed to the first set of numbers and said this is the year you were born and he said " what a out the other numbers ?" I felt sad then and tears began to drip from my chin and I smiled and said " that's for you to decide chase . Later that year I passed away.
The end ... Maybe
