Sirens and Sprinkles

Sweet Surprise

The next time Dave went to Delightful Doughnuts, only a gaggle of kids and their caffeine-starved mother stood between him and deep-fried chunks of heaven. Officer Jones was nowhere to be seen, with even his bristly mustache not daring to show a single hair.

He couldn't say that disappointed him, but it definitely made him nervous. He'd been expecting a confrontation of some sort, whether that involved a ticket or some hot coffee 'accidentally' spilled onto his pants. Getting away with what had happened the week before without so much as a glare felt like a prank in and of itself.

The kids dawdled in front of the display case and changed their minds half a dozen times before finally telling their mom what they wanted right before the store closed. "Sorry about the holdup," she said as she rubbed at the dark circles around her eyes.

Her kids gawked at Dave and pointed at his bright red hat as they left the store. "Enjoy your doughnuts, Mr. Fire Guy!" the littlest girl with blond pigtails and a pint of chocolate milk clutched in her hand yelled over her shoulder.

Dave smiled and waved goodbye to his tiny fan club before dropping his façade and letting out a sigh that ruffled the napkins in the dispenser.

"Long day?" Dylan asked as they tossed the day's doughnuts into the trash. "It sounds like you guys have had a lot to deal with lately with all those sirens going off."

"Tell me about it. It's a miracle nobody's been arrested yet." In response to their raised eyebrow, he added, "We made it rain sprinkles at the police station last week."

They chuckled. "So that's why Officer Awful was even more grouchy than usual this afternoon. He was whining about a family of raccoons that took them as an invitation to pig out and start sleeping on the hoods of their patrol cars. I don't suppose you took any pics?"

"Nah, I was too busy trying not to fly off the ladder thanks to Roger's excellent driving." He mimed steering wildly and swerving from lane to lane. "Want to see some of the other stuff we've been doing?"

He pulled out his phone and scrolled to a picture of Roger's latest face paint. "Lucy's apparently going through a unicorn phase, or maybe they're supposed to be narwhals." The next one was of Walt pouring an entire bottle of Tabasco sauce into a pot of chili. "And this is why I've been bringing my own lunch for the past week. I'm getting sick of tuna salad, but I think my digestive system will thank me."

"That explains why you asked for extra cayenne for his picks."

"I hope that was okay," he said.

"Of course! Anything for my favorite customer."

Dave blushed. "Aw, shucks." His smile faltered as his thoughts wandered back to who just might be their least favorite customer. "Weird question, but why don't the police get free doughnuts too? Officer Jones may not be the sweetest peach in the orchard, but even he must do a lot of really tough work."

"Has anyone ever told you about how Walt helped Mr. Morison find his lost cat?"

Dave nodded. He'd finally found the mischievous tabby in the grocery store after many hours of searching, shivering with cold as it lay curled between a box of fish sticks and the freezer door.

"When Mr. Morison called the police asking for help finding Roy, Officer Jones laughed him off and told him to only call if he had a 'real emergency'. Granted, this was years ago, but some things just can't be forgiven."

"It's safe to say that guy hasn't changed a bit." Dave strolled to the dumpster with Dylan and extracted the usual box of doughnuts. His eyes burned and watered as his nose started running.

"Aw, no need to worry about Roy," Dylan said as they placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "That little fuzzball is still alive and kicking. Just yesterday, he threw one heck of a litter party. Mr. Morison is still picking that stuff out of his socks!"

Dave chuckled and wiped his face. "It's not that. I must be allergic to something in the trash."

"Sure, tough guy. When you've got that 'allergy' under control, would you like to hang out sometime? I can get Joaquin to man the cash register for me so we can chill with some Dunkers."

"Sure thing. Does next Friday work?"

Just like that, the free doughnuts were no longer what Dave was looking forward to the most.