Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner

We were sitting in the car, waiting for the bank to open and witness the heist. We had been tipped off at 5 AM and we begrudgingly made our way to the cruiser.

I look at you from the corner of my eye. I see you eating your donut, how cliché! I was always one for healthier food, regular diets, exercise… How I ended up with you as my partner is beyond me. I must have really made an impression at the Police Academy – the antisocial, not-funny and not-care-about-your-jokes type. And then you, always smiling, always there to crack a joke to relieve the tension.

- Hey, did you hear about the guy who invented the knock-knock joke? (pause) He won the "no-bell" prize!

I never said your jokes are funny. Though I still smile out of the corner of my mouth.

But there is motion outside and we get into cop-mode. There is the agreed sign and we need to go out and circle the bank. We do as we are told, but the plan does not go as agreed. It rarely does. One of the bank robbers comes out carrying a hostage. I want to lunge forward in what seems like a reckless act. You catch my eye. You mutter “I have your back” and we go for it. It might be remembered as an act of heroism and we are lucky to come out of it alive.

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner, but a clown by my side. But other times… I don’t know what I would do without you.