Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 2 Volume 8 | Page 13

floor as the orange coals turned black as
the water won its battle for supremacy.
With discretion overcoming honesty, I
decided the only one besides me who
knew what happened that afternoon was
Snowball, and he wasn’t going to say any-
thing, except maybe bark for another
bowl of water. After all, Snowball was my
protector. My silence as well as Snow-
ball’s would protect me from the wrath I
could only imagine. My silence protected
me until early evening. It seems there was
a consensus of opinion amongst the occu-
pants that the house had become unchar-
acteristically cold and Snowball was more
thirsty than usual. People continued to
wonder why the house was getting colder
by the minute. Me, I had nothing to say
about the chill in the air and the plummet-
ing temperature within the house. I was
trying to mind my own business. I had
nothing to say until I noticed Snowball
looking at me with accusing eyes. It
seemed my loyal protector was about to
rat me out. I knew it was over and I con-
fessed my transgression to one and all.
I accompanied my grandfather down-
stairs when he went down to the furnace.
He emptied the cold wet mess of coal and
ashes. While my grandfather kindled a
new fire and shoveled fresh coal into the
furnace to rebuild the heat in the house,
he had a smile on his face. He had a great
sense of humor and thought it was funny,
especially since I wasn’t hurt. At the same
time I figured out what I had done was
dangerous and not the smartest thing I
had done so far in my short life. I prom-
ised him I would never to do it again.
I believe it was shortly thereafter, that
my grandfather converted the old coal
furnace to an oil burner. There were no
more coal fires to tempt my firefighting
skills and I was restricted to playing with
my toy fire trucks in the yard, far from the
source of any fire and flames.
And that my friends, is why I became a
cop.
Keith Bettinger is a retired Suffolk County (N.Y.) Police Officer. He’s been writing for law enforcement publica-
tions for more than 25 years and has received 18 awards for his articles, stories, poems, and books. He has a
Master’s Degree in Human Relations with a major in Clinical Counseling. During his career he received the de-
partment’s Bravery Medal, Silver Shield Award, Meritorious Police Service Award, Special Service Award, Profes-
sionalization Award, Department Recognition Award, five Headquarters commendations and six Precinct com-
mendations. He also was a field training officer and an instructor on Post Shooting Trauma and Critical Incidents.
S UMMER 2018
P AGE 8
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE