Day 875: 5 Minute Freewrite: Friday - Prompt: clawfoot bathtub

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Winfred Scott looked himself in the mirror and marveled that he still only looked his age of 60.

He expected, after holding down both the commissioner and chief positions for the beleaguered police department of Big Loft, VA, to have aged 20 years in appearance because that is how he felt.

Still, there were a few things he was doing to help himself out, and, apparently, they were working.

He had heard that Captain Lee got up at 5:00 to be at work by 7:45 so the captain could be completely settled in before his subordinates arrived. Commissioner Scott adapted what he could use from that, and started getting up at 5:30.

Not that he was even thinking about going to work that early.

That was so he could replace his shower with a deep, hot bath … he had one of those 36-gallon clawfoot bathtubs, and every morning he had started soaking. Relax away the stress before it even started … his darling wife came and woke him in time for breakfast, and then they had a pleasant time together eating breakfast before he started his commute, during which time he read his Bible and prayed and came to work energized instead of stressed.

Not that circumstances had changed – in fact, another one had changed that under normal circumstances would have had him biting his nails.

Mrs. Maggie Thornton, his secretary, had been in a car accident. She had only had minor injuries, but he had given her the day off and the Monday off anyhow. That meant Officer Gordon Brandt, who was not quite ready yet, had to step up and step in for two days.

Nonetheless, the commissioner saw young Officer Brandt getting everything ready just as Mrs. Thornton had shown him. It wouldn't be the same, of course, because although budget cuts had already determined that Mrs. Thornton would be replaced by Officer Brandt in December, there was no replacing her, ever.

But, Officer Brandt was ready and had learned enough to fill in well … and his nervousness calmed down when his soon-to-be-permanent boss came in smiling and encouraging.

“You can do this,” Commissioner Scott said. “Today is probably going to be a rough day, because we don't have easy ones in this office. But you can do this. I have every confidence in you, Officer Brandt. Let's get to work.”

Officer Brandt smiled, and looked a lot like the commissioner's eldest grandson when he did it, and then relaxed and got focused … the peace had been transferred, and the two men dug into Friday morning and the life of an office holding two stressful positions of authority down.

Photo by Nik Owens on Unsplash