Joseph Wambaugh by Lines;Shadows

Author:Lines;Shadows
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780553763256
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1983-12-31T06:00:00+00:00

A few things happened to the squad while Joe Castillo and Fred Gil were off recuperating. One thing was that Ken Kelly was brought in as a replacement. Lake Robbie Hurt, Ken Kelly had to be convinced that he was the wrong color to walk as a decoy with the others. Ken Kelly figured that Robbie, being black, couldn't do a proper makeup job to pass as a Mexican, whereas he, being white, could pull it off. So Ken tucked his blond hair under a woman's stocking and smeared some kind of pancake makeup, mocha coffee goop, on his face and looked like one of the maniacs in a Hollywood version of gooned-out Vietnam GI.'s.

Another thing that happened is that all the ragging, jazzing, merciless personal insults and wisecracks elicited new responses. For example, if someone were to call Ernie Salgado "The Jaw" because of his prominent chin, or say that a night in his hometown—Marfa, Texas—held all the excitement of a bricklaying contest in Poland, he might not laugh anymore. Ditto for Eddie Cervantes when they asked him

if he was riding Uncle Ebeneezer's back this Christmas. Tony Puente was getting sick of the gags about seeing his wife out on the street corners handing out Bible tracts to winos. And even someone as good-natured as Renee Camacho with the soprano alien voice didn't find the drag queen jokes so funny anymore. Nor did Joe Castillo laugh very much when they said he was about as smart as a sack of rutabagas. And maybe even smiling Joe Vasquez had heard just about one reference too many to his looking like Charles Laughton hanging from a bell. And for sure Robbie Hurt had had it when he got compared to some jive-ass with diamonds in his teeth.

In fact, when they were donning their bulletproof vests and alien duds, things were getting pretty quiet these days. Even in the little squad room, which was about the size of a family crypt, there wasn't much horsing around anymore. And when they piled into the four-wheel drive to head for the canyons at dusk, the silence was absolutely spooky. Nobody opened his mouth. A new element had been introduced since they learned unequivocally that even living legends might get hurt out there.

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