The Introduction.

You had to like his style. Just the way he introduced himself. One minute he wasn't there, and then I looked back up and there he was, smiling down at me from the roof. Impecable suit. Salt and pepper hair and beard. I had been dispatched to this house about 3 minutes ago. I was happy for the diversion. I had only been back to work from an extended absence for about 3 weeks and I still couldn't adjust to this new life that lay before me. It seemed more barren, somehow. More bleak. I realized as I looked up at him, a little taken aback, that I was smiling back. It was the knee-jerk reaction to a smile like his. I quickly adjusted my face to match my badge, all business, expressionless and to the point. I blinked up at him, the sun at his back, shining right down in my face, and in the red behind my eyelids I saw her face, but it was fleeting. I hated that. I wanted her to stay. I opened them back up and addressed him.
     "You doing alright up there sir? Everything ok today?"
     "Yes officer, I'm just fine. Beautiful day today." He spoke matter of factly, as though there was nothing unusual about the fact that he was standing on the roof of a two story house.
     The call had come in from a neighbor, that a man was standing on the roof of the house next door. The unusual nature of the call came from the fact that the neighbor couldn't say with certainty if the man on the roof of her neighbors house was indeed her neighbor. A bit of a recluse, we don't see him much, she had said. The kind of lady that would call the police on kids playing football in the street on a fall afternoon, but ask that the responding officer not stop in front of HER house.
     "I'm Officer Martinez, and I am here to make sure that everything is okay with you sir. Is there anyway that we can talk? Perhaps you could let me inside the house?" I was very careful not to say any of the key words that might encourage someone to jump from that height, if that was his goal.
     "Yes Officer Martinez, I know why you're here. But the reason that I know you are here for is not the reason that you think you are here. Why don't you come inside, the door is open." His voice was gravelly, unaccented. Soft even though he was speaking at a higher volume so that his voice would carry all the way down to the ground. The temperature was perfect that day, but I began to sweat just a little bit. The caution lights started flashing in the back of my mind.
     "I would be more comfortable sir if maybe-"
     "I met you on the porch, of course! How silly of me to forget your procedures. Yes, I know the rules you follow, and the reasons. I'll be down momentarily."

As I waited for him to come down it dawned on me that I needed to take control of this situation. I was the police officer. I was the law enforcement representative on scene. I knew my Leutenant was watching somewhere, it was his way of following the rules. I had been on the force for three years, but when an officer went through a Traumatic Experience such as I had, it was common practice in Pineville Louisiana for the commanding officer on shift to shadow the officer for a short time, just until he was aclimated to the job again. And to make sure that he didn't lose it on anyone. The city decided this and it was definitely more for their own protection than that of the Citizens. Citizens could sue. We couldn't have that.
At the same time, in hindsight, now I can see that he was teaching me about himself. He loved a dramatic entrance. This would be the first of many meetings. But today, he was just a crazy man on a roof. One I was hoping would not leap to his death to fulfil his word of coming "down momentarily."

At that moment, just as I had glanced back up at the roof to see if he was still up there, praying his final prayer, or haiku, or whatever last crazy or profound words went through a persons head just before they ended their life, the front door of the house swung open, and he stepped out into the light of the day. Again, his smile was that of a man who had complete control of the situation at hand. My steps for this meeting had been plotted out for some time, but, again, this is all in hindsight. Hindsight is twenty/twenty as they say. That day, I just smiled back. I asked him for some identification and he produced some, I noted that his home address was indeed the house in front of which we were standing. I called in to dispatch and had them run it just the same, and checked his address, I had patrolled this neighborhood many times before and couldn't place his face or his presence.  Dispatch dutifully came back over the radio that he checked out, everything on his ID through the state computer came back and passed that particular little test with flying colors. He was Mr. Ren Pasalle of 316 Hudson Street in Pineville Lousiana, for that day anyway. Still, I hadn't become a cop by not trusting some of my stronger gut impulses, and the one tugging on me wasn't quite right just yet, so I kept my guard up.
The initial conversation continued just as I thought it should, the why's were answered with somewhat comical vagueness, the who's had already been covered. After my vocals passed their cold and business like stage and I found out that he did apparently belong here I softened my tone. Ever try to put the Citizen at ease. Not that this was necessary with this individual. I advised him to excersize just a little more caution the next time he decided to go for a stroll on his roof due to the alarm it caused his neighbors, when he caught me off guard with a simple question.
     "What made you decide to be a police officer, Jonathan?"
     "I don't recall giving you my first name Mr. Pasalle. How did you come by that information?" Back to the cold voice, if I wasn't at ease before he said my name, I was downright on edge at this point in the conversation. I had put my hand on my pistol, my trusty Beretta, without thought. I heard the brakes of a vehicle squeal lightly and looked to the street to see my Leutenant pull up and just sit there, just letting us both know that he was there. I heard him go out on the radio that he was on scene with unit 54. Mr. Pasalle was still looking at me with bright eyes that were somewhere between grey and slate. Flat but bright, unusual. I knew that he could very well have picked my name out of any number of newspaper articles in the recent month and a half, but this thought was but a tiny bleating voice in the back of my head. Back there with my caution lights, which were flashing more brightly now, and quicker.
     "Ah, but Jonathan isn't your first name now is it? You go by Jon on the local police force, but if my memory serves me, your first name is Gen-"
     "Hold on now man, this is getting strange. How do you know this stuff? Are you some kind of psychic or something? Is the circus in town?" I couldn't help but to laugh. Laughter had long been one of my defense mechanisms, but funnily enough, the past two months I hadn't laughed once. Not once. The laughter that sounded now was not the hearty full laughter of a Law Enforcement officer In Control of the situation. It was more like a childs unbelieving laughter after seeing a magic trick that he just quite can't put together. Right then a voice came over my portable radio, it was dispatch, calling out to the Leutenant that another officer on our shift needed him at a burglary scene. I looked over my shoulder and thought about asking him to stay, but gave him the nod anyway. He acknowleged the radio call and got in his vehicle. The springs creaked and then he sped away.
     "Mr. Pasalle, I would really like to know how you know that about me. I understand that I have been in the newspapers recently and see how you could have gotten to Jonathan from Jon, but as far as my first name..."
     That smile crossed his face again.
     "All of that information was as easy to come by without having to delve into the pathetic rag that these locals consider a newspaper." He stopped, looked out at the lawn.
     "I hope this isn't a let down for you, some kind of claim to fame?" His eyes found mine. He sat down on the porch and motioned to the seat next to him. I was too perplexed to leave, like I probably should have, but I wanted to ask the magician about the secret to his trick. I sat down. I had no idea what was in store for me.