“Why not?” Hutch asked, jingling his car keys.<\/span><\/p>\n “Do you really want to know?” <\/span><\/p>\n “Yes!”<\/span><\/p>\n “That heap of junk is the dirtiest car in the whole police garage.” <\/span><\/p>\n Hutch could have done without that reply. Starsky had a point, he decided grudgingly, but who cares about outward appearances. What matters is what’s lying underneath that rough and ugly exterior. Hutch stopped himself from saying it out <\/b>loud because the interior of his car wasn’t any better. That didn’t stop him from glaring at Starsky, though. Unfortunately, Hutch’s scare tactics bounced off Starsky’s skin like ping pong balls. <\/span><\/p>\n Starsky walked away towards his spick-and-span, newly waxed, Torino. “Coming?” he asked, opening the driver side door.<\/span><\/p>\n Hutch never figured out why he always gave in to Starsky’s demands. He just did. He could’ve asked Starsky to fuck-off and drive in his LTD. Instead, he followed his partner, bristling with anger over the insults directed towards his car.<\/span><\/p>\n Hutch stopped drinking from <\/b>his bottle and glanced at Starsky out of the corner of his eye. Starsky sometimes was too smart for his own good, Hutch mused. “Oh, yeah? From where did you get that bit of information?” <\/span><\/p>\n “I don’t need no college degree to know stuff,” Starsky said smugly.<\/span><\/p>\n “Sure! But did you also know that a man would have to drink about three gallons <\/b>within a very short time to die like that?”<\/span><\/p>\n “That‘<\/span>s exactly what you’ve been doing! How many bottles have you emptied by now, huh? Just hang in there until we get to El Chaparro. There are way better ways to go out with a bang.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Why can’t we eat at Sally’s?” Hutch suggested. <\/span><\/p>\n “Sally’s<\/i>?” Starsky’s down-turned mouth and sour face would’ve made anyone think Hutch had committed an unforgivable sin. “You mean that place that serves white wormy things and green bits on green cream cheese and cucumber? You got to be kidding me. They ought to be punished for what they do to those bagels.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Those are bean sprouts and a spring mix. And no\u2014that’s not cream cheese. That’s an avocado spread\u2014and\u2014”<\/span><\/p>\n “I don’t want to know the kind of stuff that gives me nightmares.” Starsky acted as if he got the shivers. “Who’d want to put avocado on a sandwich, huh?” <\/span><\/p>\n “What about guacamole? You gobbled up a whole bowl of it with chips at Oscar’s house the other day,” Hutch reminded.<\/span><\/p>\n “Guacamole and chips are normal food, Hutch. Applying that on bread ain’t the acceptable norm.”<\/span><\/p>\n Hutch tightened his lips and balled up his fists as he thought of a normal acceptable<\/i> concoction he could make out of cucumber, avocado, cilantro and bean sprouts and pour down Starsky’s throat. He would throw in some desiccated liver and goat milk as well, just for his partner!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n “So where’s this wonderful place?” Hutch asked. Starsky had been overly thrilled about a newly opened Mexican restaurant he found, and was pestering Hutch to go there with him for lunch for weeks now. “If this is one of those pesky little cafes with fly traps hanging at every nook and corner\u2014”<\/span><\/p>\n “Oh, come on, Hutch! Have I ever taken you to such a place?” Starsky asked, taking a left turn at the color lights.<\/span><\/p>\n “Do you really want to know?” Hutch snapped.<\/span><\/p>\n “No,” said Starsky as he tapped on the steering wheel, humming a tune which Hutch didn’t know. “Do you think I’m plan A or plan B?” he asked.<\/span><\/p>\n “What?” Hutch asked, not having a clue what Starsky’s mind was mingling with.<\/span><\/p>\n “With Megan, you know? I read this article the other day that said when it comes to relationships, four out of ten women have a plan B.” <\/span><\/p>\n At this rate, Starsky wasn’t on any of her plans, Hutch ought to have said, but didn’t. Starsky had cancelled two dinner dates and a movie night with her during the past two weeks. One of the causes was work related, but the rest were all Hutch-related emergencies. It wouldn’t take any woman that long to realize where Starsky’s priorities lay. <\/span><\/p>\n “Ok, here’s the place.” Starsky slowed down and pulled into an empty parking spot beside the road. <\/span><\/p>\n Hutch looked around. El Chaparro was on the junction of Ocean and Eleventh. Hutch realized that even if he had carefully and methodically lined up plans up to M or further, it wouldn’t stop him from following his partner’s one and only plan. <\/span><\/p>\n It didn’t even take a minute for Starsky to decide what he wanted. Hutch had hardly gone through the descriptions of the first couple of dishes. He wasn’t in a mood for fried or spicy items.<\/span><\/p>\n Their server, Juan, brought the drinks they ordered, coffee and water, though Starsky had confiscated Hutch’s glass of water saying that he had had enough.<\/span><\/p>\n “I’ll have the Fajitas Mixas,” said Starsky. “Can you make it devilled?”<\/span><\/p>\n “Ciertamente, se\u00f1or,” <\/span>Juan replied, smiling widely. He seemed to be very pleased with Starsky’s choice of entr\u00e9e. <\/span><\/p>\n “I’ll have the Taco salad. Can you bring it without the Taco shell?” Hutch asked.<\/span><\/p>\n “Sin taco. S<\/span>\u00ed, se\u00f1<\/span>or.” <\/span><\/p>\n Starsky sighed impatiently. “Out of all the good stuff, you order just a Taco salad, and then reject<\/span><\/i> the Taco? You are insulting these people. You know that?” <\/span><\/p>\n Instead of questioning Hutch’s choices, Starsky should’ve been appreciative of the fact that Hutch agreed to come to Starsky’s choice of restaurant. “Juan didn’t mind, so why should you?” Hutch asked. He would’ve happily spent the rest of the day sipping his water\u2026 Water!<\/i> Hutch looked around for the restrooms. On days like this with his increased water consumption, Hutch had to use the bathroom more frequently than usual.<\/span><\/p>\n “It’s over there.” Starsky smirked.<\/span><\/p>\n “What?” <\/span><\/p>\n “The john.” Starsky smirked more, obviously enjoying being able to steal Hutch’s line. <\/span><\/p>\n Giving Starsky another Hutchinson glare, Hutch looked sideways to where Starsky had pointed and saw the ba\u00f1<\/span>os sign. He quickly walked over to the restrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n “My Mom drinks her coffee just like that. She says, Mmmmmm every day in the morning.” <\/span><\/p>\n Starsky turned around and grinned at the little kid who was sitting at the other table. “You like your lemonade?” he asked.<\/span><\/p>\n The kid who seemed to be no more than five, shrugged his shoulders. “It’s all right. Could’ve been better,” he said. “It’s missing the zing.”<\/span><\/p>\n “The zing, huh?” Starsky managed to keep a straight face, swallowing hard to subdue the grin that was trying to break free. “Maybe you should tell them about it.” Right then he noticed Hutch briskly walking out of the corridor that lead to the restroom. He kept on walking at the same speed as he left the restaurant and went all the way up to the Torino.<\/span><\/p>\n What the heck? Did Hutch forget that we were here to eat<\/i>? Starsky watched as Hutch removed his brown leather jacket, then the holster, and wrapped the holster in his jacket. He opened the Torino door and crawled halfway inside as if to retrieve something. When Hutch wriggled back out and straightened up and adjusted his shirt, Starsky noticed that Hutch was holding Starsky’s baseball cap. Hutch pulled the cap on to his head, and walked back to the restaurant with the holster bundled up in the leather jacket, under his arm. <\/span><\/p>\n What the fuck in the world was going on?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, a woman in a yellow t-shirt and black pants walked away from the restrooms at the same speed as Hutch did earlier. She almost ran up to a server and started talking nineteen to the dozen, angrily. <\/span><\/p>\n Keeping his head low, Hutch walked back to the table and slid into his chair. He placed his jacket beside him, and raised his index finger at Starsky. “Not a word,” he threatened.<\/span><\/p>\n Starsky looked around. There had to be some connection between that angry woman and his weird partner. The server seemed to calm down the angry woman and showed her to her table. <\/span><\/p>\n “Out with it. I wanna know what I’m dealing with here,” Starsky asked. <\/span><\/p>\n “This is the last time you are dragging me into this type of restaurant,” Hutch hissed.<\/span><\/p>\n “What’s wrong with the restaurant? Did you taste their coffee? This is the best I’ve had in ages. Now what did you do?”<\/span><\/p>\n “Why do you think I<\/i> did something?”<\/span><\/p>\n “Go on. What happened in the john?”<\/span><\/p>\n “Don’t you<\/i> have to go, today?” <\/span><\/p>\n Hutch didn’t have to ask twice because Starsky already had the urge to use the bathroom. He hadn’t even finished his first cup of coffee. “I’ll be back.” He pushed his chair back and stood up. <\/span><\/p>\n Starsky had no difficulty in finding the bathroom. Nor did he find anything different. Wondering what had happened with Hutch, Starsky finished his business, washed up and came back, determined to get the story Hutch was keeping from him.<\/span><\/p>\n As Starsky got back to his seat, Hutch seemed to wait with some kind of anticipation, as if he wanted Starsky to complain about something. Or was he hoping Starsky got into some kind of trouble? <\/span><\/p>\n “What?” asked Starsky.<\/span><\/p>\n Before Hutch could answer that question, the little boy Starsky talked to earlier walked quickly towards him and put his hand on Starsky’s coffee cup, glaring at Hutch. <\/span><\/p>\n “I am sorry, mister,” he said to Starsky, looking serious. “I can’t allow you to drink this.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Why not?”<\/span><\/p>\n “There are flies in this coffee.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Flies<\/i>?” Starsky looked in the cup and gasped. “Holy s\u2014” He clamped up, not wanting to curse in front of the kid.<\/span><\/p>\n The little boy carried the cup out of the sitting area, and disappeared into the kitchen. He returned in a few minutes. “I dumped it in the sink,” he said. <\/span><\/p>\n Juan was right behind him with their entrees and another pot of coffee.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n “I think you should get a new one,” Billy advised in a very grown up voice. “I know how important coffee is.” <\/span><\/p>\n “I sure will, err… what’s your name?” Starsky asked.<\/span><\/p>\n “Billy,” the kid introduced himself.<\/span><\/p>\n “Thank you very much, Billy. You are very sharp. Would make a good detective someday.”\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n![\"th\"](\"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2014\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/th.jpg\")
<\/a>“You know, Hutch,” Starsky said, checking the side mirror for incoming traffic and pulling over to the left lane. “Drinking nothing but water can get a man killed.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Their table was right at the window, and beside them were a couple of boys, drinking lemonade. Hutch counted six <\/b>kids at the table, aged between five and sixteen. They all had their eyes on Hutch and Starsky as they slipped into their seats. Starsky winked at the children and the youngest one who was sitting at the edge touched two fingers to his forehead like a cub scout.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Starsky added an ample amount of sugar to his coffee, held it up to his face, sniffed, and inhaled the rich aroma. He took his first sip, involuntarily closing his eyes as the heavenly rich taste and full flavor coated his mouth. He groaned softly. It was damn good coffee, and Starsky intended to fully enjoy his brew until the very last drop.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n