“Here you go, sir,” the cop said after his return a couple minutes later, startling Bucky. “Please try to be a little more attentive on the road.”

“Yes, sir. I will. I’m sorry,” Bucky said with a smile. Taking his items back he noted that the cop was not writing him a citation. Could his luck have suddenly changed? Grateful for the break, he glanced up into the face of this policeman to thank him.

Their eyes met and Bucky all at once experienced a jolt of electricity strong enough to light up the Western hemisphere. His insides then felt to be turning to liquid and he began to sweat. A couple moments passed before it finally dawned on him that he had been staring at the man. He quickly diverted his attention to the steering wheel.

“I’m Lyle,” the policeman said, drawing Bucky’s attention back to the window where he now found an outstretched hand.

“Bucky,” he introduced nervously. Realizing the paperwork the cop had just handed him had provided Lyle with everything he needed to know about him, Bucky raised it, adding , “I guess you already know that.” Shaking the outstretched hand, Bucky was caught off guard by yet another surge of electricity resulting from their touch.

Lyle chuckled. “Wow, that’ll get your blood pumping. Suppose we could harness that energy and sell it to the power company?”

“Excuse me?” Bucky asked stupidly.

“Sorry. I thought that… never mind.”

Bucky’s mouth dropped open in disbelief that this cop might have experienced the electric surge as well. “Then you felt it, too?”

“A little hard to miss, wouldn’t you say?” The cop stared silently a couple moments, smile on his lips. He then withdrew his hand. “Um, well… I’d better let you get on your way.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said in a small voice. “Okay. Uh, thanks for not giving me a handsome.”

“Huh?”

“A ticket!” Bucky corrected himself quickly, thoroughly embarrassed now. “For not giving me a ticket.”

The cop’s smile broadened. “Just be more careful in the future, okay Bucky?”

“Um,” Bucky said in an attempt to keep the conversation going. “It was Lyle, right?”

“That’s right. You want to see my badge number?”

“No,” Bucky said with a nervous laugh. He then added in a subdued voice, “But if it would help to… um… you know…”

“Yeah, I think I know. Tell you what, Bucky, I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours.” Lyle chuckled, his smile expressing more than words could ever convey. “You married, Bucky?”

“Hardly.” He laughed lightly. “Um… you?”

“Not that I’m aware of, no. They don’t seem to be allowing that sort of thing in this State yet.”

Overwhelmed at having his suspicious – and deepest hopes – confirmed, Bucky felt himself grinning from ear to ear. “No, I know that. Although it wouldn’t do me any good even if they did since I don’t have… since nobody seems to want to… well…”

“Trying to tell me you’re single?” Lyle asked with a broadening smile to which Bucky nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, I have the same problem.”

“Problem here?” a second cop asked, coming to stand beside his partner.

“No, no problems, Deet,” Lyle told him.

The second cop glanced at Lyle, then Bucky, then back to Lyle again. “Ah, I know that look. Okay, I’ll be in the car. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Selected text copyright 2009 by Timothy Lee