He was nervous. He was focused. Neither he could hear the
wind nor the footsteps. The sun had set, but the night was bright under full
moon. He was nervous with anticipation. He was aware he was early, yet he was
agitated and impatient. Wearing a tuxedo, he was admired by every lady that crossed
him. He was nervous, because he was waiting for his date.
She was excited. She was eager. She had to wait, as it was
not time yet. The parking was half-empty owing to a weekday. She was excited with
anticipation. She was early, but she was in no hurry. She wanted everything to
be perfect. Wearing a blue dinner gown, she was envy of every lady that crossed
her. She was nervous, because she was his date.
At exactly 7:30, she stepped out of car. He turned around to
see her. Her ears were sparkling due to diamonds on them. His smile was
contagious. She arrived at the door. He kissed her. She blushed. He said, “You
look gorgeous.”
Her blush widened. He held the door for her. After a minute
of pause, she said, “We agreed to no cheesy dialogues.” He chuckled, “Yes, but
you can’t stop me from speaking the universal truth. You look gorgeous.”
He had made a reservation in advance, so a waiter was
waiting for them. The waiter showed them to their private booth. A beautiful
yellow rose was lying on the table with a bottle of wine. The waiter smiled and
left. He picked up the rose and presented to his lady. She accepted graciously,
“This is lovely. Thank you.”
He said, “As lovely as you, my love.” She laughed and both
sat down, “Your cheesiness is getting worse and worse. Let’s drop the pretense.”
He also laughed, “Pretense! I’m honoring your order.”
While playing with the rose, she said, “Order! I just
mentioned that it would be nice to celebrate our first anniversary exactly like
our first date.”
He did not want to fall into the trap. He just smiled and
said, “You do look irresistible today.” Before she could reply, he called
waiter. The waiter opened a wine bottle and poured into their glasses. Both raised their glasses, “Cheers to us.”
Both took a sip, looked at each other and smiled. After a second, they looked
away and drank another sip. They again looked at each other, smiled and looked
away.
She said, “Hmmm…this wine is good.”
He said, “Do you like it?”
She said, “Yeah. Yeah. I do.”
He said, “So it tastes good, right?”
She said, “It does.”
They drank wine quietly. The waiter came, poured more wine
and served them salad.
She said, “And this date is as awkward as the first one.”
He laughed, “We’re quiet ones. I’m surprised we lasted a
year together.”
She said, “That is because of our work.”
He said, “Our work?
She said, “I’m district attorney. You’re police inspector.
We talk all day to nasty characters. I think we enjoy our quietness after long
days.”
He said, “I’ve been thinking on that line. Do you think us
dating is conflict of interest?”
The waiter came with main course. The waiter opened a new
wine bottle, cleared their salad bowls and served the main dish.
Her eyes sparkled looking at the dish. She said, “You’re such
a sweet. You ordered Salmon, my favorite.”
He said, “I have to please my lady today.” She blushed and
they started eating.
After few seconds, she said, “I don’t want any more
awkwardness. Let’s talk.”
He asked, “About what?”
She stopped eating, looked straight into his eyes and said, “Why
do you think our dates are conflict of interest?”
He said, “We discuss so many cases together and many times
we are on the opposite sides. If we get influenced by each other, we may end up
screwing someone’s life.”
She said, “Wise man, why didn’t you think this when you
asked me out a year ago? That was the worst timing. I was delivering a notice
for more information on an inmate.”
He said, “Spur of the moment. You were irresistible on that
day as well.”
She said, “But that was conflict of interest. “
He said, “May be. Before I open your request and read it,
inmate 1479 was executed. His execution order was already signed, so there
could not be any conflict of interest.”
She said, “It was. You became so mesmerized by me that you
didn’t even open the notice.” She laughed hard and said after a second, “Forget
about it. What do you think of executions?”
He said, “I don’t think they serve any purpose. The purpose
of legal system is to provide offenders a chance to improve. Executions should
only be for repeat offenders.”
“Yes right.” She said sarcastically. “1479 was executed for
rape and murder of a woman. How is that not justified?”
He stopped eating, took a sip of wine and thought for a
moment, “Well! When you put it that way, there’s no argument.”
She snapped back, “What can be the argument otherwise?”
He said, “Executions are ineffective. As a society, you
should be preserving every life. That is the only way to survive.”
Now she stopped eating, put her silverware in the plate and
said, “Death penalty is a big deterrent. It makes people afraid of committing
crimes.”
He said, “Put me in solitary confinement in a jail for a day
and I will be your slave. Who does commit crime and say I will go to jail for a
year? Jail term is enough deterrent and a chance to improve criminals. An
opportunity to make them part of the society again.”
She said, “Let’s agree to disagree then.” They both started
eating again. She gulped some wine and said politely, “Do you think our
relationship will last?”
He said, “No doubt, it will. We just agreed to disagree on
such a sensitive topic. We respect each other’s view.” She smiled. He held her
right hand with his left hand and pressed it gently.
She said, “It was still funny under the circumstances you
asked me out. I was delivering a notice for medical information for an inmate
who was about to be executed. What an odd place and time!”
He laughed, “Indeed and that exercise also proved futile.
1479 was executed anyway. Our current Governor is in your team. He likes
executing.”
She said, “No one likes executing. We believe that is an
important part of our legal system.”
He said, “Yes. True. I meant Governor had decided.”
She said, “I believe so, too. Governor was just doing
formality of asking for medical records under pressure of some activists.
Activists believed 1479 was mentally unstable and that was enough grounds for
not executing him. If you ask me, that was one more reason. 1479 was mentally
unstable and criminal; just execute him. How can he be of any use to the
society? But then, we are law enforcement. We can’t enforce the laws only if we
like. We just enforce them as prescribed.”
He said, “Yeh we enforce them as prescribed. Then I should
have opened the notice and sent you 1479’s medical details.”
She said, “If that’s what the law and rule says, you
slacker.” She laughed. He just smiled. They finished eating their Salmon. The
waiter came; he cleared the table and served desserts.
He emptied his wine. The waiter poured some more. He said, “Not
slacker. We get three days to respond. We didn’t get three days and I didn’t
know you were asking for his medical records. 1479 was executed the very next
day you delivered me the notice.”
She said, “There you go. No one can convict you. I also get
three days to deliver the notice and I delivered it in two days. No one can
convict me either. Happy ending.”
He stared at her and said, “You are smart and beautiful. I
am lucky.”
She said, “And you are drunk.” They both smiled.
He ate a couple of spoons of his cake and then said, “I
could have opened your notice immediately and sent the medical details of 1479.”
She said, “Yes you could have.”
He said, “He was mentally unstable.”
She said, “In that case, he might not have been executed.”
He said, “True.”
She said, “But all these are speculation. You need three
days to deliver a response, which you didn’t have.” He didn’t respond and
continued eating. Once she finished eating her dessert she said, “I could have
issued you a notice as soon as I was ordered by the Governor that would have
given you more time. You might have opened the notice and sent the medical
details of 1479.”
He said, “I don’t think we could have made much difference.
Judge and jury sentenced 1479 to death penalty overlooking his mental issues.”
She said, “Yes and the Governor knew we need six days in
total to provide response: three for me to deliver notice and three for you to
deliver medical records. As you said, he had made up his mind about execution
and he was just doing formality of sending the notice.”
He said, “True.”
She said, “But we had an opportunity to save a life.”
He said, “So did the judge and the Governor. Our wonderful
system gave four people opportunities to save a life and yet we failed.”
They both looked at each other. He paid the bill. They
walked outside to the car and drove back home. They did not talk anything on
their way back. Their first anniversary gave them a lot to think about.
