Friday Fast Fiction: The Clerk and the Sleepy Cop

Despite having only one policeman, crime was rare in the hillside village of Tuvista. In the past year “Cap’n” Duvali had arrested two drunks and one pickpocket, according to the clerk, Ms. Barth, who also kept a private log on the hours Duvali slept in his office.

One overcast afternoon Duvali finished walking his beat with a big yawn and watery eyes. He returned to his office, closed the door and stopped short. A pile of money was centered on his desk. He sat down and counted: $300. No envelope. No note. He had no idea why any money was there. Still, he was sleepy and so he pushed the stack of bills to the side to make room for his feet. Within a few minutes sleep found him and the office was filled with uneven snoring.

He woke up an hour later with Ms. Barth shouting his name. He pulled his feet off the desk and stood up.

“I must have dozed off.”

“I need the $300.”

“The what?”

“The money I left on your desk for you to count before I deposit it.”

The bills on his desk were gone.

Ms. Barth said the cash was from fees she’d collected over the past year. “You can ask my sister, she saw me put the money on your desk. And it was there when you returned. I’ll be back in ten minutes—you can give it to me then”

She turned and walked to the doorway where she stuck her buttocks out slightly. Duvali couldn’t see the smile on her face.