Tag: Curt Woods

Officer Ken Gooding 545. Did not fit the profile. Just glad to be a part of it all. A nice guy that needed a job and decided to give police work a try. In his late twenties but looked to be fifty. A pretty good officer that really tried to serve the public and do his job. Not pretentious in the least. Unfortunately his personal constitution just wasn’t up to seeing the ugly side of humanity that law enforcement had to deal with. It overwhelmed him. He was shocked at how men like Barbie and Woods  could see it all and keep a sense of humor. One call in particular demonstrated the stark reality to Ken. The three officers had received a call that an ambulance was on it’s way to an address in town regarding an attempted suicide. 

All three officers arrived at the address at the same time. It was a single wide mobile home, with a standard floor plan for the 70’s. As they entered the home the lady of the house was seated on the floor with her back to the couch. Her head down, she was naked, legs spread wide apart facing the front door. The man of the house was in the kitchen with the kids making dinner as if there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Woods  and Barbie assessed the situation in an instant and went to work without a word. Barbie to the kitchen to ask the husband how long the subject had been in this condition while he quickly searched for empty pill bottles in that area.

Woods  headed down the hall to the back bathroom and medicine cabinet. Woods  found the empty bottles in the bathroom trash, calling to Barbie that he’d found them, “Jackpot.” They met back at the front door. “The husband says that he and the kids were gone and when they came home this is what they found. They weren’t gone that long. At worst she’s been like this for a couple hours,” Barbie stated.

Woods  and Barbie then pulled the woman onto her back and began to administer CPR which they continued until the ambulance arrived. 

When the ambulance arrived Woods  handed the crew the empty pill bottles while Barbie told them that the subject had most likely been unconscious for two hours. 

Officer Gooding was still frozen just inside the front door, staring. Trying to wrap his head around the situation. He was completely dumbfounded at how the other two officers had calmly reacted. He had seen them work together as a team trusting each other with their lives while under fire. It was something he just couldn’t quite get to. 

Still he was an good officer. He could be counted on to take any order and do his absolute best to follow it to the letter. He liked to smoke and drink with the rest of the officers. But Gooding drank to feel better. Woods and Barbie drank to feel nothing.

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Want more stories like this check out the book The Chief Is Missing which is available in audio for those of us that don’t have time to sit down and read.

Another Book by J A Sliger is Code Name Artist. It’s a World War Two drama based on a man that fought the Nazi’s from inside the German Secret Service The Abwehr.

One day as he was driving past the Tri-City Raceway, Curt noticed street cars going around the track. Woods had to assume that some teenagers had broken through the gates and made their way onto the track.

As he drove through the open gate he observed that it showed no signs of damage and as he got closer to the inside he could see that the track clock was on. 

He drove to the center of the track and found a small group of teenagers that made no attempt to flee as he approached.

When he stopped his car they came over.

“Hi officer.”

“Hi guys. What’s going on,” Curt asked.

“I’m Stan Meehan, My dad owns the track and he’s let us bring our cars out to see who can get the best time,” responded one of the boys.

“Well that sounds like more fun than humanly possible,” said Curt. “You go at it one at a time and just let the track timer figure out who goes around the fastest? So let me see who has the best time?”

The boys got excited to share, “Bobby has the best time so far at thirty two seconds with his Camaro. But Jason and Kyle are only one tenth of a second behind him. They have the Charger and the Mustang.”

Curt got out of his car and went to look over the cars. None of the cars were stock. The rear ends were jacked slightly to accommodate larger tires on the back. He knew that even with beefed up engines these cars weren’t going to do that well on the tri-oval track. They were better suited for drag racing in a straight line on a flat track. The tri-oval was steeply banked and built for beefed up suspensions and cars with a lower center of gravity. 

“Mind if I watch,” asked Woods.

“Hell no,” said Stan. “Who’s up next?”

“Chuck,” said Bobby pointing at 1970 Buick Skylark. 

Woods walked over to the car. Again the rear end had been jacked slightly with the use of air shocks and it had wider rear tires than stock. “What have you got under the hood Chuck,” asked Curt.

Chuck was all too happy to pop the hood and show off his 350 V8 with chrome valve covers and a four barrel carburetor. “Very nice,” said Curt. “Let’s see what you can do. But for the love of god don’t wreck it.”

Chuck slammed the hood down and jumped in behind the wheel. He pulled out onto the track as the others cheered him on.

Woods watched the Skylark go around the track three times and saw the automatic track timer readout the time for each lap. Chuck then pulled the car back into the center of the track. His best time had been within a couple tenths of thirty two seconds. As the young man got out of his car the boys all gathered around with excitement.

Curt joined them and said, “Well you guys have a good day, I’ve got to be getting back to work.” He then started walking back to his patrol vehicle.

But Stan wasn’t having it. “Before you go officer, could you show us what you can do in the patrol car?”

“Naw, I don’t want to make you boys feel bad. Your having a good time. Let’s just leave it at that,” said Curt.

“So, you don’t think you can beat our time,” Stan taunted smiling.

Woods smiled, “Something you boys need to realize is that if I’m ever chasing you, I don’t have to beat you. All I have to do is stay with you and come in second. The other thing you need to know is that these patrol cars are built to do just that. Add to that the fact that police officers drive their patrol cars eight hours a day. When you drive a vehicle that much eventually it becomes like a part of your body. That’s why truck drivers can handle their eighteen wheelers so well. You guys are having a great time and more fun than I ever had at your age. I don’t want to ruin that for you.”

Curt got back behind the wheel and started the patrol car. The young men gathered around his door and begged him to give it a go.

“Alright, fine,” said Woods. “But remember, you asked for it. I’ll go around once to get a feel for the track. Time me on the second lap.”

“You got it,” answered Stan as the other boys hollered with excitement. They were all curious to know how close he would come to their times.

Curt drove onto the track and checked out the high banked corners. The first time around he was feeling where the car and his tires were at their drifting limit. The patrol car had wider tires, a beefier suspension and a center of gravity that was about three feet below ground level. Warming up his tires and getting a feel for the track. The second time around he put the patrol car in a full drift for the entire lap. He went around a third time while he slowed down and pulled into the center of the track.

The boys were stunned to silence. Their best times had all been within tenths of a second. Woods had beat their best time on the half mile track by several seconds. Curt then smiled and nodded as he drove out the gate.

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Want more stories like this check out the book The Chief Is Missing which is available in audio for those of us that don’t have time to sit down and read.

Another Book by J A Sliger is Code Name Artist. It’s a World War Two drama based on a man that fought the Nazi’s from inside the German Secret Service The Abwehr.

Karl Barbie and Curt Woods answer a call when the fifty five year old woman opens the door she falls backward in fear.

Having been a survivor of the holocaust, seeing two officers in brown uniforms, black boots and gold badges show up at her door was just overwhelming.

As Curt reached to steady her as she fell back at their approach he noticed the number tattooed on her forearm. It was obvious to the officers why she was so overcome. Curt and Karl helped her to a chair. Then while Curt sat beside her, Karl went and grabbed her a glass of water from the kitchen. They sat beside her and waited for her to recover.  Once she had gathered her wits she asked Officer Barbie, “Are you related to the Butcher of Leon?”

“Yes,” answered Karl. “He is a distant uncle. But my side of the family came over before the war. We fought on the American side against the Nazis.” 

She looked at Curt, “Is your family German too?” 

“Yes, German and Polish but we came over before the First World War,” answered Curt. “I’m truly sorry that we gave you such a fright.” He pointed to her tattoo. “I can’t even begin to imagine what a shock we must have given you with our brown uniforms and all.”

She sat quietly for a minute. Once she had recovered she explained her experience during World War Two. “My family managed to avoid capture by the Nazis for most of the war. We kept moving west ahead of their invading army. Once we got to France there was no more place to run. Unfortunately for us, before the allies invaded, my family was captured and we were hauled by train to Natzweiler. Once there we were separated. I never saw any of my family again. My parents, my brother and two sisters,… all gone.”

Curt held her hand, “Whatever words we say are never going to be enough, but I can assure you that you have nothing to fear from us. We’re on your side. If you call, we’ll come. What you went through on the other side of the world we can’t make up for. But you’re here now. If you want to talk, we’ll listen. If you need help, we’ll help you. If you want us out of your home, we’ll go. We’re only here when you call.”

The woman was still shaken by her memories but as she sat with the two officers she began to recover. “I can’t even remember why I called,” she said chuckling to herself. 

“If you’re uncomfortable with us showing up and bringing nightmares, you can tell the dispatcher what you want us for and we’ll handle it without knocking on your door,” said Curt.

“Whatever it was seems trivial now. But next time I’ll definitely try to do that,” said the woman.

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Want more stories like this check out the book The Chief Is Missing which is available in audio for those of us that don’t have time to sit down and read.

Another Book by J A Sliger is Code Name Artist. It’s a World War Two drama based on a man that fought the Nazi’s from inside the German Secret Service The Abwehr.