21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Cry Baby

June 1988

I put my gun back in its holster after I read the criminal his Miranda Rights and put him in Penhall's cruiser. The summer moon was full, and it was a clear night with millions of stars. School had only been out for about a week, so we were getting mixed in with the officers from the Metro Police Department as we did every summer until school started up again.

I was walking back to my car slowly, looking down at my dark uniform to grab my car keys when I thought I heard the soft cries of a baby. I froze, hoping that it was just the clanging of my keys that made the sound.

Suddenly, the noise occurred again and I followed it to a dumpster. I lifted the lid, and covered my mouth when I was horrified to find an infant laying in the empty dumpster, sobbing.

"Oh, shit," I muttered to myself. I looked around and realized that all of my team had already left and probably went back to the chapel, or the station. This was going to have to be my responsibility.

I carefully threw the lid open and shushed to the baby, "hey, hey, it's okay. It's okay, I'm getting you out of here."

I climbed in and grabbed the baby, and made sure he was not hurt before I scooped him up in my arms and climbed out. I bounced him gently, holding him close. I carefully shut the grimy lid so the noise wouldn't startle the baby, and I brushed some of the muck off the back of his bald head. He smelled like rotten food.

"Hey, sweetheart," I cooed to him softly. He couldn't have been more than a few months old. He was still crying, but not as loudly as when he was in the dumpster. I sat in the drivers seat of my cop car and hesitated to figure out where to put him, since I did not have a car seat and I knew it would be too dangerous to hold him while I drove.

I eventually took off my thick police jacket and put it around the baby to help stable his head and I drove as quick as I could to the police station, holding the baby in my arms as I walked in and saw Captain Fuller talking to one of the officers from the Metro Station.

"Officer Gregg," Fuller said to me before he noticed the baby in my arms. "What are you doing here?"

"After the bust, I found this little guy in the dumpster behind that Babe's Restaurant downtown."

"In a dumpster?" He asked, absolutely stunned.

"Yes, sir."

Fuller walked up to me and the baby and asked where my car keys were. "I have a car seat in my car you can borrow. There was an emergency at CPS this afternoon so they won't be able to take any more kids this evening. Will you be able to watch him tonight?"

"Me? Watch a child?" I asked with big eyes. "You know, my job is to literally be a child."

"I know, but you're all this little guy has right now."

I looked down at the baby's big blue eyes and sighed. I finally nodded, and handed Fuller my keys. I know I was guilted into it, but where else could he have gone? Fuller ran out to my car and gave me the car seat that was in his. Why he had a car seat and didn't just take the baby himself, I have no idea. My apartment isn't exactly baby-proof. And Fuller has had a kid before, he knows how to take care of them. Fuller came back and told me to bring him to the chapel in the morning. I agreed, slightly feeling like I was manipulated into caring for this baby. I am not equipped to be doing this sort of thing. I walked out to my car with the baby and I strapped him into the car seat, and drove home.

At first, I thought the baby would be content with sleeping through the night, but I was quickly mistaken. I gave him a bath to get rid of the smell of rotten food, which helped. However, I tried to feed him, change him, and even cuddle with him but it was no use. There were a few blissful moments of a giggling boy, but it mostly consisted of blood curdling screams.