- Title: The takkatukka-tarzan and the girl by Camilla Sandman
Timeframe: Anywhere before Frank leaves and Rachel meets Jack.
To Katariina.. who makes work bearable (but only just when tons of Americans come in and all say “cuuuuute” 50 times each!) and teaches me handy new Finnish words
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“Francis James Holloway!!”
A tornado was about to strike the Sydney Water Police, and the tornado was named Rachel Goldstein. Innocent bystanders jumped out of the way as the tornado homed in on its target.
“Frank.. You low-life creep of an excuse of a man!!”
Frank, who stood unaware in his office, looking at a case file, felt the coming doom and looked up just as Rachel marched in and slammed the door behind her.
“How dare you!!!”
“Haaah?” Frank stuttered utterly confused, fighting the urge to back away from his obviously quite angry partner.
“You told Dan I was unavailable because I was seeing you!!!”
“Oh that,” Frank muttered, feeling his cheeks colour. Oops. He hadn’t considered the possibilities of her finding out.
“Well, Dan’s a creep.. You told me you wished you had an excuse to say no!” he defended himself with, but that only seemed to anger her more.
“That doesn’t give you the right to..”
“I was only trying to help!”
“Help? Help??!!! I don’t need that kind of help!!”
“Eh.. guys..” Helen interrupted, “we can hear you on the other side of Sydney.”
“Fine,” Rachel snapped, “outside, Frank. Now.” The look she sent him told him there was no point arguing.
He followed her outside to the carpark, feeling anger rise up in him too. Damn that woman. He’d just been trying to be helpful in his own way, besides, Dan was a creep, and Rachel was sort of seeing him every night anyway. At the pub instead of her house, but hey, that was details, and Dan never had a head for details. That was why he wasn’t a good cop.
Just an average cop, and Rachel deserved better.
“Look, what’s the big deal,” he began as soon as they were out of hearing range, “it’s not like Dan’s the first guy I’ve..”
“The first guy you have what?? Warned off me??!!”
“I’m looking after you as a friend!” he snapped, “but I wonder why I bother!”
“A friend? A friend??!! You’re acting territorial, that’s what you’re doing.”
“So??!” he spat out.
“So?? I am NOT your property Frank! Who I date is my business!”
“Yeah??? That Finnish guy you dated last month was a jerk!” Frank was lost for a real comeback, just throwing out the first thing on his mind. Her hurt expression told him he had stuck his foot solidly in his mouth.
Then her jawbone tensed.
“Yeah? Well, he taught me a word that fits you to a tee!”
“Oh yeah??”
“Yeah, you’re takkatukka-tarzan!”
“A what?”
He stared at her, trying to make sense of the information his ear just sent him.
“A takkatukka-tarzan,” she said more calmly. He just stared. She stared back. Then slowly, a smile began creeping onto their faces.
“A takkatukka-tarzan,” he repeated, “a takkatukka-tarzan??!!”
She nodded, then began laughing. He soon joined in, their laughter filling the room and driving away all the tension. She fell against his chest in laughter, he held onto the nearest car, gasping for breath.
“A takkatukka-tarzan!!”
She nodded, out of air, looking up, meeting his eyes. Their laughter faded slowly as they stared intently at each other, their noses touching, lips mere millimetres apart.
“I..” he began, but she slowly shook her head.
“Don’t say anything Frank. Don’t say anything, and it might be alright.”
“Right..”
She didn’t move, they stood like that for two eternities and then some, but it wasn’t long enough as far as Frank was concerned. His arms had somehow gone around her waist, but she didn’t push him away, didn’t shake her head at him.
He had to be dreaming.
But if he was, he’d never want to wake up again.
“Rach.. There’s just one thing.. what exactly is a takkatukka-tarzan?”
She smiled teasingly, tapping his nose lightly.
“I’ll tell you Frank, but promise not to be upset.”
“I swear on the beer you’re buying me.”
“Hah!” she snorted as the lights at the police station went off one by one, and the city lights began competing with the stars. Then she bent forward and whispered into his ear.
It was a silent night.. the wind was lazy, as if asleep too, not strong enough to lift a leaf. The waves washed gently against the shores.. barely making a noise at all. The silence was almost magical.. Until Frank’s strong voice broke it.
“But I don’t wear a ponytail!” he whined, causing Rachel to break inot a fit of laughter once again.
She laughed into the night, and he found he didn’t really mind. He’d be a takkatukka-tarzan as long as he was her takkatukka-tarzan.
And soon the carpark was deserted, just as the wind rose, lifting a small leaf from the ground and up into the air, were it flew higher and higher and higher..
It didn’t fall down for quite some time.
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