Daily Prompt

The Unpredictable Adventures of Inspector J.R. Pinkerton – Volume 1, Issue 2

Like everyone in his work unit, Inspector Pinkerton was resistant to change.  He had a strict set of routines, a holdover behavioral pattern from his years as a soldier.  J.R.’s resistance to change had become heightened by the nature of his disability; if anyone changed their toothpaste, soap, aftershave, hair products, or anything else with a scent, it would throw off his ability to navigate through the world by scent.  His partner, a hefty sixty-two-year-old with a bushy beard,  lived a life of rigid routine that never brought any new odors with it.

The partner, George Tomkinson, had been planning to retire, resisting the urge for about two years before the day finally came.  Inspector Tomkinson had long ago – when he had worked for HICCUPS for thirty years already – resolved that if he had three bad days in a row, he’d retire on the fourth day.  George’s previous two days were sufficiently filled with the horrors of industrial malfeasance, and he couldn’t stand to have a third day just yet.  He made an agreement with the Chief Inspector to take Pinkerton to the University where a team of researchers had been working on a device that could be of great use to a person in Pinkerton’s peculiar situation.

The Chief granted the request, he couldn’t resist the possibility of is top inspector becoming independent and therefore an even better asset to the organization.  So, J.R. and George went off to the University, to the surprise George had arranged for Inspector Pinkerton.