The Painter of the Night





Someone called in a report that she had
seen a man painting in the dark over by the
pond. A police car was dispatched to go in-
vestigate. The two officers with their big
flashlights walked all around the pond, but
found nothing suspicious. Hatcher was the
younger of the two, and he said to Johnson,
"What do you think he was painting?" Johnson
looked bemused and said, "The dark, stupid.
What else could he have been painting?" Hatcher,
a little hurt, said,


"Frog in the Dark,


            Lily pads in the Dark,



                        Pond in the Dark.



                                   
Just as many things exist in the dark as they do in
                                   the light." Johnson paused, exasperated. Then
                                   Hatcher added, "I'd like to see them. Hell,
                                   I might even buy one. Maybe there's



                                                        more out there than we know.




                                                                                We are the police after all.

                                                                                             We need to know."