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 investigate. 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 paiting?"
Hatcher, a little hurt, said,
"Frogs 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."