Streaming
Tracey and her roommate watched the closest screen as Officer Terry called in his response to the possible robbery in progress and turned on his lights and siren. He then started singing, badly off key, "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when I come for you..."
"Oh, he's got a feeling about this one! Shit's gonna go down!!" yelled Tracey. The rest of the bar patrons agreed with raised drinks and shouts of agreement. Every Thursday, The Neighborhood Watch streamed the MPDC's Fifth District from 7pm until 3am, and offered happy hour specials all night. Despite it being a weeknight, the bar was usually full of college students for the entirely of the stream. Other nights, other streams, didn't bring in nearly the audience that the MPDC and Officer Terry did, he was THE fan favorite currently. It wasn't full tonight, but it was about to be.
Part of Officer Terry's popularity was his seemingly unerring sense of when a call was legitimate, always indicated by his awful singing of the song from that old television show "Cops". The local YikTweet would be spammed right about now with #terryscomingforyou and #theneighborhoodwatch, and more and more folks would show up to watch Office Terry do his job.
Tracey's iHUD showed her a message that Francy and Joe were on their way, and she blinked it away. She started to get out her own tablet to pull up BlueTube online. It was easier to sign when she didn't have to keep angling her neck so much to see the bar's screens.
"Francy and Joe coming?" asked Martin.
"Yeah, they're on their way, probably coming from campus, so should be before the action really starts. I'll get another pitcher."
Officer Terry covered the area surrounding Gallaudet University, and most of the cops in MPDC District 5 knew rudimentary ASL to interact with the large Deaf community there. Francy and Joe, who were both Deaf, rarely missed a Thursday night watching the stream. Apparently they'd seen the online call that tonight would be a fun one, and it was enough to pull them away from studying for finals.
Tracey made her way to the bar and asked Mal for another pitcher of their usual. "Oh, and Mal, can you turn on CC for the screens over by us? Francy and Joe are coming."
"Sure thing, and y'all try to keep it down this week, eh?" Mal always made the same joke now since last month's incident. Francy and Martin got into a heated argument, and Martin knocked a whole tray of drinks out the waitress's hands. ASL arguments may not be loud, but they could be dangerous to passers-by.
"We will, Mal. But you know that call was some bullshit. The Sarge had no right to chew Terry out like that. The law is pretty clear on..."
"Don't get it started back up now, you're not a lawyer yet. Go. Drink." Mal laughed as he shoo'd Tracey away.
By the time Francy and Joe had arrived, the bar had filled up. Officer Terry's sixth sense was again correct, and over the next two hours, everyone watched the MPDC stop the robbery in progress and start cuffing suspects, through Officer Terry's chest camera. It wasn't the most exciting robbery in progress they'd ever seen, but watching the cops do their work so well was always entrancing.
Once the hum in the bar picked up with conversation again, Francy pointed at the screen then tapped her brow twice while she shrugged, then held up one finger and made a couple wide circles in front of her, then tapped her brow again, more vehemently. How does he know? He ALWAYS knows!
Tracey spoke and signed back "Right? I don't think I've seen him be wrong in, what, 4 years?"
"It makes you believe the conspiracy theorists who say it's all fiction" Martin signed and spoke. His 3 table companions all clamped their hands closed in front of their mouths, then wiggled their fingers over their heads while laughing. Shutup, Martin.
Martin's name sign, given to him because of his mop of excessively curly hair, was so often preceded by a goodnaturedly "shutup" that it was a running joke with the group at this point.
"I didn't say *I* believed them..." he mumbled and signed with small, sheepish motions.
On the screens, Officer Terry was transporting the suspect, and most bar patrons started paying their bills and heading out. It was almost midnight. Sometimes suspects were talkative, despite knowing all they said and did in the car was streaming live to thousands of people. Officer Terry seemed to have a knack of keeping those type of suspects talking, and could be downright hilarious while doing it, so Tracey and her group kept watching. This suspect seemed to understand the value of silence, and Officer Terry was unusually quiet himself. There were only the sounds of traffic, the engine, the dispatcher on occasion, to be heard as Officer Terry's hands, fingers occasionally moving and tapping on the wheel, filled the screen. Tracey figured they'd probably change streams soon, and come back to Officer Terry once he'd gotten back to the station.
Francy suddenly crossed the first two fingers on both hands and moved them infront of her in a criss cross pattern, with sharp motions. REVERSE! She had a look of panic on her face.
"What? Okay, how far? What happened?" Tracey signed and asked, then rewound the live stream on her tablet.
Francy made a chopping sign in front of her after a few minutes of rewinding, and Tracey started the replay. It was just...Officer Terry's hands, Tracey couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Francy pointed two fingers from her eyes to the tablet screen, directly at Officer Terry's right hand, which seemed to be dancing on the wheel, and that's when Tracey saw it.
She tapped Martin and Joe, signed sharply and said loudly "Watch, y'all, are you seeing this? Do you see this?" and she replayed that section of the stream again.
Officer Terry was using the ASL alphabet, awkwardly, obviously trying to not make large movements, and keeping his hand mostly "on" the steering wheel. The letters could be made out as he signed them, in silence.
H. E. L. P.
B. O. M. B.
"Oh, he's got a feeling about this one! Shit's gonna go down!!" yelled Tracey. The rest of the bar patrons agreed with raised drinks and shouts of agreement. Every Thursday, The Neighborhood Watch streamed the MPDC's Fifth District from 7pm until 3am, and offered happy hour specials all night. Despite it being a weeknight, the bar was usually full of college students for the entirely of the stream. Other nights, other streams, didn't bring in nearly the audience that the MPDC and Officer Terry did, he was THE fan favorite currently. It wasn't full tonight, but it was about to be.
Part of Officer Terry's popularity was his seemingly unerring sense of when a call was legitimate, always indicated by his awful singing of the song from that old television show "Cops". The local YikTweet would be spammed right about now with #terryscomingforyou and #theneighborhoodwatch, and more and more folks would show up to watch Office Terry do his job.
Tracey's iHUD showed her a message that Francy and Joe were on their way, and she blinked it away. She started to get out her own tablet to pull up BlueTube online. It was easier to sign when she didn't have to keep angling her neck so much to see the bar's screens.
"Francy and Joe coming?" asked Martin.
"Yeah, they're on their way, probably coming from campus, so should be before the action really starts. I'll get another pitcher."
Officer Terry covered the area surrounding Gallaudet University, and most of the cops in MPDC District 5 knew rudimentary ASL to interact with the large Deaf community there. Francy and Joe, who were both Deaf, rarely missed a Thursday night watching the stream. Apparently they'd seen the online call that tonight would be a fun one, and it was enough to pull them away from studying for finals.
Tracey made her way to the bar and asked Mal for another pitcher of their usual. "Oh, and Mal, can you turn on CC for the screens over by us? Francy and Joe are coming."
"Sure thing, and y'all try to keep it down this week, eh?" Mal always made the same joke now since last month's incident. Francy and Martin got into a heated argument, and Martin knocked a whole tray of drinks out the waitress's hands. ASL arguments may not be loud, but they could be dangerous to passers-by.
"We will, Mal. But you know that call was some bullshit. The Sarge had no right to chew Terry out like that. The law is pretty clear on..."
"Don't get it started back up now, you're not a lawyer yet. Go. Drink." Mal laughed as he shoo'd Tracey away.
By the time Francy and Joe had arrived, the bar had filled up. Officer Terry's sixth sense was again correct, and over the next two hours, everyone watched the MPDC stop the robbery in progress and start cuffing suspects, through Officer Terry's chest camera. It wasn't the most exciting robbery in progress they'd ever seen, but watching the cops do their work so well was always entrancing.
Once the hum in the bar picked up with conversation again, Francy pointed at the screen then tapped her brow twice while she shrugged, then held up one finger and made a couple wide circles in front of her, then tapped her brow again, more vehemently. How does he know? He ALWAYS knows!
Tracey spoke and signed back "Right? I don't think I've seen him be wrong in, what, 4 years?"
"It makes you believe the conspiracy theorists who say it's all fiction" Martin signed and spoke. His 3 table companions all clamped their hands closed in front of their mouths, then wiggled their fingers over their heads while laughing. Shutup, Martin.
Martin's name sign, given to him because of his mop of excessively curly hair, was so often preceded by a goodnaturedly "shutup" that it was a running joke with the group at this point.
"I didn't say *I* believed them..." he mumbled and signed with small, sheepish motions.
On the screens, Officer Terry was transporting the suspect, and most bar patrons started paying their bills and heading out. It was almost midnight. Sometimes suspects were talkative, despite knowing all they said and did in the car was streaming live to thousands of people. Officer Terry seemed to have a knack of keeping those type of suspects talking, and could be downright hilarious while doing it, so Tracey and her group kept watching. This suspect seemed to understand the value of silence, and Officer Terry was unusually quiet himself. There were only the sounds of traffic, the engine, the dispatcher on occasion, to be heard as Officer Terry's hands, fingers occasionally moving and tapping on the wheel, filled the screen. Tracey figured they'd probably change streams soon, and come back to Officer Terry once he'd gotten back to the station.
Francy suddenly crossed the first two fingers on both hands and moved them infront of her in a criss cross pattern, with sharp motions. REVERSE! She had a look of panic on her face.
"What? Okay, how far? What happened?" Tracey signed and asked, then rewound the live stream on her tablet.
Francy made a chopping sign in front of her after a few minutes of rewinding, and Tracey started the replay. It was just...Officer Terry's hands, Tracey couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Francy pointed two fingers from her eyes to the tablet screen, directly at Officer Terry's right hand, which seemed to be dancing on the wheel, and that's when Tracey saw it.
She tapped Martin and Joe, signed sharply and said loudly "Watch, y'all, are you seeing this? Do you see this?" and she replayed that section of the stream again.
Officer Terry was using the ASL alphabet, awkwardly, obviously trying to not make large movements, and keeping his hand mostly "on" the steering wheel. The letters could be made out as he signed them, in silence.
H. E. L. P.
B. O. M. B.