Story notes for "Tender" by Resonant
First posted to SXF in late 1999
This is the one with my Second Famous Kiss (the first one is in "Midnight Oil") and the famous "weasels" line.
How it started: For some reason I looked up the word "tender" in the dictionary. And while I was there, I thought, "Wonder why bad neighborhoods get called The Tenderloin?" So I looked up "tenderloin" and it said that if the cop working such a neighborhood is willing to take bribes, he can eat all the steak he wants. And I thought: "Hm. What if somebody offered Jim a bribe?"
Then my eyes skidded over "tenderfoot" (Blair at police academy!) and "tender" in the sense of plants (Blair's cold!) and "to tender" in the sense of "to offer" ... and, hey, I had a Sentinel story in my head. Obsession does occasionally bear fruit.
You'd be amazed how many fellow dictionary sluts I heard from after I published this story. We should all get together and read derivations to each other or something.
The details about police training coursework come from the Vermont Law Enforcement Academy web site (except for the bit about Fish, Game, and Wildlife versus Domestic Violence, which I made up). I was interested to note that Vermont cops are also required to take Public Speaking and Stress Management.
Morning Thunder is a tea blend.
The Oort Cloud is where all the comets come from.
Livia wrestled everything into the proper order and struggled valiantly to get my sentences down to a reasonable length. To the extent that this story is coherent, it's thanks to her.
Incidentally, she also talked me into taking out a long conversation that was holding up the second sex scene, which required removing the following lines:
"Yeah, I am now, if we're done with this little history of my sex life," Jim said. "Jeez. If I'd known it mattered so much to you I would have had a resume ready."Blair waved a hand airily. "Oh, don't worry, I'm sure I'll get results from the background check pretty soon."
"Well, whatever they tell you about Knoxville, Tennessee, it's all a dirty lie."
Unfortunately, I had gone and written a little sequel off that Knoxville line, and it ended up being orphaned. Want to read it?