The parentage of a hero can be pretty important, at least in my books.  I find that I write stories and characters that deal with families, and of course the center of most of those families is the mother.   Families give history to a character.  They show what a person has embraces or overcome in their development.  They give a frame of reference to the character’s actions.  And they take the character out of the vacuum of the fictional world they live in by creating a more complex fabric for them.

That’s not to say that sometimes characters don’t have strong families.  Often they have obstacles to overcome and sometimes those obstacles revolve around lack of family.   The hero or heroine can fill that void. 

To me, whether it’s in the core family that already exists or in the formation of a new family for the hero and heroine, the existence of family is essential.  Family is the core of my world and so it’s what I relate to in books. 

In tribute to Mother’s Day, here’s a toast to books, movies, and TV shows that have families.

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite fictional family, and who is your favorite fictional mom?

This past week I went to my nephew’s academy graduation from the same department his parents, my husband and I retired from. It’s definitely a family affair, when you add his brother has been with the department for eighteen months.

Watching the young cadets file out, standing at attention, with polished boots, pressed perfect uniforms, I was struck with pride. Memories swirled around my head of my time in the academy. What surprised me there were only two women who were apart of the graduating class, out of forty-five.  

Later I asked my nephew about the anomaly. It seemed odd to me, since in my academy we had fifteen female graduates out of fifty-something.  He told me that actually started out with ten, but eight dropped out.

I was astounded. Or maybe it was just me, since when I went through the academy, I didn’t want to be a cop, but choose that profession because it was hiring. I had three mouths to feed, and needed a job with benefits, desperately. Failure or dropping out was not an option. The academy was hard both physically and mentally. Because of the female friends I made, the support we gave each other, we all made it.

Law Enforcement isn’t easy for females. Even today, it’s still a man’s world. When I started over twenty years ago, sexual harassment was still alive.

Even though today, there is protection against sexual harassment, a female cop has to put in 150% to her partners 100%. As a female, they have to prove themselves, not only to their partner, but their team.

To her teammates, the female cop is something of a mystery. I was told once that our male counterparts often discuss what we talk about in our private world of the locker room. A rookie told me he’d love to be a fly on the wall to hear what we had to say about the men we work with. I laughed and said, “No you wouldn’t.”

 As the female cops makes her way through the world she has chosen as a profession, she drops a lot of famine attributes. The uniform is less than flattering. Her hair is cropped short to be up off the collar or pulled back into a ridiculous old fashion bun. I had a watch-commander, who measured the length of our bangs, if we had them. Long nails are a no, no. No bright colored nail polish. Perfume and scented lotions is discouraged, because the mixture of floral smells and bad-guy funk can really stink up a patrol unit.  Make-up has to be light. No bright lip colors, only gloss. 

Where the female cop clings to her girlie-inner-self while on duty, is in underwear. Cops are required and like to wear t-shirts. It helps with the wool uniform pressing on the skin, and protection from the vest, but under that is anything from lacy to very sexy black.

G-string panties are common, no panty line on the uniform. Yes, we still think about that.

Back in the day, I had a dog of a Sergeant. There were five females assigned to our fifty man unit, so when we had our monthly inspections, we’d don our sexiest underwear. Sexy silky pastel colored camisoles, lacy bras, g-strings we wore under our dress blues. As the Sergeant passed us, examining our gear and uniform, out from under our hat, we’d give him a twinkle of the eye. No, smile of course, just a twinkle, because we had this little secret, we knew he’d just love to know about. It drove him crazy. So much so, as we prepared for inspection, he ordered a rookie to stand outside of our locker room, and listen to what we were all giggling about behind the thick door. I opened the door, and ran right into the poor kid. He started to sputter something about the Sergeant, listening, embarrassed, he’ll never do it again, over our roar of laughter. 

Years later at my retirement party I was asked by that Sergeant about those times and what we kept from him. When I told him, he blushed like a schoolboy.  

 I’m writing about my experiences primarily to educate writers about the image of the female cop. I want them to understand there is a big difference between the television version and what is real, to make their stories ring with truth. So if you have any questions for me fire away.

Next week, the female cop and the relationship to her partner. 

  Question of the day:  In fiction do you want to see the female cop sexy or more earthy, like in reality. Which works best in fiction?

   CBS, Monday 10p.m      

STATS:  Lieutenant Horatio Cane (David Caruso) is a well seasoned cop who is the head of the CSI for Dade County Florida Sheriff’s department. A South American drug dealer widows him, by way of his wife’s murder. He has a teenage son, by a demented evil woman he had an affair with while in deep-undercover years ago. He’s a sharp-shooter, CSI officer, detective and whatever hat he might need to wear to get the job done. He is also a father figure to his team of CSI investigators. ‘H’, (as he called) seems to take care of everyone else, but himself. Cool, collected, he rarely shows a rattled nerve and is loyal to his friends and family almost to a fault. Even though surrounded by the open and colorful life of Miami, he is something of a loner super cop. He also has a habit for falling for the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen, only to find out she’s some evil genius criminal. For that reason, in the end he is always very much alone.  

THE LOOK:  6’, red hair, and intense blue eyes.  When interviewing a suspect, he rarely faces him, always stands at the ready, turning his head to speak in a low soft voice. Always with him, is his trade mark aviator sunglasses.

LEADING LADY:  Currently his only leading lady is his work. Every time, H, falls in love or gets married it’s a death sentence to his loved one. They eventually die some horrible death.  He’s a man destined to be alone.

BOTTOM LINE:  CSI Miami is my favorite of the CSI’s, due to H. I love his cool, calm almost suave exterior.  He has a heart of gold, and has a real weakness for children. Although, I consider CSI Miami, of the three shows to be the worst procedurally. The holographic computer, over the top beautiful lab, (it makes me want to work there), and the sky line as the panoramic view sweeps down over the bluest water I’ve ever seen. Makes one wish they could be arrested at least once in their life by H. All of it attracts me to CSI Miami, and most especially to H. And who can resist the mystery behind the sunglasses.

 QUESTION OF THE DAY:  Which is your favorite CSI? And what do you think of H.

Night Into Day by Sandra Canfield, Harlequin Superromance 10/87

 
STATS:  Quarterback for the Memphis Marauders, he’s aware of the conflict between his glitzy image and the fact he could still feel fear, just like he had when he was the kid “from the poor Irish Channel neighborhood of New Orleans…He had given up being scared of the bogeyman for being scared of being an ancient thirty-five in a young man’s game…He was also scared of that empty feeling inside him, that empty feeling that warned that one day he was going to wake up…alone in an overwhelmingly lonely and uncaring world.  And that wasn’t the way he wanted to be.” 

 
THE LOOK:   “[A]n aggressive, near-arrogant chin.  A sharply chiseled jaw…steel-strength, softened by an obvious fun-loving spirit.” 

 
LEADING LADY:  A travel agent who specializes in serving the handicapped, Alex Farrell has been struggling to remain self-reliant despite her arthritis.  When Patrick steps in front of her and asks her whether she’d like to run away with him, she’s struck by immediate desire and a sadness that she won’t ever be able to run anywhere, let alone with a gorgeous celebrity. 

 
BOTTOM LINE:  This book details Patrick’s determination to convince Alex, despite his stumbles along the way, that he’s a man she can count on.  It is as tender and passionate as the hero Canfield has crafted.  He knows that loving someone means being there for them in good and bad times.   He also knows he has to fight Alex’s stubbornness with his own.  “No need to wish an Irishman luck.  He was born with it.  Besides, he’s too stubborn to settle for less.”

 
QUESTION OF THE DAY:  I’ve read quite a few great books with disabled heroes or heroines.  Susan Andersen had a hero named Elvis who had a prosthetic hand.  Catherine Anderson wrote about a woman in a wheelchair?  Any good ones I’ve missed?  Or if you don’t know of one, are you open to reading about characters with disabilities?