Starsky and Hutch

One of my first jobs, outside babysitting the neighbour's kids, was volunteering at the local hospital. I took it seriously, joyously even, heading out every Saturday to deliver flowers to the women in the Willow Maternity ward. It was a great little gig if you discounted the uniform―anemic egg yolk smocks with white pants―and lack of pay. The ward was a happy place and somewhat exotic, too, as the decades old building in which I worked had elevators with accordion doors and an actual big-haired, gum-chewing, rhinestone spectacled operator. I worked there for a summer or two but it wasn’t until I joined forces with my new found high school friend, Trish, that my true, unbeknownst skills would be fully realized. Together we requested a job change and ended up in the bowels of Vancouver General Hospital, inner midst the tunnels that traversed  the institution and into the heart of the beast―the Emergency Room. It was here that the seeds of my most hidden desires came to light and my street-savvy finesse could be put to use. 

An excerpt from Notes from the Bottom of the Box: The Search for Identity by a Modern-Day Renaissance Woman. 

It was during this time that both Trish and I became infatuated with the studly cop duo of Starsky and Hutch―[s]he’s Starsky; I’m Hutch. In persona, we could navigate the hospital tunnels with daring courage, nonchalantly deliver dinner trays to ER psych patients (solely based on ignorance, this was our most feared duty) and disregard the sometimes less-than-tolerant smirks of the staff. But more than just a tool to relieve the boredom that the actual job entailed, Hutch took me to places deep inside, places that I so badly wanted to go but felt I never could, being a girl. As Hutch, I could have adventures, earn respect and be physically daring. I would work against the odds, rescue people and most of all, straddle the line between good and bad—be a rule breaker. Hutch was the anima to my meek, mild and goody two-shoes self. His favourite job was clearing the women’s bathroom of bad guys.

And how did Starsky and Hutch make restrooms safe for the hospital staff? You'll have to read the book to find out...

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