Our very first club assignment!

His name tag read: R. Swindle. The “R” stood for Robert, but he’d never been called that. As a kid, everyone called him Bobby. Then, when he turned twelve and started the 7th grade at Conway Middle School, he insisted on being called Rob and would ignore anyone who still called him Bobby. It didn’t take long for people to get with the program, but with a name like Rob Swindle, it was no surprise that other kids liked to tease him. "Hey, Burglar Boy, the fuzz is comin' to get you," they'd say. Or they'd call him names like Grifter or Sharkey, their favorite, but it never really bothered him. In fact, he thought it was pretty funny back then and even funnier now, at age 36, considering that he was an officer at the Conway Police Department. He still got lots of shit from his coworkers about his name, but it was all in fun, and nobody at the department doubted his integrity and abilities as an officer. After 18 years of service, he had more than proved himself to be a “good cop.” In fact, he was considered by the C.P.D. to be one of their best. Rob had a way of quickly assessing the most contentious or violent situations and getting them under control in minutes. His fellow officers were in awe of him. He'd been asked many times, "How do you do that?" Rob would just shrug and smile, but he knew how. He had a special skill; he could actually smell fear. It smelled like moldy bread with undertones of burnt hair and cumin. As a kid, he assumed everyone could smell it, but eventually he learned that, no, they sure as hell couldn't! And it turned out that being able to smell fear was very useful as a cop.