Rogues Gallery: The Constables
Mark Lowry
10-8 ("A Hard Day's Night")
Mark Lowry is a senior deputy for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, a 30-year veteran who's chosen to remain in the field, and on the street rather than take promotions that will lead only to a desk job. As he says "everything that happens, happens on the streets," and that's where he wants to spend his career.
Lowry fills in temporarily as Training Officer for one of the unit rookies, quietly exerting his authority by letting the trainees do the dirty jobs, but never in a mean-spirited way. He's laid back, calm and even tempered, with a philosophical, California sort of style. He's seen it all many times, but hasn't let it sour him. Yet this is a man who can be tough when he needs to be, wading determinedly into a riot on the beach after a bottle is thrown at his team.
When Lowry takes a bullet in the line of duty, and slumps over at the wheel unconscious, his stricken recruit is forced to take control of the careening car. Later at the hospital, the senior deputy is reportedly "awake, and uh, yelling at his doctors, and spreading his pain," giving further indication that his relaxed demeanor hides a more fiery side.
Officer Bobby Aldrich/"A"World Inmate #1
The One
On "A"World (or the Annubis Universe), a vicious and angry convicted criminal is serving time in prison. When an unpopular inmate is led away by the police, this man reacts violently, shouting epithets and hurling a knife from his cell in a clear attempt to murder the other convict.
In our universe, Bobby Aldrich is an officer with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, a law-abiding citizen, a decent and caring human being. After his partner appears to have gone rogue, Bobby remains loyal, looking beyond the obvious to find the answers. He chooses to believe the erratic behavior was caused by an injury sustained in the line of duty. Bobby does everything he can to help his partner, including protecting the man's wife, and assuring her he won't let anything happen to her husband.
Yet the convict and the lawman are one and the same. Such is the paradox of the multiverse, where each person exists in a variety of dimensions, but every one is different.
Sheriff Bernie Dupree
Abilene
Bernie Dupree is the sheriff of a small, sleepy West-Texas town near Abilene. Like most of the townsfolk, he's a private, self-contained man who's used to relying on himself and not sharing his feelings; yet he's kind, caring, and sensitive to the needs of others. He's eaten three meals a day at the same diner for years, without once letting on that he's in love with Betty, the owner, and he's completely oblivious to the fact that the town has been waiting for him to make a move. Although Betty reciprocates the Sheriff's unspoken attraction, she hides as well, behind a mask of humor and casual disinterest.
When elderly Hotis Brown receives word that the estranged brother he hasn't spoken to in fifty years is gravely ill, he decides he must make the trip at long last to visit, even though he's lost his driving privileges. Hotis defiantly buys a riding lawnmower and starts out on the 100-mile trek with his equally ancient dog, pridefully refusing the Sheriff's offer of a ride. Exasperated, but unable to let the irascible old man go alone,Bernie takes reluctant responsibility for the pair. He brings meals, and a cautious offer of friendship, while Hotis makes his way slowly across the lush Texas landscape toward his brother's home.
Along the way, Hotis gradually accepts Sheriff Dupree's friendship, opening up and sharing bits and pieces of his painful past. Listening to Hotis, Bernie comes to realize that he must act on his feelings for Betty, or face a future full of loneliness and regrets. He is both the teacher and the student, as both men learn that it's never too late to take a chance, to make the right choice.