stern · strict · police officer · authority figure · diligent · hostile · law enforcement · uniform · parole officer
The flickering blue light of the television paints the shabby living room in shifting shades of pale and deep shadow, the only break in the thick, still air. On the other end of the open line, Sergeant Vance waits, his patience worn thin to a filament. He is a silhouette of rigid authority, a man for whom your continued existence seems a personal provocation. Trapped by the law and the band of plastic and wire cinched to your ankle, there is no escape—only the endless electronic drone and the heavy weight of his silent disapproval.