It was a warm summer day in Smallville. Over the last few years, business had improved in the downtown shopping area. Fewer people were driving to the Big Mall to shop. More often, they chose the comfort and quaintness of old Main Street.

Smallville adopted the motto 'Shop in Safety'. Most of the undesirable street people had been forced out. Crime was down and business was up. The streets were once again clean and safe. Measures had been taken.

Surveillance Technician, John Smith, was watching a young blonde woman as she window shopped on Main Street. Monitor 12 gave him a good wide angle on the storefront, and he zoomed in to get a close-up of her profile.

He heard someone key the security door and looked at his watch. Smith knew it was the Supervisor on his afternoon rounds. The Techie quickly shifted his attention to another camera which showed a pick-up truck parked in a handicap space.

He felt the Supervisor behind him as he zoomed in on the truck. He couldn't see a handicap permit in the window, so he ran the license number and began printing out a $120 ticket.

"Afternoon, Smith."

"Good afternoon, sir."

"Let's see what your numbers look like today," the Supervisor said, as he sat down at one of the computers and checked Smith's billing for the day. "One thousand three hundred and ten."

Smith took the ticket out of the printer, put it in an envelope and dropped it in the mailbag. He nailed a Honda going through a red light, with a good shot of its rear plate, and began running it.

The Supervisor scratched his short gray hair and made a sucking sound through his false teeth. Smith knew that meant trouble. "Normally we expect revenue to be at least double this, on the afternoon shift," the Supervisor said. "Your numbers are way down from the average."

"Yes, sir. But I think I'm getting better."

"Smith, you better improve soon or you're going to be looking for a new job!"

"Yes, sir."

The supervisor hung around for another hour watching Smith work. The Techie focused on his monitors and kept inputting and running a series of offences.

A parked motorist opened his door and emptied his ashtray on the road. Smith wrote him up for littering and taking up two parking spaces. He also issued a license suspension for a previous unpaid parking ticket. Some parts of his work he really enjoyed.

"You missed the jaywalker in nine," the supervisor told him.

Smith got a good shot of the jaywalker's face just as he reached the curb and ran it through Facial Recognition. The perp was a Doctor from out-of-town. Smith followed him to his car and gave him a parking ticket. Then he nailed him on a yellow at the corner. Six hundred and ten total.

"That's better," the Supervisor said.

The young blonde woman came out of a clothing store, with a shopping bag, but Smith kept his attention on business. The Supervisor yawned, stood up and walked to the door.

"Remember what I said. Keep those numbers up!"

When he left, Smith watched the young blonde women get in a convertible. She rolled through a right turn on a red; nearly hitting an elderly gentleman in the crosswalk. Smith saw the man yell at her and gesture with his cane. She looked at him in her rear view mirror and gave him the finger.

Smith watched as she went around the block and entered the parking lot behind the surveillance office. She flicked a burning cigarette out the window and Smith saw smoke begin to rise from a dried flowerbed. He leaned back in his chair and smiled.

Smith watched the Supervisor as he came out the back door of the building. He stood for a few minutes looking around. The young blonde woman in the convertible drove up and the Supervisor got in the passenger's side. He kissed her on the lips and they drove away.

Smith captured the last segment of video with the blonde and the Supervisor. He pulled up the young woman's driving license and criminal record. Twenty years younger than the Supervisor-credit demerits and numerous criminal convictions, including soliciting.

Then just for back up, Smith ran the Supervisor's church membership, political affiliation, and unusually high bank balance. Then he pulled up information on the Supervisor's wife. He looked at her hard little eyes in the license photo and wondered if she was a jealous woman with a temper.

Smith opened the secret compartment in his lunch box and took out a CD. He burned the surveillance video and everything he'd just collected onto the CD. He thought for a moment, staring absently at a monitor where two motorists wrestled over a parking space. Their wives were hitting each other with purses. A large crowd had gathered to watch and bet on the winner.

Smith placed the CD on the desk, took the top off a black marker, and labeled it. He held it in his hand and smiled.

The large child like handwriting said simply, 'Job Security'.