Part 16 (1/2)
”What do you do?” Benton asked.
”I'm a voiceover and theatre actor.”
”Nice,” said Samantha.
”Alright, Edward. Tell us your story.”
This was going to be good. I'd never seen Walter's b.u.t.tons pushed like that.
”My cousin just got married. She's twenty years older than me but still my cousin. She lives down in a rural part of San Diego. She called that day, needing help moving a hutch into her trailer. Since I have a pickup truck, my pa and mom and I decided to drive down and make a family day of it. We took two cars.
”We went to lunch with my uncle and my cousin, then back to the trailer. My younger niece was playing the piano. It was a good time. We stayed until it got dark. Then I drove back by myself. The cop pulled me over on the 5 Freeway for a busted taillight. I didn't know I had one.”
”LAPD?”
”Yes. The officer smelled weed so I showed him my medical card. He asked if I had been drinking. I told him I had three beers at lunch, but that was hours ago. He said he didn't think I was intoxicated. His partner asked me to step outside of the car.”
”That's what they do,” said Walter. ”Good cop, bad cop.”
”They were both nice to me.”
”What did you blow?”
”0.08%.”
A few groans.
”When I was in jail, they gave me a DNA test.”
Samantha kicked me, then gave me a look. ”DNA? What the heck?”
”How do they test for DNA?”
”Put a swab in my cheeks.”
”You agreed to that?”
”What choice did I have? It was going to be $100 for this fee, $40 for another one. $800 for this cla.s.s, $2000 in fines.”
”Did you hire a lawyer?”
”No. They didn't give me a public defender, either. They violated code 2451a and code 2351b.”
”The whole thing sounds unconst.i.tutional. Too much Big Brother.”
”Well, let's be honest,” said Walter. ”They profiled you. They saw the tattoos on the neck and profiled you.”
”It wasn't just me. They got DNA from everyone in the cell. They're building up their database. It's government takeover.”
Walter turned to me. It was nearing 7:00. ”Alright, Michael, before we turn you loose, what have you learned?”
”First, let me say, I like you all, but I'm never coming back to this cla.s.s.”
”Let's hope not. What are you going to do differently to make sure of that?”
I think he misconstrued my joke. Regardless, I answered the question. ”I'd like to say I will never drink and drive again, and I don't plan on it. But we've had this conversation. We can say we're going to do something, or not do something, but when we're in the heat of the moment it's a different thing. I come back to what you say, which is a recurring theme of this cla.s.s: plan ahead of time.
”I was going out and drinking way too much. I knew I shouldn't have been doing it. And if I'm going to take the steps in my life that I want to take-to be the man I want to be, to have a relations.h.i.+p and get married-I can't be doing those things anymore.”
”Did you hear that, ladies? He said the 'M' word.”
”The weird thing is I found myself quoting you throughout the week. My girlfriend lives in San Jose and we talk every night. Every Tuesday night, I'd spend forty-five minutes or so telling her what happened in cla.s.s. She said, 'But I thought it was a DUI cla.s.s?'”
”But you made it more than that. You care and I appreciate that. I've enjoyed knowing all of you. This cla.s.s has been better than I ever expected. I'm going to miss it. I think back to Angelica. She'll tell anyone about the cla.s.s and her DUI. It doesn't matter; there's no shame for her. You helped take away the shame. This cla.s.s has been a measure of grace.”
Walter started the movie, handed me my card and walked out of the room. Louisa insisted I take three pumpkin squares for the road. I hugged her and Samantha. I shook Charles' hand and gave Benton a hug. Said goodbye to the new guys and Courtney and left the room.
Walter was standing in the hallway. I hugged him and said, ”You've been a big help.”
”I appreciate how you came each week with a desire to learn and to get something out of the cla.s.s.”
”You made it easy to do so.”
”You're going to be fine.”
”Thanks, Walter. It's been a pleasure.”
Twelve weeks later, the cla.s.s had defied convention and expectation at every turn. I pedaled my bike home, pa.s.sing a man on the street at the same time he sneezed. ”G.o.d bless you,” I called to him as I rode past.
Chapter Twenty-One.
Jessie's birthday weekend. She'd been sick for two weeks. Sinus headache, achiness and persistent cough. We'd joked about establis.h.i.+ng a three-foot boundary line between us...no crossing it. It was only a joke. I was still going to hold her, still going to kiss her. There were worse ways to get sick.
Allison picked me up Friday morning to take me to the airport. That week, she'd been hired at a new company, doing advertising for movie theaters. It meant she would be leaving the church office. She'd already given notice and received her offer letter, but was anxious because of the background check, still pending.
”I told my new boss, 'Uh, you're going to find some stuff in there.'”
I laughed. ”How did he respond?”
”He said, 'As long as you didn't kill anyone, it's fine.' But I'm still nervous.”
At the airport, I thanked her and wished her a nice weekend. ”Let me know how that background check turns up.”
The flight was only half full and I had a row to myself. I stretched out more generously than usual, though when the pilot announced our descent I sat up like a fidgeting schoolboy. After de-boarding, I ran the length of the terminal, hurrying to get outside where I knew she'd be waiting. I couldn't hold her tightly enough. Back where she belonged, in my arms.
We drove from the airport to Santa Cruz on Highway 17, a windy stretch of road. She'd told me before she gets nervous driving it. Her sister hit a deer once, driving home on the 17, and she had another friend who had wrecked on it.