Part 15 (1/2)
I dragged my feet several times over a clump of dry gra.s.s in a futile effort to clean my shoe.
Sonia pulled out her cell phone. ”Where are you? Well, hurry up. You have to get over here now. There's going to be a confrontation with the police.”
Sirens pierced the silence.
Oh, G.o.d, please don't let it be Kaplan. Worse. Don't let it be Beavers. My shoes stink to high heaven.
CHAPTER 25.
At the first sound of sirens, all the homeless people hurried to scoop up their meager belongings and scattered over the wildlife reserve, heading for the trees and sprawling parkland beyond. Lucy and Birdie lost the color in their faces and stood close together, holding hands. Hilda had vanished.
Sonia clasped her hands together and bounced nervously up and down on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet. ”Oh, my G.o.d. Are we going to be arrested?”
Crusher took a step toward her. ”Listen, everyone. We did nothing wrong. Don't argue, be polite, and, if they do arrest us, just be cool.”
A dozen policemen in riot gear appeared on the path above us, s.h.i.+elds raised and batons in hand. They looked like giant beetles with the visors of their s.h.i.+ny helmets pulled down over their faces and their bodies encased in protective padding. A couple of stripes adorned the sleeve of the leader, who I guessed was a sergeant. None of us dared move as they advanced in a wide phalanx toward where we stood.
Sonia smiled. ”Oh, my G.o.d. Let's do a sit-in like the old days!”
Lucy looked at the ground. ”I'm not going to sit on that!”
Crusher frowned at Sonia. ”Were you even old enough to've sat in?”
”Well, I was a school kid during Vietnam, but I wanted to. Now we have the chance. We could protest the conditions down here.”
Lucy frowned at her. ”That's pointless. Who would know?”
Just then another helicopter appeared above. The second copter had EYEWITNESS NEWS and a big 7 painted on the side.
Sonia pointed to the sky and grinned. ”A lot of people would know. I called a friend.”
Of course she did. She was the yenta.
The army jeep previously parked on the service road had vanished. I was certain Price was the one who called the police. She didn't want us to be in the reserve, and I was pretty sure I knew why.
Price probably hadn't counted on the news cameras also showing up. When they did, she must have left the area to avoid being implicated in this fiasco. After all, calling in the police to enforce law and order was one thing. Calling in the riot squad to hara.s.s a small group of volunteers distributing free supplies to the homeless was quite another.
Whatever intimidation Lawanda Price hoped to accomplish un.o.bserved, Sonia thwarted by that call to the news media.
A voice shouted out a command: ”Stand where you are and put your hands on your head.”
”Do as you're told,” Crusher urged quietly.
Everyone complied, but Birdie. Her arthritic shoulders made bending a problem.
When the police got close enough, the sergeant told Birdie, ”You too, lady.”
Birdie's newly adopted grandson Carl-all six feet of him dressed in black-stepped between Birdie and the cops.
Birdie twisted the end of her white braid and peered at the cop from behind Carl. ”I'm sorry, dear. I'd like to comply with the police. I'm a big fan of Law and Order, but I can't. My arthritis, you know.”
The cop pointed to a spot of ground away from the rest of us. ”Okay, Granny. Step over here.”
Carl looked ready to pounce on someone. Birdie lightly patted his side and stepped out from behind him. She walked over to the cop, craned her neck to look in his face, and pointed an arthritic finger at him.
”Shame on you, young man. There's absolutely no reason for you to be rude and disrespectful to me or anyone else. Absolutely no one addresses me as 'Granny.' My friends call me 'Birdie,' but you may call me 'Mrs. Watson'!”
Carl snorted. Lucy's mouth hung open. I looked around. All the bikers were grinning. Even some of the cops smiled. Sonia thrust a power fist in the air.
Really?
The cop in charge looked up at the news chopper and over his shoulder at his troops. One of them urged, ”Go on, Sarge. I'll stay with her.”
The trooper slowly led Birdie over to the side and nodded once. ”Ma'am.”
She hung on to his arm for balance. ”Thank you, dear.”
At the sergeant's command, several officers stepped forward and searched the men for weapons. When none were found, he glanced again at the news choppers. ”Okay. You can lower your arms.”
Crusher crossed his arms across his barrel chest. ”Why are we being detained, Officer?”
”Trespa.s.sing.”
”This is public parkland. We have a right to be here.”
”Your truck doesn't,” the sergeant growled.
Crusher maintained his cool. ”That hardly warrants a riot squad and a search. A ticket, maybe.”
”Suspicious activity gives me a right to stop and frisk.”
”Nothing suspicious going on. We were just distributing blankets and gear to the homeless. We needed to transport the items in, so we brought a truck. We stayed on the path so as not to disturb the wildlife habitat.”
The sergeant squared his shoulders. ”There's wildlife here, all right. Drugs, prost.i.tution, and thieves. This-here's their habitat. We got a report of gang activity.”
”Do we look like a gang?”
The sergeant glanced from the bikers to Birdie and me and back to Crusher. ”Yes and no.”
”Well, just ask the people who live here what we were doing.”
”Yeah? What people?”
I looked around. Every soul had disappeared. Who could blame them?