It was less than a minute before I heard more footsteps racing up the stairs. I remember thinking to myself, "Oh man, they've got cops all over the place. There'll be a dozen cops to come. They're gonna tear me up and set fire to the pieces!"
"Where're you at?" the cop running up the stairs called out. It was Ralph!
"Here! I've got her! Have you got leg cuffs in your car?"
"I'm the beat cop here. No leg cuffs, no car."
"You hold her down and I'll go get mine."
"Ok." Ralph agreed. He got on my back as soon as the other cop got off. He grabbed the chain between my wrists and pushed my hands up further on my back. It hurt. I was surprised. I didn't think Ralph would do that to me. I started to protest but Ralph told me to shut up. I was really surprised. We were supposed to be friends. I heard the other cop run down the stairs.
"What did you do, Cookie?" Ralph asked in his normal voice. He let me bring my hands back down to a more comfortable position and shifted his weight off of me and onto his knees.
"Thanks." I told him. He was being nice now. I guessed he didn't want that other cop to know that we were friends. "I was walking home from work when that SOB came up behind me. He hollered at me. I didn't know who it was so I ran. He chased me up here and arrested me. I tried to explain why I'd run, but he called me a bitch and told me I was going downtown."
"Well why's he want to put you in leg cuffs?"
"Oh that. I kicked him."
"Why the hell did you do that Cookie! I could have gotten you out of this, but now you've assaulted an officer!"
"Well, he deserved it!"
"It doesn't matter. You could get time."
"But he was hurting me!" I protested.
"What'd he do?"
"He put the handcuffs on real tight. It hurts. Look at them!" I held my hands up behind me as much as I could for Ralph to look at.
"They are a little tighter than they should be. Wait until this guy gets back and I'll try to talk to him."
"Thanks Ralph. I wasn't trying to do anything. I was just on my w..."
There were footsteps coming up the stairs. It sounded like a number of people. Ralph peered down the stairwell and swore. "We got four of 'em now. The guy that did this, Tom, won't want to back down now. I don't think I'll be much good to you Cookie. No matter what happens you do just as they say, ok?"
"Ok Ralph."
The police got to the landing I was laying on. Ralph tried to get them to talk to him. They didn't want to listen.
"Tom, what'd she do? I know this one. She's usually pretty calm." I heard Ralph say.
"She ran from me, resisted arrest, then when I found she had something concealed under her clothing she kicked me and tried to run again. She's not calm tonight. She must be higher than the cloud on pills."
"Look, let's talk this over, ok?" Ralph asked.
"Ok, we can talk. I don't know what good it will do."
Ralph got off of me and he and the one called Tom walked over to the far side of the landing. As soon as Ralph wa off of me I was grabbed from either side by one of the cops that had returned with the first one.
"Don't try anything or we'll have to use force!" one barked at me.
"I want to cooperate! Don't hurt me." I told him.
As a reward he put his knee on my head and pulled my arm up behind me some more. The cop on the other side of me saw what second cop was doing and pulled my other arm up. I didn't like what they were doing to me but I let them do it anyway.
I heard a noise like a chain rattling then felt the fourth cop fastening something cold and hard around one of my ankles. I tensed up. I was scared, probably more scared than I had ever been in my whole life. The cops holding my arms sensed my tenseness and pulled my arms up even higher. I felt someone running a chain between my wrists as my ankle was pulled until my foot was nearly touching my hand. The pulling I felt from my ankle was suddenly shared by something pulling on the chain between my wrists then I felt the fourth cop imprison my other ankle. The chain between my ankles was looped over the chain between my wrists.
They had me where I couldn't move! My hands were chained together, my feet were chained together, and my hands were chained to my feet! Everybody let go of me and I just laid there helpless.
It was an odd sensation. I had been scared. Unexpectedly I felt bored, smothered, resigned. There was nothing for me to do but lie there and see what would happen to me next. The three men who had tied me up were watching expectantly like I was going to jump up and perform tricks for them or something. When I didn't they got up and brushed themselves off and began talking.
I looked over to where Ralph was still trying to talk to the first cop. I could see that it wasn't going well. That's when one of the other cops noticed my keys in my door and decided to go on in. I prayed that Toni and Dick were still at their party and I prayed that there was nothing in the apartment for the police to find that didn't belong there. I was scared again and I tried to get free.
"You'll just hurt yourself." the one cop who was guarding me said.
He was right.
Ralph and Tom came over to where I was lying.
"Cookie, what do you have under your shirt?" Ralph asked. I was surprised by the question until I remembered that the first cop thought I was concealing something.
"That's my waitress outfit, officer."
"Do you mind if I show the other officer?"
"No. I'm dressed underneath. I don't have anything."
Ralph rolled me onto my side and slid my pullover up to my chest. The first cop took a minute to take a good look. I didn't mind. If it meant they wouldn't lock me up they could look at me naked. I knew that if I did get locked up they'd look at me undressed anyway.
The first cop knelt down and undid my jeans. He pulled them down to my knees.
"There's what you felt." Ralph told him as he pointed at the chain set around my waist.
"Why did you kick me like that?" the first cop asked me.
"Be cause you hurt me with your handcuffs and then you kicked me on my ankle bone. I felt that you were abusing me. I'm sorry, I know you were only doing your job."
"It's a little late to think of that. You don't think I can let you go now do you? All I wanted to do was ask you why you were out so late. You brought this on yourself."
"All I was trying to do was get home from work. You scared me when I heard your footsteps. I wasn't doing anything. Ask the other officer there, I always try to keep out of trouble."
"Well you're in trouble, plenty of trouble right now. Ralph tells me I ought to overlook this and I would like to but, you see, I'd like to see what you have in your apartment. The other officers have already gone in and begun looking. If I don't arrest you then that's an illegal search and we can't take you to court for anything that we find.
"You see the problem I have. Now, if you were to invite us to search your place and we found nothing then I might be able to see my way clear to call this whole thing a misunderstanding."
"You just want to search my place? Sure. Yes, go ahead." I invited. I knew I was 100% clean and I felt that Dick would be too. Then I remembered Toni. Hopefully she hadn't stored some of Killer's pills or something else. I believed she would have consulted with Dick or myself first. Would Dick have told me? He was getting all the bed rides he could stand, he might just look the other way. I had no choices.
I was picked up by my arms and carried into my own home as a prisoner. No one in the building had poked their head out in the hallway to see what was going on. They were awake and they knew. I had been inside my own apartment on several occasions and heard the police out in the hall rousting someone in the building. I hadn't done anything to help. Now it was my turn.
I was set down in a corner where I would be out of the way like a piece of furniture. I just knelt there and watched as they ransacked the place. Actually they weren't tearing things up as bad as when they had searched my other place. I guess it was because I was there or something. Probably all it was, they were being lazy and didn't feel like working that hard. No, that wasn't it because they went through everything. Maybe they were unsure how Ralph would respond to them pouring food on my clothes or on the walls.
There was a brotherhood among cops, but each had their own territory. The beat cops only wanted the patrol cops on their turf to make an arrest or an assist then they wanted them gone. I know the patrol cops considered the beat cops as slightly dimwitted (they considered anyone out on the streets without a car to be addled).
Finally it was over. They hadn't found anything. Well, we did have some stuff to drink and some pills, but they were all legal with the tax stickers in place.
I looked up anxiously waiting for Tom to decide if he would let me go or not. It had taken hours and I was ready to do about anything to be able to stand up and move my knees, even go to jail. Of course, I had higher hopes than spending my time locked up. I wanted desperately for the cops to all go away and forget this night had ever happened.
I waited. My knees ached. Actually I hurt all over.
Three of the cops had left. That left me in the hands of Ralph and Tom. It looked good. If they were going to take me downtown I felt like the other two cops wouldn't have left. Tom poured all our pills down the sink along with all our booze. He watched me to see if I would get upset. I didn't. I wasn't worried about some stinking pills or some worthless booze. I wanted to get free.
"You checked out clean, CB. You've got a record for dealing in pills but I didn't find any--this time. I'll be watching you. I know what you look like and where you live. You take one false step and you'll be behind bars so fast that it'll make your head spin. I'm adding this incident to your record and a notation that you like to kick. If you ever get picked up again you'll be wearin' some cuffs on your legs again. Do you like them?"
"No officer."
"Well, if you goof up again you'd better get used to 'em."
"Yes officer."
"I still feel like I owe you a good kick on your shin--just to see how you like it!"
"I'm sorry I kicked you, officer. I promise I won't ever do anything like that again!"
"You sound sincere, I don't know (you bunch of lyin' CBs). Ralph, here, has stood up for you. He thinks very highly of you although I don't know why (you CBs aren't worth the effort). Just the same, because Ralph was willing to vouch for you, I'm going to let you go but don't forget what I said about me knowing your face and I do have a tendency to hold a grudge. Roll over on your stomach and I'll release you."
Ralph came over and helped me get into a position where the first cop could fit his key into my cuffs and undo them. The pain. Where I had been forced to pull against the restraints for so long and suddenly I could move my arms and legs hurt. Gingerly I straightened my legs, rolled over, and put my hands even with my head. I was laying on a pile of my own clothes. I didn't care. I just lay there and let the blood flow back into my hands and feet. Suddenly I was very tired--exhausted.
Ralph was still with me. The other cop had left.
"Are you going to be alright?"
"Yea. Thanks for speaking up for me. I shouldn't have kicked that guy."
"You were stupid, Cookie. What in the world were you thinking of when you did that?"
"I was mad because he was hurting me and I hadn't done anything. It keeps happening. I could understand it if there was a reason. Of course I ran when he called. What'd he expect?"
"He expected you to stop and identify yourself. He's out here doing a job. He's trying to protect you. If it wasn't for the police patrolling the neighborhood the gangs would go wild."
"I don't know. I'm tired, Ralph. I'll be ok now."
"Sounds like you're telling me I can go. Is that it?" Ralph asked, offended.
"Ralph, you can stay if you want. I just don't feel like talking. I especially don't want to argue or debate. Ok?"
"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow. We have to talk. G'night Cookie."
"G'night Ralph."
***
I don't know how long I laid there. I wasn't sleeping and I wasn't awake. I was somewhere between being mad, scared, and I don't know what all. I was depressed. I felt like it was all so hopeless and I was helpless to do anything about it. I was lost.
I heard the key being turned in the door and panic flew over for a split second before it was overcome by resignation. I knew the police had returned to do I don't know what against me. Maybe that other cop had decided to take me downtown after all--no telling.
It was Dick and Toni, home from their party.
"Cookie!" Dick shouted. "Are you alright?"
"What happened here?" Toni wanted to know.
"The police came. I'm fine. They just tore up the place because I kicked one of 'em."
"You kicked a cop?" Toni asked in disbelief.
"You didn't kick Ralph did you? He didn't do this?" Dick asked breathlessly.
"Calm down, it's all over. I didn't kick Ralph."
"Well, didn't he walk you home from the bar?"
"No Dick. I walked back on my own. Some cop tried to stop me only I didn't know it was a cop so I ran then he caught up to me and arrested me."
"What happened then?" Toni asked.
"He started hurting me, kinda, so I kicked him. That was a mistake. He jumped on me and called for a backup. I was lucky that Ralph was one of the cops who came along with three others--he talked Tom out of taking me downtown. Anyway they trashed the place and left. I'm sorry about your stuff and the mess."
"Don't worry about that, Cookie. At least they didn't lock you up." Dick consoled me.
"Cookie, I can't believe you kicked a cop and got away with it--no, that's not right, I just can't believe you had the nerve! Wow! Three cheers for Cookie! I think that's great!" Toni nearly gushed.
"I don't recommend that you try it, Toni. They chained my feet and tied me up so I couldn't move. It wasn't my favorite way to spend a couple of hours, believe me!" I said with a grin. I was feeling better. I knew Toni was trying to cheer me up, but I didn't mind. I wanted cheering up.
"Dick," Toni said, "I bet you didn't know you had such a dangerous character in the place."
"I knew I had one--I just didn't know the both of you were so hairy! Wow, I'd better watch my step around the two of you. I always knew the female was the more hazardous of the species, I just didn't know how much." Dick exaggerated.
Toni and I laughed and made threatening noises at him. It's good to have friends around to perk you up when things go wrong.
***
I'm making light of what had happened. Actually it had a profound effect on me. For one thing I learned that I could survive something like that, but the biggie was that I learned that just laying back and hoping things would get better wasn't good enough.
Let me give an example. Say you lived somewhere where there were guns shooting bullets all over--not a constant hail of gunfire, just enough to get someone shot every now and then. You could stay there feeling confident because you heard they had quit making bullets, that all that you had to do was wait for all the guns to run out of ammunition. That could work, but what good would it do you if you were one of the people who got shot before they did run out?
I had been hopping to just stay out of the way of the police (and the gangs) until Sid returned then we could leave. That didn't help. I had gotten stopped anyway. If it hadn't been for Ralph I would have been rotting away in some jail.
I could have just moved away, but that option was not there for me. It was the police who had nearly forced me to live where I did--they wouldn't stand for me to try to move to the safe dweeb side of town. Finances would prevent that if nothing else did, not to mention not being able to commute to my job.
What I'm leading up to is the option that Killer had offered me. Hell, it was looking like the only option. I got Toni to make arrangements with killer to pick me up the next morning. I'd show those dweebs a thing or two! I'd cipher that document of Killer's and start the ball rolling towards the emancipation of CBs everywhere!
The whole book in zipfile format.
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