The others called out a hearty "K2" to punctuate the thought.
Resigned to her duty, Sue directed the officer to have the standees removed from the room. He opened the door and waved several other officers into the room, one of which was Sue's brother Peter, who had been assigned City Hall duty in the wake of his insubordination at the building site. While the other officers fanned out towards the standees, Peter walked directly to Natalie Knox and her pink-clad compatriot.
Effie eyed them curiously for a moment, and then got up to confer with Sue. "Should Peter be doing that?" she said. "I mean, he's already in enough trouble for siding with those homeless people. He is a police officer after all."
Sue glanced at her brother before replying, and realized, as she watched him greet Natalie, that he looked more at peace with himself than he'd been for a long time. "My brother," she said, "is not just a police officer. He's also a human being, and judging by what you just said, he's a damn sight more compassionate than you're being right now."
Effie looked scandalized. "Now you're just being rude."
"The Occupy community isn't homeless, Effie. Sure, some of the people there don't have anywhere else to go, but that community is a home. What it doesn't have is a place to be."
A sudden noise caught Sue's attention. The rear door had opened again, and a city hall aide was striding quickly toward her. Effie took the opportunity to retreat to her chair. The aide walked around the dais and whispered something to Sue. They conferred briefly, she thanked him, and he turned to leave. She gaveled twice more and the room fell silent. "I've just been informed that there's an incident in progress at Mr. Jones' building site."
Jones, who'd been happily watching the officers once again doing his dirty work, turned ashen. "Oh?"
"Yeah," she said, annoyed. "It seems your foreman has ordered his crew to bulldoze what's left of the Occupy from the site you wanted rezoned."
While Jones stifled a reaction, across the room, several of the standees pushed free from the officers.
"Well, sir," she continued, "your equipment operators have refused the order."
"They can't do that!" he snapped.
A round of vocal support united the standing occupiers in the room while the police attempted to corral them again.
Jones muttered "Those worthless cretins" and reached for his cell phone. Unease swept the council chamber while he tried to have a private conversation in the midst of chaos. "Yeah, it's me. Look, I can't have you losing control of the situation down there. You did? Good, so then what's the problem? Bring in another-- they what?" His arm went slack for a moment and he gaped at the phone. "Signs?" he snapped. "They made signs? How many people are in the protest? Yeah, including the civilians. Good. In that case, they're violating Svanstrom's rule. Just call the police. This is just like last time. I'll call you back."
Sue rose and stood with her hands splayed on the table, taking in the surreal scene before her: paired police and occupiers scattered across the periphery, Jones making like he had a private phone booth in the middle of the room, and her brother Peter, standing there beside Natalie Knox with a peculiar look on his face. She saw him say a few words to the librarian, and then he flashed Sue a mischievous grin. Unsure what to make of it, she sat back down and topped off her water glass.
Knox turned to say a few words to the woman in pink, and then the two of them brushed past Jones and took the mike. "May we please address the room?" she said, and waited for the din to settle.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
