“He’s illegally parked. His ass is over the white line.”
I toed Paulson, causing him to start rocking again. “He’s stuck.”
Juniak got out of his car and hauled Paulson up by his armpits. “You don’t mind if I embellish this story when I spread it all over town, do you?”
“I do mind! Remember, I voted for you,” I said. “And we’re almost related.”
“Not gonna help you, cutie. Cops live for stuff like this.”
“You’re not a cop anymore.”
“Once a cop, always a cop.”
Paulson and I watched Juniak get back into his car and drive away.
“I can’t walk in these things,” Paulson said, looking down at the shackles. “I’m gonna fall over again. I haven’t got a good sense of balance.”
“Have you ever heard the bounty hunter slogan, Bring ‘em back—dead or alive?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Actually, bringing someone back dead is a big no-no, but this seemed like a good time to make an empty threat. It was late afternoon. It was spring. And I wanted to get on with my life. Spending another hour coaxing Paulson to walk across the parking lot wasn’t high on my list of favored things to do.
I wanted to be on a beach somewhere with the sun blistering my skin until I looked like a fried pork rind. Okay, truth is at this time of year that might have to be Cancun, and Cancun didn’t figure into my budget. Still, the point was, I didn’t want to be
“You probably don’t even have a gun,” Paulson said.
“Hey, give me a break. I haven’t got all day for this. I have other things to do.”
“Like what?”
“None of your business.”
“Hah! You haven’t got anything better to do.”
I was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and black Caterpillar boots, and I had a real urge to kick him in the back of his leg with my size-seven CAT.
“Tell me,” he said.
“I promised my parents I’d be home for dinner at six.”
Paulson burst out laughing. “That’s pathetic. That’s fucking pathetic.” The laughter turned into a coughing fit. Paulson leaned forward, wobbled side to side, and fell over. I reached for him, but it was too late. He was back on his belly, doing his beached whale imitation.
**********************
MY PARENTS LIVE in a narrow duplex in a chunk of Trenton called the Burg. If the Burg was a food, it would be pasta-penne rigate, ziti, fettuccine, spaghetti, and elbow macaroni, swimming in marinara, cheese sauce, or mayo. Good, dependable, all-occasion food that puts a smile on your face and fat on your butt. The Burg is a solid neighborhood where people buy houses and live in them until death kicks them out. Backyards are used to run a clothesline, store the garbage can, and give the dog a place to poop. No fancy backyard decks and gazebos for Burgers. Burgers sit on their small front porches and cement stoops. The better to see the world go by.
I rolled in just as my mother was pulling the roast chicken out of the oven. My father was already in his seat at the head of the table. He stared straight ahead, eyes glazed, thoughts in limbo, knife and fork in hand. My sister, Valerie, who had recently moved back home after leaving her husband, was at work whipping potatoes in the kitchen. When we were kids Valerie was the perfect daughter. And I was the daughter who stepped in dog poo, sat on gum, and constantly fell off the garage roof in an attempt to fly. As a last ditch effort to preserve her marriage, Valerie had traded in her Italian-Hungarian genes and turned herself into Meg Ryan. The marriage failed, but the blonde Meg-shag persists. Valerie’s kids were at the table with my dad. The nine-year-old, Angie,
