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“Ain’t no William Skeffington from around here,” said the lead cop. “Sounds like some bougie-butthole prick from New York City.” Only he said York as if it rhymed with talk.
Joy knew name-dropping wouldn’t work in a town like Bridell, but she also knew that Cory, a Chicago native, wouldn’t have known that. “We didn’t call the police anyway,” she said, to change the subject. “We called an ambulance to transport my grandfather to the hospital.”
“Why? He unconscious?”
“No.”
“Then why couldn’t one of y’all transport him?”
“He won’t go with us,” said Joy. “Now will you please let me go?”
“Hell no!”
Joy, now in cuffs, tried to turn to look at him. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t like you, that’s why not! Frisk her, Oscar,” the lead cop said to the younger cop.
The younger cop grinned. “My pleasure,” he said as he began frisking Joy with way too much vigor.
Cory shook his head. “Damn cops,” he murmured under his breath.
The cop looked at him. “What did you say, gay boy?”
Joy’s heart dropped. “He didn’t say anything.”
“What did you say to me, gay boy?” the lead cop asked again.
“I said damn cops,” Cory said loudly. “We were on our porch, minding our own business, and I have a constitutional right to say whatever the hell I wanna say. That’s what I said!”
The cop immediately rushed over to Cory, grabbed him, and began putting his hands behind his back. “They’re gonna love your sissy ass in prison,” he said.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Cory yelled.
“What are you doing?” an amazed Joy asked them. “What did he do wrong?”
“He’s resisting,” the cop said. “If he stops resisting, I’ll let him go.”
Cory stopped all movement. The cop smiled. “I don’t feel like writing up two of y’all anyway,” he said, and let him go.
“Go inside, Cory,” a scared Joy said to him. It was bad enough that they had her. But Cory? They would humiliate him. “Just go inside!”
“You better listen to your mama,” said the lead cop, and he and his partner laughed.
But Cory refused to go anywhere. He wasn’t leaving Joy out there alone.
And then Gramps came up to the door even as Elise was trying to pull him back. “What’s going on out here?” he asked the cops.
“Granddaddy, don’t go outside,” Elise was saying. She remained inside as she said it. “Don’t go out there!”
“Go back to your rocking chair, old man,” the lead cop said. “Better listen to your mama too.”
Joy was scared now. “Gramps, go back inside,” she said as they began walking her down the steps. “Cory, take him back inside now!”
“Why you got my granddaughter in handcuffs?” Gramps wanted to know.
“She’s going downtown.”
“For what?”
