Joseph Wambaugh - The Blue Knight

“You promise you won’t run?”

“I swear. I hate those damn things on my wrists. You feel so helpless, like a little baby.”

“Okay, let’s get in the car,” I said, trotting across the street with him to get out of the way of the traffic.

“How many times you come downtown to score?” I asked before starting the car.

“I never been downtown alone before. I swear. And I didn’t even hitchhike. I took a bus. I was even gonna take a bus back to Echo Park. I didn’t wanna run into cops with the pills in my pocket.”

“How long you been dropping bennies?”

“About three months. And I only tried them a couple times. A kid I know told me I could come down here and almost any guy hanging around could get them for me. I don’t know why I did it.”

“How many tubes you sniff a day?”

“I ain’t a gluehead. It makes guys crazy. And I never sniffed paint, neither.”

Then I started looking at this kid, really looking at him. Usually my brain records only necessary things about arrestees, but now I found myself looking really close and listening for lies. That’s something else you can’t tell the judge, that you’d bet your instinct against a polygraph. I knew this boy wasn’t lying. But then, I seemed to be wrong about everything lately.

“I’m gonna book you and release you to your sister. That okay with you?”

“You ain’t gonna send me to Juvenile Hall?”

“No. You wanna go there?”

“Christ, no. I gotta be free. I was scared you was gonna lock me up. Thanks. Thanks a lot. I just gotta be free. I couldn’t stand being inside a place like that with everybody telling you what to do.”

“If I ever see you downtown scoring pills again, I’ll make sure you go to the Hall.”

The kid took a deep breath. “You’ll never see me again, I swear. Unless you come out around Echo Park.”

“As a matter of fact, I don’t live too far from there.”

“Yeah? I got customers in Silverlake and all around Echo Park. Where do you live?”

“Not far from Bobby’s drive-in. You know where that is? All the kids hang around there.”

“Sure I do. I work with this old guy who’s got this pickup truck and equipment. Why don’t you let us do your yard? We do front and back, rake, trim, weed and everything for eight bucks.”

“That’s not too bad. How much you get yourself?”

“Four bucks. I do all the work. The old guy just flops in the shade somewhere till I’m through. But I need him because of the truck and stuff.”

This kid had me so interested I suddenly realized we were just sitting there. I put the cigar in my teeth and turned the key. She fired right up and I pulled out in the traffic. But I couldn’t get my mind off this boy.

“Whadda you do for fun? You play ball or anything?”

“No, I like swimming. I’m the best swimmer in my class, but I don’t go out for the team.”

“Why not?”

“I’m too busy with girls. Look.” The boy took out his wallet and showed me his pictures. I glanced at them while turning on Pico, three shiny little faces that all looked the same to me.

“Pretty nice,” I said, handing the pictures back.

“ Real nice,” said the kid with a wink.

“You look pretty athletic. Why don’t you play baseball? That used to be my game.”

“I like sports I can do by myself.”

“Don’t you have any buddies?”

“No, I’m more of a ladies’ man.”

“I know what you mean, but you can’t go through this world by yourself. You should have some friends.”

“I don’t need nobody.”

“What grade you in?”

“Eighth. I’ll sure be glad to get the hell out of junior high. It’s a ghoul school.”

“How you gonna pass if you cut classes like this?”

“I don’t ditch too often, and I’m pretty smart in school, believe it or not. I just felt rotten last night. Sometimes when you’re alone a lot you get feeling rotten and you just wanna go out where there’s some people. I figured, where am I gonna find lots of people? Downtown, right? So I came downtown. Then this morning I felt more rotten from sleeping in the creepy movie so I looked around and saw these two guys and asked them where I could get some bennies and they sold them to me. I really wanted to get high, but swear to God, I only dropped bennies a couple times before. And one lousy time I dropped a red devil and a rainbow with some guys at school, and that’s all the dope I ever took. I don’t really dig it, Officer. Sometimes I drink a little beer.”

“I’m a beer man myself, and you can call me Bumper.”

“Listen, Bumper, I meant it about doing your yard work. I’m a hell of a good worker. The old man ain’t no good, but I just stick him away in a corner somewheres and you should see me go. You won’t be sorry if you hire us.”

“Well, I don’t really have a yard myself. I live in this apartment building, but I kind of assist the manager and he’s always letting the damn place go to hell. It’s mostly planted in ivy and ice plant and junipers that he lets get pretty seedy-looking. Not too much lawn except little squares of grass in front of the downstairs apartments.”

“You should see me pull weeds, Bumper. I’d have that ice plant looking alive and green in no time. And I know how to take care of junipers. You gotta trim them a little, kind of shape them. I can make a juniper look soft and trim as a virgin’s puss. How about getting us the account? I could maybe give you a couple bucks kickback.”

“Maybe I’ll do that.”

“Sure. When we get to the police station, I’ll write out the old man’s name and phone number for you. You just call him when you want us to come. One of these days I’m getting some business cards printed up. It impresses hell out of people when you drop a business card on them. I figure we’ll double our business with a little advertising and some business cards.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“This the place?” The kid looked up at the old brown brick station. I parked in the back.

“This is the place,” I said. “Pretty damned dreary, huh?”

“It gives me the creepies.”

“The office is upstairs,” I said, leading him up and inside, where I found one of the Juvenile Narcotics officers eating lunch.

“Hi, Bumper,” he said.

“What’s happening, man,” I answered, not able to think of his name. “Got a kid with some bennies. No big thing. I’ll book him and pencil out a quick arrest report.”

“Worthwhile for me talking to him?”

“Naw, just a little score. First time, he claims. I’ll take care of it. When should I cite him back in?”

“Make it Tuesday. We’re pretty well up to the ass in cite-ins.”

“Okay,” I said, and nodded to another plainclothes officer who came in and started talking to the first one.

“Stay put, kid,” I said to the boy and went to the head. After I came out, I went to the soft drink machine and got myself a Coke and one for the boy. When I came back in he was looking at me kind of funny.

“Here’s a Coke,” I said, and we went in another office which was empty. I got a booking form and an arrest report and got ready to start writing.

He was still looking at me with a little smile on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“Nothing.”

“What’re you grinning at?”

“Oh, was I grinning? I was just thinking about what those two cops out there said when you went to the john.”

“What’d they say?”

“Oh, how you was some kind of cop.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled as I put my initial on a couple of the bennies so I could recognize them if the case went to court. I knew it wouldn’t though. I was going to request that the investigator just counsel and release him.