Dave Eggers - Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?

— How old?

— Thirty or so, I think.

— Wait. What? He was thirty? What was his name?

— I don’t know. It was a bunch of consonants.

— What do you mean? Where was this?

— Here. Marview.

— What? Why were you here?

— I used to work here. I was transferred after.

— What was his name?

— It was a foreign name.

— Foreign like from where?

— I think it was Vietnam.

— What?

— Vietnamese. I think it was.

— What was his name?

— I don’t know. It started with B .

— The last name started with B ?

— Yes. I know that.

— And his first name?

— It was American.

— Was it Don?

— It could be.

— Was it Don Banh?

— I don’t know. Did you know him?

— Now you’re lying. Now you think I’ll kill you because you killed my friend. Did you kill Don Banh?

— No.

— You said you shot him.

— We shouldn’t talk about this now.

— We have to talk about this now. Did you shoot Don Banh?

—

— You better talk.

— I didn’t kill him. My shot didn’t kill him.

— Fuck. Fuck. I didn’t think I’d actually get one of you guys who was actually there. You’re saying you were actually one of the cops that night?

— I don’t know.

— I will kill you if you don’t talk. Do you hear me? I will kill you. I will tase you till you die. I’ll think of other ways. I’ll take a rock and break your head open.

— I can’t tell you anything if you’re planning to kill me.

— Your only chance is talking to me. If you don’t, I kill you. I haven’t threatened anyone else this way but you I will kill. I thought I just picked up some random cop but now it’s you, one of you from that night. So we need to start talking.

— Okay.

— Fuck. Wait. I need to get away from you for a second.

— Congressman?

—

— Congressman?

—

— Sorry. I know it’s the middle of the night. It’s two a.m. I need your help here.

— Thomas.

— Would you think less of me if I did something to a cop?

— A cop?

— I have one a few buildings over.

— A cop? Son, don’t do anything to him. Don’t harm that man. How the hell did you get a cop out here?

— He was just guarding some party. He was alone.

— Kid, you need to stop all this now. You will be dead by sunup.

— I don’t think so. I’m fairly sure I’m being shielded by some divine force. Some kind of light is protecting me and allowing me to get through all this. So I think I have some time. I dumped his phone. There’s no chance anyone knows where he is. Where any of us are. And this guy killed my friend.

— Okay. I don’t know if you know this for sure, but I guarantee you harming him will not bring you comfort in any way. It’s comfort you’re after, correct?

— I don’t know.

— Peace of mind?

— Okay. Peace of mind.

— You think harming a police officer will bring you peace of mind? You think you’ll sleep better at night after harming a police officer?

— I don’t know.

— I assure you there’s no chance. You will never sleep again. If you want to talk to him, talk to him. Find out what you want to find out. The truth will bring you some peace. I can just about guarantee it. You say you’re a moral man?

— I am a moral man.

— Then prove it. If this man harmed your friend then ask him about it. Seek your truth. But you have to be better than the violence. Exalt yourself, son.

— Okay.

— And afterward I have an idea how you can end all this without any harm coming to you. I’ve been thinking of a plan for you. You say your mother’s here, right?

— Wait. Not now. I’ll be back.

— So you know his name was Don Banh?

—

— What, now you’re not talking?

— I don’t think we should do this.

— This is the worst time to start testing me. They keep saying some sniper will kill me anyway. I might as well take you with me.

— It won’t do any good to rehash this.

— That’s not your decision to make. You’re going to answer my questions like you’ve been doing. So what happened?

— He was armed and I fired at him.

— Were there other officers with you?

— Yes.

— Did they hit him?

— Yes they did.

— Did they kill him?

— Yes they did. Well, he died later at the hospital.

— Why did they shoot him?

— He was armed and was threatening officers.

— What was he armed with?

— A knife.

— Where was he?

— In his backyard, I believe.

— Okay. We’re going to do this in a workmanlike way. You answer every single question I have or else I do something to you. As long as you answer the questions I can hold steady. But if you piss me off I won’t be able to control it. Are you ready?

— Yes.

— So your shift starts at what time?

— Three in the afternoon.

— And it goes until?

— Eleven p.m.

— What happened at the beginning of the shift?

— Most of the night was typical. From three until eight, I was patrolling.

— And what other calls did you respond to?

— I don’t remember all of them, but there were two calls about the same homeless person defecating in the Dollar Tree parking lot.

— And what happened there?

— I spoke to the gentleman, and told him he was not permitted to do that.

— You didn’t arrest him.

— No. He was harmless.

— So you used restraint there.

— I always try to.

— Okay. I want to keep that statement in my back pocket for a little while. This concept of restraint is interesting to me. So what other calls were there that night?

— One or two instances of citizens seeing suspicious characters in their neighborhoods. That kind of thing.

— And what do you do in that situation?

— I drive over, look around, maybe wait with my lights off, see if I see anyone skulking about.

— And did you see anyone skulking about?

— No.

— Anything else?

— That night I believe there was someone bashing mailboxes.

— All right. Then what happens?

— Well, about eight fifteen p.m. we got a call about a man who had been acting erratically at the Denny’s on the highway.

— What exactly did you hear?

— That a man in his early to mid thirties had come into a Denny’s and had taken off his shirt. Then he’d gone into the kitchen and had put on an apron.

— That’s it?

— Then he returned to the dining area and apparently stood on one of the tables. And then he walked from table to table that way. Standing on the tabletops, yelling.

— While wearing the apron.

— Yes.

— And that was the incident at Denny’s? What was he yelling?

— He was yelling loudly about how there was a reckoning coming and how powerful he was. It was apocalyptic. He said he made the world and could end it.

— Okay. And then what?

— I went to the Denny’s to check it out, but he had left. I drove along the highway but didn’t see any sign of him. The patrons were divided about whether or not he arrived by car. None of them had seen him enter or leave in a car, so I had no vehicle or plate to follow. I had the suspicion that he had simply parked far enough away that no one saw him arrive or leave by car.

— So you circled the neighborhood or what?

— I took statements from the staff and patrons, and meanwhile there was an APB out for this young man.

— An all-points bulletin.

— Yes.

— This was big news in Marview.