A CONVOY of heavy vehicles whose flanks had been stenciled HOMELESS OUTREACH began to pull up on either side of the front gate. Out came the officers in their black tactical vests with guns and walkie-talkies and maybe tasers in their Sam Browne belts.
So where should I hide my notebook? said Matthew.
But Sunny ran away to watch. Laying down his fully loaded backpack beside her tent, he followed her moodily, with his notebook in his hand. Then he saw a woman glaring at him as if he were a snitch, so he returned to his own tent and hid the notebook under the nylon floor. By now it was so greasy and stinky that no one would steal it.
As the black uniforms swept in, a woman screamed: Stop pushing me, pig!—Matthew had been watching. The officer had not pushed her.
Carefully, the officers looked inside tent after tent. Another woman ran to Jacob and said: There’s a pig who keeps laying hands on us. A young, light-skinned Black male …
Jacob said wearily: Well, really …
Now the officers were drawing themselves up into a line, except for two pleasantly smiling specimens who went around photographing everyone. Matthew bit his lip. What he hated was advancing in front of him.
Baby asked Matthew: Have you seen them dismantling, or what are they doing?
I don’t know, he admitted. I’m stupid about everything.
A woman in a black T-shirt with a stenciled fist on it was shouting: To protect and serve, well, that’s a lie, you know that! Where’s the assistance? You’re standing here to interfere with us, and your sheriffs have cameras—
Jacob came back from a huddle with the police and said: According to them, Walters says the meeting at one has nothing to do with this property. I’ve called him four times but he’s not picking up.
Matthew asked Tannika: When you see the police do you ever feel fear?
Grinning sadly, she said: Come on, man. I been shot in the head, so what do I have to fear?
A woman organizer was in an officer’s face shouting: How can you face your fucking kids? Your kids are gonna grow up just like you, pig!
Sunny said: It feels like we’re waiting on Walters. We’re praying that he’ll pick up the phone …
Tannika turned to Matthew and two women, saying: Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, help us, please, because they’re putting up yellow tape …
All of them prayed except Matthew, who stared sadly at the line of neighbors across the street: mostly brown, with a few whites and Blacks among them. Someday he would have to think about prayer, then make up his mind about it. And what was he supposed to do right now? Into his head came those inconvenient lines from Marcus Aurelius: Remember how long you have been putting this off … But what had he put off? Maybe Tannika would know. He could almost hear Jessica saying: Honey, what’s happened with your life? I thought—An ancient Asian lady, possibly Hmong from the look of her clothes, crept slowly past without looking. A fat, white, stubble-chinned neighbor bellowed across at them: The organizer woman shouted back: you
