Chapter 38: Jumped

Wed 10-Oct 2007

Chris stared at the policewoman in shock and despair. He turned to Shahia to see the same expression on her face. He sighed. It was all over.

NO.

No way. He wouldn't accept it. He turned to the Hassan and Alyssa. "Put your stuff away." He started gently inching towards the edge of this seat. Maybe he could take out this policewoman long enough for Shahia and the kids to get away. But he remembered Mr Cartwright's advice well — he would talk first, as long as he could.

He turned back to the police woman. "Hello, Officer," he said resignedly.

The policewoman's eyes were fixed intently on Chris. "You're Chris Mackenzie?"

He nodded.

She regarded him carefully. "Put your hands on the table, and keep them there."

He did. Behind her, he could see Joe very carefully turning the stroller around for a quick exit.

Without taking her eyes off him, she said "And you are Shahia Esfahani-Baracat, and these are your siblings Hassan, Alyssa, and Maria?"

"Yes, Officer, that's us," Shahia replied.

"Are you all well?"

"Yes, we're fine." Chris said. Joe was standing behind her, waiting. Chris knew that he had an ally if he really needed it.

"My, but you have turned Melbourne on its ear," the policewoman said. Chris spotted her name badge. Mandy Prescott.

"We'd much rather not have needed to do so," Shahia replied.

She took her eyes briefly off Chris to look at Hassan and Alyssa. "Are you kids okay?"

They both nodded. "Are you both here of your own free will?"

Hassan stared her in the face. "Yes."

She was back to staring at Chris now. He stopped his slow movements for a second. "Shahia, that letter from your grandma, did she really send that?" she asked.

"Yes, officer, that's what she sent. It gave me a panic attack."

She frowned.

Talking. He needed to keep her talking! Chris desperately cast around for something to say. "How did you know about us, Officer Prescott?"

"This is a small community. News travels fast, no matter how much you try to hide. Your school uniforms gave you away. Why did you come here?"

"This is orchard land, there's a big migrant community, a lot of seasonal work, and it's spring time. We hoped we might be able to lie low in a peaceful country town until the noise died down."

"It's probably the best idea you could've had, but it wasn't good enough, not with a warrant for your arrest for kidnapping, and all the news about you."

Chris sighed. "Yeah, we figured. So what happens now?"

"Well, in your version of the future you're about to jump me, in the hope that Shahia and her family can run for just a few more minutes. Do you really think that's a good idea?"

Had he been that obvious? He glanced at Shahia, and saw her shaking her head vigorously. He slumped in defeat. Why couldn't he do anything useful? "I promised Shahia that I'd do anything, anything at all, to keep them together."

"So, you really want to do that Nightrider thing? Take them with you in a blaze of glory?"

"NO! That was a stupid joke, a story written to be as far over the top as I could, and that's not how it ended anyway. This," Chris indicated Shahia and her siblings. "This is my family. What do you think I should do to protect them? What would you do?"

The policewoman thought about that for a while, still watching Chris like a hawk.

"What I'd do," she started slowly, "what I'd do is agree to the deal I'm about to offer you."

Chris watched her in silence.

"This is a very immigrant-friendly area. You actually are pretty safe here. Take Joe for instance, standing behind me here. He would've tried to jump me too, for you. That's the nature of this community. Very impressive."

If things weren't so tense, Chris would've laughed at the look on Joe's face, who scurried away.

"You will promise me that you will spend all your time in this shop, or at the park, or at the camping ground. You will not leave this area, and you will give me your mobile phone number. And you will meet me here for breakfast each day. In return, I will not arrest you, nor will I report your presence here."

Chris looked at Shahia. That was a pretty good deal actually. She was nodding vigorously. "It sounds good, Officer, but we need to add the supermarket to the list of approved places." The officer nodded in approval. "And we don't have much money."

She nodded. "We'll talk about that when you run out."

Chris smiled. "That's a good deal then." The officer put her hand out, and he shook her hand. Then she turned to Shahia, and shook her hand as well. All of a sudden the whole tone of the room suddenly became a whole lot less chilly.

The policewoman smiled. "Right, I'm glad we got that sorted out. Now, are you really okay?" she asked, looking at Shahia.

Shahia nodded, with a big smile on her face. "Oh, Officer, yes, we are fine. They've been good to us here, really wonderful."

Officer Prescott glanced back at Chris, clearly amused by what she was about to say. "By the way, you'll be glad to know that they cancelled the warrant for your arrest a few hours ago, and they threw out all the charges against your schoolmates."

Huh? Chris was about to protest about the deal when he realised that it wouldn't really make any difference. Hang on, threw out all the charges? "That's wonderful news." Both he and Shahia said it at exactly the same time.

"Even Geno?" Chris asked.

She laughed. "Ahh, the prisoner of war? The internal police networks are running hot about him. We're very amused. Yes, even him."

"How come this hasn't been announced?"

"I don't know." But her smile suggested that she might know and just didn't want to say. Chris put that aside for later reference.

"I read the paper most carefully this afternoon before coming to find you. I particularly read the Nightrider thing, given what they said about it on the news last night. It's good — but not as good as the Australia day speech! I am most impressed by you two."

"Thank you, Officer Prescott," said Shahia.

"Now, do you have everything you should have for this one?" She asked, turning to smile at Maria. "She's such a cutie."

Shahia nodded. "Yes, I had everything packed anyway."

"Great. I better go. I'll see you here for breakfast at eight o'clock tomorrow. Chris, what phone number?"

He dug into his collection of SIM cards and gave the number of one he'd never used before. He pulled out his phone, put the card in, and turned it on.

She called, and it was all okay. "See you tomorrow!"

They were all much more relaxed that evening. It was great to be on the right side of the law again. And it made watching the news so much more fun. The news was full of their story again, of course, though the focus had really moved to community reaction now.

There was an interview with the Chief Commissioner of the police force, who advised that the police had considered all the evidence and no longer believed that Chris and Shahia were dangerous. In fact, Chris noticed, she carefully refrained from using the word "suspect" or "accused" at all, and just expressed the desire that anyone who had information on them pass that on to the police and help and protect them as required. Then she went on to praise and thank the school protesters for mounting a peaceful protest and provided some practical advice to smooth the next day's protest.

If Chris hadn't been used to watching Mr Cartwright at work, he might have missed it. She was positively encouraging parents to feel safe about their children going to the protest. How cool!

There was lots of stuff about the protest. It really seemed as though the school idea was working. There was a shot of Sue from his class teaching maths to a group of kids from Hassan's class, and a shot of a group of year-twelve students, mixed between St Joseph's and Chris's school, and some others, arguing with Mr Hanson about one of the books in the literature curriculum — and Mr Hanson was having fun, you could tell. There was an interview with Malcolm, as one of the student marshalls, who talked about how they'd rotated the marshall duty, and the wonderful support they'd been getting from the community. The businesses had all opened their toilets to the students, for instance. And they did show the soccer match, in loving detail.

Chris could see that same community spirit from the working bee infusing the school protest. This wasn't some stupid march, it was new and different, and just as exciting as the working bee had been, and that same excitement as it was breaking up.

There was a special interview with Lisa. He noted that, like Sue, she had made sure her Squad-11 badge was prominently visible. She talked about organisational stuff. If you wanted to come to the protest tomorrow, you needed to get into groups of about twelve. Each group needed to bring a blank placard and a marker, and choose a subject when they finally settled, based on what subjects were around them; then they would circulate like today. Everyone needed to wear their uniform and bring their text books and paper etc, and lunch and water were probably a good idea. Finally she asked each group of twelve to send an email to a special email address so they had a rough count of how many were coming tomorrow. She explained that it would help them organise, make sure they had enough marshalls, and help the police as well. The TV supported her message by showing a list of what to bring.