A red-hot getaway

‘We’ll go over this one more time’, the officer sighed. His partner in the back looking on with an encouraging but stern smile towards the boy.

‘You were biking around the old dump, doing stunts and I quote “sick-bike tricks” with your brothers, and only noticed the fire when it was already spreading throughout the entire area?’

‘Yes.’

The officer frowned, the creaks in his forehead formed funny little waves.

‘And before that, you were biking around the actual skatepark, which is on the other side of town?’

The young boy bit his lower lip.

‘Yes.’

‘And you were smelling of fire and gasoline because your father was turning up the barbeque the moment before you left?’

‘Yes.’

The funny waves in the officers forehead now turned into a stormy sea.

‘And you didn’t warn anyone or call the police about the fire because?’

Both of the officers now crossed their arms. No longer any good nor bad cop noticeable. Just the unbelief of two men who could decide over the rest of his life. Maybe they’d send him to jail. Then he wouldn’t be able to go to school, or see his brothers anymore. Or worse, they would send his father to jail again. No, he wouldn’t allow that, the 9 year old boy decided for himself. He would be a man, take the sentence and maybe even take the full blame on him. His older brothers were always teasing him how weak he was and not even close to a man, that would show them! But for now he’d cling to the story they had all prepared in advance when the fire had spread and the wooden shack had caught fire. They were all too enamoured by the dancing flames too notice it was spreading from the small tinder towards the wooden panels stacked on top of each other. Ellis, his oldest brother, had said it was too big too catch fire like that. The middle brother James agreed with Ellis as he always did, the copy-cat. Dick, the ever cautious youngest brother had warned them to place it a bit further away than that. They’d scolded him for being a scaredy-cat and lit the small junk pile anyway. What they missed and only noticed when the heat started dancing through the panels were the small wooden chips scattered throughout the shack, providing excellent fuel for the panels. Before they knew it, the mostly brown and beige room had filled with black smoke and they coughingly jumped out, ignoring their half assed attempts at dousing the flames with their half empty water bottles. They’d jumped on their bikes, their faces as red hot as the fire, before making their way towards home. But just before they could jump inside, a cop car flashed by. Pulling them over and asking why they were in such a hurry. James started flushing red faced mumbling something, but Ellis quickly took over. Saying they had to go to the barbeque of their father. Just as they were about to be let go, the officer got a call about the fire and since “a couple of kids were spotted on the scene” he pushed them inside. On the way towards the police station, there was dead silence on the back seats. They exchanged some quick glances, a nod here and there, gesturing at the story they’d come up with on their escape home. When the officer was focusing more on the road than them, the two older brothers looked at him angrily as if it was all his fault and gestured he should keep his mouth shut, or else, they both dragged their index finger horizontally over their throats. It looked a bit silly to him, he was scared, not because of his brothers, but because he was in a fucking cop car. Nothing ever good happened to people on the back seat of a cop car. Especially to people from where they were from. A rundown neighbourhood where the average literacy was not higher than that of a high school student, his father had once said when Dick had asked why the neighbourhood was so different from his friends. He was a good man, his delinquent days long behind him, but the local cops paid him visits now and again, just to spite him. And now here he was, wondering who could have possibly spotted them on the remote dump. Their was the janitor, Harvey something was his name. He hated kids playing around “his” dump, but he hated the police even more, or so he hoped. Realising he hadn’t said anything in a while, Dick scratched his cheek and said;

‘Because you wouldn’t believe us even if we told you the earth was round, you always do this to us, it’s not fair!’

The cops loosened their guard after that. They sighed, looked at each other and then back to Dick.

‘Maybe it’s because you always get in trouble!’ the bad cop said. ‘Anyway, we’ve got a witness coming up, so you might as well confess, that will save us all a lot of time.’

Dick’s throat turned dry. No, it’s a bluff, I won’t tell them anything. I just have to hope my brothers keep their lips sealed as well.

‘All right, he can tell you he’s never seen us before, bring it on!’

The bad cop looked like he was going to shout at the brat, before mumbling something to himself.

‘Yeah well, we’ll see about that, my colleague here will escort you to your cell.’

Dick’s courage got pegged down a notch as the hand of the other cop pushed him gently into his cell and the grey bars closed down with a terrible clang. As he turned around he saw both of his brothers, quiet and scared but just as defiant as him. He turned to see one of the cops acting busy but trying to eavesdrop a confession out of them. Dick simply looked to his brothers questioningly and brought his index finger towards his lips. They both looked at him with frightful smiles but nodded and repeated the gesture. Just as he was about to ask him, he heard some arguing in the hallway. All of the boys pressed themselves against the iron bars.

‘God darn it, why do I have to come with you! I told you all there was to tell, aint nothing left.’

‘We just need you to identify possible suspects sir, then you can go about your way’, Bad cop said with a look of disdain in his eyes as he guided the old janitor towards the boys’ cell. He reeked of something his father sometimes smelled when he got really angry at them and looked like he was wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing for over a month ago.

‘Here they are sir,’ bad cop said with evil glee in his face. ‘I’m sure these are the little arsonists who set alight your fine little shack’.

‘I’ll be the judge of that copper, now show me!’ he almost spit in the man’s face. Bad cop gestured towards the three young boys, their faces pressed through the bars. As red-hot as the moment they’d spurted away on their bikes with tears in their eyes. Maybe it was the sight of the prepubescent boys locked behind bars which melted old Harveys heart, maybe it was the alcohol fuddling his mind, or maybe it was his outright hatred of the men in blue, but it certainly wasn’t because he believed in their innocence when he said what he said; ‘I have never seen these boys in my entire life, these are not the ones who lighted my shack.’ Before the dumbstruck cop could interject he waved a good-bye when he turned around and bolted out of the station. The anger on the officer only grew harder when he saw the three boys grinning like idiots at him. He almost broke the key as he turned the lock and raged through his teeth.

‘Get. Out!’

The three boys didn’t need more than that and happily spurted out of the station.