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It was a little warmer today. Not really warm enough to peel off her new fancy pair of socks, of course. But the sunshine actually eased the constant ache in her left shoulder when she tried to grab a catnap in the park after wedging one meaty arm through the handle of her pushcart. Everything she still owned in the world was stowed in that pile of paper sacks and discarded containers of all sizes and kinds. There wasn't much danger that any of the bastards around here -- and there were plenty of them -- actually could get away with her things without waking her. The front left wheel always screeched loudly enough to set your teeth on edge -- that is, if you had any teeth. She hadn't, and long since had ceased to care about such things. But the nap was interrupted almost before it began when a cop tapped her twice on her good shoulder and told her to move along. She looked with resignation at his shiny boots before heaving her bulk upright and lumbering off, cart wheel screeching raspingly, not finding it in herself to carp and complain as others might. But, it just wasn't fair. Wasn't the goldurned park supposed to be a place where a body could rest and soak up the sun? Just who did the damned thing belong to, anyway? Didn't everybody have a right to enjoy it since their taxes paid for it? The fact she had not paid taxes in twenty years had nothing to do with it -- it was just the principle of the thing, right? Right. The young policeman watched her leave, never really comfortable while fulfilling his duty to keep all transients off of the park benches and out of the bushes. Seemed like somehow they ought to have the right to at least nap on a park bench once in a while. It wasn't as if they had much else going for them. It was especially unpleasant if the person was an old lady like this one, half loony, and . . . well, give her a bath, a comb and a set of teeth, she could be anybody's grandmother. He shook his head as he turned and strolled off the other direction. Some things just didn't get any easier the more you had to do them. Belatedly, he remembered the advisory in roll call this morning about the second baglady's body being found in one of the narrow strip parks on Arapahoe Street, and that the homeless, particularly old women, should be urged to go to the mission or a shelter rather than sleep on the street or in an alley somewhere. He'd better at least try to talk some sense into her. He turned around to call to her, but somehow she had already disappeared. Having half a mind to retrace his steps a bit to see if he could locate her, he finally just let it go, rationalizing that even if he could even find her, she'd probably just ignore his advise. It probably wasn't worth the hassle to try to locate her. At roll call next morning, he remembered that decision to let her go, flushing slightly with shame that he hadn't at least tried. He tried to explain himself to himself; how was he to know? But that didn't help. He should have tried. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to tell his commanding officer about yesterday, but being who he was, he did it. |