THE TWINKLING

CHAPTER 3 AND ITS OFF TO PRISON FOR ME

Raleigh, North Carolina. They’re holding me until I can prove I didn’t!”

Mom was quiet for a moment, then she said, “Jade Marie Stillwater, are you playing a joke on me, because if you are . . .”

“No! Mommy, no! I wouldn’t joke about this. I’m in a police station in West Chester, check your caller ID.” She never does, she hates the dang thing!

“Jade baby, you tell them I said you didn’t commit any crimes! You’ve never been to North Carolina! We don’t have any family there! Tell them I said to let you go right now!”

Staying as calm as possible, I said, “Mom, Mom, I’m okay for now, but there’s nothing I can do. I’ve already told them all that and no one cared. Can you get in touch with Gene?” Gene Silverberg is our family attorney; he and my father went to college together and he has become family to the Stillwater clan.

“Yes! Right away! I can’t believe this is happening! How long are they going to hold you, Jade?”

“I’m not sure, I believe they can only hold me for seventy-two hours, but I’m just not sure. Call Gene; tell him where I am and what happened. See what he can do about getting me out of here, okay. Oh, and call Tanya at work, tell her to come and get her car. I don’t want them to tow it anywhere.” Pausing to catch my breath, I said softly, “I’m sorry, Mom.”

“About what, baby?”

“About all of this . . . mess.”

She sighed, “Jade, this isn’t your fault; you have nothing to be sorry about. Now, I’m going to call Gene. Then, I’m calling the family and we’ll get you out of there as quickly as possible . . . and, Jade?”

“Yes, Mom?”

“Be careful. Don’t lose your temper.”

Like I said, she knows her children. I smiled to myself. “Okay, Mommy, I won’t. I love you.”

“I love you too, Jade, I’ll start making calls right now.”

With that said she hung up. When my mother says, ‘I’m calling the family’ take it literally. She means all of the family, including her remaining eleven sisters and brothers. All of my sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews and any stepchildren received a call from Louise Stillwater about the injustice done to her child.

I sat down and waited; another twenty-five minutes went by. Handcuffed before they brought me in, I was still wearing them. They were very uncomfortable and I was considering asking someone to take them off when Officer Buffalo walked in and said to me, “Jade, I’m going to take the cuffs off you now, but before I do, I need to ask you something.”

I was perplexed; what did he have to ask me? Did I commit the Upper Darby murders in ‘92? Intrigued, I said, “I have nothing to hide, Officer, ask me anything. I’ll tell you the truth, unless it’s too personal. Then, I just won’t answer at all.”

He stared at me for a long moment. I was beginning to think he had changed his mind about the question and the cuffs. Then, he asked, “How did you do that? That thing back at the car. I mean you . . .” He stopped and gavea nervous laugh. “You appeared to grow bigger for a second. It was . . .”

“It was what, Officer?”

“It was amazing.”

I said to him, “Officer Buffalo, I’ll make you a deal, I’ll tell you my secrets when you tell me what happened to your face.”

He gave me a severe scowl, letting me know my mouth had just gotten me into trouble again. “You’ve got a real smart mouth, Ms. Stillwater. Maybe you didn’t commit any of the crimes we have you on and maybe you are who you say you are; but, that mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble one day . . . some powerful, hurtful trouble.” Then, he actually tried to stare me down.

“Now who’s threatening whom, Officer?”

We continued staring at each other until Officer O’Brien walked in and said, “We gotta take her to see the District Judge.”

A Judge! What for?! What the hell is going on around here? I asked, “Is my attorney here yet?”

Officer O’Brien smirked, “Man, your whole family’s here! I don’t know how they got here so fast, but there’s about twenty-five people sitting out in the station waiting to see you.”

That’s my momma! I perked up, and said, “Well, alrighty then! But, is my lawyer among those twenty-five, Officer?”

She went blank again. Dang, she had that thing down to a science! She finally blinked and said, “Yeah, he’s here, too. He’s a Jew, ain’t he?”

That woman wanted me to hurt her! Was she a glutton for punishment, or what? But, I remembered my mom saying not to lose my temper. I very calmly answered, “Officer O’Brien, my attorney has been a friend of my family since before I was born. What he is . . . does not make any difference to us. If you have a problem with his nationality, please speak with him about it. I’m in somewhat of a difficult position right now and I don’t want to add to my troubles by calling you a bigot.”

Officer O’Brien sauntered over to me; got up close and personal, right in my face. She could have used a tic-tac when she said, “You know, Ms. Stillwater, I’m getting a little sick of your attitude. You’re a real uppity b***h! If I hear one more thing come out of your mouth, you’re going to have a little accident before you leave. You see, around here we rule! And we protect each other so no one will be the wiser. Not your family; or your Jew lawyer either. Am I making myself clear?”

I was astonished for two reasons. I couldn’t believe she would make such a direct threat, or that she could speak so coherently. It was time to chill out before things got nasty, not Ms. Jackson nasty either. I glanced over at Officer Buffalo to see if he concurred with her; and by the look he gave me, the answer was, yes big time!

I asked Officer O’Brien, “The A on your nametag, what does it stand for?”

She continued staring at me for a couple of seconds with that nasty smirk before answering, “Alicia, my name is Alicia. What do you want to know for? You gonna tell your Jew lawyer? Go on tell him! I don’t care! Tell him Officer Alicia O’Brien badge number 9114 of the West Chester police threatened you. See if you can make it stick. You tell your version of the story and I’ll tell mine. We’ll see who they believe; an officer with three awards for excellent service in the line of duty, or some uppity n****r b***h with a drugs and arms record!”

I stared at her with a smile, wanting her to understand I wasn’t afraid. I was angry; very, very angry! Still, I said in a calm voice, “I wanted to know your name so I could remember it for future reference. I like knowing the names of interesting people I meet. You know my name and now I know yours, so when we meet again under any circumstance, we’ll remember each other and let whatever happens . . . happen.”

O’Brien pulled out her nightstick and everything seemed to slide into slow motion. I jumped up from the chair. Officer Buffalo yelled as he flew across the room toward us. I heard a weird noise in the background.

Suddenly, my hands were free and I thought to myself, ‘These idiots didn’t even lock the cuffs!’ The nightstick was quickly descending toward my face, and that noise got louder and louder. Officer Buffalo tackled O’Brien to the floor, and suddenly I was wet all over! My clothes, hair, even my shoes felt soggy. I thought someone had thrown water on me; you know, hose the prisoner down or something. I stood there in shock and shaking. I did notice the awful noise had stopped. It had been a terrible sound that made me think of an animal in pain.

Officer Buffalo had O’Brien in a headlock and was quietly talking to her on the floor. Another officer walked in at that time. The sound from the scuffle and that other weird noise must have attracted him.

Officer Buffalo yelled to the very young, blond-haired officer, “Put her in a cell, man! Put her in a cell right now before we get into some real s**t out here!”

The officer walked over to me, his nametag read, H. Randolph. Taking my arm, Officer Randolph said, “Good Jesus, take a look at this! What the hell went on in here?”

I looked down to see what it was about me that had caused him such distress, and lo and behold, the handcuffs were broken! They were still attached to my wrists looking like matching ugly bracelets. I’ve always been strong, my brothers said I hit like a man. It was a family joke. However, handcuffs are made from tempered steel! They should not, in any way, be broken by a one-hundred-thirty pound woman. I was stunned to say the least, but I said nothing. My mouth had already gotten me into enough trouble.

Officer Randolph said, “Come with me, Ms. Stillwater.”

I walked past Officers Buffalo and O’Brien who were still sitting on the floor with my head held high. I’m a Stillwater, I wasn’t going to let them see me sweat; but inside, I was all shaken up! There was a short hallway and a cell for short-term prisoners on the left side of the wall. That’s where they put me. My God, it was horrible! A hard pad on a bunk bed made of steel mesh and of all things sitting right smack in the middle of the room was a toilet! There was a door with a small window with the same mesh wire covering it, but anyone walking past looking close enough could see you doing your business, if you know what I mean. Degraded, demoralized, dehumanized that’s how anyone would feel in a cell!

I sat on the bunk, and Officer Randolph said, “I’m going to try and take off these cuffs now. So don’t you try anything stupid, okay?”

“Okay,” I answered.