A Parent Gets Arrested in Front of the Kids

This is another novel excerpt.  Comments are welcome.

The scene: An ex parte court order (one that was signed without both parties' knowledge) directing John to stay away from his kids was served on him right after he'd picked them up at school. He called his lawyer, Casey, who told him he'd better find someone to take them immediately, but he didn't/wouldn't leave them alone in a deserted schoolyard...

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            John swerved onto the shoulder of the road and parked, watching the red and blue strobes of the police cruiser in his rear-view mirror.  Jesus Christ. Why hadn't he done what Casey said?.

            “Put your hands on the driver’s wheel,” a loudspeaker blared behind him.

            He quickly crossed himself and gripped the wheel.  I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth-

            “Daddy, were you speeding?” Liza asked.

            “No, baby, I don’t think so.” He glanced into his side mirror and saw two police officers marching toward the car.  And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

            “I’m scared.” Her voice was trembling.

            “Me too, Daddy,” Ty piped up from the back seat.

“It’s gonna be okay, guys, maybe I got a broken taillight, something like that.”  Three police cruisers now flanked his car, and he swallowed hard.

“Get out of the car slowly.  Spread your fingers in front of you as you exit the vehicle.”

His hands shook as he reached for the door handle.  He turned to Liza and tried to summon a smile.  “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

           Ty started hyperventilating in the back seat. 

            “Ty, buddy, you gotta calm down, okay?”  John kept his voice as even as he could, but he didn’t dare turn around.  Not with that loudspeaker directing his every movement.  “This is no big deal.”  Slick with sweat, his hand almost slipped off the handle as he turned it.

            He descended into Hell-

The door flew open, pulled hard from the outside. One of the police officers stood beside the door with his legs bent and slightly apart.  “John Zambelli? Spread your fingers in front of you.”

John slid his head out of the driver’s compartment and twisted his hips so his left foot touched the ground.  “Officer, my son can't-”

          “Show me your hands.   Now.”  The second police officer drew his weapon and pointed it directly at John’s head.

          “Daddy!” Liza called from inside.

            The Apostle’s Creed slipped from his mind as someone grabbed him under the armpits and hauled him out of the car.  Suddenly his elbows were wrenched behind him and he was being propelled him toward one of the cruisers.  Out of the kids’ sight.

“Don’t try anything stupid, big guy.”

His wrists were jerked behind his back. Then a loud click.  The handcuffs around his wrists were cold and dug into his skin.  The only time he’d ever been in handcuffs was when Meg  –

“Keep moving.”

John’s throat was dry but his face felt wet, and he realized it was because tears were streaming down his cheeks.  He couldn’t swab his face clean, not with his hands in cuffs behind his back.  God in Heaven, could the kids see him now?  Was anybody with them? He couldn’t hear them at all.

A cop shoved him toward another cruiser idling along the edge of the street.  He turned his head in time to see two female cops herding Ty and Liza away from his car.

            Liza broke free and ran toward John.  “Daddy!”

            “Liza, just do what they say -”

            The cop clubbed him on the shoulder and a sharp pain screeched down his arm and into his hand.  “Shut up and keep moving.”

“Dad-dy, don’t let them take you!”

With the club jammed in his back, John kept walking, but he turned his head turned around to watch Liza as she drew closer and closer toward him. One of the female officers raced to Liza’s side and put her arm around her shoulders.  “Come on, honey, you’re safe now,” he heard her say.  “Come with me.  Your brother needs you.”

© Terri L. Weiss