ty good about it by the time she arrived. Of
course, that didn't last too long.

"She came through the door like Yosemite Sam, frothing at the chops and howling
for my blood. She wanted to press charges, see me locked up to teach me a
lesson. She didn't care how the Sony cops had gassed and trussed me -- as far as
she was concerned, I'd betrayed her and nothing was going to make it right. She
kept howling for the sergeant to give her the papers to sign, she wanted to
swear out a complaint, and he just let her run out of steam, his face perfectly
expressionless until she was done.

"'All right then, Mrs. Walchuk, all right. You swear out the complaint, and
we'll hold her overnight until her bail hearing. We only got the one holding
cell, though, you understand. No juvenile facility. Rough crowd. A couple of
biowar enthusiasts in there right now, caught 'em trying to thrax a bus
terminal; a girl who killed her pimp and nailed his privates to the door of his
hotel room before she took off; a couple of hard old drunks. No telling what
else will come in today. We take away their knives and boots and purses, but
those girls like to mess up fresh young things, scar them with the bars or their
nails. We can't watch them all the time.' He was leaning right across the desk
at my mom, cold and still, and then he nudged my foot with his foot and I knew
that he was yanking her chain.

"'Is that what you want, then, ma'am?'

"Mom looked like she wanted to tell him yes, go ahead, call his bluff, but he
was too good at it. She broke. 'No, it's not,' she said. 'I'll take her home and
deal with her there.'

"'That's fundamentally sound,' he said. 'And Linda, you give me a call if you
want to file a complaint against Sony. We have secam footage of the Boardwalk
and the Station House if you need it, and I have that guy's badge ID, too.'

"Mom looked alarmed, and I held out my raw, bruisey wrists to her. 'They gassed
me before they took me in.'

"'Did you run? You *never* run from the cops, Linda, you should have known
better --'

"I didn't run. I put my arms in the air and they gassed me and tied me up and
took me in.'

"'That can't be, Linda. You must have done *something* --' Mom always was ready
to believe that I deserved whatever trouble I got into. She was the only one who
didn't care how cute I was.

"'No mom. I put my hands in the air. I surrendered. They got me anyway. They
didn't care. It'll be on the tape. I'll get it f