Us & Them

You don’t get a standing ovation for arresting a criminal in South Africa. In fact, that might just be something that only happens in movies. Ask any cop you know if they’ve ever experienced that moment : you know, when the designated lookout walks in to excitedly whisper “They’re here!” & everyone rises to their feet. Then, as if by some stroke of fate, all the desks line up to form a “guard of honour” and the room erupts into cheer as the bad guys are ushered in, cuffed with their heads bowed, while their captors soak in all the admiration. That never happens here, or, at least it never used to… not before Detective James and her infamous drug raid.

“That’ll show them!” Her partner, Derrick, assured as they walked through the chorus of cheers.

By them he meant their station’s Captain and no, that’s not his pronoun.

“If it were up to me, I’d promote you today but, there’s nothing I can do till you try to convince them,” their captain always said, pointing to the family of ornaments that rested on top of his office safe.

He also said this if a member of his station was in trouble for something and they didn’t want to face disciplinary action: missing/mismanaged evidence, showing up to the station intoxicated and even being apprehended in the course of committing a crime could all be forgiven as long as you found a way to convince them.

Everyone knew what that really meant. Some were happy oblige.

Detective James was just happy to finally have done a bust that was big enough to potentially force the Captain into giving her the promotion she rightfully deserved.

No ‘Them’ for me. She thought, proudly prancing through the crowd.

“Hey, Nicole!” The Captain’s assistant, Zinzi shyly called out, combing through the crowd so she could get to the Detective.

She was barely audible amidst all the commotion but Nicole heard her and turned around.

“Is everything okay?” She asked with great concern as soon as she noticed the nervous look on Zinzi’s face.

“Well,” Zinzi shakily said, “the Captain needs to see you.”

“The Captain?” Nicole asked back in confusion, to which Zinzi nodded.

That should be a good thing. Nicole thought. Why am I nervous?

She looked around the room, at everyone cheering and just got the kind of feeling you can only get when things are about to go wrong.

Why am I getting a bad feeling about this? She asked herself, forcing her feet to march towards the Captain’s office.

“What was that about?” Derrick asked Zinzi.

She just shrugged and nervously shuffled away.

“We made an interesting arrest a few hours ago,” The Captain smugly said as soon as Detective James was seated in his office.

“An arrest?” Nicole said, uncertain of where the conversation was going to lead.

The Captain broke out in laughter, reached under his desk and pulled out a massive pile of papers.

“I’ve always wondered about you, James,” he remarked, “about why you’re so tough, that is.”

Nicole was getting more confused by the minute.

“I know what everyone calls me in this office.”

“Oh? So this is about what Derrick just said in the hall?”

“Derrick?” The captain leaned forward, “ what did he s—…”

He stopped himself before more words could pour out of his mouth, realising that he needed to get to the point.

“This is about your dad,” he declared.

“Oh no!” Nicole looked at her watch, “I was meant to call him earlier, Captain. He always spirals around this time of year because of everything that happened with my mother and normally, I have time to call or just casually pop in but, this time, I had the bust. Please tell me he didn’t do anything stupid!”

“I wish I could,” The Captain responded.

Shocked, Nicole grabbed one of the papers on the stack and started to read. The words on the page shocked her more so she grabbed another… and another… and another.

“As I was saying,” The Captain continued, “I know why everyone calls me ‘Them’. I know how I earned it. But, I’ve always wondered why a woman as beautiful as yourself works this much or tries SO hard.”

Nicole definitely would’ve snapped back at the sexism in the undertone of what he was saying if she wasn’t still trying to knit the pieces of her mind back together.

“I truly apologise that you had to grow up in such a… charged environment,” the Captain said.

How don’t I know any of this? A frazzled Nicole thought. I need to speak to my father.

“I never would’ve known were it not for the arrest today!”

Nicole’s eyes shot up, clear concern and fear written all over her face.

“Oh! Don’t worry, he didn’t hurt anyone tonight!”

Tonight. Nicole swallowed hard at the emphasis that was being placed on that word.

“He failed a breathalyser test and, when we brought him in, he quickly confessed to being under the influence of several other controlled substances,” the Captain said, reorganising the stack of papers.

“You can imagine how negative that would look, especially if it went on file the same day that you had your successful raid.”

Oh boy!

“I know you haven’t wanted anything to with them and honestly, I’ve respected you for it!”

“I do my job, Captain. I think that should’ve been enough to gain your respect!”

“All I’m saying, James,” the Captain said, leaning forward to assert his dominance, “is that this ALL could go away. Maybe you need to go home to rethink some of your principles.”

“I’ll even give you the day off to help you sort through your thoughts and help you understand the full weight of this decision,” the Captain concluded.

Ever since she was a little girl, all Nicole ever wanted was to make her father proud. She watched him try (and fail) to piece his life back together after her mother died and she blamed herself. So much that she abandoned any dream that would’ve pulled her away from home and chose the one job that would always enable her to protect him.

“Nicci!” Her father warmly greeted as she pulled into their driveway. He was stumbling out of his car, a bag full of clinking bottles nestled in his arms.

Nicole stepped out of her car and charged straight at him, yanked the bag out his arms and let it fall. Her father dropped to the ground as the bag fell and let out a scream when the bottles broke.

“Whyyyyyyy?” Her father wept.

“Because you’re nothing but a filthy liar!” Nicole said, looking down upon her father with immense rage.

“Okay,” her father drunkenly responded, “then why not break ME!? My bottles didn’t do anything to you!”

Nicole slapped him.

He fell against the open door of his car, shutting it and before he could recalibrate his senses, his daughter grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the house.

“I get that I might’ve gotten you into trouble at work but this is no way to treat your elders, Nicole!” Her dad said, whimpering as they walked into their lounge.

She pushed him onto the couch, “Do you know the worst thing a child could do to their parent?”

“Of course I do!” Her dad responded, “ I just experienced it!”

She slapped him again, a little harder. This time he peed himself a little and decided that he would keep his mouth shut from then on.

“The worst thing a kid could do to their parent,” Nicole said, “is to push them down the stairs.”

A look of divine mortification appeared on her father’s face the moment she said that.

“Causing their neck to break in three different places as they fall to their death,” Nicole continued.

“She deserved it, Nicci,” her dad yelled, rising to his feet, “she was going to kill me!”

“I saw your docket dad!”

Her father sat back down.

“I know EVERYTHING.”

“Well,” he mumbled, “I never asked you to do what you did!”

“I was a child who walked in on her parents squabbling over a knife! I thought you were in danger!”

“I was!”

“She was protecting herself from you!”

“Whatever!” Her father nonchalantly said.

He started fixing the couch as though he was about to lay down. This made Nicole fume. She wanted to burn the entire house down.

“I didn’t ask you to choose me, Nicci!” Her dad drunkenly declared, “you did it because I’m your dad and you love me.”

Nicole’s heart dropped.

He’s right. She thought. He is my father and I do love him.

At that moment, her father started to snore. He had fallen asleep on the couch, a true testament to how much he didn’t care. Nicole grabbed a fleece and covered him then she went back to her car and got in.

Tell them I said goodbye. She texted The Captain.

Then she started the car and drove.