YNs–Life Right

2016

Sun drenched the Wilmington, Delaware streets. It wheeled downward as the darkness seemed to creep as dust settles in water. Clientele for the pushers leaned over and stayed in positions like poor sculptures. Their bodies, feet on the ground, seemed to be frozen in the summer heat. This July saw Superintendent Namina Norrey walk the streets of Southbridge. No gun, just her impeccable uniform with its blue shirt and blue tie and gold colonel eagles stuck out amongst the shadowy alleyways. Most people didn’t even take note or look her way. The hustlers saw her and turned around like hawks guarding their nest.

She didn’t walk around with an entourage. No other officers and no cameras surrounded her although some people stopped for a photo or autograph. She always stopped and smiled for the picture. Some of the clientele aroused from their daymares. Namina was glad that she had a crisp shirt but she still perspired. She stopped for some lemon lime water ice. As she thanked the vendor, a few clientele ran up to her for money. No cash exchanged in their hands. Instead, Namina gave them sheets of paper to find employment or start their own businesses. At first their faces scrunched up and then they read the benefits of just being a package inspector for Amazon. Their scrunch turned to a slight scowl and then a crooked, broken smile. One of them, Osaria Mettle, smiled in her face and knocked the water ice from the superintendent’s hand. “I want money. I ain’t trying to hear about no job. Either fetty or money, I don’t care what you can give me, I just need it.”

Namina hauled off and smacked Osaria’s face. She quickly embraced her.

“Know that I did that to save you,” she told the woman.

Nevertheless, other phones captured the footage and it got hundreds of thousands of views and mentions on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. The superintendent straightened her hat as Osaria ran back into the crevices in between places of the Southbridge houses. As she walked back to her vehicle, she saw her phone blowing up in the cradle attached to her dashboard. She looked at all the messages. She traveled to the station and just sort of smiled at her revived notoriety from last year’s appearance before the Delaware Senate. Once she arrived at her desk, she tried to whisk off the worried looks and gasps from her fellow officers.

“Big story tonight. Is Superintendent Norrey a monster? We turn to Ronetta Blaskey for further details.”

“Earlier today, we received thousands of images and videos of what appears to be Delaware State Police Superintendent Colonel Namina Norrey slapping a young woman.” The footage rolled but stopped short of the slap and never showed the hug.

“They didn’t even get the hug!” Namina exclaimed, a right hand waving through space. She clicked off her TV.

Deputy Venett Hospers looked at his boss. “I told you those little excursions are going to get you in trouble.”

“I should be able to go anywhere in the city. I know it was during the day so I didn’t get devoured by the streets. I really should go out in the dark. Like three o’clock in the morning.”

“What you did––”

“What I did could have saved a life. What I did was to show that these streets will be cleared of dealers. Now, I know I have spoken out against the draconian drug laws and want them all legalized, but the laws still stand.”

Hospers shook his head, his silver oak leaf glistening in the light.

“I’m just saying, Nam’, the whole world is looking at you for a reason you may not want to explore….”

Namina looked at Hospers with a look of soft disdain. “How dare you, V? Whose side are you on, today?”

“On yours, but you’re making it tough….”

“Tough? As in difficult to deal with or to have?”

“You know what I mean….”

“Do you know what you mean?”

“I do. I know that I can’t have the top cop in the state roaming the block like some loose cannon.”

“That’s not something you should be worried about, Deputy.” Namina spoke coldly.

“This cannot continue. That video, hug or not, will go down as a blight against the force. That’s the role of General Patton or somebody when he slapped those soldiers. Now, you’re going to have to do a press conference.”

“I don’t need a written address. I’ll speak from the dome,” Namina countered.

“That was a quick decision.”

“I come prepared,” she replied.

“I still think you should take a few days off until some other meme takes over the ‘Net.”

“They’re probably going to put me on administrative leave. I’ll accept that.”

Hospers sat relaxed in his uniform across from his boss. “This little experiment is proving to be rocky. Your youth, your lack of experience already led to two strikes against you. Now this?”

“This is nothing. Nothing.”

“I’m glad to know the leader of the First State’s police force can just slap the fire out of somebody...but that’s nothing,” Hospers said with acidity.

“I know you’re concerned, but what we’re doing, what I’m doing is displaying that even the head of police can amble down these horrific halls. They are only terrible because of the….”

“Don’t say it….”

“I won’t. I just wanted you to see where I was going. There’s been an increase in crime since I sat before the State Senate. What is it going to take for people to recognize the importance of governance? This is all about the laws we swore an oath to protect, no?”

Hospers nodded his head in agreement.

“So I slapped the woman and gave her a pamphlet on how to improve herself. I gave her a way to seize an opportunity to live a clean life. That’s what’s so messed up. People have to hit the bottom of the bottom just to strike the bottom. That’s hard to take.”

“Well, we cannot be sure, but it would mean that there are people willing to change their lives around and become good stewards over their own persons.”

“Yeah…yeah… yeah..yeah….” Namina said with a forlorn expression on her face. “Everthing they taught us at the academy goes out the window with the reality of the streets. They can prepare you for the pretense but the common sense of the neighborhoods creates its own mystique.”

“I know where you’re going. We can crunch numbers and see how many homicides rack up in a given year, but that won’t mean the tide will turn.”

“No, it does not.”

Hospers scratched his gray hair. He had a professorial look about him and his glasses only contributed to this appearance.

“What you need to do is hold this press conference to let Delawareans, Americans, hell, the world know that what you did was out of compassion and genuine concern. You’re going to be up for reappointment in a year….”

“I’ve marked my calendar….”

“So just do the presser and then take a week off. I’ll hold down everything.”

“I can trust you, but I’m taking no days off until I see those nasty stats come down significantly.”

“The governor’s going to put you on administrative leave. Nobody’s going to want to listen to some off the wall super, who just smacks people in broad daylight.”

“You know what that was, Venett. You know that that was to correct. Now that you mention Patton, I understand why he did it. I’ll tell you why I did. Because you’ve got these killers in the streets that will do everything they can to upset the fabric of this great state and the city of Wilmington.”

“That’s exactly the fire I expect from a youthful superintendent who knows that she did something and will speak on it. I don’t blame you, but the politicians may have to place this aside as you go further into your career.”

“I’m a proud careerist, but I don’t sacrifice anything or anyone. I’ll do this conference and ensure that people know that I only mean for the citizens of this state to be safe and productive,” she mentioned, her brow slowly furrowed as if she had been stabbed in the side and her voice lowered at the twist of the knife. The pangs of the position rested on her with serious ideals. What she tried to keep in she let loose instead.

“This state is supposed to be free of Group A crimes, especially; it is supposed to be a place of profound regard and a haven for entrepreneurial drive. Instead, we live amongst a wasteland in search of that beacon,” she continued.

“Aren’t we all that beacon? Everyone on this force looks for the day when the body count in Wilmington and across the entire state is at zero. We have to come to terms with––”

“Yes, come to terms….”

“Yes, come to terms with the reality that we’re here to do one job,” Hospers voice ticked up a bit as if he were delivering a sermon.

“We must protect the individual lives and property of the citizenry,” Norrey mentioned. She replied slowly as if sipping on the words and cherishing their alternate simplicity and depth. They switched gears.

“What have you got to say for this address?”

Namina shrugged. “I’ve got ideas….”

“Let the first be the interaction of the Delaware State Police and the Wilmington Police Department. We have to have synergy here.”

“The first is to ensure that the woman was not devastated and to let her be a reminder to the city that I will not strike those who don’t show force against me. I’m rationally self-interested.”

“You’re selfish,” Hospers interjected.

“Of course. Why would I take this job if I weren’t? I care about people. I care about this city and state. I want this country to do better. That’s a lot of ‘I’s in that little paragraph,” Namina observed.

“So you go down there and you….”

“I say what needs to be said.”

“You apologize….”

“No.”

“No?”

“I will not. I will say that I purposefully struck her because she needed to be shocked out of her stupor. The reason these drugs remain so pervasive is because people lack the capacity to think, their own guide to life, and a self-regard that is untouchable,” Namina imparted.

Hospers soaked up the words like a dry cloth blotting a red wine stain.

“I can help you write it if you want,” He suggested.

“No, this has got to be on me. Every word uttered has to come from my soul. Like I said, it’s all extemporaneous. I can’t have a committee on anything I say. It’s all about the way I shape the words and offer them up as fact. I will only state the facts and my plans for the future. But no apology will come from my lips because I did nothing no person with even an inkling of self-respect wouldn’t do.”

“I’d say you’ve got a pretty good chance at showing the world why you did what you did,” Hospers acknowledged.

“Once I get up on that stage and the lights snap and the questions come, which I will not answer, I will be able to give my side which is multidimensional.”

Just then, their phones vibrated and someone switched on the television. The woman, Justine Frame, 32, looked straight into the camera. She held her hands clasped at her stomach. Shutterbugs surrounded her.

“I just want to say that I’m not asking for an apology from the superintendent. And she hugged me, y’all.” Namina’s face remained a monolith. The interviewer had a question for Justine.

“But aren’t you going to press charges, take this to court? This is an obvious and blatant act of police brutality, right? Would you at least like for her to apologize to you?”

“Charges? Court? I’ve sliced people with a blower for two grams. Apologize to me for what? I’ve been down for so long off of this fetti. It wasn’t brutality. I started the whole thing. That policewoman saved my life with this pamphlet. I could start my own business someday. I wanted to thank her for giving me this pamphlet. I’m going to look through it and see if I can’t find gainful employment to start. I actually extend my deepest sorry to you Superintendent Norrey. Thank you for starting a fire in me to stop this drug stuff and put my life right. Thanks, again.” An officer switched off the television. The phones still showed the news on social media platforms.

“They’re going to say I put her up to it, you watch,” Namina mentioned with an even tone.

“Now that presser seems inconsequential, no?”

“I can’t see myself following that particular act.”