Free Slow Motion Riot by Peter Blauner

think."
    She's afraid what her uncle might
do if she left. He's capable of coming after her with a gun—he's on probation
himself for assault with a deadly weapon. There is also a strong possibility
that he might start fucking Maria's eleven-year-old sister. My solution is to
get Maria moved out of the house so she can get her life together and then help
me start violation proceedings to put her uncle away.
    But when I start talking about the plan
again, Maria shudders and turns toward the wall. "It's not so easy,"
she says once more.
    As usual, I write down my home
number on a slip of paper and give it to her. "Call me," I say.
    After dealing with Maria, I go to
the bathroom and splash cold water on my face. Trying to take my mind off her.
It'd be nice to go by the legal department and check up on that other girl I'm
interested in, but there's no time. So I go down to the other end of the hall
to get a cup of coffee. I find Jack Pirone holding court around the coffee
machine with two other probation officers listening with bemused expressions.
    "Look," Jack says.
"It's Judas Baum! How you doing, Judas? How's the gold and silver exchange
these days?"
    "Leave me alone," I say
sullenly, picking up a Styrofoam cup.
    "What's the matter, Judas? You
look depressed."
    "I'm all right. Just let me
be, Jack."
    "Client getting you
down?" asks one of the other probation officers, a tall guy named Lloyd
Bell, who has no hips and ebony skin like an African statue.
    "Something like that," I
say, pouring the remains from the tepid coffeepot into my cup.
    "I was just telling him that
he shouldn't take this shit so personal," Jack tells Lloyd. He turns back
toward me, once again affecting a concerned look. "Steven, we see so much
human misery and suffering coming in and out of here every day. When you've
been around as long as I have, you find a way to deal with that pain."
    "What do you suggest?" I
say, sipping the coffee and tasting the grounds.
    Jack grows contemplative. "I
remember a few years ago, the wife and I shared a house with some people on Fire
Island . It was early in the summer. There were hardly any other
people around, let alone lifeguards. Some of the other people we were with
immediately went out into the water. But there was a strong undertow that
day." He becomes very still and his voice takes on a hushed tone.
"One of our housemates went out there. And he never came back. We hardly
even knew him."
    Lloyd looks at Jack and shakes his
head with a sigh. "Shit happens," he says.
    "I remember a number of us sat
around the fire that night, talking about it." Jack pauses, allowing for
the impact of his sad story. "And we laughed like hell."
    Lloyd and the other guy start
chuckling along with Jack. A stumpy, older woman with bright red hair scowls at
them as she pushes by. I shake my head. "I don't know, Jack," I say.
"I don't find some of this shit too amusing."
    "Then you should lighten
up." Jack raps me on the arm with his knuckles. "Otherwise, you'll
end up like Tommy Markham."
    "What's the matter with
Tommy?"
    "Nothing," Jack says,
wiping his hands on the front of his shirt. "He's just an old sap, who
don't have nothing going for himself except the job. You know he's retiring,
right? We're having a farewell party for him at Junior's in Brooklyn tonight. You should come."
    For a couple of seconds I think
about whether I could ask the girl from the legal department to come with me,
but then I consider what these parties are usually like and decide I shouldn't
risk it. I crumple my coffee cup and throw it in the trash. "Does this
mean I'm forgiven for going over to the Field Service Unit?" I ask Jack.
    "No," he says.
"You're still Judas, but you're still my old student."
    "I'm still in the union
too." I start to go.
    "Hey, Baum," Lloyd Bell
says loudly. "You got this Darryl King on your caseload?"
    "Yeah. What about him?"
    Lloyd strokes his goatee with two
fingers. "Sounds like a pretty bad guy."
    I take two steps toward