“Wesley.”
“Tell her your whole name,” Dad said.
“Wesley Royal, Jr.”
“Wesley Royal, Jr., I’m Officer Schultz. Would you like a tour of the police station? See if it’s like TV?”
“Where you gonna take him?” Dad asked.
The lady cop leaned in close to Dad. I couldn’t catch what she said, but I had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be a normal tour.
Officer Schultz showed me the rifles and riot gear, but then we made it to a back room.
There was a small bed covered with crinkly paper and a blood pressure pump on the walclass="underline" it looked like a doctor’s office.
“Wesley, you understand why your parents brought you here?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She forced a smile, but it was totally fake. She didn’t think I understood. She wouldn’t believe the truth.
“I want you to pull your pants down, Wesley.”
“Why?”
“I have to examine you.” She rolled up the sleeves of her uniform and pulled on rubber gloves.
“Why do you have to examine me?”
She pulled the second glove on tight and wiggled her fingers. “I have to see if there’s been any damage done to you.”
“What do you mean ‘damage’?”
I wanted to know what was going on because I didn’t want to offer them anything that might send Rubin away, or make me look guilty. He could tell them about my part in it, say I wanted it, and then they’d either lock me up too or I’d be branded a queer. A lose-lose situation.
“I can tell when a person has had sex or not,” Officer Schultz said.
“He didn’t screw me!”
“I believe you, Wesley, I do,” she said. “But if I examine you, it will back up your statement, and then everybody will have to believe you when you say he didn’t do anything to you.”
She had a point. And I wanted everyone to believe me when I said Rubin didn’t screw me, but I knew it was a lie. Would her examination show that I was a liar? The van had been a month ago: would it still show?
“How are you going to examine me?” I asked.
“Have you disrobe and check for bruises, marks, and scratches. That’s all.” She forced another smile. She was perturbed and wanted to get this over, but I had to stall her longer.
“Do I have to take off all my clothes?”
“You can pull your shorts down around your knees,” she said, “and just pull your shirt up so I can see your chest and back.”
That didn’t sound too bad.
“Have you bathed today?” she asked.
“No, ma’am. But I went swimming.”
“Before or after?”
“Before or after what?”
“Before or after anyone tried to mess with you.”
“I swam before.”
“Good. Now, may I begin?”
I couldn’t think of any more questions.
The examination was over in a few minutes and it didn’t even hurt. Afterwards, Officer Schultz walked me back to the lobby where my parents sat. I took a seat next to Mom and Officer Schultz whispered into Dad’s ear.
“He’d better not been penetrated,” Dad said. “And when is Captain Nelson getting here?”
“We called him at home,” the young cop said through the speaker. “Today’s his day off but he’s the only one who handles juvenile abuse, so he’ll be in in a little bit.”
Dad glared at the young cop, expressing his disapproval at the answer.
Our seats were gray steel covered with green plastic, and uncomfortable as all get out. We rocked from cheek to cheek for a few minutes, then something happened that made me stop.
“What the hell are y’all doing here?” Dad said, suddenly standing up.
“They called us,” replied Mr. Lopez, who had just entered the station. “Saying something crazy about pressing charges on my Rubin.” Mrs. Lopez and Rubin were close behind him.
“Damn straight! He’s not going to hurt any other little boys.”
“He didn’t hurt your son,” Mrs. Lopez said holding Rubin’s head to her shoulder. She was crying. “Rubin’s a good boy. He’s a good boy.”
“Good boys don’t lock themselves in the bathroom with other boys,” Mom said.
“You say he did that. Rubin says he didn’t,” Mr. Lopez said.
“I caught them in there,” Dad said. “And the door was locked. I tried it myself and couldn’t get in, and when Wesley finally opened the door, they both had opossum-eating-shit looks on their faces. I knew they were up to something, but I didn’t know what.”
A tall black man entered the waiting area. “That’s what I’m here for. I’m Captain Nelson.” He was sooty dark and muscular like an ex-football player. “You must be the Royal and
Lopez families.” He spoke with a great deliberateness.
“Rubin and Mr. and Mrs. Lopez, won’t you follow me?” Captain Nelson said.
“Why do they go first?” Dad said. “We’re the ones that called you.”
“That’s why I have to speak to them first,” Captain Nelson said. “I have to catch them up to speed and fill them in on all that you claim has transpired.”
“Claim? You calling me a liar, you...Well, are you?”
Captain Nelson took a deep breath that ended with a quick snort. He ran his tongue around his lips and adjusted his belt before speaking, “No, Mr. Royal. No one here is calling you a liar. But that boy of theirs is innocent until proven guilty, so we can’t go and act like he’s a criminal because you say so.”
Dad sat down and Captain Nelson led the Lopez family through a gray steel door and out of view down the hall. We sat back in our chairs. Mom and Dad were wide-awake and stone quiet.
That scared me. Dad was never silent. Maybe he thought I was as guilty as Rubin.
A few minutes later Rubin and his parents walked out with Captain Nelson. They sat across from us, in chairs identical to ours, and Captain Nelson led us down the same hall that he’d just taken them and into a small office with an old scuffed wooden desk that dominated the room. He sat on the other side of the desk, a clipboard in front of him, a glimmering silver pen in his ebony hand.
“I explained your claims to the Lopez family,” Captain Nelson said. “Rubin and his parents claim he is innocent, and Officer Schultz said there were no signs of abuse on Wesley. So it’s your word against his. Now, Wesley, tell me what happened today between you and Rubin.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
“Go ahead, boy,” Dad said, “tell him what you told us.”
Captain Nelson sat his pen on the desk and his wrinkled forehead smoothed. He knew I wasn’t going to say anything.
“Tell him how he screwed you,” Dad said.
“He didn’t screw me,” I said.
“Did he try to?” Captain Nelson asked.
Captain Nelson leaned forward on his elbows, his eyebrows arched questioningly, a flicker of hope lighting his dark eyes. I stared into those eyes but never opened my mouth. I could not tell anyone what Rubin and I had done.
“Could we speak to our son in private?” Mom asked.
“Anything he tells you in private,” Captain Nelson said, “won’t be admissible. He has to say it in front of me.”
“Goddammitt! Tell the man what you told your mama,” Dad said. “We can’t sit up here all day.”
“There’s no need to shout, Mr. Royal. I’m sure your son is frightened enough.”
“He’s too scared to talk. That’s his problem,” Dad said. “Talk or let’s leave. Stop wasting everybody’s time!”
“Wait out in the hall, please, Mr. Royal.”
Dad snapped his head at Captain Nelson. His eyes said No buck nigger with a badge is gonna put me out. I waited for those words to spill from Dad’s mouth. But, like before, he held