Page 115 of Lumi

“This is police violence. You’re going to regret it when the ambassador has your ass for this.”

“What if they don’t hold?” Lumi muttered when she locked his right hand with the key. “He’ll try to break them.”

“Don’t worry. He’ll have to get through me to get to ye, and that’s not happenin’.” I walked John out of the apartment and over to the stairs, where I chained him to the metal railing.

“You can’t do this,” he shouted, and further down voices were calling up to us.

“What’s goin’ on up there?”

I walked over to the railing and leaned out to see faces looking up at me.

“Sorry about the disturbance. There’s nothin’ for ye to worry about. This drunken pox will be picked up by the guards any minute now, and then we can all go back to bed.” I pushed John to sit down before I stepped back too.

“Help. Someone call the American embassy. I’m being manhandled against my will.”

“Oh, shut up, John. No one asked you to wake up my whole building with your spectacle. You made so many bad decisions along the way. Don’t come here and tell me to take responsibility when you don’t know what the word means.”

“Fuck you, Lumi. You never liked me. It’s all your fault.”

“Why? Because you thought you could outsmart the system by taking money under the table and now you got caught? Maybe a night in a detention cell will give you time to reflect on your future. If the rumors are true and you really are corrupt, then you’re facing some serious prison time.”

“I’m not going to prison. You are!” John slurred in anger and spat in the direction of Lumi and me.

The two guards who arrived a few minutes later calmly handled the situation.

When John kicked out at one of them, she took a step back and spoke to him in an authoritarian way.

“What’s your name?”

“John White, I’m American, and these people have assaulted me.”

“We’ll get to that in a minute, but listen to me, John White.” She waited until she had his full attention. “What happens if you kick an officer in America? Do you know?”

John muttered low. “Not exactly, but it’s not good.”

“Same here in Ireland. We take assaults on our guards very seriously, so I’ll give you a second to reconsider how you’re going to act when I approach you again. All right?”

Her sober tone and helpful approach calmed John down. He even apologized to her when the woman took a step back up toward him.

“I’m sorry. I think I’ve had a little too much to drink. I’m not a violent man.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said and kept talking to him in a measured voice. “Looks like you’ve had a rough night, but let’s start with gettin’ you free from the banister.”

I didn’t know either of the two female guards, but they exchanged our sex-shop handcuffs with a real set and handed the leather ones back to me with an amused smile.

“Do ye need my help?” I offered when they walked John down the stairs.

“No, we’ve got it. One of us will be back in a minute to take a report.”

I waited for them to return, and then both Lumi and I told them everything we knew.

It was close to two in the morning before we could finally get back to bed, and this time, Lumi didn’t debate with me when I slept closest to the door.