Lost and Found (ONC2024)

Chapter 4

Jude

Somewhere in another time

I got out of the way just in time. On my knees, I looked up as a moving object barreled toward me. As a car honked, I jumped to my feet and bolted down the road. My broken toe slowed me down, so my bolt wasn't much of a bolt. I was a moving target. People on the sidelines yelled and booed, throwing rocks at me. As I limped on the side of the road, women covered their children's eyes. There weren't many cars on the road. The few I noticed reminded me of the antique cars I drove at Canobie Lake Park, an amusement park in New Hampshire. It was only a matter of time before someone caught me, determined to do something about my obscene nudity.

Minutes ago, I fell asleep in Percy's arms. Now I was awake with a police officer gripping my bare arm as my body trembled in the cold.

"Got ya, ya filthy pervert," the officer said. Dressed in a police uniform from a different time, he spoke with a slight Irish accent, holding a billy club with one hand. I closed my eyes, ready for a whack.

I didn't put up a fight, bracing myself. Although I looked like a complete lunatic, the officer didn't whack me. Instead, he cuffed my arms behind my back and dragged me down the road. Women averted their gaze and shielded their children's eyes as I made my way to the wagon. I didn't care where he took me as long as someone gave me a blanket or clothes to wear.

"No good Italian," he muttered, hauling me into the paddy wagon. I concluded I was in Boston, circa 1900-1920. The Irish and Italians didn't get along between 1900 and 1920. Something about me must have reminded him of an Italian man. I doubted there were any half white/half Cambodian people in the United States at this time. I'd heard about the influx of Chinese, but that was about it. It must have been my dark hair and eyes. The officer tossed me into the back of the wagon with the other alleged criminals.

The wagon reeked of piss, beer, and tobacco. I was one of five in the wagon. The other four glared and snarled at me. If they weren't all cuffed, I bet they'd attack me. A scratchy, wool blanket hit me in the face before the wagon doors closed.

"What year is it?" I asked the man beside me. Dried blood caked his nose, his lower lip bruised and swollen. I bet he was in a drunken fight. "I've been drunk for the past week."

"1912, ya drunken fool," he replied.

"Oh... did the Titanic sink yet?" I laughed at myself, bursting into a fit of giggles. The man beside me elbowed me hard in my ribs. The man across from me spit at me, getting me in my face. I didn't want to die today, yet I acted like I had a death wish. I bet the Titanic hadn't sunk yet, because it felt like February instead of April.

"What the hell ya talkin' about? Shut up or I'll make ya shut up. You belong in an asylum. I hope that's where they send ya."

For the rest of the ride, I kept my mouth shut, keeping my head down and my eyes on the floor. It was best not to make eye contact.

At the station, officers hosed us down and de-loused us with a white powder. I was already freezing and the water from the hose just made me colder. It was humiliating and degrading to be hosed down with a handful of other men, but I'd been through worse. After they sanitized us, they gave us black and white striped prison uniforms. It was like something out of a movie. I was thrown in a jail cell with all the others. With any luck, I'd fall asleep before facing a judge for an arraignment. There was no place to sit, and the prisoners all looked at me like they wanted to kill me. Most of them, as usual, were bigger than me. If I had nowhere to sit, then I wouldn't be able to fall asleep.

"This one's a pervert," a man grumbled, shoving me against the metal bars. It wasn't my first time someone called me a pervert. It wasn't my fault I landed as naked as the day I was born. As he lunged toward me, I blocked him, punching him in the face. Suddenly, chaos erupted around me as a brawl broke out, with me right in the middle. A part of me wished they'd just kill me, but I was a survivor and a fighter. It was five against one. There was no way I'd win.