Gladiator by Harry Turtledove

Author:Harry Turtledove [Turtledove, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, Alternate History
Published: 2011-01-08T06:00:00+00:00

"How do you know, kid?" the policeman asked.

"I ought to. We share a kitchen and bathroom with the Crosettis," Gianfranco answered.

The policeman only grunted. He shone his flashlight on Eduardo's papers. "Is he all right?" the other policeman asked.

"Shall I radio headquarters?"

No! Gianfranco all but screamed it. That wouldn't do anybody any good. He bit down on the inside of his lower lip. "I don't think so," said the carabiniere with Eduardo's papers. Instead of returning them, he asked, "What are you doing out here at this time of night?"

"Talking about girls," Eduardo answered, and it wasn't even a lie.

The policeman thought it over. After a moment, he decided it was funny and laughed. Even better, he handed back the identity card and internal passport. "Well, Pagnozzi, that's a nice way to pass the time, but do it somewhere else from now on, you hear?"

"We'll do that." Eduardo stuck them in his pockets. "Thanks."

With another grunt, the carabiniere turned to his partner. "They're clean. And we got that drunk an hour ago, so we're on quota. Let's go."

They drove off. Gianfranco noticed his knees were knocking. He tried to make them stop, but they didn't want to. If the policemen hadn't picked up the drunk, would they have hauled him and Eduardo to the station instead? It sure sounded that way.

Eduardo wore a small, tight smile. "Boy, that was fun, wasn't it?" he said.

"As a matter of fact, no." Gianfranco could play the game of understatement, too. Without another word, he went back into the apartment building.

"You did real well," Eduardo told him as they trudged up the stairs. Would the elevator ever get fixed? Gianfranco wasn't holding his breath.

"Maybe I did," he said after a few steps. "I didn't like it."

"Well, who would?" Eduardo said. "Police shouldn't be able to bother you whenever they want to. In a free country, they can't."

As far as Gianfranco was concerned, he might as well have started speaking Korean. "What would stop them? What could stop them?" Gianfranco asked, certain Eduardo had no answer.

But Eduardo did. "The laws would," he said. "If the police do something wrong or bother people they've got no business bothering, they get in trouble."

"How?" Gianfranco still had trouble seeing it. "The police are . . . the police. They're part of the government. The government can't get in trouble." He might have been saying, The sun will come up tomorrow.

"Sure it can. Why shouldn't it, if it does something wrong? In a free country, you can sue the government. You can sue the police if they beat you up for no reason. And if a court decides they're guilty, they have to pay." Eduardo spoke with a certain somber relish. "It happens now and again. And because it can happen, the government is more careful about what it does."

"People . . . sue the government?" Gianfranco missed a step. Eduardo grabbed him by the arm and kept him from falling on his face. The idea was so strange, he might have been saying, The sun will come up tomorrow .

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