Kinship of Clover by Ellen Meeropol

Author:Ellen Meeropol
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

His heart was still racing fifteen minutes later as he rearranged his butt on the linoleum floor of the courthouse lobby and wished for more natural padding. Nothing much was happening at the moment and he was grateful for that. He had found Greenhope and Tommy and they’d draped the banner around their bodies so the message and the border of painted leaves were visible. The uniformed cops stood in straight lines against the lobby walls, helmets and shields ready. They stared at the protestors while the suits with ear buds conferred. Jeremy wondered what they were thinking. Greenhope ignored them and watched streaming news coverage of Earth Day events around the country on her tablet, complaining that each of them looked bigger and more exciting than their puny college sit-in.

A cop wearing a black NYPD-stenciled vest stepped out of the huddle of suits and raised an electronic bullhorn to his lips. A thin squeal became static and then words. “You are trespassing. This is your last opportunity to leave the building. In five minutes, we will begin arresting those individuals who persist in breaking the law.”

Tommy got up to leave. “My wife will kill me if I get busted again,” he said.

Jeremy still hadn’t decided. Stay or go? Even if they won their demands and the university agreed to divest their fossil fuel holdings, thousands more species would become extinct in the meantime.

Greenhope pulled her hat lower over her face and elbowed him. “You staying?”

He shrugged. It didn’t matter, not really, but he had to decide. “What’s with the hat?” he asked, more to buy time than because he wanted to know.

“It’s a cloche. It was my mom’s,” Greenhope said. “I always wear it to demonstrations. But don’t change the subject. What are you going to do?”

Jeremy had no idea. What good would it do to get arrested? Tian said that civil disobedience delivered people right into the clutches of the system. But it was also a badge of honor to the students crowded into the courthouse. Flo would be proud of him. Maybe Zoe too. The thought made him smile.

“Getting busted is not for everyone,” Greenhope said, leaning close. “I mean, maybe you’ve got a good reason to leave. Like you’re wanted for arms smuggling in Omaha or you’re the single parent of infant twins and the babysitter has to leave at five sharp.”

“Nope,” Jeremy said. “Neither of those.” Did having a sort-of girlfriend back in Springfield count?

“This isn’t a game, you know. This is life and death and you’ve got to choose. Are you with us, or not? I mean, if it’s just that you’re scared, welcome to the club. Everyone in this room is scared and every one of us is worried that we’ll lose our scholarship or daddy won’t keep paying tuition or a police record will follow us all the days of our lives and we’ll never get a good job and be able to retire in Florida.”

She paused for breath, but continued before Jeremy could respond.

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