Chicago Noir by Joe Meno (ed. by)

Author:Joe Meno (ed. by) [Meno, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Noir fiction; American, Short Stories & Anthologies
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2015-07-29T12:00:00+00:00

The Whole World is Watching

by LIBBY FISCHER HELLMANN

Gramt Park

(Originally published in 2007)

"The whole world is watching.” Bernie Pollak snorted and slammed his locker door. “You wanna know what they’re watching? They’re watching these long-hair commie pinkos tear our country apart. That’s what they’re watching!”

Officer Kevin Dougherty strapped on his gun belt, grabbed his hat, and followed his partner into the squad room. Bernie was a former Marine who’d seen action in Korea. When he moved to Beverly, he bought a flagpole for his front lawn and raised Old Glory every morning.

Captain Greer stood behind the lectern, scanning the front page of the Chicago Daily News. Tall, with a fringe of gray hair around his head, Greer was usually a man of few words and fewer expressions. He reminded Kevin of his late father, who’d been a cop too. Now Greer made a show of folding the paper and looked up. “Okay, men. You all know what happened last night, right?”

A few of the twenty-odd officers shook their heads. It was Monday, August 26, 1968.

“Where you been? On Mars? Well, about five thousand of them—agitators—showed up in Lincoln Park yesterday afternoon. Festival of Life, they called it.” Kevin noted the slight curl of Greer’s lip. “When we wouldn’t allow ’em to bring in a flatbed truck, it got ugly. By curfew, half of ’em were still in the park, so we moved in again. They swarmed into Old Town. We went after them and arrested a bunch. But there were injuries all around. Civilians too.”

“Who was arrested?” an officer asked.

Greer frowned. “Don’t know ’em all. But another wing of ’em was trying to surround us down at headquarters. We cut them off and headed them back up to Grant Park. We got—what’s his name—Hayden.”

“Tom Hayden?” Kevin said.

Greer gazed at Kevin. “That’s him.”

“He’s the leader of SDS,” Kevin whispered to Bernie.

“Let’s get one thing straight.” Greer’s eyes locked on Kevin, as if he’d heard his telltale whisper. “No matter what they call themselves—Students for a Democratic Society, Yippies, MOBE—they are the enemy. They want to paralyze our city. Hizzoner made it clear that isn’t going to happen.”

Kevin kept his mouth shut.

“All days off and furloughs have been suspended,” Greer went on. “You’ll be working overtime too. Maybe a double shift.” He picked up a sheet of paper. “I’m gonna read your assignments. Some of you will be deployed to Grant Park, some to Lincoln Park. And some of you to the Amphitheater and the convention.”

Bernie and Kevin pulled the evening shift at the Amphitheater, and were shown their gas masks, helmets, riot sticks, and tear gas canisters. Kevin hadn’t done riot control since the Academy, but Bernie had worked the riots after Martin Luther King’s death.

“I’m gonna get some shut-eye,” Bernie said, shuffling out of the room after inspecting his gear. “I have a feeling this is gonna be a long night.”

“Mom wanted to talk to me. I guess I’ll head home.”

Bernie harrumphed. “Just remember, kid, there’s more to life than the Sears catalog.

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