Peace Pilgrim by Merry Brennan

Author:Merry Brennan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nature, love, peace, inspiration, joy, inner peace, conflict resolution, womens history, walking and hiking, peace pilgrim
Publisher: Merry Brennan

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Chapter 16: Berries for Breakfast

While still in Texas, walking along the highway between El Paso and Dallas, Peace Pilgrim had another encounter with the law. This time, it was the FBI! A man in a black car stopped, showed her his badge and said, “Will you come with me?”

“Of course,” she replied sweetly. “I’d be happy to talk to you.”

Before getting in the car, she bent down to scratch a large ‘X’ on the dirt shoulder of the road where she was standing. Since she was counting her distance to meet her 25,000-mile goal, she always marked the spot if her walk was interrupted. That way she could continue where she left off.

Silently, the FBI agent drove her to a prison about 10 miles away. “Book her for vagrancy,” he told the clerk at the front desk. Then he took her for fingerprinting.

Peace Pilgrim was fascinated as he dipped her fingertips in a saucer of blank ink and rolled them, one by one, on a white index card. She wondered aloud how long it would take for the ink to wash off. The agent, without saying a word, rubbed her hand with a cloth and her fingers were instantly clean.

“How did you do that,” she asked, looking at the card that contained her fingerprints and then at her hands.

“It is a special chemical remover,” he said tersely.

“Oh, I’ve never seen anything like it. In fact, I’ve never been fingerprinted before,” said Peace, clearly intrigued by the whole procedure. She chatted with the officer just like she did with anyone she met on the street. She asked how long he had been an FBI agent, how he learned to take fingerprints, what they were used for and if he ever messed them up.

At first, he answered with tight, one-sentence responses. But then something interesting happened. He was used to being treated in an uncooperative manner. When Peace spoke to him with genuine curiosity and friendliness, he softened. Before long, he was giving her an animated lecture on fingerprinting. He showed her several charts and even told her stories about some unusual cases that were solved with fingerprints. Then they started talking about her pilgrimage. They were deep in conversation when there was a knock on the door.

Another officer peered in and said, “Hey George. There’s a long line waiting out here. What’s been taking you half an hour? I need the print room.”

George led Peace Pilgrim out of the room and apologetically explained that they had to go for mug shots. He led her to a wall and placed a number hanging from a chain around her neck. As the photographer was about to snap pictures from both front and side angles, Peace remembered all the pictures of wanted people in post offices. They all looked sullen and angry. Let me be different, she said to herself. So she smiled as sweetly as she could for the camera.

When the agent next took her for questioning, she was placed in a hard-backed chair under a bright light.

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