Ausgang! Four!

Originally published in Ausgang under the grouping Cops.

Inspiration for a Lumpen comic.

In 1987 while visiting some relatives, the NYPD busted myself and this kid from Ithica (never asked his name) for smoking a joint and drinking a couple cans of beer in an alleyway a few blocks from Madison Square/Grand Central. The man in blue worked up a good hassle about us going to jail with all the hookers and junkies, while he earned overtime booking us. We’d have to call our parents, he said. That thought, more than being a 16-years-old girl sitting trashed in bum vomit with some guy I didn’t know, scared the crap out me. The finger-wagging seemed endless, like the sun had set and rose twice over. Then he said, “What the hell are you smiling at?” “Nothing,” I replied. I never realized that the acid I had eaten about 2 hours before kicked in, and I had just beamed up at him the whole time. After a slight pause, he smiled and said, “Don’t smoke your stuff on my beat. And, put your beer in a bag. Have a good night, kids.” We finished our beers as he walked back onto the street. Later, we went to the top of the Empire State.

- Melissa Sullivan