The Bride Experiment (11 page)
Read The Bride Experiment Online
Authors: Mimi Jefferson
Chapter 17
The crystal glass doors at the entrance of the church and the beautifully landscaped cobblestone-lined entryway were two of the many reasons why Raquel imagined herself getting married at the church years before she was ever engaged. She loved the idea of walking hand in hand with James after their wedding and having their friends and family members toss rice as they stood next to sweet-smelling roses and carefully placed daffodils.
A man in a suit spoke to the police officers on both sides of Raquel as they were preparing to walk out the crystal doors. “Peterson, Ramirez, walk straight to the cruiser. Do not talk to the reporters and do not stop. Drop her off at county and meet me at the station. This one is going to be all over the news, and I don't want to have to explain away any goof-ups to the media.”
Raquel was walking out of the church, but not to her family and friends throwing rice. Instead, she was greeted by flashing camera lights and reporters. All of her wedding guests had been questioned and told to leave the premises hours ago. She was handcuffed with an officer on each side. Her wedding dress was bloodstained and torn in several places. The biggest hole was in the front, near her stomach, exposing her girdle. The tiny roses that adorned her hair had shifted, causing her carefully done tresses to spike from her head. She had three scratches on her face: one on her left cheek, one underneath her right eye, and the last, about two inches long across her forehead.
The newswoman, bored with the long wait, didn't notice Raquel because she was too busy primping her hair. She used her hands to fluff the ends of her red curls but stopped when her cameraman tapped her on the shoulder. She immediately turned around and ran to Raquel, sticking a microphone in her face. “What happened today? Do you care to make a statement?” Raquel kept moving, trying to stay upright as she watched the beads on her wedding dress fall to the ground, one by one. She wished she could follow them deep into the earth, never to surface again.
The redheaded newswoman now had company. Two other reporters ran out of their news vans, all of them desperately trying to get Raquel to say something. “What happened, miss? Do you care to make a statement ? Where did you get the gun?”
The bright lights momentarily blinded Raquel, causing her to trip. She braced herself to hit the ground but never did. The officers held tightly on to her. They walked briskly as they stared straight ahead.
“Did you just snap? Where did you get the gun?” They didn't care or didn't notice that she almost fell. “Why did you do it? Did he cheat on you? What happened today?”
Raquel could see the police cruiser only a few more steps away. She looked around, hoping that somebody, somewhere, would come rescue her. One officer released her and went to the driver's side, while one police officer tightened his grip and escorted her to the backseat. He quickly slammed the door, noticing but not caring that a piece of her dress was hanging out the door.
When Raquel was just a little girl, her mother would leave her alone in a cold, lonely apartment. Raquel used to hum herself to sleep. As long as she was humming, she didn't have to feel the fear and the tears that swelled up in her eyes. The tears never had the chance to fall down her face. The louder she hummed, the braver she became.
As she hummed, she imagined herself not alone in an apartment, but rather surrounded by people who loved her. Her imaginary mother would tuck her in and read her a story. Her imaginary father would stop by her room, once the lights were out. He would refuse to leave until his precious little girl was asleep.
Raquel wasn't allowed to have a pet. But when she was daydreaming, there was always a dog. He was brown and white, and his name was Totter. He loved Raquel as much as she loved him. If she ever had a bad dream, Totter was always there to comfort her.
As Raquel traveled to the police station, even though she hadn't done it for years, she hummed and went to an imaginary place. Instead of being handcuffed in a police car, accompanied by two cops, she was a highly sought-after celebrity named Maggie Fountain. Maggie wasn't on her way to the police station; she was on her way to the Grammy Awards in a limousine. After successfully debuting her first CD, she was the new “it” girl. The past year found her on the cover of
Essence, Ebony, Newsweek,
and
Rolling Stone
.
Essence, Ebony, Newsweek,
and
Rolling Stone
.
The paparazzi were relentless in their pursuit of her. She couldn't go and get a cup of coffee or a burrito from her favorite fast-food restaurant without causing frenzies. As they approached a stoplight, she heard a helicopter hovering right over the car. She giggled and wondered who had rented a helicopter to follow her today. There were reports that she was pregnant, and every magazine and entertainment show wanted to be the first to show her baby bump. She shook her head. There was no baby and therefore no baby bump. She was much too careful for that.
In a few months, she had a movie to film with Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Hudson. In the fall, she was getting her own talk show and introducing a line of high-end handbags. There was absolutely no time for a baby.
She imagined that a reporter from
Entertainment Tonight
was in the car with her. He was getting an exclusive story on her next project. They laughed and talked like they were old friends until their interview was suddenly interrupted when the car came to a sudden stop.
Entertainment Tonight
was in the car with her. He was getting an exclusive story on her next project. They laughed and talked like they were old friends until their interview was suddenly interrupted when the car came to a sudden stop.
A waiting officer pulled her out of the patrol car, stepping on her dress in the process. The large gray building looked like a towering mountain to Raquel. There were three times as many reporters now, but they couldn't get close to her. Several dozen police officers held them back behind a thick strip of yellow tape. They yelled out questions and the photographers flashed their cameras. Raquel barely noticed. She was too consumed with what lay ahead as the officer walked next to her and eventually opened the door leading her into the mountain.
Chapter 18
“Welcome to Clarkston County, Miss Raquel,” the officer who walked her in said; then he handed her over to the waiting guard. He completed some paperwork and left her to the large dark-skinned guard who sat before her; she had an attitude that Raquel could feel. There were no cameras here, just a frumpy woman behind a desk with a halfway-eaten package of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and a twenty-ounce Coke. Scattered about her desk was a mix of papers; most seemed work related, with the exception of a few tabloid magazines.
Raquel looked up at her, trying her best not to look defeated. Raquel pushed her shoulders back and held up her head. The woman came from behind the desk. “Do you know why you are here?” Raquel nodded. She recalled the officer in the suit explaining her rights before the other two handcuffed her and walked her to the patrol car. She heard him, but she wasn't listening. She nodded when he was finished and he seemed appeased.
“Let me do a quick pat-down and we will start with the paperwork. Do you have any weapons, drugs, syringes ? Anything like that?”
“No.”
The officer used both of her hands. She moved them past Raquel's arms and shoulders. She slid her hands underneath her arms and then her breasts. She moved down her thighs between her legs and concluded at her ankles.
Raquel closed her eyes and hummed while this was going on. She imagined she was playing a part in a movie where she had to pretend to be arrested. She told herself this was not the most humiliating thing that had happened to her. This was the acting job that would lead to her first Oscar.
“Is she there yet?”
Raquel looked around the room to locate the voice. The female guard retrieved her walkie-talkie from behind the desk.
“Yeah, they just dropped her off.” The guard spoke into the intercom. “She's in here, trying to look like she ain't scared as heck.” The guard laughed. “Girl, when do you go on break? You gotta come down here and see this for yourself. She looks like a hot mess. Worse than she looked on the news.”
Raquel's shoulders deflated and she inspected her dress. She wanted to cry, but she quickly changed her mind. Whatever was about to happen to her, she wouldn't cry.
“Okay, Cinderella, it is time to get booked.” Raquel tensed up. “Don't worry, this part is easy,” the female guard added.
Raquel answered her basic questions the entire time, wondering what the not-so-easy parts would be.
The guard looked up from her completed paperwork. “That's a pretty dress. Too bad you are going to have to take it off.” Raquel remained stoic. Suddenly two officers arrived with five ladies in handcuffs. The guard shook her head in disgust. “It's going to be a busy night. On Saturday night, everybody acts a fool.”
The guard turned to the two officers. “I'll be back. Just let me place her in holding.” The guard led Raquel out of the booking area and down a hall, where other guards were located. Without words, she was transferred from one guard to another, like she was a piece of trash. The new guard looked at Raquel with compassion, but she was too overwhelmed to absorb it.
“Try not to say anything to anybody,” she whispered. “If they ask you a question, answer it. But don't go overboard. I'll come back as soon as I can so you can make your phone call.”
Raquel smelled the holding cell before she saw it. There were three women in the cell. Two of them stared into space, with drool hanging from their mouths. They didn't seem to know where they were or who they were. One was standing in her own feces, with vomit covering her shirt. Raquel had never seen a toilet like the one in the cell. It offered almost no privacy. Someone was using it, and her face and chest and legs were exposed. These women were locked in a cage the size of Raquel's master bathroom.
One of the drooling women started scratching feverishly like a dog does when its body is infested with fleas. The thought of being locked up in that small space with those women for an unspecified amount of time had Raquel shaking.
There was no way she could be locked up in there. Raquel let out a scream that could have broken glass. Then she attempted to run from the guard, only to find herself pinned to the floor before she had a chance to move more than a few steps.
“Now, little lady, don't make this harder than it has to be.” The guard yanked Raquel off the floor and shoved her in the cell, locked it, and walked off.
Raquel scattered to a corner, mumbling underneath her breath. The drooling women looked like zombies. They had swollen heads, with bulging eyes. She could see the bones in their faces. They looked so skinny, they could wear children's clothes.
Raquel heard the toilet flush. She looked up at the woman walking away from it. She was wearing a pair of cheap high-waisted jeans and an orange T-shirt with matching running shoes. Her hair was freshly relaxed and pulled back in a ponytail. She looked like a soccer mom on her way to a game.
“You know, another outburst like that and you are going to get yourself hurt,” the woman said as she walked closer to Raquel. “If that was anybody but Mrs. Penny, you would have been black-and-blue by now.”
“I don't belong in here.” Raquel glanced at the two drooling women.
“They don't mean no harm. They are just coming off that crack high.” The woman laughed. “You act like you never seen a crackhead before.”
Raquel shrugged her shoulders. The only drug addicts she had seen had been in the movies. There were rumors that a few of her relatives were addicted to the drug, but none of them looked like this.
The woman's shock faded. “Yeah, these two are pretty bad off. I would say they have been addicts for twenty years or more. You don't look like that overnight.” She sighed.
“What happened to your dress?” Raquel shook her head, signaling she didn't want to talk about it. The woman continued talking. “I got caught with some parking tickets. My sister ran them up in my name and didn't tell me. She better be bailing me out right now, or I will hurt her with my bare hands. I spent two years locked up and I promised myself I wouldn't be behind bars again. I better not spend one day locked up in that freaking dormitory.”
Raquel struggled to speak. “What dormitory?”
“What dormitory? Girl, are you for real?”
Raquel had a blank expression on her face.
“Okay, let me go slow. This is a holding cell. If you and me don't get bailed out of this joint soon, we are going to end up in jail, or a nicer way of putting it, the dormitory. Most cases you only have to stay overnight, unless, of course, the judge refuses bail. I don't care if it's only one night. I don't want to be anywhere near the place.
“Did you make your phone call yet?” Raquel shook her head. “Did they strip-search you? Did you go to medical? Did you take your mug shot? Get fingerprinted ?” Raquel answered no to all of her questions.
“Man, they must really be backed up, or at least are pretending to be. These lazy know-it-all so-called guards get on my last nerves. They need to let you make your phone call so you can get up outta here. What did you do, slash one of your bridesmaids for not staying in step?”
“Phone call or not, Miss Raquel is going to be with us for a while,” Mrs. Penny said as she approached the holding cell with a male guard. “Isn't that right, Raquel?”
“Rodgers, you made bail. Let's go,” the male guard said. The woman in the orange shirt waved to Raquel before being escorted to freedom.
Raquel watched her disappear and wondered if and when she would ever leave this place. And when she finally was released, would there be anybody to come home to?
Mrs. Penny motioned for her. Raquel took a deep breath thinking,
It must be time for the hard part.
It must be time for the hard part.
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