Someone to watch over me

advantage of the true veterans.
    General MacArthur was quoted as saying, “I have released in my day more than one community which had been held in the grip of a foreign enemy.“ He didn’t specify what foreign enemy he was referring to this time.
    President Hoover himself informed the press that “A challenge to the authority of the United States Government has been met, swiftly and firmly.”
    Other news programs said definitively that Hoover had given MacArthur specific warnings not to cross the Eleventh Street Bridge, an order from his commander in chief that MacArthur treasonably ignored. Other sources of news emphatically denied that this was true.
    The whole household of Grace and Favor and most of the rest of Voorburg were glued to the radio all the next day. Reports conflicted. One said only two marchers had been killed, another said over fifty veterans had been massacred in cold blood in front of their wives and children. A Negro infant in a Washington neighborhood had died of suffocation from tear gas. Men on the Anacostia Flats had had their ears cut off with army sabers.
    The only common thread was that the march was well and truly over.
    Everyone had scattered. Some were heading for New York City to occupy Central Park. Others had gone to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where they were heartily welcomed by the mayor. Many had fled to Camp Bartlett, just over the Maryland state line, a thirty-acre site that had been donated by a former Republican governor for the overflow of marchers. Many marchers’ families had firmly believed they’d prevail and had left homes they couldn’t go back to, out of shame or because they’d sold them before leaving for Washington.
    A few people in Voorburg, however, weren’t reading newspapers or listening to the news. Chief of Police Howard Walker and his deputy, Ralph Summer, were on their way to the Anderson home.
    “I’m sorry, Mrs. Anderson,“ Walker said at the door, “I have a warrant to search your house.”
    Roxanne, who had opened the front door a mere three inches, turned and said to her brother, “Don’t say a word. I’ve done nothing wrong.“ Looking back at Walker, she went on, haughtily, “Look all you want. Eugene and I will take the children outside in the backyard so they don’t see what shame you’re putting on our family.“
    “I regret this as much as you do,“ Walker admitted. Ralph rolled his eyes in astonishment.
    “No. You don’t,“ Roxanne said, closing but not latching the door.
    Ralph pushed the door back open and Walker snatched the deputy by the elbow. “I say when we go in.”
    Ralph looked about half as surly as Walker.
    They waited until they heard the children playing in the yard. Walker warned Ralph for the third time this morning, “If you find anything suspicious, don’t touch it. Just tell me about it.
    You search upstairs, I’ll search the ground floor, and then we’ll both do the outbuildings.”
    Walker started in the main front room. He found nothing hidden but homemade children’s toys that had slipped down between cushions or under skirted chairs. He examined the fireplace very carefully. The ashes were cold and dry and nothing had been burned for months. He’d started looking through the china cabinet in the dining room when Ralph came pounding down the stairs clutching a satchel to his chest with both big clumsy hands across its front. “Hey, Chief, look what I found.“
    “Ralph, you donkey’s ass! How many times did I tell you not to touch anything? Damn you, put it down. And don’t ever call me chief again, you fool.“ It was all Howard could do to prevent himself from beating Ralph to a pulp.
    “Sorry ... Chief Walker,“ Ralph said, with what he thought was clever sarcasm.
    Walker had brought along a fresh cardboard box lined with white paper to carry away anything suspicious. He picked up the satchel by the corner with a piece of the paper over his hand and laid it gently in the box. Ralph had probably smeared his own fingerprints and fibers from his shirt all over the satchel already.
    “Where’d you find this?“ His voice was almost shaking with anger. At Ralph. And himself.
    “Under a bed with one of those skirt things around it.“
    “Show me where. And for God’s sake, don’t touch anything else or I’ll tie your hands behind your back and thrash you within an inch of your life.“
    “What are you so grumpy about?“
    “You, Ralph. You!”
    Ralph clomped angrily up the stairs