The Chicken

“Did you steal that?” We were so immersed in tearing the chicken apart because of our hunger that we didn’t notice a police officer watching us nearby. I saw David flinch up to see who was asking us that and he just seemed to freeze. I turned around and saw the cop standing over us. “No, we didn’t,” David responded. As the cop knelt down to pet Chipper, he admitted that he watched the whole thing because he was already in the parking lot getting ready to go in. “Would you guys mind coming with me so that we could get some statements? Because the store made a report, I have to bring you both in for questioning,” he said with charisma. We both just accepted our defeat and nodded as we got up to follow him. Chipper got picked up by another officer for the time being until they figured out what our consequences were going to be. 

On the way to the station, David and I rode in the back of his car together. I could read David’s nervousness through his body language and wondered if he could read mine. The officer told us his name, which brought a sense of comfort and familiarity, making me slightly less anxious. By the time we reached the station, my breathing slowed and my heart rate wasn’t so fast. I calmed down a bit and came to the terms that I needed to be completely honest, regardless of what David says. They told us we were going to be brought back for questioning with different officers, therefore we were going to be separated. I wasn’t as nervous for myself as I was for David. He was visibly shaken and couldn’t seem to calm down. I wished I could comfort him and tell him not to worry.  

When I walked in, it smelled clean, looked simple, and only contained two chairs and one table. The room was dimly lit and didn’t have very much space, but I managed to make myself comfortable in the cold, metal chair. The officer that came up to us in the park walked into the room carrying a notepad and a laptop and set them neatly on the table between us. I shivered. I was so cold. He looked at me and took a breath. “Who stole from that grocery store?” I felt the disappointment arise within myself as I started to form my confession in my head. “It was both of us. We were hungry and didn’t know what to do. Please, we don’t want to go to jail,” I replied as my voice started to shake. This wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. He looked me in my eyes and asked me to tell him what happened, so I did. I told him we did it in the past and got caught then too. I told him we just became homeless. I told him I was guilty and felt it. I told him I was sorry and would pay the price. He listened to me and didn’t say much, but nodded and wrote things down as I talked. He seemed relaxed and understanding. It was easy to talk to him because I felt my side of the story was cared about and mattered. 

Mark walked me out of the room and back into the waiting area where we came from to wait for David to get done. I waited patiently for David to come out of the room and began to worry when it had been over 10 minutes since I got done. 35 minutes passed and I heard the door creek open and flinched up to see David with an uncertain expression on his face. I began to worry because, by the look on his face, as well as the officer next to him, their talk did not go as well as ours. The officers then brought us to a room together to talk and compare the two stories. When the two did not match, I panicked. This couldn’t be my fault. I didn’t walk out with the chicken. I didn’t lie to the police. “David, you will be put on probation for theft and will need to participate in community service as well as pay the owner of the back for the merchandise you did take,” the officer said. “Donna, thank you for your honesty. You will be put on probation for only a month and will also need to pay the owner back for any stolen merchandise.” I sighed with relief and even David seemed to panic less. I said a blessing in my head and thanked God.