“That’s my sister” I heard J.J. say. “So if you could stop blinding her with a flashlight?” There was a tiny pause, maybe in which J.J. realized he was speaking to someone with a firearm and the ability to put him in jail. “Please?”
The flashlight beam was lowered, and I blinked quickly, trying to get rid of all the floating white lights that were now impairing my vision. “Can I—” I gestured toward my brothers, not sure if I was allowed to move or not yet. The walkie on the officer’s shoulder crackled, and he bent his head toward it, motioning me forward as he did with an annoyed wave.
I hurried up to my brothers before he could change his mind. They were still standing in a line—Danny, then J.J., then Mike. “What’s going on?” I hissed at them.
“Thanks for coming,” Danny said, giving me a quick smile as he ran his hand over his face. He looked exhausted, and somehow older than I had ever seen him. I was happy to see that none of them were handcuffed—that would take this into a whole new level of seriousness. And it was serious enough, what with the cop car and its flashing lights and my brothers standing shivering in a line on the side of the road.
“Why are you guys getting arrested?” Even though I was still trying to speak as quietly as possible, I could hear my voice getting high-pitched and squeaky with worry.
“We’re not,” Mike said quickly. “We’re just being, what—detained?”
“No charges have been made,” J.J. agreed, nodding. “We haven’t been Miranda-ized or anything.”
“But why are you—” I started, just as my brothers all exchanged simultaneous guilty looks. Danny glanced toward the Grant Avenue sign, and I realized why I was standing here. “You guys tried to steal the sign,” I said, not exactly phrasing it like a question.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” J.J. said in a small voice. “We were just driving around. We needed to blow off some steam, and then we saw the street, so . . .”
“I don’t know why there was even a cop there,” Danny said, shaking his head. “It was like he was waiting for us or something. All the other times we took the sign, it was totally deserted, not—”
“The governor of Connecticut lives in Stanwich Woods,” I said, pointing to where we could see the entrance from here. “There’s always a police officer there when he’s in town.”
“Oh.” This information seemed to deflate Danny somehow, and his shoulders slumped.
“Well, the good news is that we didn’t actually do anything,” J.J. said, in a voice that was straining to be upbeat. “We’d only just started to climb the sign when the five-oh showed up.”
“I don’t think that’s good news,” Mike said, shaking his head.
“Well, it’s better news than if he caught us red-handed, like, removing the sign,” J.J. pointed out. “All he has us on right now is suspicion. And a grudge.”
I just blinked at my brother. “Why would he have a grudge?”
J.J. shrugged. “We’ve just taken up a lot of his time tonight, that’s all.”
“What—” I started, just as the police officer lowered his walkie and turned back around toward us. Now that there wasn’t a flashlight beam or the aftereffects of a flashlight beam shining in my eyes, I could see that I recognized the police officer—it was Officer Ramirez, who we’d all seen just a few hours before.
Officer Ramirez frowned at me, and I gave him a small wave, but he just shook his head and turned back to my brothers. “I need to ask you again why you’re here,” he said, his voice low and serious.
They exchanged a glance and realized at once what the problem was—they couldn’t admit that they were attempting to steal town property. But that might be the only thing that would clear them of being suspected of having ill intent toward the governor of Connecticut. “Um,” I said, jumping in as the silence stretched on. “I’m sure that—” But I was saved from having to spin some kind of explanation, because at that moment a hybrid rolled silently down the street, then swung into place behind my car, which was behind Danny’s—making this suddenly look like the world’s strangest and most poorly planned tailgate.
The doors opened, and Rodney and Linnie got out, both of them squinting in the flashlight beam. “J.J.?” Linnie called, trying to shield her eyes.
“Is that the bride and groom?” Officer Ramirez asked.
“Why are Rodney and Linnie here?” Mike asked.
“I called Rodney,” I said, feeling simultaneously relieved and massively guilty that they’d had to leave the honeymoon suite to come and stand outside in the cold with us. “I thought it might not be a bad idea to have a lawyer around.”
“Hey,” Rodney said as he approached us, eyes widening as he took in the police car and my brothers all in a line. “What’s—what’s going on?”
“Oh, hi again, Officer,” Linnie said, waving at Officer Ramirez, who just shook his head as he looked at the six of us—I had a feeling the addition of more Grants hadn’t improved his mood any.
“That’s our lawyer,” J.J. interrupted, nodding at Rodney. “Um, Rodney Daniels, esquire at law.”
A muscle twitched in Rodney’s jaw, and I knew just by looking at him how hard it was for him not to correct J.J. in this situation, tell him that he wasn’t actually a lawyer yet. “Right,” Rodney said after a moment. “That’s me.” He looked around at all of us and sighed. “Thanks for this, guys. This really was how I wanted to spend my wedding night.”
“What’s the problem here?” Linnie asked.
“Well, we’re here on Grant Avenue,” I said, looking at my sister and widening my eyes. “But I think the problem is that they got too close to the governor’s mansion.”
I saw understanding dawn in my sister’s expression. “Seriously?” she asked our brothers, shaking her head. “Tonight?”
“When the governor is in residence, no non-local cars are permitted to be parked on this road,” Officer Ramirez said as he pointed to Danny’s SUV. “I saw this vehicle parked on the side of the road, empty, and then soon saw the three individuals attempting to climb that sign.” He pointed to it. “They refused to tell me what they were doing here, and I detained them on suspected suspicious behavior.”
“Um,” Rodney said, then cleared his throat as he pulled on the hem of his sweatshirt. I knew Rodney well enough to tell that he was wishing he was in his suit and tie, not in jeans and an ancient Dartmouth hoodie. “What is the behavior you suspected?”
“They were clearly trying to vandalize town property,” Officer Ramirez said, shaking his head. “It’s not like they were climbing that sign for the view.”
My brothers all exchanged a glance. I had been hoping Officer Ramirez hadn’t picked up on that part of things—but then I realized it was probably good to have a police force that was capable of putting things like this together.
“But they didn’t, right?” Rodney asked carefully, taking a step forward. “They didn’t actually do any property damage?” The second he asked this, he quickly looked at my brothers, like he was worried they might actually have damaged the sign. But Mike gave him a quick, subtle head shake.
“No,” Officer Ramirez said after a small pause. “But the fact of the matter is, they’re not permitted to be here at all. The governor’s safety—”
“The governor wouldn’t mind if we were here,” J.J. said blithely. “He’s a fan.”
“A fan?” It looked like Officer Ramirez was getting to the end of his patience, and I silently tried to communicate to J.J. to dial it back.
“Our mother draws a comic strip,” I hurried to explain. “The governor, um, likes it. But I’m sure he wouldn’t care—”
“This is about protocol!” Officer Ramirez exploded. “It isn’t up to you to decide what the governor would or wouldn’t want—”
“Well, we could ask him,” J.J. said.
“Oh, great idea,” Officer Ramirez said sarcastically, his voice rising. He’d clearly had more than enough of all of us tonight. “Why don’t we just wake
up the governor and ask him—”
“We don’t have to,” J.J. said with a shrug, pointing toward the entrance to Stanwich Woods. “He’s right there.”
We all turned to look. Sure enough, there was Governor Walker, in a windbreaker and jeans, coming toward us, being half pulled by a large dog who was straining against a reflective orange leash. The dog looked like five different dogs had all been tossed in a blender and this was the result—a yellowish body, a shaggy coat, stand-up ears, and a slightly smushed face. When it caught sight of us, its tail wagged frantically and it strained against the leash even more.
“Evening, Governor,” Officer Ramirez said, his tone very nothing to see here despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
“Evening,” Governor Walker responded, heading in our direction. “What’s going on?” He stopped a few feet away from where my brothers were still standing in a line.
“Just . . . a minor incident,” Officer Ramirez said. “It’s fine.”
“Are those the Grants?” the governor asked, taking a step closer to us all.
“Hi,” Linnie said, giving him a bright smile and a wave.
“Oh,” Governor Walker said, blinking a few times, clearly at a loss to understand what was happening here. “Well, it’s nice to see you all again so soon. But . . . um . . . what are you doing here?”
“I caught these three,” Officer Ramirez said, indicating my brothers, “attempting to deface town property.” His voice had already snapped into an official-sounding cadence, like he was polishing up what he was going to say at the press conference, which didn’t make me feel any more relaxed about the whole thing.
“Town property?” the governor echoed, still sounding baffled. “But what . . . ?” He looked around, and his eyes landed on the Grant Avenue sign. “You don’t mean the sign?” he asked, shaking his head even as he started to smile. “But that’s just like in the comic! Too funny.”
Officer Ramirez cleared his throat loudly, and the governor seemed to remember himself. “Not that it’s a good thing,” he said, shaking his head firmly, like he was trying to force himself to be serious. “Not at all. It’s . . . bad.”
“But there was no actual property damage,” Rodney jumped in, speaking to the governor while keeping his eyes on the police officer. “The sign wasn’t removed or damaged in any way. Right, Officer?”
“Correct,” Officer Ramirez said after a pause. “But the intention—”
“But you can’t charge people on an intention,” Rodney said, his eyes now on the governor. “Not in an incident this minor.” The governor nodded, and I suddenly remembered reading, in one of the articles about him, that he’d been a lawyer before he was a congressman.
“It’s true,” he said. “If they weren’t doing anything, the most they could be charged with is—what, trespassing? And since this is public property, well . . .”
“But they were far too close to your house,” Officer Ramirez said, with the air of someone clearly grasping at straws. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would have just let my brothers go if the governor of the state hadn’t come along. Now that he was there, it was almost like he needed to justify himself. “As you know, if they aren’t residents, they’re not permitted to be here. And . . .”
“Oh, they aren’t a danger to me,” the governor said, waving this away, sounding incredulous. “They’re the Grants. They’re an institution around here.”
“So they’re all free to go?” Rodney asked, enunciating each of the words he spoke, like he was trying to make sure there was no misunderstanding.
Officer Ramirez just looked at my brothers for a long moment, then nodded. “I would recommend not trying this again.”
“Absolutely,” Danny chimed in immediately.
“Wouldn’t think of it,” J.J. added.
“Never,” Mike added.
“Then you’re free to go,” Officer Ramirez said, then looked down at his watch. “And as it’s now three a.m., I’d recommend you all go home.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Danny said, nodding. “Thank you, Officer. Sorry to bother you. . . .” Officer Ramirez nodded and walked back to his car, looking annoyed at all of us. It wasn’t until he was nearly back to the patrol car that I finally let myself breathe out again.
“Thank you so much,” Rodney said fervently to the governor. “We really appreciate it.”
“Oh, it was nothing,” Governor Walker said, being pulled a few steps away by his dog, who clearly had had enough with all this standing around and talking we were doing. “He just gets a little overzealous sometimes. It’s not personal.”
I nodded, keeping my face impassive, feeling that the governor probably didn’t need to know that he’d also been called to our house earlier tonight and forced to mediate a family feud.
“Well, he’s getting impatient,” he said as the dog strained against the leash again. “I’d better go.”
“Have a good night,” Linnie called to him, and he raised his non-leash-holding hand in a wave.
“Looking forward to reading the last strip tomorrow!” he called, and then a second later, he’d vanished around the corner, the dog pulling him out of sight.
Nobody spoke for another moment, like we were all waiting to make sure things were really okay, that the coast was clear. “Oh my god,” Linnie said, when a few seconds more had passed. “You guys almost got in so much trouble.” She started to laugh, then clapped her hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking.
“Stop,” Danny said, looking at her with an overly serious face, but he wasn’t able to hold it—the sides of his mouth were trembling with the effort of keeping it in a straight line, and I could see he was on the verge of cracking up as well.
“I mean, what would the headline on this even look like?” Linnie asked, turning to me, not even trying to stop from laughing now.
“Sign of Foul Play,” I started, and Linnie shook her head. “No Laughing Matter? Guv to Rescue.”
“I’m sorry I asked,” Linnie said, laughing.
“It would be attention grabbing,” J.J. said. “I mean, I’d read that.”
“Were you a part of this whole thing?” Rodney asked me. “I noticed you didn’t seem to be lined up with the rest of the perps.”
“God no,” Danny said, shaking his head. “Charlie’s much too sensible for that.”
“Oh,” Rodney said, tilting his head to the side, like he was trying to figure something out. “When you called me, I wasn’t sure . . .”
“I called Charlie to come and help,” J.J. explained.
“But why did you call me?” I asked, turning to J.J. Of course I had come when he’d called, but it was just now hitting me that I probably shouldn’t have been the first call. My parents, or Rodney, or one of Danny’s crazy-expensive Wall Street lawyers would have made a lot more sense.
“Well—because we knew you’d come,” Danny said, like this was obvious, and Rodney and Linnie both nodded. “Because—” He looked around, a little helplessly, like he was being asked to explain something basic and obvious, like the presence of gravity or why the sky was blue. “Because you’re the person we call.”
I looked at my brothers, and Linnie, and Rodney, and felt something within me that had been clenched tight start to loosen a little. So maybe I wasn’t just the youngest, the one who didn’t get told things. I was also the one who came to help, who tried to make things work, who they called when they were in trouble.
But it also hit me as I looked around at them that this was my family. That even though my parents might be splitting up and it wouldn’t be the seven of us together, the five of us would still have each other. That we were still here for each other and that—just maybe—things might be okay. Certainly not right away. But if I had my siblings with me, the fact that we wouldn’t all be the same unit as before didn’t seem quite so painful as it had. I wouldn’t be going through it alone, after all—we’d all be in it together.
Mike glanced back at the patrol c
ar, where the lights were still on. “We should go before we get arrested for loitering or something.”
“Good call,” Linnie said, glancing over her shoulder as well. She headed toward the Prius. “You guys should get some sleep. Good Morning America tomorrow.”
“God,” Mike, shaking his head. “That’ll be fun.”
“See you in the morning,” Rodney said, heading around to the driver’s side.
Linnie hung back a second and looked at me, then pulled me into a quick hug. “Thanks for the call,” she said to me. “You okay?” I knew she meant everything that had happened in the family room, and while I wasn’t sure okay was the word I would use, it was like I could see okay, somewhere in the distance, a shore I could hopefully get to someday in the future. I nodded and she smiled. “See you in the morning.”
She got into the hybrid, which, a moment later, pulled forward, made a quick U-turn, then headed down the road and disappeared.
“I’ll drive with Charlie,” Danny said, tossing his keys to J.J., who caught them with one hand. “Seems like since she came all the way out here, it’s the least we can do.”
“See you at home,” I called to them. Mike was already ducking into the passenger seat, and J.J. gave me a nod. “And maybe just go straight home. Don’t knock over a liquor store on your way, or anything.”
I walked back to my car, Danny falling into step next to me. “Thanks for coming, Chuck,” he said, dropping an arm around my shoulders. “And for calling Rodney too. That was great.”
“I can’t believe you guys almost got arrested,” I said, lowering my voice to a near whisper on the last word.
Danny grinned at me. “Wouldn’t have been the first time.”
“What?”
“A story for another day.” He got into the passenger side, and I climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car, cranking the heat up—it wasn’t until I was back inside that I really felt just how cold it had been while we’d all been standing around, trying to keep the Grant brothers out of jail.