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my arms up behind my back to unlock his handcuffs.
    “Ouch, Jesus, will you watch it. What the hell’s wrong with you, Wayne?”
    He pulled me close, hissed at me. From his breath I guessed he’d spent a good part of the night protecting the Bratwurst stand.
    “I better not see you r worthless ass in my auditorium, ever again .”
    “Your auditorium? G od, g et me out of here, Manning, come on, please.”

Chapter Twelve
    “Look Dev, trust me on this, as your personal legal advisor I’m telling you it would be a really bad idea for me to get my fat ass down there tonight. I’ve had a couple of drinks.”
    Louie Laufen, my attorney, was slurring his words. Even over the noise from the jukebox in whatever bar he was in , I could hear that much.
    “Louie, can you call someone else to come down and get me out of here tonight? I don’t want to spend the night locked up in a jail cell .”
    “No, no what’s the score…” I guessed he was talking to whoever was seated next to him at the bar.
    “Louie!”
    “Hello, who’s this…”
    It was close to eleven the following morning before I was released.
    “Look Dev, what are you pissed off at me for? I came as soon as you called?” Louie said. We were standing on the sidewalk outside of the Ramsey County J ail, cars were backed up along Kellogg Boulevard in both directions due to the road construction.
    “You came a s soon as I called? Louie, I called you last night.”
    “You did? When?”
    “After they broug ht me in , as soon as I could get to a phone. ”
    “No shit, well why didn’t you leave a message?”
    “A message? I talked with you, man, but you said you couldn’t come down.”
    “Mmm-mmm, actually, that was probably a pretty good idea, me not coming down. No, I don’t thin k I would have helped last night. Well, no real harm done, ” he said and slapped me on the shoulder.
    “No real… I spent the night in jail , Louie .”
    “ Not the first time, Dev, can I drop you somewhere? ”
    “Yeah, as a matter of fa ct, if it hasn’t been towed I have to pick up my car at the Veteran’s Auditorium.”
    “That’s n ot exactly on my way, I was…”
    “No real harm done,” I said, then slapped him on the shoulder and glared.
    “ Okay, okay, come on, I’ll give you a lift.”
    My car hadn’t been towed, but o nly because they hadn’t gotten to it, yet. It was ticketed for a tow, parked in an overnight spot you weren’t supposed to park in overnight.
    “Damn it, a hundred-and-twenty-five bucks, ” I said, tossing the ticket into my front seat.
    “Count your blessings , it would have been two-twenty-five if they towed you over to the impound lot,” Louie said, then waved and drove off, Mister Positive.
    I drove home to shower, change and use a bathroom where I could close the door. I was getting undressed and pulled my phone out of my pocket to set it on the dresser. I had four messages and a-half-dozen texts. All had com e through while I had been in custody. T he first text was from Jimmy short and to the point, ‘U’r fired’. The next five were from Justine , but I didn’t have the heart to read them. I deleted them all and moved onto the messages.
    They were all from Justine, too. I was about to learn she could be a woman of few words.
    “Dev, you okay?”
    “Dev, call me.”
    “Are you crazy?”
    “Don’t call me.”
    I called her, and had to leave a message.
    “Hi Justine, Dev. Look there seems to be a slight misunderstanding about last night. I’d like to explain, please call. Thank you.”
    I took a long, hot shower. I hosed off the woman’s locker room, the assault, my interrogation, a night in the cell next to the drunk tank and the fifteen m inute ride in Louie’s car . I n the shower I discovered a knot on the top of my head where one of those reactionary English chicks had clubbed me with her helmet.
    Justine didn’t return my call. I got dressed and drove to the office. I stuffed two quarters in the slot and