Microfilm and Riot

In a cafe, Deborah anxiously shows me a long strip of microfilm. As I look at the tiny writing on red film, she tells me how this is a paper that she hasn’t finished yet. I ask her what the paper is for, and she tells me that it is to graduate from a class. Two women behind Deborah are listening to our talk, and one turns to speak with me after Deborah goes to the back of the cafe to be with friends.

The woman tells me that she submitted a hand-drawn comic book to the same professor and passed. She invented an enviromentally-friendly cleaning product, made a comic book about it, and passed the class. She then offers to replace Deborah. I don’t quite understand but then realize that she is offering to be submissive for me. I decline the offer and go visit Deborah.

Deborah has already forgotten the microfilm paper and is hanging with friends. I say goodbye and head out into an imagined city. I’m walking through a poorer part of town to head home, thinking about how I’ll be watching DVDs tonight since I’m so broke. I walk buy a few buildings with quick-tag graffiti, and turn a corner to cut through a wide street that passes a high school.

Sometihing’s just ended in the street. Could be a riot, a drive by; I’m not sure. Upset parents are getting pushed back by plain-clothes security and what looks like armed-school faculty. A group of riot cops, dressed in thick-striped zoot suits, take their clubs off and load in to a van. A janitor opens a metal door out of the street, and then drops it.

Curious, I walk on home, almost going up an alley. Once home, I turn on the TV and watch the news. The female anchor happily says “Newsteam 4 didn’t catch the last violence at our local high school, but we were prepared this time.” They show footage of police beating back students. The first line of students are in wheel chairs, and there’s a second line of students holding chains connected to the chairs. The cops beat the shit out of them.

The news report never says why the protest started, and covers the police fashions instead. One group had nice sweaters under their green protective armor. They interview one of those cops, and I notice that he has no badge number (his sewn badge looks like a logo). The reporter speaks with the principal who, with a holstered gun, acts like nothings wrong. He compares the students to terrorists and admits that his people are well-trained to handle these situations.