Chapter 4: “I Don’t Need the Megaphone”
“I DON’T NEED THE MEGAPHONE!”
Every head on the street turned.
Gloria pointed toward the fire truck.
“I CAN STILL GIVE ORDERS!”
Marcus folded his arms.
“You can talk as loudly as you want.”
“I am not asking permission.”
“That much is obvious.”
She stepped toward him.
“You think this is funny.”
“No.”
“You’re mocking me.”
“No.”
“You’re challenging my authority.”
Marcus looked at her for several seconds.
“Gloria, what authority?”
She froze.
It was the first question nobody had asked her as an insult.
It was a genuine question.
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
Then she reached into her enormous turquoise handbag and pulled out a laminated badge.
She held it up proudly.
COMMUNITY SAFETY VOLUNTEER.
Marcus read it.
“Where did you get that?”
“I made it.”
“You made it?”
“It’s official-looking.”
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
“Gloria.”
“What?”
“This isn’t about whether you look official.”
She lowered the badge.
For the first time, some of the confidence disappeared.
But only for a moment.
She pointed toward the engine.
“You people come into neighborhoods, block streets, make noise, frighten residents, and expect everyone to obey.”
Marcus answered quietly.
“We come when somebody calls for help.”
Gloria looked toward Walter.
He was sitting with his daughter.
Then toward the damaged house.
Then at the firefighters packing equipment.
Her expression hardened again.
“I still think the truck should have been moved.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You’re entitled to think that.”
“I am entitled to enforce it.”
“No.”
That single word changed the mood.
Gloria stared at him.
Marcus continued.
“You can complain. You can call the city. You can attend meetings. You can ask questions. But you don’t get to command emergency crews.”
Gloria’s hand tightened around the dead megaphone.
Then a police officer approached and asked Marcus a question about the fire report.
Gloria listened.
Something about the report caught her attention.
She suddenly stepped forward.
“Wait.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
She pointed at Walter’s house.
“You said the call came from inside the house?”
Marcus nodded.
Gloria looked toward the damaged doorway.
Then toward Emily.
A new thought had entered her mind.
And this time, it had nothing to do with parking.
