Chapter 19 - Page 276 - Louisiana Law

   The arresting officer was getting irritated. "Don't you worry about a search warrant," he said, "I'll take care of that when we get to the station. Mark," he yelled, "I said to get that marijuana out of the glove box."

   Mark, a young, slender man with an arrogant smile on his face, slipped past the police dog. The dog barked and began sniffing urgently at his clothes. The officer pushed the dog away and climbed into Jim's truck. He fumbled around with something inside his jacket, finally pulling it out. He didn't even open the glove box. He climbed back out of the truck, holding a package of marijuana in his hands.

   "Looks like we caught a real criminal," he said. "I found four pounds of marijuana in the glove compartment." He handed the package to the arresting officer. Jim stared at it in disbelief, absently noting that the package couldn't weigh more than a pound.

   "Looks like about four pounds to me," the arresting officer said.

   Rhasha and Shanha kept glancing at the sky.

   The arresting officer took hold of Jim's arm to escort him to the police cruiser. "Mark," he said. He pointed to Rhasha. "Put her in your car and follow me." He pointed to Shanha. "Jerry, take the young miss to Children's Division. Hank, get someone down here to get this truck."

   Rhasha and Shanha began crying again as they were led to the police cars. They thought for sure God would turn the four officers into donkeys, but he didn't. Jim, seated in the first police car, watched bleakly as Rhasha climbed into the second car. Shanha was in the third car. All four police cars took off, one after the other, lights flashing and sirens blaring.

   At the police station, Jim and Rhasha were led inside, still wearing handcuffs. They had their mug shots taken and they were fingerprinted. "Jim, what's happening?" Rhasha whispered as they were wiping the ink off their fingers.