the other press Culture http://otherpress.douglas.bc.ca Poetry/Fiction/Essays/etc. East Side Ambivalence Get the fuck away, she screams, as her freedom is clenched with a click. Her large breasts sway back and forth as she struggles to regard the shiny bracelets behind her back. She is wedged into the back of the white car by two numbered uniforms, her hair flailing into their faces. Bet you're not so tough when youre not wearing blue, Bitch, she challenges. I smile wryly and do not respond. Months later, out of uniform, I see her on East Hastings stooped low, eyeing gutters in search of tiny rocks of pleasure that may have dropped from some addict's sweaty palm or holey pocket. Her face is bloodied, beaten. She limps pathetically. I look at the once-tough girl; she looks through me. I could push her, I suppose, over the edge of the curb. But I don't. I’m not wearing my gloves. By Barb Adamski December 4, 2002 page 19 © ,