Terrence Pershall

Seeing that they were being ignored, the man who made the comment once again spoke up, referring to the size of Brigitte’s breasts, and made a squeezing motion with his hands. Seeing this, the owner of the café rushed over and suggested that the three men leave the women to their coffee and pastries. The three men looked at each other, shrugged, and turned to leave.

Lauren looked at Lily and Brigitte and said, “I know the little foul-mouthed one. He’s a bully, always picking on women and children.”

As the men reached the door, Lily looked at her two friends and uttered, “Cochon,” meaning pig.

The last man out the door overheard this and stopped. He turned and re-entered the café, and walked up to the table where the women sat.

“Did I hear you correctly?” he said, standing over Lily, his hand on a wooden baton that he carried in his belt.

Lily looked up at him with fire in her eyes.

This man was a bully, and wore it like a stench he couldn’t remove regardless of how often he bathed.

“I wasn’t addressing you,” she said. “I was speaking to my friends here. Do you make it a habit to eavesdrop on other people’s conversation?”

“Did you call us pigs?” he asked much more forcefully.

“I don’t know,” replied Lily. “It seems that your ears are plenty big enough to hear what I said. Is it against the law now to have a private conversation?” The other two women smiled at this, which seemed to enrage the policeman further.

“I think that you need to respect the uniform of the government police,” he said in a menacing tone.

By this time, his two companions had joined him and had surrounded the table.
Brigitte and Lauren were clearly a little nervous, and shot Lily a look that said, ‘Back off.’ “I think you should apologize to me and my fellow officers,” said the man standing over

her.
Lily could see that his uniform had the stripes of a sergeant, and he acted superior to the

other two. She knew he probably didn’t want to lose face in front of his two companions, but what they had done was rude and insulting. She would not give him the satisfaction of an apology .

“I will not apologize to you or your friends for making a private comment among friends, especially in light of your rude remarks.”

The sergeant turned red in the face. “You country bitches think that you are so much better than everyone. You need to be taught to respect your government,” said the sergeant, now clearly angry.

“So, what are you going to do, beat us with your little baton?” Lily shot back. Her friends all giggled, picking up on her reference. “You speak of government. The Vichy is nothing more than a puppet of the Nazis. Are you blind to what they are doing to our country?” Lily, furious now, let all her feelings and frustration of the past months come boiling out.

The sergeant clamped his hand on Lily’s shoulder and said, “You clearly don’t know which way the winds are blowing. I think some time in jail will change that bitchy attitude of yours.” Lily moved so quickly that even she was surprised. She stood and turned on the sergeant,

who, as her friends could now see, clearly dwarfed her, and slapped the big man across his face so hard that it left a mark. “Get your filthy hands off me,” she screamed.

The big sergeant flew into a rage. He grabbed Lily by the throat and lifted her off the ground, choking her.

Lily struggled, but was helpless in the larger, stronger man’s grip. She gasped for air, and her friends were now screaming. The owner of the shop ran over and tried to pull the sergeant’s hand from her neck. Finally, his two companions rushed over and grabbed him, forcing him to release Lily and drop her to the ground. She struggled to regain her breath, coughing as her

head swam. Both Brigitte and Lauren rushed to her side to help her glaring up at the sergeant.