At the sound of the gunshot, the two policemen with their dogs, who were previously
chatting, were startled.
They whipped out their guns. One of them yanked the dog’s leash and jumped forward,
the other held the loudspeaker and shouted, “Don’t panic! Don’t panic! Everybody down!
Squat down! We are the police! Miami riot police!”
Police car sirens blared louder while people calmed down.
This street was not one for ordinary people, after all. These were the so-called street art
lovers, who were in some measure connected with street gangs.
At first, people were startled by the sound of a gunshot, but as there was no second
gunshot, and the police kept order, they calmed down. The key point was that the young
people knew each other well, and they liked to boast about how bold and tough they
were together, so the chaotic displays of fear on the scene soon ceased.
Police officers from other parts of the street came to help, and as they arrived, the order
was restored. People crouched, waiting for the police to find the culprit.
Police officers walked through the crowd, guns in their hands, shouting, “Get down!
Squat down! Don’t stand up! Don’t put your hands in your bags or pockets! No hint of
violence!”
Li Du hunkered down and tried to stay away from Bob.
Sure enough, the dog was walking through the crowd when it noticed Bob and rushed
up to him.
The dog was trained not to bark when it saw a threat or a potential problem, but to bring
attention to it.
The officers noticed and quickly gathered around. One of them pointed a gun at Bob
and said, “Hey, boy, drop that bag, put your hands on your head and get up! Hurry up!
Throw the bag down!”
Bob looked at the police officer blankly and said, “Are you talking to me?”
“You, yes, you! F*ck, hurry up, throw the bag down and stand up with your hands on
your head! Obey our orders, now!”
Bob was a problematic youth who had had some encounters with the police. He knew
what to do to avoid trouble, but he did not hurry to throw down his bag as the police
officer said.
Still confident of his position, he sneered, “Officers, you’ve got the wrong man. I swear
you’ll regret treating a good citizen like this!”
The dog was not fooled, however. Once he threw the bag away, the German Shepherd
seized it and dragged it over to a policeman.
The police officer motioned to the dog to put down the bag. He carefully opened it, and
a pistol fell out.
At this, Bob blinked and cried out, “No, it’s not mine!”
One officer crept up behind him and pinned him to the ground, while another pounced
on him and handcuffed him, securing his hands behind his back.
Bob kept screaming, “Not me! Oh, shit! I was set up! I must have been set up! I don’t
have a gun! That’s not my gun!”
“Of course. And it wasn’t you who fired the gun, right?” said one of the policemen, his
voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Really, it wasn’t my gun, I didn’t shoot!” Bob protested in panic.
He knew he was in trouble with the charges of carrying an illegal gun and disrupting
order, so now he was a meek little sheep, quite unlike when he was threatening and
intimidating Li Du.
Li Du, in the back, was secretly smiling. This will knock off some of your arrogance!
He liked to see justice, and it was Bob’s deliberate move against him that made him act
this way.
The gun he planted in Bob’s bag was not the one that Brother Wolf had fired. Later the
police would find the shell casings on the ground. After inspecting them, they would
know it was not Bob who fired.
Besides, the gun did not have Bob’s fingerprints on it, and ultimately he would not end
up in any serious trouble. Of course, this would take the police a couple of days to figure
out.
Soon, the police dog found the shell on the ground. It turned around in the crowd, did
not spot any threat, and the police officers announced that everyone can stand up and
disperse.
Li Du walked over to Tina and the others. The panicking girls stood together and asked,
“What is the matter? What did Bob do just now?”
Li Du acted innocent. “I don’t know. You should know him better than I do.”
Tina said miserably, “We don’t know each other very well. Dammit, we met in St.
Augustine. He said he was a street art lover and invited me to this month’s Miami Art
event…”
“Where are his friends?” a girl asked.
There were a few other boys with them, but they had run away, afraid of getting
involved when Bob was caught.
Without these people, things would be much nicer.
The bar Tina was looking for was called Generous Jazz, and while open, it was quiet
and empty.
This was normal. Miami was a city that never slept. The bars were only active at night.
The bar was small, dark and classily decorated, with two floors, a private room and a
VIP lounge on the second floor and a lobby on the first, where craft beer was served.
Li Du ordered beer and cocktails and chatted with the girls.
Tina was now touring the country again. She was in pursuit of art, so she came to
Wynwood to experience the atmosphere of street art.
Li Du talked about his experiences in Australia and Africa, and the girls were very
impressed.
Tina said she wanted to go to Africa as well, for musical inspiration, but her family didn’t
allow her to, so she traveled around the US.
When they were talking, a few youths came in. Li Du looked at them carefully and
remembered that they were the people who had been hanging out with Bob. He did not
know where they had gone earlier.
“Won’t you go and see what happened to Bob?” asked Tina.
A few shook their heads. “No, let him solve his own problems. This bastard always gets
in trouble. Why did he bring a gun to Miami?”
When these people arrived, Li Du and Tina could not talk in peace anymore, and the
young people, eager to show off in front of the girls, took the initiative to take over the
topic.
They were not street thugs like Li Du had thought, but a group of art hunters looking for
valuable art.
They came to Wynwood to look for graffiti on the street.
As Wynwood was a famous street art gathering place, many well-known street artists
from different countries have visited there over the years, leaving their works on the
walls.
Some street artists came to Wynwood before they were famous, when their doodles
were worthless and nobody cared for them, and then they gained renown and their work
became valuable.
Li Du did not understand this. The young people tried to show off in front of the girls.
They told him all about street art, and then let him pay for the beer, saying it was the
tuition fee.
