Mary and Joe and the baby, October 1996

Mary (not her real name) is a young woman of 17 who had a baby with her "babyfather" Joe, four months ago. The new mother, father and their baby come to the park a lot with their friends. Many of this group of young people came from the Caribbean, or their parents did -- Jamaica, Trinidad, Cuba. Mary and Joe (not his real name either) could be the poster parents for good parenting, teenage or otherwise. They are obviously devoted to their baby and take wonderful care of it. Sometimes there seems to be a glow over the three of them.

This evening Mary was at the park for a quick visit with her friends while Joe was at home with the baby. At about 9.30 p.m. Mary was walking out of the park to go home and nurse the baby, when two police officers on bikes stopped her and asked for i.d. I was at the park, baking some late bread in the park ovens. When I noticed the police across the way, I got on my bike and rode over. One of the officers was talking on a cell phone, and then she turned to Mary and said there was a warrant out for her arrest. Mary said that couldn't be. She said she had been involved in a fight a year and a half before, and had got probation, but that she had just seen her probation officer the week before, and everything was fine.

Officer 5404 (she had her badge number showing on her uniform) said Mary might be lying, and she handcuffed Mary's hands behind her back. Then she searched Mary's pockets and found a cell phone and two twenty-dollar bills, and asked her why she had so much money, and - when the cell phone rang - why the phone rang so much. Then the officer radioed for a cruiser and prepared to lead Mary away. Mary was not permitted to call home to let Joe know she was arrested, but a friend who was watching this had called Joe.

I asked the officer if Mary would be allowed to nurse the baby before she was taken away. The officer asked me who I was, and when I said I was doing some work in the park, she said I should move along then, and go about my business. I asked again if Mary could nurse the baby, but the officer said I should be quiet or I’d be arrested too - for obstructing the police. The police cruiser and Joe arrived at the park about the same time, Joe running along the sidewalk with the baby in his arms. The baby was crying and I asked the officers in the cruiser if Mary could just nurse the baby in the police car before she was taken away. The officer driving the car joined with Officer 5404 in warning me again: if I didn't stop talking to them, I would be arrested and my bike would be confiscated. They said Mary could not nurse the baby, that Mary would be taken to Eleven Division, and Joe could take a cab and go to the station separately - that was none of their concern.

Mary asked Joe to hold up the baby so she could kiss it goodbye. But Officer 5404 jerked Mary away by the handcuffs, and put her in the cruiser. So I biked home and got my car and drove Joe and the baby to Eleven Division. The baby had cried itself to sleep. When we got to the station, there were eight officers behind the desk, just chatting, and I realized that maybe it was a slow night for police.

Mary was there only a short time. As soon as she got there, the people at Eleven Division checked her name and realized this had all been a computer error - there was no arrest warrant. Apparently the computer was acting up - this was the fifth such error that evening. Mary was told she was free to go.

It was very cold by then and I took them all home - Mary and Joe and the baby sleeping in her car seat. Mary said she couldn't believe how the police had treated me - they and their friends in the park had assumed that only black people get that kind of treatment. It's true that it's mainly black youth who get randomly i.d.'d and maybe taken away from the park by police. But this time, nobody went to jail. Instead, Mary and Joe took their baby back to their warm apartment. I went back to the park, to take the bread out of the oven. It felt like Mary and Joe and the baby had come safely through the flight into Egypt. And the bread was fine.

Update, July 2025

Garbage day on my street. The truck was just nearing my house as I was biking back from my morning old-lady exercise ride, so I waited on the sidewalk to take back the empty bin. The worker gave me a big smile as he brought my bin back and said "I know who you are, from the park. I was in the story you wrote about my parents, years ago. You called them Mary and Joe. I was the baby."

What?!!?

He told me that the story I wrote in the park newsletter had made the rounds among his parents' friends. Most recently, his daughter had found it again online and used it in her school essay.

So Mary and Joe are grandparents! And the "baby," now headed up the street to keep going with his Green For Life shift, made my day.

Totally.