I am only a little Gypsy 1 - Reincarnation, does it exist? - 32. Chapter 32. Winning over a real gadjo police officer.

By using my Shaman abilities, I sensed how the more and more angry looking 'boss-officer' started to feel more nervous and unsure. Hilariously, the stupid gadjo man also tried to stare Michail down! Well, he would be the first one ever, because that was absolutely impossible. Nobody in our entire Gypsy camp had EVER won any staring contest with our extremely competent Vice Leader. Of course, Michail didn't waver or flinch, but only stared back at the suddenly very unsure looking boss-officer.

Snickering inwardly, my Shaman inside sensed how Michail's unwavering stare made the officer feel even more nervous than he already was. At the same time, the man started to doubt more and more, until he really didn't know anymore what he should do next. At last, the boss-officer forcefully pulled himself together, straightened his shoulders, and barked:

"Then let's take a look at what your children gathered from our town. And I want to see everything that they brought here!"

Michail just shrugged his shoulders, turned around, and sauntered towards his truck. Immediately, several other police officers stepped forward and followed my sauntering Big Friend! Did those haughtily looking officers really think our proud Vice Leader would try to flee from THEM? How ignorant...

After a moment, Michail returned to our campfire, still followed by the officers, now carrying a couple of gadjo paper bags. Smilingly, he showed them to their still impatiently waiting boss-officer, and told the haughtily looking man:

"This is left over from our begging, after our hungry kids already devoured lots of nice tasting goodies and a loaf of bread."

The clearly frustrated boss-officer looked at the still halfway filled bags of leftover gadjo goodies, opened a few bags, and then hesitated again. Obviously, he wasn't satisfied at all, but also didn't know what he should do next. When he found the little bit of gadjo money that Michail had put away in one of the paper bags, he started to count it, whilst obviously thinking about what he should do next...

Suddenly, the more and more frustrated looking boss-officer pointed to several of our now openly chuckling grownups, and barked at them:

"Do you really think this could be funny? Then, you will find out the truth soon enough! You, and you, and you, enter our police cars NOW, and don't leave them until I am satisfied. In the meantime, I will think about what I shall do with you."

Immediately, several police officers stepped towards our surprised looking men and harshly pushed them into their cars, whilst telling them to sit down and be silent. Then, they locked their car doors from the outside. Unfortunately, my own Dad was among them and silently stared at me through the back pane of one of the filling police cars. Furtively, he brought his finger to his lips, as if telling me to do nothing to give him away.

Unseen by the officers, I winked back at my Dad, to assure him I understood his message. Again, my Dad could count on me, always and everywhere, as usual.

Directed by their angry looking boss-officer, all the police officers marched towards our caravans and ordered our shocked people to leave immediately. All our people had to step outside in the drizzling rain, while all those officers entered our caravans without asking for permission or even bothering to wipe their wet feet. They just stepped inside and started to search through our private possessions...

In our proud and structured Gypsy community; committing such a rude infringe was absolutely unthinkable! Whilst waiting outside, all our people gritted their teeth and balled their fists in helpless anger. Only, what could they do against those armed officers who probably wouldn't hesitate to shoot them down if deeming it necessary? In the meantime, all the officers rummaged through our private belongings whilst muttering under their breaths and making quite a mess in our always tidy caravans. One by one, they opened our closed drawers and lockers, first looked in them, and then rudely turned them upside down and threw their contents onto our caravan floors.

After the frustrated looking officers didn't find anything of value, they also looked under our mattresses and even turned a few couches upside down! One by one, whilst still muttering under their breaths, they finally left our caravans, empty-handed and shaking their heads to indicate they hadn't found anything suspicious.

The fact that none of his searching police officers found anything of interest in our caravans, clearly made their boss-officer look even angrier and even more frustrated! Impatiently, he waited until the last searching officer showed up from the last caravan and shook his head...

For a few seconds, the angry looking boss-officer remained silent, as if not knowing what he should do next. Then, he returned to our still silently huddling group of children and pointed to one of our most timid looking girls, Wimey. Obviously, he thought she would also be the most vulnerable girl in our group of huddling kids... With a harsh sounding voice, the boss-officer told Wimey:

"YOU, come here and tell me where your people have hidden our stolen goods! Where are your hiding places? I want you to bring me to those places and give our properties back to us, NOW!"

In sudden shock, Wimey stared at the angry looking boss-officer. First, she brought her hand to her mouth, while she started to tremble all over and got tears in her involuntarily frightened eyes. Then, she forcefully pulled herself together, as if desperately trying to return to being the proud Gypsy girl that she wanted to be. Still trembling all over and with a squeaking voice, she managed to bring out:

"Sorry sir, but we don't have any 'hiding places' in our camp, and we also don't 'steal' anything from anybody!"

Of course, even our most timid girl was telling only the truth. Our kids really hadn't 'stolen' anything from anybody, and we didn't have any 'hiding places' in our camp either. They were just natural caves along an overgrown ravine, but they were not in our camp and they were very difficult to find. Besides, none of our kids would ever tell any outsider about any secrets, even if they would be tortured. Our grownups could always count on us, and they knew it!

Clearly not knowing what he should do next, the more and more frustrated looking boss-officer suddenly turned towards ME! By reading the man's mind, I found out he had decided to choose ME because he saw I was the tiniest kid in our huddling group. Therefore, he supposed I would also be the most vulnerable kid and therefore the easiest prey to deal with... Well, this time, the man would be in for a real surprise! If he had known me only slightly better, he would have thought twice, quickly turned around, and then fled from our camp in a tremendous hurry!

In a futile effort to look a little bit friendlier, the boss-officer tried to show me a smile before he asked me:

"Little boy, could you please help me? I am looking for the stolen goods your people brought here yesterday, so that I can give them back to their owners. Could you please show me where your people have hidden our properties, so that I can return them?"

In total disillusion, I listened to the still smiling boss-officer who now waited for my answer. Was this stupid question really the best one such an impressive looking gadjo officer could come up with? If so, I felt VERY disappointed in this clownish looking gadjo man and in all his silently waiting comrades, because I was sure that even our smallest Gypsy kids would have phrased their questions a lot better than this still haughtily smiling gadjo boss-officer had done!

From the moment we Gypsy kids were old enough to start talking, our grownups already taught us how to get a valuable answer by first formulating a correct question! Besides, even our smallest children understood that nobody could ever 'own' any so-called 'possessions'; because, the moment they died and went 'Home', they had to leave all their 'goods' behind for their fellow earthlings! Therefore, we Gypsies always shared everything among everyone else, and we never understood how those gadjo's could be talking about 'stealing' or 'robbing' any so-called 'possessions', because they too couldn't 'own' anything after they died. By taking a few 'possessions' from rich gadjo people, we were doing only what we normally always did among each other.

Feeling severely disappointed, I stepped towards the still haughtily smiling officer, and stared him down in disdain. Looking straight into his suddenly rapidly blinking eyes, I sensed that my Shaman powers were already entering his jumbled gadjo mind and forcefully willing him to give up, leave us alone, and return to his own folks...

Now and then, our kids organized a 'staring contest', and the first one who gave up and averted his eyes was a chicken. So far, I hadn't been very good at the game, because, in the eyes of my older friends, I was only a 'tiny runt' with a too big mouth... However, this time, I felt ANGRY about the too rude and condescending behavior of those stupid gadjo police officers. Therefore, I just wanted to WIN such an unexpected 'staring contest' with their boss-officer, while I felt my inherited Cosmic Powers already building up and soaring high. This gross and too brutal police officer had to keep his filthy gadjo hands off our private properties! No gadjo strangers had any right to search through our personal belongings, or to enter our always neat and tidy caravans without being invited and wiping their dirty feet first!

Today, our 'tiny runt' with his too big mouth would teach this silly gadjo boss-officer, with his dumb questions, a lesson he would never forget! For a split second, my inside doubted, because I had promised NOT to use my Shaman abilities ever again, unless in case of a real emergency. Therefore, could I really use my already soaring Cosmic Powers on this stupid gadjo officer? Or, would our Wise Woman be disappointed in me and want to talk to me again?

Then, my angry inside decided this WAS such a real emergency! Our peaceful Gypsy camp was suddenly invaded, and our confined parents in their locked police cars could be in real danger! Therefore, this time, I felt free to do anything that I could do to help my own Gypsy people, and without any restrictions at all!

For a few seconds, I continued to stare the still haughtily smiling officer down. Then, I waited some more, to make him feel even more nervous, and to gather even more Cosmic energy. When the officer started to feel too fidgety, I finally switched into my most caustic 'brainiac mode'. Slowly and plainly, as if talking to some naughty child, I started to talk to the suddenly more and more uneasy looking boss-officer. At the same time, I tried to put as much pent-up disdain as I could muster into my sonorous and now very powerful sounding deep baritone voice. Staring at the more and more nervously blinking officer, my very grownup sounding baritone voice told him:

"My dear police officer, I am NOT your little boy! Although I am small for my age, I am still a proud Gypsy, and therefore you have to address me accordingly. Normally, we Gypsies always behave polite and welcoming to unexpected visitors, with almost no exceptions, maybe except for acting less welcoming to certain impolite strangers that are behaving extremely rude or that are violating our well-known Gypsy hospitality on purpose. You might question yourself whether you and your comrades belong to those extremely rude strangers that were violating all our rules of normal courtesy. Besides, why do you even bother asking about any stolen goods? None of us are hiding anything of value in our camp, and our kids have only been begging for food and money in one of your gadjo towns; plus you did already take a look at the few things they gathered, by opening their paper bags and counting their little bit of money. Therefore, shall I now give you a good advice? Stop making such a fool of yourself, leave us alone, and go catch REAL crooks instead of innocent people!"

Unfortunately, the boss-officer seemed to be too used to protesting perpetrators staring him down or telling him off. After initially feeling a bit shocked at hearing such a grownup voice and mature sounding talk coming from what looked like being only a vulnerable little boy, the officer quickly pulled himself together. Again, he tried to stare me down, probably because his already too prejudiced gadjo mind still thought I could be the easiest prey to deal with...

Clearly, I had to change my tactics even more drastically! For a second, I closed my eyes and searched in my inside for the extremely powerful Cosmic Shaman and magical Mystic that I once had been. When I found him in my unconscious mind, I politely asked him to help me fight my adversary... After reopening my eyes, my inside was immediately able to use my most powerful Shaman and Cosmic Mage abilities to enter the boss-officer's conscious mind. Now, I was able to have a real staring contest with this silly boss-officer! Mercilessly, I started to jumble with the stupid boss-officer's too uncoordinated thoughts, although I still tried to hold back, because I didn't want to damage his underdeveloped gadjo brain permanently.

Immediately when I entered the boss-officer's mind and jumbled with his conscious thoughts, the man started to look even more frustrated, because his brain couldn't understand anymore what was happening. All of a sudden, his proud demeanor and self-consciousness seemed to crumple together, while his brain couldn't cope anymore with the unexpectedly proud behavior of such a small Gypsy boy, and with the way too 'brainy' use of words for such a tiny kid. This was the very last thing he ever expected, being outranked by what had looked like the tiniest and therefore also the most vulnerable Gypsy toddler...

By now, my flaring eyes were shooting what felt like burning daggers full of fire and brimstone that blazed deep holes into the man's filthy gadjo soul. Both my Shaman knowledge and my Cosmic Mage inside were now sure that I was right and he was wrong, and this knowledge was giving me even more Internal Power! By using all my strength of will, I tried to force the pigheaded officer to feel frustrated, break down, give up, and hurriedly flee from our camp!

Although the frustrated boss-officer felt more and more uneasy at seeing such a 'vulnerable' Gypsy kid turn into a dangerous little devil, he still tried to stare me down, whilst desperately trying to recollect the last remainders of his already crumpling posture. Over and again, he tried to formulate some meaningful words, although he was unable to find any and only mumbled some. Yet, he still didn't seem to understand that he was already defeated, because he still tried to win this unexpected 'staring contest' over such a tiny boy...

This time, I had more than enough of the stupid officer's behavior, and therefore I decided to FORCE him to give up and leave us alone. After gathering my most powerful Shaman and Mystic abilities, I just kicked his inner doors open and then effortlessly entered his already confused mind. Chuckling inwardly, I started to fill his inner rooms with thousands of wildly dancing and evilly chuckling green devils! Although I hoped that my ministrations wouldn't harm his already jumbled gadjo mind too permanently, this 'devilish' experience would certainly teach him a lesson he would never forget!

Feeling satisfied, I saw how the more and more dazed boss-officer started to fidget and waver. Grimacing, he averted his eyes and squinted at his still silently waiting companions in total bewilderment. Then, he fled away from the still relentlessly torturing little Gypsy devil, whilst stumbling over his own gadjo feet in his tremendous hurry to get away from me.

Immediately when the gadjo boss-officer averted his eyes and fled away, I started to cheer loudly with pride and happiness! Today, our 'littlest runt' had WON his staring contest with a real police officer! Therefore, from now on, nobody in our Gypsy camp would ever again call me their 'littlest runt', but they would treat me only with utmost respect! Feeling very proud of myself and of what I had accomplished, I looked around at all my huddling friends and gathered grownups who had followed our 'conversation' with baited breaths. Now, I saw that all of them had secretly crossed their fingers, as if silently wishing me all the success in the world that I needed, if ever...

Because my people knew, from their own experiences, how extremely icy and deadly caustic I could be whilst switching into my 'brainiac mode', they had almost pitied the poor gadjo officer who still felt totally confused and almost couldn't talk anymore. Now that the man had averted his eyes and fled away from me, all my supporters started to cheer LOUDLY! Wildly, they started to dance around the officer and me, to high-five me, ruffle my unruly blond hair, and also congratulate me with such a well-earned victory.

Looking red-faced and totally bewildered, the boss-officer broke through our circle and left our cheering group in a tremendous hurry. Wavering from left to right and back to left, the frustrated looking man almost crawled towards his police car, on his way beckoning his companions to follow him. After slumping down in his driver seat, he drove off with screeching tires, in his tremendous hurry to get away colliding with our big tree and losing a headlight.

At exactly that same moment, as if on purpose, the drizzling rain stopped and the bright sun started to shine from behind the already vanishing clouds! Could this be a sign from our Supreme Being, to tell us He had been with us in our struggle to survive such a nasty police raid? If so, we surely had been in Excellent Company! Silently, I thanked Him for helping me and my people and our kids, but I didn't hear or feel any answers in my inside, as usual.

At seeing their still frustrated looking boss-officer enter his own car and disappear into our woods, all the other police officers raced to their still waiting cars and quickly followed him towards their 'safer' gadjo world. The chickens! Unfortunately, whilst fleeing away, they also took our captive men with them. We saw them looking outside from behind the police car panes with shocked faces, before they too disappeared into our surrounding woods, leaving us with our own severe doubts. Would we ever see them back alive?

Immediately after the police cars disappeared into our woods, our remaining Gypsy grownups raced to our parking lot, jumped into our own cars, and drove off at full speed, to follow the many already disappearing police cars. Of course, they wanted to know where those police officers would bring their friends and relatives, and they also wanted to protect our Beloved Leader, my Dad, and defend him with their own lives if necessary! Only, for this moment, they didn't want the fleeing police officers to know they had captured our real Leader as well, next to Michail who was our Vice Leader.

Suddenly, our camp was empty again, while our remaining people started to feel sick with worry. Silently, all of us slumped down on our wooden benches around our faintly glowing campfire, and stared at each other with sad faces. What would those police officers do to our confined fathers, uncles, and friends? Would they torture them, or coerce them to confess illegal things we were sure they hadn't done? Would we ever see them back alive and hopefully in good health?

Most grownups and many older kids could still remember our own horror stories from our Gypsy past, telling us about false accusations that had led to several cruel witch-hunts. At that time, our captured grownups had been tortured and sometimes even hung, only because they had tried to help their already starving young children...

During the remainder of the day, we waited and waited, hoping to hear any news from our captured men, or to see them back soon. Sitting together, we stared at our campfire, now and then crying while trying to comfort each other. Several kids had crawled onto one of the few still available grownup laps, to be cuddled and to feel reassured. Little Dimi had captured the broken headlight and silently played with it, whilst sitting on our Royal bench and leaning into me.

From time to time, a few minors left our group and entered our surrounding woods, to escape from our collective sadness and to take a quick look at their traps in our dense forests. After a short time, they returned empty-handed and still looking sad. They looked at us questioningly, but we only shook our heads. We had no news...

After some time, Misha proposed to go to our steep ravine to take a quick look at our traps, because he too wanted to get away from our depressing atmosphere. Unfortunately, little Dimi was still too young to accompany us. With a pouting face, my 'black and white' friend left us and sauntered to his Mom, still carrying his captured headlight, while Misha and I left our group. This time, Misha guided us straight through our woods and forests to the far end of our steep ravine.

Unfortunately, we hadn't caught anything, so that we just set our new traps along other faintly visible animal tracks, before we silently turned around and went to our oblong mossy boulder. For a moment, we slumped down on it and stared into our steep ravine with its wildly foaming water rapids. Then, Misha threw his arms around my waist and pulled me very close against his chest. With sudden tears in his deep brown eyes, my older friend whispered into my ear:

"I am very sorry for you; and I also hope that your Dad will return soon, because I know how it is to live without a Dad..."

Silently nodding, I leaned even closer against my friend's chest. I knew that Misha had lost his own Dad a few years ago, due to a slipping caravan tumbling into a ravine. Since then, he lived with his mother and a younger sister in their caravan near the end of our circle, without a man in their small household. Fortunately, my minor friend Misha and my Big Friend Michail seemed to like each other very much, so that I hoped and prayed that they would soon become even more than only good friends. Even Michail's little sons, Michi and Movi, seemed to adore their new 'big brother' very much.

Silently, we threw our arms around each other's waists and cried together, this time mingling our tears. My friend Misha cried for the loss of his Dad and for our combined sadness, while I cried for my orphaned older friend and for the uncertainty that we both felt about our captured men, including my Dad and my Big Friend Michail.

After crying our hearts out, we first dried each other's eyes with a few tufts of moss, and then decided to go back, secretly hoping our captured man had shown up while we were away. Again, Misha led our way and guided us straight to our camp. After returning into our circle of wooden benches, we slumped down on my Royal bench and looked at our friends questioningly... Unfortunately, all of them shook their heads, still looking sad because they had no news.

Immediately when little Dimi saw Misha and me returning from our surrounding woods and slumping down on our Royal bench, he trotted towards us, scooted next to me, and again leaned into my side, still silently playing with his captured headlight while now and then sobbing. Helpfully, I let my little 'black and white' friend blow his nose in a tissue Misha still had in his pockets, making him offer us a thankful look and a faint smile. Surprisingly, sitting together like this and feeling our combined solace, felt really good, in spite of all three of us still feeling truly sad and out of sorts.

Near the end of our sad day, the evening sun started to disappear behind our mountains, so that the air became much chillier. Soon, all our shivering kids went to their caravans, to put on a warm plaid or some other warm garment. We also tried to eat some gadjo delicacies from our still halfway filled gadjo paper bags, but they seemed to taste like cardboard. Clearly, it was no fun to munch on any tasty gadjo food while, at the same time, our confined men could feel hungry or perhaps worse... After we took a few bites, we swallowed them with some difficulty, and then just discarded the remainders.

Finally, my twin friend little Dimi jumped up from sitting next to me, and happily shouted at the top of his lungs:

"THERE THEY ARE! Our cars are coming back!"

Immediately, all of us rose from our benches and perked our ears up, to listen to the beautiful sounds of our quickly approaching cars. To our utmost delight, my little twin friend with his excellent hearing turned out to be right again! Soon, we heard our cars approaching our camp at high speed. Everybody in our camp rose to their feet, to take a better look at them...

With screeching tires, our crowded cars drove into our parking lot and stopped. All our tired looking men left our cars and stumbled towards our waiting benches around our campfire, sounding thirsty but with big smiles on their happy faces. Quickly, all our women entered their caravans, including my own Mom, to provide our thirsty men with freshly brewed coffee. In the meantime, I had already left little Dimi and Misha, wrestled through the sudden turmoil, and 'octopussed' my tiny frame against my Dad's chest, sobbing loudly but not feeling like a crybaby. I had my Dad back, alive and kicking; and I was already planning not to let him go away in such a nasty gadjo police car ever again!

Again, our happy looking women showed up, this time carrying several platters filled with many cups of steaming coffee, while our tired men told us this was their first drink since many thirsty hours in a far-away gadjo police station! At the same time, I really couldn't help sitting glued to my Dad's chest and plainly refusing to leave him, although he tried to drink his first cup of coffee without making too much of a mess. At last, my Mom pulled me onto her lap and told me to let my Dad drink his coffee first. Then, it would be up to him what he wanted to do with his little 'octopus'...

Okay, now that I had my Dad back, fortunately alive and kicking, I would be able to live with that. Happily, I sagged down on my Mom's lap and enjoyed the nice feeling of her warm arms around my small body.

From the corners of my eyes, I saw my 'black and white' friend, little Dimi, sitting on the lap of his own Mom, still playing with his captured headlight. He smiled at me when he saw me, and I smiled back at him in return. It felt really nice to have such a good black and white best friend as sort of a 'twin brother'! Then, I looked at my special older friend, Misha, who sat across from us, next to his own Mom and his little sister who already started to yawn from sleepiness. Therefore, I supposed that, really soon, her Mom or her older brother would put her to bed in their own caravan.

After all our thirsty men had emptied their first cups of clearly heavenly tasting coffee, they soon took second and then even third helpings. Then, my Big Friend Michail started to tell us how all those police officers blindly assumed he would be our real Gypsy Leader. Therefore, they took him into another room, where they started to question him about what they were calling a 'Gypsy raid' in one of their gadjo towns. Of course, Michail could only tell them what he knew about our minors begging in another gadjo town. Although the investigating officers didn't believe Michail's story, they also couldn't prove anything else. Obviously feeling more and more frustrated, they finally started to interrogate all our other men, one by one.

From here, my own Dad took over, after first quickly emptying his umpteenth cup of coffee. Smiling broadly, he confirmed that none of those investigating officers seemed to have any idea that Michail wasn't our real Gypsy Leader. When it was my Dad's turn to follow them into their interrogation room, he just told them the same things that all our men had already told them: they were absolutely innocent and certainly hadn't done anything questionable. Therefore, they really didn't know what those police officers were talking about, and they only wanted to go home to eat, drink, and get some sleep.

After several more hours of trying to get a confession out of our by now very tired men, the officers finally let them go. But, before that, they first threatened them to put all of them in jail for a very long time, if one of their gadjo towns would ever be 'raided' again!

All the time, our still free men in our own cars had been waiting outside the police station, ready to take all our confined men home as soon as would be possible. The same moment that our tired looking men staggered out of the police station, our cars picked them up and immediately raced them home at top speed. Now, all of them felt very hungry, thirsty, and really dead tired, but also truly happy to be home and united with the rest of their families.

Again, we had a Big Feast, while our violin players started to play our most beautiful Gypsy songs full of joy and harmony. This time, our nicely scenting gadjo goodies tasted more than delicious, so that we could fill our hungry stomachs to the brim! At last, we burped loudly, to thank the GOOD gadjo's for giving us their nice tasting goodies. We danced all night and had lots of fun, until the already rising morning sun started to glow around our mountain tops.

Vaguely, I remember my Mom taking me from my Dad's lap, just before I closed my eyes and tumbled into a dreamless sleep...

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