The One Who Cares the Least Has All the Power
But power without love darkens the soul
The apartments were in the low-income part of town.
Open-air parking garages sat below the apartments, full of delapidated cars, boxes, cans, plastic bags, and debris. In one corner, an umber skid mark led to a discarded diaper, partially stuck to the cement wall.
It was dark.
My partner and I used our flashlights to creep past long shadows and children’s toys abandoned on the walkway. We found the stairs and ascended toward apartment 2B.
Apartment 2B.
We’d been there twice before in the last month, for domestic disturbance calls. The young couple inside fought often, and when the screaming began and plates crashed, their neighbors called 9–1–1.
We learned from previous incidents that the husband had a drinking problem and was cheating on his wife. She wanted to leave the marriage but had no job and an infant daughter to care for. We discussed options and put her in touch with the county women’s crisis support.
And yet here we were again.
When I pounded on the door, faded paint flakes shook loose from the frame and cascaded like tears to the stained welcome mat below. It was as if the apartment…
