“I could foresee that one all on my own,” I muttered. “No premonition needed.” We were alone, which made my spine start to tingle.

“Evie,” he said to me after he waddled up alongside my truck.

“Yes?” I wasn’t giving him anything. I glanced at his face, his stomach bulging against his uniform. He was staring down his nose at me. For one second his eyes dropped to my chest.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?”

“No.”

“License and registration and insurance.”

I didn’t want to give them to him, but I did. He stared at my license for way too long. “Is there a problem?”

He didn’t answer me, and I knew he enjoyed that. Enjoyed the power of choosing not to answer a direct question. He took his time memorizing, I suppose, every detail on my insurance card and registration. It is utterly fascinating information.

He gave the license and registration and insurance back to me. I deliberately made sure I did not touch his fingers. The chief was a stew of misogynistic crap.

“Why did you pull me over?”

“Well, Evie, it seems like you have a little problem with one of your taillights. It’s out.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.”

“Now you do.” He tried to smile, but it came out lecherous.

“I’ll fix it.”

He nodded. “I think that’d be a smart idea. So, Evie. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk. Tell me about yourself. How did you get the name Evie? Like Adam and Eve. Are you the temptress? Are you the woman who leads a man to evil? Are you a woman who brings sin to others?” He smirked, as if he was so self-satisfied with his cleverness. I could tell he’d been thinking about this speech.

“First off, all Eve did was eat an apple because she was hungry and it was hanging in front of her face. Apples are not sinful. Adam hardly tried to prevent it, did he? Then he tattled on Eve to God. What a man. He blamed Eve. Second, Eve didn’t lead Adam to evil. That’s ridiculous. Adam was already weak and disloyal to her, though he was her husband and should have protected and stood by her, even in front of God. But then, the Bible was written by men, and men are known to blame women and want to control them at the same time. Eve did not bring sin to the world. Men have been gloriously successful since the beginning of time at bringing sin and violence and other depravity in without any help from women at all. Maybe you need to read that Bible story again.”

His smirk faded. He could tell I was mocking him. And he had been so clever!