I hadn’t been afraid until then, I discovered. “What do you want us to do?”

“Just wanted to make sure you knew we were serious,” said one of the ones pinning Tick-Tick, a dark-skinned female one. “Don’t come back. It’s none of your business what happens to us.”

I thought of the day’s events, thought of saying that if the climate of public opinion got any worse, it would be everybody’s business, that there were people who already considered it their business who had even less reason than I did. But all I wanted was to see the side of Tick-Tick’s head undamaged and out from under that gun barrel. So all I said was, “It’s a deal. We’re going.”

The guy with the gun stepped back first, keeping Tick-Tick covered. Then the other two let her go, and she straightened up slowly. “Go on,” said the gun owner. I realized it was the first time he’d spoken; his voice was higher than I’d expected.

“What about my friend?” asked the Ticker.

“Start walking. When you get to the end of the block, we’ll let him go.”

For the life of me—maybe literally—I couldn’t think why they’d do it this way. Pure harassment?

Tick-Tick turned around, leaned against the fender of the Buick, and folded her arms. “Maybe you’d better just shoot me and be done with it.”

“Go on!”

“Not without my friend.”

“Tick-Tick,” I said, “go ahead.”

She wrinkled her mouth. “I don’t feel like it.”

The two people holding me didn’t loosen up, but I could tell their attention was caught. The dark-skinned girl said, “Are you crazy? We’re not afraid to shoot you. What’s your problem?”

“He’s my best friend,” Tick-Tick said to her, as if she were explaining why one shouldn’t cross the street when there was traffic coming. “I’m not stirring without him.”

“He’s a human,” said the guy with the gun.

Tick-Tick blinked. “No, really?” She didn’t sound a bit sarcastic.

Still, the dark-skinned woman took a step toward her.

“No,” said the Ticker. “I will not run, and I will not fight, and I will not leave here without my friend. Let him go,” she told the two who held me, and they did. Probably out of surprise. Once they did, I stood where I was, and since I refused to do anything hostile, they probably felt it would look silly to grab me again.

We all looked at each other for maybe half a minute. Finally the dark-skinned girl said, “If you come back, we’ll shoot you dead. We won’t do any talking.”

“Fair enough,” Tick-Tick replied. I joined her by the fender, and we started up the road. Nobody said anything, so we kept going. After two blocks we looked back. They were gone.