It is the feast of the Annunciation. During the long afternoon, the point has become clear. None of us can leave until the police say we can. Even though we are not behind bars, there still are 40 of us in a small, cramped space. The handcuffs have been removed, but most have been standing for hours.
Anxiety appears on several faces.
The jokes become strained. The polite officers still look tough. They wear bulletproof vests and carry guns. Some of us participated in the civil rights and anti-war movements of the '60s. I think about what I did then, when I was a college student in the South.