Copyright 1986 Bill Clede. All rights reserved. First published in SWAT, Oct. 1986.
Nothing seems as ominous as the flash of a knife in the hands of an angry and irrational person.
Perhaps it's the mental picture of your blood gushing from a gaping wound or an eviscerated victim lying all over the street. Not even a gun poses such an indecisive threat. A crazed hophead with a knife standing 20 feet away from you is no threat. That's the way a jury would see it. The dozen students teamed up in threes.