63 pages 2 hours read

Brendan Slocumb

Symphony of Secrets

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023

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Act 5-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Act 5: “Ensemble”

Act 5, Chapter 38 Summary: “Person of Interest: Bern”

The Foundation hires police to harass Bern at 1 a.m. At this hour, he is freshly showered and is only wearing a towel. The police knock on his door and ask to come inside. Bern asks that they remain in the hall. They claim that he has stolen property from the Foundation, so he allows them to come inside, but he feels vulnerable in the towel, especially as a Black man confronted by white police officers. They explain that he has a laptop that belongs to the Foundation. Bern manages to put on shorts as they look at the laptop. Then, they arrest him. He repeatedly asks to be able to put on more clothes, but they ignore these requests. One of the officers tasers Bern, and he starts to lose consciousness.

When he regains consciousness, Bern realizes that he is handcuffed in the backseat of a police car. He asks to call a lawyer, but the police refuse this request. Once at the police station, he resists getting out of the car in just his shorts. They make some racist remarks and parade him inside.

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By Brendan Slocumb

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