Let's Make a Movie Out of This

  "So, you can't get a job, I take it?" the owner of the hotel asked. "And, why might that be?"
   "I'm an illegal," the immigrant answered. "I am not an American. I'm from Mexico. I came here just to get a job -- thinking I surely could -- but now that I'm here, I find no one will let me work -- no one."
   The owner frowned.
  The immigrant looked up, desperation in his eyes. "Sir, I have no money. I cannot feed my family. Will you not please help me? Please, I beg of you!"
   The owner frowned some more.
   "Please, sir, please!"
   The owner's frown faded into pursed lips. His hands went up to his cheeks and he dragged them down his face. "No, I cannot give you a job," he said. "I've done it in the past -- I've given people like you jobs -- but, I can no longer do that."
   A tear dropped from the immigrant's eye.
   "I got caught," the owner said. "They fined me for hiring an illegal. They told me, if I do it again, the fine will be double."
  "But, please sir!" the immigrant cried. "You are my only hope! No one else will hire me! My family -- my children and my wife -- will you not help us?"
   "I cannot! I cannot!" the owner replied.
   Just then, a siren was heard. The flashing lights of a police car were seen. Two officers jumped out of a patrol car and entered the hotel. "You are both under arrest!" the first officer yelled.
   "You --you piece of filth -- for being in America illegally," said the other officer, and he pointed at the immigrant.
    "And, you?" he looked at the businessman. "I think we will arrest you for aiding and abetting a criminal. Oh, you are lucky you didn't go ahead and give him a job -- the fine would have been plenty. But, we aren't going to let you off the hook so easily. No, not after all the scum you've helped in the past and got away with. You are under arrest! You are under arrest! You are under arrest! How long have you known this man? He's a criminal, you know, and you didn't turn him in? That's harboring a refugee -- I mean, a fugitive."
   They proceeded to cuff the two men, being sure the cuffs were tight enough to scrape skin off their wrists.
   As they hauled the pair out to the car, the two officers broke into a laugh. "Okay, okay -- Just joking," said the first, looking directly into a camera. "It's all just a play -- just a movie. What, you thought we would really treat people like this?"
   The second officer looked at him, then at the camera. "Yeah?" he said. "Well, sometimes I think we come pretty close. I'm not so sure we don't."