Maragana Girl Ch. 06

"Shit...Tiff had said that in Prague we were gonna..."

"Yes, Kimberly. I recall you telling me that you were planning to experiment with 'smack', as you say it, in Prague. With needles, I presume?"

Kim nodded her head. She stared blankly at the floor, not really knowing what to think. She no longer really considered Susan her friend, but still, the shock of knowing she was dead...

"I suppose this is a terrible blow to you. I believe your mother might know more than I do, although you can relay to her what I learned from my Czech colleague. You may call her from my office if you wish."

Kim quickly dialed home. She talked to her mother, telling her a censored version about her participation in the Day of the Dead Ceremony. However, she quickly got to the reason she called. It turned out that it was only by chance her parents even learned about Susan's death. They had missed the obituary when it first came out in July, but when Mr. Lee was unfolding old newspapers to clean up an oil spill in the garage, he just happened to notice the name Susan Taylor on one of the pages. Needless to say, he was shocked to read that his daughter's friend had died only a week after she had been sentenced in Upper Danubia. Kim's parents called the Taylors, who verified that, yes indeed, their daughter had died in Prague in July. They refused to talk about it further and abruptly hung up. Mrs. Lee decided to forward the obituary to Vladim Dukov. Kim then relayed what Dukov had told her about what he learned from his end. Kim's mother had a final question for her.

"Honey, I need to know something, and you need to be honest with me. If you had gone to Prague, you would have gone to that nightclub with Tiffany and Susan, right?"

"Yeah, Mom. I was gonna go."

"And shoot up?"

"Yeah."

"Honey, how could you? How could you do that to us?"

"Mom, I don't know why...it just would have happened...we were partying..."

"And you would have died of hepatitis! Just like Susan!"

"Yeah...Mom...that's what would've happened."

Suddenly Kim heard her mother crying on the other end of the line. Finally Mrs. Lee pulled herself together enough to continue.

"Honey, I...can't talk to you right now. But I gotta talk to Mr. Dukov."

Dukov took the receiver. He sat quietly as Kim's mother cried into the phone. Finally he started to answer some questions.

"No, Mrs. Lee...there is nothing like that here...Our laws are much stricter...Yes, Mrs. Lee...I assure you I will watch after her...Maybe you are right, Mrs. Lee, maybe it was for the best she was arrested...Thank you, Mrs. Lee, but it was my duty as a Spokesman for the Criminal, nothing more...Thank you, Mrs. Lee...Yes, you too, Mrs. Lee, please take care of yourself."

Dukov hung up. He folded his hands and looked at Kim.

"Do you remember what I told you a few days ago, when I said that had you not been arrested, it was quite possible your experience may have ended elsewhere under equally bad, or even worse, circumstances? That I told you that if you believe yourself unlucky, to please give that consideration? Do you remember that?"

"Yes Spokesman Dukov, I remember that."

"I believe we now know where, and when, your experience would have ended. You life would have ended in a Prague hospital, on or around July 12. Is that not so?"

"Yes, Spokesman. That is so."

"Kimberly, you will understand that you cheated Death. Is that not so?"

"Yes, Spokesman Dukov. That is so."

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Criminal # 98945 spent the rest of the day writing an essay about her feelings. It most certainly was something she wanted to share with her friends at the Socrates Club. They needed to know. Kim's story was worth hearing, because there were plenty of lessons to be learned from it. She sat writing for the entire morning at a spare desk in the reception area, in spite of having not slept the previous night. Dukov looked over his client's text in the afternoon and made some minor corrections to make some of the imagery more understandable to a Danubian audience, and then helped her translate.

That night the Socrates Club was full. The night after the Day of the Dead ceremonies always was a time when plenty of club-goers had a lot on their minds, so it was one of the few nights of the year with no music, just criminals talking about their thoughts and experiences. There were over 40 speakers altogether. However, no one was rushed. The speakers could take their time and speak their minds. The song-writers listened attentively. Usually the night after the equinox was one of their best for gathering ideas and phrases for their music.

The night after the equinox Criminal # 98945 gave her second reading at the Socrates Club. She had not had time to practice her speech and was horribly tired. However, she spoke from her heart, even more so than she had spoken about her bicycle. As Kim spoke the obituary clipping describing the death of Susan Taylor made its rounds through the audience. She spoke at length about her feelings of betrayal. She spoke about the feelings of guilt and relief over not having been in that disco in Prague when that poisoned needle was passed to her two friends. Finally she spoke of the pain of having her own mother cry on Dukov's phone over her stupidity and her narrow escape. The thoughts were burned into her soul, making up for the fact she had not had time to practice her speech. The audience was silent after Kim finished speaking. For a moment the American stood at the microphone, also in silence, as tears ran down her cheeks. Finally she added, in accented but flawless Danubian:

"The police woman who arrested me kept calling me 'Maragana Girl'. I hated her for doing that, but who knows? Maybe she knows me better than I know myself. Maybe that's all I am...just the stupid 'Maragana Girl'."

Kim stepped off the stage to rejoin her boyfriend and his classmates. For a couple of minutes she sat in her seat, crying while Sergekt tried to comfort her. Around the room sympathetic glances went in her direction. Finally she managed to calm down. That night other criminals had stories to tell. Kim owed it to the others to listen with respect and try...try to understand.