Maragana Girl Ch. 13

Anyia was elated with the crisis, because her school building was sweltering. As a concession to the students, the dress code was lifted and the very next day every girl in the school showed up in a mini-skirt and light blouse. Anyia went to school in the absolute skimpiest outfit she thought she could get away with, a loose-fitting back-less blouse, a very short loose mini-skirt, and sandals. Maritza Dukov watched with concern as her barely dressed daughter scampered down the street with her equally scantily clad friends in the abnormal heat.

The month progressed with no rain. The East Danube River dropped, opening up river beaches that normally did not open until August. The beaches, lakes, and public pools filled up with thousands of naked bodies as the city's population sought to escape the heat. In some places the ground was hard to see because of its covering of thousands of tanned human bodies.

Everyone at the beaches, public parks, and public swimming pools, without exception, was completely naked. Upper Danubia was the only country in the world to outlaw the use of swimsuits in public locations. Danubian society looked at swimsuits as yet another effort by foreigners to impose their moral values and fashion standards on the nation's people. The government's response was simply to make all swimwear illegal. The prohibition of swimwear was another act of defiance from Upper Danubia against the rest of the world.

As Kim rode making deliveries on the days she worked for Victor Dukov, she looked longingly at the people relaxing on the ground near any body of water. She had a few opportunities to swim, but not nearly as much as she would have liked. She worked 9-hour days, six days a week. She had rehearsals three nights per week, a concert at least once a week, and a recording session at least once a week. Whenever she had an evening free Kim could count on Vladim and Maritza Dukov to have something planned, and when that was not the case she could spend a little time with Sergekt.

Sunday hardly was a day of rest. Sundays always included the weekly tradition of Sergekt having dinner with the Dukovs and the preparations needed for the meals. Kim had to help Maritza prepare the dinners, since it was Kim's boyfriend who was coming over. As much as she wanted to drop the whole idea of those stupid dinners, she knew better than to say anything. The Dukovs would never dispense with the tradition and both parents felt that it was very important for them to maintain an on-going relationship with Sergekt.

On top of everything else, Sundays were the only chance Kim had to attend to her newest duty, the singing group's income and contracts. There was much that she had to learn very quickly, about basic accounting, the group's expenses, negotiating performance details with the theaters scattered around Danube City, and beginning to understand music recording contracts.

Kim found out that Eloisa had been contacted by a German company who wanted to sign up the group to produce several albums. Kim spent many hours researching the details of the deal being offered. She faxed pages of documents back and forth to her father in the US, who in turn showed them to a friend he had in the music business in the US. The verdict? Don't sign anything with them, they are trying to cheat you in a big way.

Kim brought the bad news to Eloisa and Dima, expecting an argument. The response was "Kimberly, you are the business expert among us. If you think a contract is no good, I'm not going to argue with you. You know what you're doing, and we don't. That's why you're in charge of the money."

Kim said nothing, but a sick feeling rose in her stomach. Eloisa, I don't know what I'm doing either, she thought to herself. I don't have a fucking clue.

Criminal # 98945 approached her boss at the music store about her dilemma. He surprised her by actually understanding her situation and by being the one person in Danube City who realized that being born in the US does not make a person a business expert.

"Kimberly, there is only one solution. You will have to make yourself into the expert everyone thinks you are already. You have significant number of people whose lives depend on your actions. Is it fair that you should suffer this responsibility at age 19? No, but fair or not, this reality has become your life. You must succeed, and I will strive to help you."

Kim's boss spent many late evening hours over the summer giving her a crash-course in everything she needed to know to negotiate music contracts and make sure everyone was paid properly. She was amazed he was willing to spend so much time with her. When she expressed her surprise and gratitude her boss replied:

"Kimberly, I have spent my entire adulthood promoting music. It is the purpose of my life, it is the very reason I exist on the planet. I have seen many musical groups come and go, many wonderful songs played for a while and then forgotten. But when I hear Eloisa, I feel different. Her voice touches me more than anyone else I have ever listened to. There is something about her, something that will make her unique, and I don't really know what that something is. But it's there, and I want the world to share it. Not just Upper Danubia, Kimberly, but the world. She has that potential to touch the world with her singing. So for me to spend some time with you to make sure you negotiate the right contracts is nothing to me. And when you do need to talk to anyone about contracts, please let me know. I will go with you."

"Really sir? You'd do that?"

"Yes Kimberly, I think it's that important."

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During May and June Kim saw very little of her boyfriend except during rehearsals, concerts, and the Sunday dinners. While she was struggling with her two jobs and the band's finances, Sergekt was desperately trying to save his mother's garden from the drought. Hour after hour he spent at the garden plot pumping water from the ground and carrying it in buckets to dump on the garden's plants to keep them alive. It was a losing battle that left him exhausted, but at least he had to make the effort. By June Kim noticed the effect Sergekt's efforts were having on him. He had lost weight and become much more sinewy, his hands were callused from the work and his face continuously exhausted and stressed. There was little she could do to help him, other than lend him her mountain bike to let him get out to his family's garden plot more quickly.

Kim found out it was not just Sergekt who was struggling to save his family's garden. Most of the other male members of the band also had family plots to attend to, and it was Danubian tradition that a grown son should bear primary responsibility for the heavy labor needed to keep the gardens productive. All around Danube City young men desperately pumped and carried water to pour on their parents' vegetables as the sun blazed and water levels dropped. The women noticed the male members of the band become increasingly depressed as stories circulated that wells were running dry around the country. Kim's friends knew it was only a matter of time before their own water stations would run dry, and when that happened their efforts to save their families' food would end in failure.

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The worsening drought suspended debate on Vladim Dukov's proposal to reform the country's corporal punishment system, which was ultimately proved fortunate for the reform's proponents. Had the initial vote been held on schedule, the reform proposal would have been defeated by a 3 to 1 margin in the Parliament. However, Upper Danubia was facing a food crisis that needed more urgent attention. As much as the country prided itself on being self-sufficient, it was obvious that year the government would need to import a large part of the nation's food supply. There was money set aside for such emergencies, so the only real issue was to negotiate the best deal for importing basic food items, most notably wheat, animal feed, and potatoes.

Because of his English and experience in the United States, Spokesman Dukov was included in delegations ordered overseas to purchase several shiploads of wheat. The wheat would be off-loaded into barges and brought to Danube City, and from there sent to the provinces by rail. As the negotiations progressed and the contracts were signed, the nation's emergency fund shrank and eventually was used up. However, the end result was the purchase of enough wheat and animal feed to get the country through the next growing season.

Dukov was out of the country during almost the entire month of June, with the handful of other government officials who spoke English. The other officials had been scandalized by the Spokesman's efforts to undermine the nation's centuries-old justice system. At the beginning the others treated Dukov with disrespect, but over time he was able to win their confidence. Slowly, very slowly, he explained why the reforms were necessary, using different strategies to convince different members of the trade delegations. Dukov, in his quiet friendly manner, managed to win the support of several important government officials and deputies, who later in the year would return to their posts and talk to other officials about the need for reform. It was a slow process, but he began to feel confident that he might win the hearts and minds of enough people to make a difference.

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June sped by as Kim struggled to become the financial expert everyone thought she was already, and as the male members of the band fought to stem the slow death of their families' gardens. The equinox came, and with it a series of celebrations and national religious services. As always, Eloisa's group performed for the nation, this time in the Plaza of the Ancients, right next to Sergekt's restaurant and the Temple of the Ancients, were Criminal # 98945's legal problems began a year ago.

Kim looked at the Temple and her heart pounded. A year ago. Shit. She suddenly remembered she was due for another switching on July 2, less than two weeks away. The anniversary of her arrest was coming up, the anniversary of the horrible two days that so completely demolished her old life.

Two days after the equinox Kim rode her bicycle over to the Temple of the Ancients. She needed a break and called Victor Dukov to tell him she was taking an extra hour for lunch. Immediately he objected, but she calmly responded: "Sir, I need to take the hour. You can cut my pay or do whatever you want, but I need the hour, and I am turning off my phone. Goodbye sir, I'll talk to you in an hour."

Criminal # 98945 decided to walk behind the Temple and visit the spot where she had been arrested the year before. It looked exactly the same, except the park bench was a bit more worn. Kim decided to sit down and simply enjoy the view of the river. The water level was very low, exposing sandbars she had not seen the year before. The trees didn't look all too healthy and the grass underfoot already was dried out. Oh God, Kim thought to herself, I hope there's never a fire here, all this would go up like matches.

Kim's thoughts wandered to Tiffany. She wondered what had happened to her. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Was it possible that Tiffany was consumed with guilt, being responsible for the death of one friend and the imprisonment of another? Was she so blitzed out on drugs that she no longer cared? Was she already dead? No one in Kim's life knew the answer.

Kim's thoughts wandered to her own life and the rest of the summer. The switching loomed in front of her, but then it would be over and within a couple of weeks she would be completely healed. She was more worried about her crash course in the band's management. She was grateful for all the help she was receiving from her boss, her father back in the US, and Vladim Dukov, but the enormity of what she was taking on frightened her. Still, she knew something very important. She knew that, ultimately, she would succeed.

As she got up to leave, Kim heard some footsteps coming up near the bench. Her heart jumped when she saw it was the female cop who had arrested her a year ago. The cop gave her a pleasant look and a slight smile, but Kim knew that was quite deceptive. Suddenly her conscience was filled with dread and horror.

Shaking, Criminal # 98945 knelt at the feet of the cop, touching her forehead to the ground. She waited for permission to stand up. The cop stood silently for several minutes, letting Kim fully appreciate her submission in this situation.

"Criminal # 98945, I see you're a bit sentimental. I presume you are fondly remembering our first meeting in this spot. You know, our meeting here is something that gives me very sweet memories."

"Yes, Officer."

"So tell me, Criminal # 98945, are you looking forward to our meeting next week?"

"No Officer, of course I'm not looking forward to that."

"Good answer, Criminal # 98945. You're being honest with me. You know that lying to a police officer in this country is a crime."

"Yes Officer, I know that."

For a long time the cop left Kim kneeling. Finally she interrupted the silence.

"Criminal # 98945, since you and I are here alone, I want to ask you a question. Do you think your sentence was fair? I ask you that because normally you would have received five years, and the switch every three months. But you, because of your sweet-talking Spokesman, only got two. Do you think that's fair? And I want you to answer me with a simple 'yes' or 'no'."

Kim had no idea how to respond. She thought the sentence was more than fair, given that nowhere else in Europe would she have been so cruelly treated for a simple marijuana possession. But by Danubian standards her punishment was extremely light. Finally she answered.

"Yes, Officer, I think my sentence was fair."

"Oh really? Two years out of a five year sentence? Four whippings when you should have received 20? I don't think it's fair at all, Criminal # 98945."

"You are entitled to your opinion, Officer. What more can I say?"

"Oh, I'm entitled to much more than my opinion, you pathetic little druggie. You think you're so Danubian, with your fancy singing and your hair done up like you were one of us, but you, and that group of hooligans you hang out with, and your criminal Spokesman and his traitor son...you're all social garbage as far as I'm concerned. You'll never be Danubian. None of you. Well, I can't do anything about the others, but I'll be making your life pretty miserable next week."

"Officer, I request permission to speak."

"What is it?"

"Why are you this way to me? What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?"

"You're a criminal, and a spoiled rich American on top of everything else. I hate you all, all you criminals and all you foreigners. If it were up to me there'd be none of you, no criminals and no foreigners, contaminating our land. As for you, I really don't know why I hate you so much. I just do, and I don't see anything wrong with it. You will learn that hatred is a powerful thing in life, Criminal # 98945. Anyhow, I'll be able to vent my anger on that sweet brown bottom of yours. I guarantee that next week, while you are strapped to the table, I WILL break you. I'll have you screaming, just like last time, only more so."

"You won't be able to surprise me Officer. I now know what to expect."

"Oh, I'm not going to try to surprise you. I'm simply going to beat you as hard as I legally can. I'll make it nice and slow, take my time, enjoy myself. No, there will be no surprises this time...just me and you...and lots of pain. I've had plenty of time to practice, on other criminals, that is. But when I beat them, it's you who I'm always thinking about."

Kim started to shake. As much as she tried to stop, she couldn't. The cop noticed Kim's quivering body.

"I see that you are indeed scared, as you should be. Well, I must continue my patrol, so I'll leave you. Have a pleasant afternoon, Kimberly Lee. I'll see you next week."

With that the cop walked off. Kim sat back on the bench, her pleasant reflective mood totally shattered. For a long time Kim stared blankly at the ground at her feet, immobilized with terror.