Maragana Girl
Copyright 2004 by EC
EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/
EC's deviantART collection - http://caligula20171.deviantart.com/ 

(warnings: judicial corporal punishment, forced public nudity, sex between adults, 
references to drug use, references to violence)

Chapter 13 – The American Financial Expert

Kim always marveled at the ability of her friends to bounce back after each 
punishment. The very next evening all 15 members of Eloisa's musical group 
were at rehearsal, following an ordinary day at work for each of the band's 
members. It was no surprise that the women should be ready to rehearse, given 
their switchings had been extremely lenient. However, the band's ten male 
members all were viciously marked up; with the passage of 24 hours only making 
the marks appear darker and more severe. But they all were present, all with their 
instruments, all following the direction of the lead singer. It seemed that once they 
started with the rehearsal, they were able to step out of the pain and humiliation of 
their lives and enter the spiritual world of song.

On May 1st there was an International Labor Day celebration in Danube City's 
Central Plaza. Eloisa's group received prominent billing, performing in front of an 
audience of 22,000 people. The country's Prime Minister and many deputies from 
the Parliament sat on the building's main balcony, enjoying Eloisa's talent and 
attractive figure as much as the crowds in the plaza below. Eloisa's group was 
only one out of six that performed that afternoon, but it clearly was the crowd's 
favorite.

The May 1st concert also was the first concert in which Kim sang with Eloisa for 
more than just one or two songs. The American stood with her Danubian friend at 
the main microphone for 9 out of a total of 22 songs performed by the group. 
Once the final song was completed and the group knelt in appreciation of the 
applause they were receiving, Eloisa brought Kim foreword and had her kneel up 
front along side her. At that moment Kim realized that Eloisa considered her an 
equal partner at the microphone.

In the US, and in most other countries, the popularity of Eloisa and her 
companions would have encouraged their fans to pressure the government to 
commute or shorten their sentences, or in some other way try to ease the burdens 
of their lives. In Upper Danubia the public's mentality was very different. Most of 
the people in the crowd saw no contradiction between the group's popularity and 
their status as criminals. To the contrary, the performers were held up as examples 
of how successful the Duchy's justice system truly was at forcing violent 
offenders to reform and lead productive lives. The public would applaud and 
honor the group, but at the same time would expect them to complete their 
sentences.

How Kim's friends saw themselves and their situation also differed tremendously 
from how a group of people in the US might react to a similar situation. Kim 
knew that Eloisa never stopped blaming herself for what happened to her friends, 
but how she dealt with that guilt was extremely productive. She believed that if 
the others had been so willing to sacrifice for her, it was her duty to be as 
successful in her personal life as possible, so the others could feel good about the 
sacrifice they had made. According to Eloisa's line of reasoning, had she failed in 
life or led a mediocre existence, the others would have sacrificed for nothing. It 
was her duty, her social obligation, to make sure the sacrifices of the others had 
been meaningful.

As for the others, there was neither regret nor resentment, not against Eloisa nor 
the Danubian government. They viewed what happened to them as inevitable. A 
friend's honor had been violated; it was their social duty to restore her honor and 
face the legal consequences. There was no choice in the matter, because 
Danubians believed that a person who had lost his honor was nothing more than a 
living corpse housing a dead soul. There was no "what if" in any of their minds. 
Keeping their souls alive was more important to them than evading the suffering 
they were enduring now.

May progressed with an important development in Eloisa's personal life. She had 
recovered enough from her experiences that she now was able to hold hands with 
her boyfriend. Her progress was slow, but it was real. At the Socrates Club Kim 
noticed her friend's hand constantly resting in Dima's hand on the table, as she 
nervously forced herself to confront her fear of being touched. One night Kim 
noticed Eloisa actually walking down the street with her boyfriend, holding his 
hand as they walked. 

Kim could tell that Eloisa was uneasy, but at the same time she was living a real 
adventure, confronting the demons that had taken over part of her soul. Eloisa was 
happier than she had been at any time since Kim had met her the previous year. 
Maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about herself. She was indeed broken, 
but, with time and patience from Dima, perhaps the damage could be fixed.

----------

For all the performing they were doing, it seemed to Criminal # 98945 that she 
and her companions were receiving very little money for their efforts. In many 
cases, such as holidays, they performed for free, expected to do so as their 
contribution to the celebration. However, the group also performed in theaters 
where the public did pay. The only money she ever saw for all her efforts were 
incidental funds for meals. She also received money to compensate her bosses at 
the music store and the courier service for her absences, but that was it. When 
Kim approached Eloisa about the issue, the lead singer simply responded.

"We've been getting a lot of money for our concerts. You haven't seen it because 
we're not allowed to use it. It's being held in trust by the Spokesperson's credit 
union until we finish our sentences."

"But how do I know it's even there, if I never see any of it?"

"Is there anything in particular that you need and don't have?"

"Well, no…but…"

"So what's the problem? We'll receive our compensation when we're no longer 
criminals. Of course, if you have a pressing need…for example Valia…" (who 
was one of the back-up singers) "…lost part of her family's house in a fire. Our 
Spokesman released the money she needed to give her parents so they could 
rebuild."

"And how do you know he didn't keep any for himself?"

Eloisa gave Kim a puzzled look. "Why would he do that? He's adequately paid by 
the government. He doesn't need our money."

Kim was troubled by her friend's nonchalant attitude about the band's earnings. 
She decided to bring up the matter with Vladim Dukov. The first thing she wanted 
to know was how much money she had earned herself. The Spokesman opened a 
filing cabinet and pulled out her criminal's file. He took out a small bank book 
and handed it to her. There were various entries with a final sum of the Danubian 
currency equivalent for $ 14,500.00.

"I understand all of you have the same amount in your accounts, the active band 
members, that is. Eloisa has paid your songwriters and assistants half the salary 
the stage performers receive."

"So she's just splitting the money evenly among us?"

"That is correct."

"And you know for a fact that...I mean...are you sure the others are getting their 
full amount?"

"Of course they are, Kimberly. Why would they not? Anyhow, the compensation 
is in their bankbooks."

Kim was not satisfied and decided to ask Sergekt for his opinion. He seemed 
every bit as oblivious as the others. She tried to make him understand why the 
financial arrangement worried her.

"Look. In my country there's no way a group of people like us would just let a 
bunch of money come in and get divided up without someone taking a look at the 
books and seeing what's going on with it. How do you know $ 14,500 is what we 
all should be getting? What if it's more, and we never saw it? How would we even 
know?"

"Spokesman Havlakt is a man with honor. I can tell you he wouldn't take our 
money."

"Sergekt, when it comes to money, no one has honor."

Sergekt gave Kim an offended look, irritated at her questioning his Spokesman's 
intentions.

"Well, he does! He's not a capitalist! What is it that you want? Do you want to 
take control of our finances? Maybe you could talk to him and work out an 
arrangement."

When Kim brought up the issue with Spokesman Havlakt, her concerns were put 
at ease to some extent. Yes indeed, all his clients had bankbooks in their folders 
with the correct amount. There was a separate folder with the band's pay receipts 
and everything looked in order when she tallied up the income and outgoing 
expenses. The Spokesman addressed the young criminal when she returned the 
folder.

"Kimberly, I want to tell you that I understand your concern and I am not 
offended. But there is something you should know. Eloisa is in charge of 
arranging contracts between your group and the concert halls. Up until now that 
has not been a problem because they pay standard compensation to performers. 
By American standards it is not much, but by our standards it is fair. Remember, 
the Duchy's yearly per capita income is only $ 5,500. My concern is what will 
happen when Eloisa tries to negotiate recording contracts. She is quite naive on 
the matter and the assistance I can provide is rather limited. Maybe you, with your 
American capitalist background, can help?"

Kim sighed. Spokesman Havlakt, just like everyone else in this country, seemed 
to assume that she was a business genius just because she was from the US. She 
wasn't, of course, but at least she knew what questions to ask. 

It was obvious anyone negotiating a contract would run circles around the band's 
naive lead singer. The only answer was for Criminal # 98945 to step in and help 
out with the finances. So, as though she already did not have enough going on in 
her life, Kim found herself assisting the Spokesman Havlakt with the band's 
records. The next day he took her to the bank and gave her authority to collect and 
deposit money into the band members' accounts. Then he drafted a power of 
attorney to allow her to sign contracts on behalf of the group.

Eloisa and Dima came into the office that afternoon and gladly co-signed the 
permissions allowing Criminal # 98945 to negotiate the recording contracts. Kim 
did not fully understand what was happening until it was too late. It was obvious 
the Danubians did not know anything about contracts and were nervous about 
their lack of knowledge. Up until that point it had not been a problem, but it 
would be shortly. Rather than confront the problem themselves, it would be so 
much easier to have the American handle everything, since everyone knows that 
Americans are good with business.

The only problem was that Kim was only 19 and had barely managed to finish 
high school. She was not qualified to negotiate anything and she knew it. That 
night she made a panicky phone call to her father, begging him to get her some 
assistance.

----------

Vladim Dukov faced a test of his honor. He was sworn to uphold a legal and 
judicial system that dated back to the Middle Ages. His goal in life was to uphold 
the Danubian justice system and through his position do his part to assure social 
peace and tranquility. He took his obligation very seriously, because Danubians 
believed that if a person pursues a profession, especially a public profession such 
as Spokesman for the Criminal, the spirits of the dead predecessors in the field 
watched the actions of the living. A person who failed to uphold his profession to 
the standards of the Guardian Spirits faced punishment from those spirits, who 
would return to the world to wreak havoc in the lives of the incompetent and the 
malicious. That belief was not just superstition, it actually was incorporated in the 
country's religious practices, the most important of which was the Day of the 
Dead in September.

Spokesman Dukov saw nothing wrong with the over-all method of punishing 
criminals in Upper Danubia. Criminals had to be punished somehow, and kept 
under control for a set period of time. The only two ways to accomplish that goal 
was to jail them, or sentence them in the Danubian fashion. Dukov reasoned the 
Danubian way of punishing criminals was far superior to jailing them, because 
from the very first day of their sentences criminals returned to society and were 
forced to re-build their lives. Reform and redemption started from day one of the 
sentence. On top of that the government was saved the expense of maintaining 
jails and prisons.

Dukov knew that Upper Danubia's system of corporal punishment was in deep 
trouble, in spite of his belief in that system's benefits to society. Over the last 
couple of years he had talked at length with his son, and fully realized just how 
abusive the younger police officers were becoming towards criminals. He had 
battled with enough police officers himself to know that things in the courtroom 
and the punishment chambers were headed in a very bad direction.

The older police officers viewed both themselves and the criminals they punished 
as having specific places in society with specific duties. The officer had his role in 
society with its obligations and rights, and the criminal also had his position in 
society with its obligations and rights. Those obligations and rights had to be 
respected, even when a police officer needed to whip a criminal. The judicial code 
of 1780 clearly laid out a system of corporal punishments designed to be painful, 
but not cause permanent injury. Unfortunately, the code said nothing about 
preserving the criminal's dignity, but for generations it had been taken for granted 
that a police officer should never derive sexual pleasure from his position and 
power over a criminal.

Over the past decade the values within the police sub-culture had changed in 
Upper Danubia. The concept of social responsibility had greatly diminished, 
replaced with the idea that police officers needed to make punishments as hellish 
as possible to frighten the public into not committing crimes. Because of the 
change in over-all values, many of the younger police officers saw nothing wrong 
with sexually tormenting criminals as part of their over-all punishment. They 
were not violating the Code of 1780, nor causing any permanent injury, so what 
was the problem? Given the hostility from the over-all population against 
criminals, most of the public saw nothing wrong with sexually humiliating them. 
Besides, it was fun to watch.

Dukov had struggled with the issue since Kim's first switching. When she was 
stretched out on the punishment table last July, a terrified foreigner who only half 
understood what was happening to her, Dukov's heart went out to his client when 
she was fondled and he stood by unable to help her. His doubts about the system 
intensified over the winter as he conversed with Vladik about his fellow officers. 
Dukov finally was convinced that concrete reforms were needed when his son 
decided that he needed to put his own career at risk just to protect a group of 
female criminals from being sexually abused by his co-workers. The entire system 
clearly was broken and needed to be repaired.

Vladim Dukov wanted to restore the values of the Danubian National Police back 
to the way they had been prior to the recent change. He wanted the system to be 
returned to its original goal, rehabilitation. In the past the police officer was a key 
figure in the criminal's rehabilitation process and fully cooperated with the 
Spokesman. Today the Spokesman and the police officer were enemies in court, 
with the Spokesman desperately trying to protect the criminal from abuse and the 
police officer desperately trying to outwit the Spokesman. Because of the change, 
the entire system was breaking down and criminals were being unfairly treated. 
They were being turned into entertainment for both the punishing officers and for 
on-lookers.

Dukov's goal was to re-establish the spirit of the Code of 1780 by changing its 
text. He wanted to carefully define what exactly a switching was, how it was to be 
administered, and define limits of severity. Most importantly, Dukov sought to 
create strict sanctions against any police officer who sexually abused a criminal as 
part of his punishment. There would be no touching, no fondling, no sexual jokes 
permitted, nothing that might be considered to give sexual pleasure to the officer. 
Dukov's legislation stipulated that any police officer who sexually abused a 
criminal would face the same sanction as one who drew blood during a 
punishment, the officer would lose the right to switch criminals in the future. 
Dukov planned save the system by reforming it.

----------

Sweat trickled down Dukov's face as he stood in front of the National Parliament 
to present his bill at the end of the first week of May. Behind him stood 37 
Spokespersons, 19 from Danube City and 18 more from the provincial capitols. 
Their support was the first surprise to the nation; that all of Upper Danubia's 37 
Spokespersons agreed on the need for Dukov's bill and were standing behind him 
as he spoke. There was no doubt about their support, because they all saluted 
Dukov before he began his speech.

The Spokesman began by presenting three petitions, the one from Eloisa's old 
school, one secretly passed around the National Police Headquarters by Vladik's 
friends, and one from several religious leaders who were offended by the open 
display of sexuality during corporal punishments. Dukov then spoke to the 
stunned Parliament about the need to re-impose morality into the system of 
judicial punishments and restore harmony between the country's Spokespersons 
and police officers. A punishment code with clear rules and restrictions would 
help restore that harmony.

Dukov's proposal immediately proved unpopular among the legislators, as he had 
feared. It was attacked by numerous deputies who argued that it undermined both 
the authority of the police in general, and the right of the individual police officer 
to determine what was best for the criminal. At first it seemed that the support 
from Dukov's peers and other social leaders did not matter to any of the deputies. 
However, a deputy from the main opposition party finally broke ranks with the 
rest of the Parliament and spoke in favor of the proposal. Quickly two others 
seconded the dissident's position and also gave statements in favor of the reform. 
A group of deputies filed out in disgust as two others, this time from the 
governing party, raised their hands in support of Dukov's proposal. There was 
whistling and hissing from the deputies directed against each other and the Prime 
Minister shouting to restore order. With that the long debate over reforming 
Upper Danubia's criminal justice system began.

As the Spokesman stood sweating at the main podium, he was fully aware of the 
long difficult months that lay ahead because of his actions. He would have to 
defend his proposal day in and day out, argue continuously with adversaries and 
ex-friends, and justify over and over why a law that had worked admirably since 
1780 no longer was serving its purpose. The debate would go on for a long time 
before finally being settled, because nothing in Upper Danubia's National 
Parliament ever got resolved quickly.

Dukov continued to stand in front of the cameras of the nation, unsure whether to 
leave the podium or not. Finally he directed a question at a deputy Prime Minister.

"Sir, may I be dismissed?"

"Spokesman, do you withdraw this piece of treason?"

"No sir."

"Then you stay there, at that podium. Look into the camera. Let the nation see you 
for the subversive that you truly are."

The term "subversive" stuck and appeared in the nation's newspapers the 
following day, under a picture of Dukov's sweating, nervous face. As the debate 
raged about the need to pass the reform, Kim's Spokesman became known as 
"Vladim the Subversive". Over the next few months the Spokesman and his 
supporters eventually took the nickname as a badge of honor.

---------

May of that year was abnormally hot throughout Central Europe. Kim enjoyed the 
hot weather, the high temperatures reminding her of a summer in the United 
States. However, for Upper Danubia the hot temperatures were a concern. 
Recently planted crops struggled in the heat, farm animals were under a lot of 
stress, and the population of Danube City was forced to shed much of its clothing. 

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."

----------

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.

----------

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.

----------

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 she stared blankly at the ground at her 
feet, immobilized with terror.

