#Women Leader Assembly Ticket | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cynicalrainbows · 4 years ago

Text

The Next Best Thing Chapter 20

She hasn’t been stood out in the hall all that long, but when she gets back under the covers, she starts to shiver and then she can’t stop. She’s shaking so hard, she wonders if she’s really sick- maybe she’s caught The Flu or one of the scary diseases that they have in books, Scarlet Fever or Galloping Consumption. The thought makes her hopeful for a moment- because surely Catalina won’t make her leave if she’s really properly ill? But then, she wonders, what if she DOES? That would be even worse- to be ill and to not even be at home, like when she was little and didn’t feel well at Rainbow Camp and still had to stay all night because the leader said it was Just Homesickness. Except that the Just Homesickness turned out to be chickenpox. (She hopes this doesn’t turn out to be chickenpox.)

Eventually, the shaking stops and the bed feels cozier but it’s still hard to get comfy.

The new knowledge lies heavy on her like a weight and she can’t stop wondering what’s going to happen.

Is she going to have to leave first thing in the morning? Or later? Will she be allowed to pack- and if she is, will she be allowed to take the books that Catalina brought her, the toys and clothes and shoes….or will she have to leave them behind, so Catalina can get rid of them or take them back to the shop?

(Will she have to leave Little Women behind, half unread?)

Maybe though she’ll just keep them, and give them to another little girl- a nicer, quieter, better goddaughter, who never slams doors or complains or argues or forgets things and who always, always, always tells the truth.

She thinks about this little girl folding over the pages in her books and wearing her beautiful new otter pajamas and making bracelets with her new Rainbow Loom and feels sick.

She doesn’t think she’ll ever fall asleep- her bed is very empty without Tarkar and her pillow is uncomfortably damp and cold under her cheek- but she does, somehow.

She wakes up in the quiet grey light of the very early morning with her heart pounding from a dream of being held under the water at the swimming pool as punishment for not being able to swim- and she’s JUST about to go and take refuge in Catalina’s bed when she remembers.

Catalina doesn’t want her any more.

And this is her last day.

This might be the last morning she ever has in her room- No. Not her room. Not her room anymore.

Catalina smiles at her the next morning when she comes into the kitchen already up and dressed and it’s horrible, having to see how happy the prospect of getting rid of Cathy is making her.

‘You’re up early mija- I was just about to come and wake you.’

She can hardly bear to look at Catalina at all- she just shrugs when Catalina asks if she slept well.

(Catalina also very gently asks if she should put a load of laundry on this morning, which is just a bit strange because Catalina never usually asks her opinion on whether or not chore-things need to done, apart from when she asks things like whether Cathy’s bedroom needs to be tidied up, which isn’t really a question at all because the answer- no matter what Cathy says to the contrary- is always yes. So she shakes her head and Catalina nods and says ok.

And then that’s apparently the end of the conversation because Catalina goes and starts making coffee and it’s all very confusing.)

The very worst thing about the morning is the way that Catalina still hasn’t really told her that she’s leaving yet. It makes her think that maybe Catalina doesn’t even want to bother with saying goodbye at all, and maybe someone else is just going to pick her up from school.

(And if that happens, who will pack her things? Or does she have to leave EVERYTHING behind? Surely Catalina won’t make her leave without even a toothbrush?)

She’s anxious enough about it that she decides to pack Tarkar in her bookbag so that no matter what happens to her, she won’t have to leave him behind…..but Catalina sees her trying to fit him in and takes him away, gently but firmly.

‘You can’t take toys to school mija, you know that. He’s still damp anyway.’

It’s true- but she’d rather a not-quite-dry-yet otter than none at all. (Still, she HOPES this means she’ll be coming home- or to what will soon be her old home, she supposes- after school. She can get Tarkar then.)

It’s still frustrating that Catalina hasn’t TOLD her anything though- she picks at her cereal, waiting for the announcement that she’s sure is coming but there’s nothing, just a reminder to eat up quickly and put her shoes on.

Eventually, she manages to screw up all her courage as they’re getting into the car and asks Catalina if she wants to talk to her.

Catalina looks confused for a second and then her face clears- she obviously realises that Cathy heard her the night before, maybe she even planned it to save them an awkward conversation and spoke extra loudly on purpose?

‘We’ll talk once you’re back from school mija- I think that would be for the best.’ She fastens her belt and adjusts her seat angle. ‘You shouldn’t worry about it though, ok? It will all be alright.’

After a moment, she realises Catalina is waiting for her to say something- although she isn’t sure what (to agree that she’s ok with leaving? To apologise and beg to stay?), so she says nothing, just stares at the half-peeled off sticker on the corner of the windscreen until Catalina sighs and turns on the ignition.

Of course it will all be alright for Catalina once she’s gone, she knows that already….but she wishes she could ask what's going to happen to her without the words sticking in her throat like they are now. Where will she go? Will she even be in the same school….or is she going to be sent somewhere else entirely? It’s not as if she has any other family to go to- she overheard enough conversations about how Catalina was ‘all that was left’ to know that. But where does that leave her?

She wonders if she’ll go to a Home- the sort with a Capital H- like in Tracy Beaker and have to learn to be noisy and shouty like those children are on TV. Or maybe she’ll go to an Orphanage (like in Annie, where she’ll have to scrub floors and wash clothes) or even somewhere like in Oliver Twist (where you have to eat gruel and wear rags)?

(Catalina told her there are no such things any more, but Catalina doesn’t know everything and what if this is like the time that Catalina said that definitely nobody would notice if she parked on a double yellow line for five minutes while she ran into the post office, but they did notice and then Catalina had gotten a ticket and then gotten very annoyed?)

What if she ends up going to a place like that? She tries to remind herself that really, Oliver and Annie were ok (even if they were 9 and 10 rather than 7) and so maybe she’ll be ok too?

But then she thinks about how even Oliver and Annie- despite all the horrible things that came first- ended up getting adopted by nice, kind rich people and didn’t have to stay in the scary places forever. She wishes there was a film about the other children in the orphanages- the ones who ended up there because they got to live with the nice, kind person first and then ruined it. She wishes she could know that those children would be ok.

She walks into school with the hoards of happy, wanted children and feels lonelier than ever.

It’s hard to focus on school- or on anything- when she’s got something so scary looming over her. Anne has to dig her hard with her pointy elbow to make her reply when her name is called for registration.

Her eyes blur too much to read the words on the projector during assembly and a teacher from one of the older classes directs a glare at her when she notices Cathy isn’t singing. She doesn’t want to get into trouble so she tries mouthing words- any words, nonsense words- instead but then it feels like she’s just making faces so she stops….and thankfully, the song ends before she can be properly told off over it.

She doesn’t put up her hand once during Numeracy and Literacy Hour; Stephen Gardener answers a hard question after she is called upon and gets her answer wrong, and he smirks at her from across the classroom. She doesn’t even care.

(Well. Not VERY much anyway.)

Then her teacher calls her over to her desk when the bell goes for morning playtime.

She thinks at first she’s just going to be reprimanded for daydreaming (and maybe for copying Anne’s sums, if she’s really unlucky, since she’d just not been able to make the numbers work when she tried it herself)....but her teacher looks much more serious than that sort of telling-off would warrant, and when she asks Cathy to sit down, she knows it’s going to be bad.

She wonders then if maybe THIS is it, if she’s going to be taken to her new home during breaktime, like when people are allowed to leave early to go to the dentists.

Instead though, the teacher says that she wants to have a Little Chat. About dinner money. And truthfulness.

Cathy squirms in her chair while the teacher talks about the Importance of Honesty.

‘-and it was such a disappointment to me, dear, as well as to your godmother, because as I said to her, I’ve always said that you’re one of the children who can really be trusted and relied upon…’

It’s awful, the way that consequences unravel like this, slowly and first and then quicker and quicker.

‘You know you can always tell me anything Cathy, but you must see that lying about something that serious…..well, it makes things very hard on me, because what if another child tells me the same thing tomorrow and I didn’t believe him because I was wondering if he might be lying?’

She can’t even look her teacher in the eye, she’s so ashamed- she stares at the clock over the blackboard instead, and watches the hands tick round, but they keep blurring together.

The thought of someone else going hungry and maybe never ever being believed all because of her is too awful to think about, and it makes her wonder if maybe Catalina is right to send her away, if she’s hurting people she hasn’t even met yet, all without meaning to.

‘-and so very unfair for your poor godmother. Imagine how you would feel if she told me something about you that wasn’t true?’

She can’t imagine Catalina doing something like that- that's the sort of thing that she and Anne might do to one another when they’re fighting (like when Anne told the teacher that Cathy had made a face at her when she must have known really that she was just yawning) but it’s not something for grownups to do themselves. She can imagine it would be horrible though- she feels bad enough being told off for something that she knows she definitely DID do.

No wonder Catalina wants to get rid of her.

She almost asks her teacher if maybe SHE knows where she’s going to be sent….but before she can, teacher says that she can run along now.

So she does.

She gets out into the playground late and makes it to where Anna and Anne are standing with some other girls just in time to hear Anne say something about ‘winning the swimming race’.

‘You didn’t win!’ The words come out quickly, without her even thinking about them, and Anne scowls at her.

‘I NEARLY won.’ She carries on with what she was saying- about how she’s going to practise opening her eyes under water until it doesn’t hurt so that she won’t even need goggles- but she turns a tiny bit away from Cathy as she does.

It stings, more than it usually would- she can’t bear the thought that she’s turning everyone against her, even Anne- and she wishes she could take the words back. She tries to look like she’s extra interested in what Anne is saying but it’s hard to care about swimming or anything else right now.

‘You wouldn’t know who won anyway-’ Jayne Rochford turns on Cathy, breaking her out of her regret. ‘You were all the way over on the other side of the pool. In the shallow end.’

(She says it the way Cathy imagines you’d tell someone you saw them playing inside a dustbin.)

She’s trying and failing to think of a good response- she WAS in the shallow end, after all- when Kat goes on to say it’s because she can’t swim, just in case the others haven’t quite got it yet, and she has to clench her fists hard to stop herself from yanking one of Kat’s stupid plaits.

‘But I can-’

‘No you can’t-’

‘She CAN swim.’ Anne interrupts before Cathy can say anything, and it’s heartening, even if she says it without a lot of enthusiasm. ‘I’ve seen her.’

‘Then why was she in the shallow end?’

‘Because the swimming teacher made her!’ Anne sounds exasperated that everyone seems more interested in Cathy’s swimming abilities, or lack of, than in her plans for learning to see underwater.

‘Well I think-’

‘No one cares what you think!’ Anne throws up her hands in an excellent imitation of her mother and it’s a relief that even when Anne is a bit annoyed, she’ll always be MORE annoyed at Jayne.

(Anne has still not forgiven Jayne for telling their class that her Mummy thought that Anne’s big brother George was secretly in PRISON rather than in London. Anne had hit Jayne and made her nose bleed and Mary had had to come into school to collect her early and, Anne said, complained all the way home that the phone had rung JUST as she’d finally gotten Baby Catherine down for a nap.)

Jayne scowls at her, then turns on her heel and stamps off to where the big girls are braiding scoubidous, turning back a couple of times to make sure they all see her going.

Once she’s gone, Anna adds that it’s stupid to make fun of someone just because they can’t swim, and anyway, she bets Jayne can’t do a handstand, even if she CAN swim.

Being able to do a handstand is, it turns out, something Anna is VERY good at, and the conversation drifts away from swimming to everyone trying to do handstands on the grass and arguing about how long their legs stayed upright for.

(Cathy is grateful for the defence. Even though she still sort of wants to insist to everyone that she CAN. And even though she thinks that perhaps a little tiny bit of Anna sticking up for her was just because she wanted to show off about being able to do a handstand.)

Still, she’s grateful Anna is her friend now.

(She’s going to miss her a lot when she has to leave.)

The clock ticks away the minutes and hours of the afternoon and she feels wound tight with anxiety the whole time. When the bell rings for the end of school, she almost jumps out of her chair she’s so on edge.

Anne looks at her oddly.

‘Are you ok?’

She nods. Anne doesn’t look as if she believes her.

Catalina is standing alone outside the classroom, waiting to collect her- on time, for once- and she wonders how relieved Catalina is that she’ll never have to make the drive, leave work early, and wait in the drafty school hall not talking to anyone ever again.

Her teacher comes over and Catalina asks for A Quick Word and Cathy wonders what she could possibly have done to end up in trouble since she’s barely said a word...and then she realises that they must be talking about how it’s her last day and not to expect her tomorrow and how Anna can change desks now and have Cathy’s old spot next to Anne rather than sitting her herself.

(She’s a little bit sad when her teacher says goodbye to her so casually as they leave. It seems that no one will miss her at all.)

Jane is at the flat when they arrive home and she smiles at Cathy like she’s really pleased to see her, tells her how much Anne loved her birthday present, and says how glad she is that they all had a nice time at the sleepover.

She asks if Cathy liked the birthday cake that Anne saved for her.

Birthdays and sleepovers and the (only very slightly nibbled) piece of cake all feel a very, very long way away to her now, even though it was less than a week ago.

She can’t smile and answer Jane’s questions politely- she’s too anxious- so she just nods and looks at her feet.

(When she thinks Cathy can’t hear, Catalina murmurs to Jane sotto voce that she must just be feeling a bit shy today what with everything going on, and Jane nods.

Cathy hates that they’re talking about her, but she also has a sudden wild urge to cling to Jane’s skirt and beg Jane to let her stay with her so that she doesn’t have to go to an Orphanage. She knows Jane has a spare room, and she wouldn’t take up much space and she hasn’t felt hungry all day so she probably won’t eat much either and then she can still see Anne sometimes….

But she stops herself, and screws her hands into fists. Of course she can’t stay with Jane- Jane can’t even look after Anne and Kitty all the time, so it’s not like she’d be able to look after Cathy. And besides, Jane is nice to her because she’s Anne friend, but it’s not like she cares about Cathy like she does Anne and Kitty.

Then it occurs to her that since Jane and Catalina are friends too, and that since Jane is here now, that Jane must know what’s going on, that Catalina is tired of her and sending her away. Maybe she’s even here specially to help Catalina break the news.

She doesn’t quite have the courage to actually turn away while Jane is still talking to her, but she keeps her eyes on the carpet and eventually Jane stops saying things that require a response.

Good. She’s a traitor anyway.

The social worker smiles a saccharine smile at Cathy when she arrives, and walks around for a bit, saying how lovely things are and admiring the drawings on the fridge and asking questions about them in the way that grownups do when they’re trying to show you how interested they are.

She says that Cathy is excellent at drawing bears and Cathy can’t even be bothered to say that they’re really otters. It doesn’t matter anyway, but Catalina interrupts the woman after a moment to explain what they’re really meant to be. She even smiles at Cathy as she says it, as if Cathy should be grateful, as if she isn’t sending her away, and suddenly Cathy is furious with her.

How can she act so NORMAL? How can she not even care?

She scowls and says that maybe they ARE bears really and that Catalina doesn’t know EVERYTHING. Catalina flushes and starts to tell her rather sharply not to be so rude….and then stops herself, glancing anxiously at the social worker as if she’s said something wrong.

The social worker keeps smiling as if everything is normal and says that whatever they are, they’re lovely and anyway, maybe Cathy would like to go and play now while she talks to Catalina?

She wouldn’t like that at all, but she goes anyway.

Jane asks if she’d like some company- and Catalina shoots Jane a panicked, pleading look, like Kitty when she gets dropped off at Reception and wants Jane to stay- and Cathy doesn’t even reply, she just leaves.

She doesn’t play though.

She needs to pack.

The only- the only good thing about today is that Tarkar is finally dry and she packs him first in her suitcase. Then her fluffy diary, and her favourite Barbie dolls and her pen that can write in different colours.

She hesitates over her books- she still isn’t sure whether she’d be allowed to take them with her, and she doesn’t think she can bear packing them and having to unpack them again. (She’s already done that once, and she’s sure that this time, there won’t be a nice Catalina person to replace all the books she’s left behind.)

She’s folding her tshirts when there’s a knock on the door and Catalina pokes her head in.

‘Mija, can you come and-’ she stops ‘What are you doing?’

‘Packing.’ Surely she’s allowed to take SOME things with her? But Catalina’s face is white, like she’s seen something horrible.

She turns on her heel and walks quickly down the corridor, and after a moment Cathy can hear the rise and fall of voices: Catalina sounds upset and she wonders if she’s in trouble for trying to pack things that she isn’t meant to take?

The unfairness of it is too much for her and she upends her suitcase furiously- why is it that grownups can take whatever they want- always, and again and again?

They took her parents, her house, the furniture and the garden. They took her books, the toys that were too big to pack- and now they’re taking everything else, things that she actually owns herself and it’s so unfair, she hate it, she HATES it-

The anger bubbles up; the social worker comes in just as she throws the suitcase at the door- she has to step back to keep from getting hit.

‘Goodness!’

Cathy freezes, wondering if she’s going to get into trouble- maybe the social worker will think she’s REALLY bad now and decide she needs to go to a special home for Bad Girls?

But she doesn’t look angry- the shock clears from her face and she just looks concerned….and then she pastes on a smile.

She smiles- not like everything is normal, but like someone who is determined to smile no matter what- and looks around the room, turning her head this way and that as if she’s at a museum.

(She doesn’t say anything about the clothes lying scattered and half unfolded, or the fact that Cathy has just thrown a suitcase at her.)

‘What a beautiful bedroom!’

Cathy doesn’t reply- it’s not like it will be her bedroom for much longer.

‘And what lovely toys you have- and my! What a lot of books- you must like reading a lot!’

Cathy wants to ask if she remembers taking the stacks of books out of her suitcase and replacing them with boring t shirts and school dresses, if she remembers telling her off for packing books rather than clothes in the first place.

(She thinks that someone who makes you leave books behind shouldn’t be allowed to sound happy about reading ever again)

Still, she doesn’t say anything, even though the social worker is looking at her expectantly.

Eventually, after an awkward pause, the woman lets some of the smile leak away (which is good- her face must be aching by now) and she perches herself on Cathy’s desk chair.

‘I think we should have a little chat, dear.’

(She’s always hated being called dear. Dear is for birthday cards and thank you cards and postcards; dear is meant to be written down, not said out loud.)

Reluctantly, Cathy sits down on the edge of her bed. She grips the duvet tighter than tight between two fingers where the social worker can’t see.

‘I’ve heard there’s been a little bit of trouble here, hm?’

She nods.

‘How about you tell me all about it?’

She doesn’t feel like reliving it all so she says ‘Catalina can tell you.’

‘I’d rather hear it from you dear.’

The woman’s smile is implacable and it’s obvious she won’t be put off so she gives in and recounts everything as truthfully as she can, wondering as she does whether this is just a test of some sort.

She tells her about being late waking up, the cheque, not having her swimming things, not wanting to get into trouble, and how things sort of spiralled with her meaning for them to.

She waits, at the end, for the social worker to tell her how well (or how badly) she did, whether or not she left anything out, whether or not she passed the test…..but instead she just nods.

‘And what would YOU like to happen next? If you could choose?’

This means she’s being given some choice over where they send her- but since the social worker doesn’t actually tell her what the options are, she wonders if maybe this also is a test.

Maybe it’s a test of whether or not she’s going to be greedy and asks for too much- like when you visit a house and get told to help yourself to biscuits but then they make you put the third one back because Two Is Quite Enough, Young Lady.

So she settles for ‘I’d like to live with someone nice. Not in a Home.’ (She tries to make the Capital H clear so that the woman doesn’t just think she means a normal home.)

‘Oh-’ There’s a flicker of surprise on the woman’s face before it’s smoothed over. ‘So you’d like to live somewhere else?’

She knows this is one of those questions grown ups ask you when they already know the answer and are just checking to make sure that you do too- like ‘You’re getting ready for bed, aren’t you?’ or ‘You’re going to pick up those crayons before they get broken, right?’

‘Yes.’

(She doesn’t know why this makes the social worker look so sad- after all, she got the answer right, didn’t she?)

And then the social worker says that they should talk about this All Together.

She follows the woman out into the living room, with Tarkar in her arms just in case the social worker tries the same trick on him that she did on Cathy’s books.

(She decides that if she does, she’s going to be like Kitty and bite her hand, even if she’s much, much bigger and more grown up than Kitty is.)

Catalina is sitting up very straight and still on the sofa, but when Cathy comes in, she gets up quickly and goes to kneel in front of her. She takes both of Cathy’s hands in her own (Tarkar crushed awkwardly between them) and Cathy realises that this is the goodbye she’s been waiting for.

It makes her feel the tiniest bit better that Catalina is obviously so sad to see her going, and she thinks about how she needs to remember all of this because when she’s grown up, it’ll be the last memory she has of Catalina.

There’s a yawning, gaping sadness inside her, waiting to open up.

‘Mija-’ Catalina is blinking a bit too much. ‘I am so sorry. I’m sorry for- for everything- I never should have gotten so angry with you, I shouldn’t have said those things.’ She snatches a gulp of air- her words tumble over one another. ‘I shouldn’t have shouted, I shouldn’t have-’ Her voice dies away and her hands squeeze Cathy’s even tighter.

Cathy’s throat aches so much she can hardly talk but she manages to talk, just about.

‘I’m sorry too.’ It’s not a lie- she IS sorry, sorry that she lied at all and sorry that it’s the thing that must have made Catalina begin to not-want her in the first place. It’s very faint but Catalina hears her; she nods.

‘I know, mija. I know. You know I didn’t mean what I said?’ Her eyes are pleading, her mouth is trying to smile; Cathy supposes she wants to finish everything off on a clean slate. ‘I didn’t mean it, I was just- tired and upset and- I promise I would never, ever try and take Maria’s place.’

No chance of that now she is sending Cathy away, so she just nods.

Catalina’s smile wavers and she hesitates.

Cathy waits for her to finish but she doesn’t say anything else, so she figures this must be the end of everything.

‘Catalina-’

‘Yes querida?’

It’s hard to ask but she feels like she has to, she has to KNOW.

‘Am I going to live somewhere….very far away?’

Catalina drops her hands abruptly.

‘What?’ She looks horrified. ‘Oh mija- I know you’re upset with me, I know that, I do and I understand but must you really?’

She’s so confused- why is Catalina looking at her like that, what has she said wrong? Why is she looking so shocked? Nothing makes SENSE anymore-

‘What?’

‘Please Cathy, I couldn’t- I can’t bear the idea of losing you, not after this, not now-’ Tears are sliding down Catalina’s cheeks and she brushes them roughly away with her fingertips and keeps talking. ‘If Maria knew that you- that I-’ It’s as if she can’t even say it- although what it is, Cathy has no idea. ‘Please, can’t we give this another try? I love you mija, so very much, I-’

She presses the back of her hand against her mouth, like she’s in pain, and Cathy’s head is whirling, why is Catalina talking as if this is her choice, as if this is something SHE wanted? Why is she making it Cathy’s decision, why is she twisting things around after the phonecall, why-

Nothing makes sense, she’s not sure of anything anymore, and she can’t work things out in her own head either because of the weight of everyone’s eyes upon her as they all wait for her to respond, to see what she’s going to say, but how can she respond, she doesn’t know what the right answer is- is it a test or a trick or something else?

She opens her mouth- because everyone is looking at her so expectantly- but instead of words, she bursts into tears.

(It’s probably a good thing. If she’s crying, she can’t say the wrong thing and make everything worse.)

Still, it’s also embarrassing to be crying with an audience- she tries to stop and just ends up gulping and hiccuping through the tears. Catalina reaches for her and she flinches away instinctively- and the hurt on Catalina’s face just makes her cry harder.

The social worker tries to put an arm around her and she pushes her away- she definitely doesn’t want this strange woman’s cold comfort, the woman who took away her books and her home.

She’d like to hide in her bedroom so she can try and get things straight in her head and work out just what is going in- but as she turns to flee, she runs straight into Jane.

‘Easy there, sweetheart-’

At least Jane doesn’t try to touch her- she just presses a wad of Kleenex into her hands and steps back so Cathy can scrub her face and nose herself.

‘Mija, what’s the matter-’

‘Would you like to tell us what’s wrong Catherine?’

‘It’s CATHY’ She snaps it, and then wonders if that’s going to count against her too; she sniffles, humiliated and uncomfortable, and Jane looks down at her sympathetically.

‘Let’s go and wash your poor face, hm? And maybe Catalina could put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea when we’re back?’ It’s said very gently but firmly too- it’s not a suggestion.

Still, it’s sort of nice that at least one person still seems like they know what they’re doing, so she follows Jane out of the room while Catalina goes to the kitchen, and when Jane offers her hand, she takes it.

It’s cool and soft- smaller than Catalina’s and Jane isn’t wearing any rings but it’s still nice.

The living room isn’t noisy, but the bathroom still feels like a haven of peace: no one is watching her or trying to tell her things or saying things that confuse everything.

Jane sits her down on the edge of the bath, then runs cool water over a flannel and hands it to her.

‘Here, sweetheart.’

The cold feels nice on her hot cheeks and stinging eyes.

Jane waits quietly until she’s finished pressing every last scrap of coolness to her face and the flannel is warm and not as nice feeling again, and then she sits down next to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders.

Cathy finds she’s leaning into her- she doesn’t want to really (Jane is still a traitor after all, even if she DID give her some tissues) but it’s too hard not to.

‘Better?’

She nods.

‘It’s been a hard day for you, hasn’t it?’

‘Yes. It’s been HORRIBLE. And yesterday too.’

Jane tightens her arm around her.

‘I don’t want to tell you what to do or how to feel sweetheart- we all have rights to how we feel, and it’s not my place to interfere. But I do care about you- and Catalina. I want you both to be happy.’

Cathy nods- she understands. Jane is going to explain to her how her moving away is all for the best and she’s going to have to pretend to agree because Jane was nice and gave her a flannel.

‘Did you know I used to be a social worker?’

This isn’t what she was expecting to hear at all. She shakes her head slowly, she isn’t sure where this is going. It’s hard to imagine Jane in the place of her own social worker- she wonders if Jane made many little girls get rid of their books.

‘Were you? Did you like it?’

‘Yes, I did. Very much.’ Jane looks a bit far away for a moment and then comes back hurriedly.

‘Why did you stop?’

‘Other things were more important.’

‘How long ago did you stop?’

‘About three years ago….’ She pauses then continues. ‘Anyway, I worked with lots of families- all sorts. And I’ve seen all the- all the trouble that families can give one another.’

Cathy nods again. She can see where this is going.

‘I’ve had lots of children have to leave home and live somewhere else and-’

Cathy waits for Jane to tell her that it’s really all alright, that it happens a lot and she just needs to be brave or something like that. Instead though, Jane just shakes her head and seems to wilt a little on the edge of the tub.

‘Well, everyone wants the children to be happy in their new homes but it can be very...difficult to get used to a new place and new people. Did it feel strange when you first came here?’

She nods- she can remember those first bewildering days, before Catalina’s flat had settled down into familiar shapes, when she got the doors in the hallway confused and felt afraid that she was putting things out of place every time she moved.

‘So- yes. Living with new people can be very, very difficult, even when everybody wants what’s best- and especially when you don’t know them. It can be hard- very hard, sometimes.’ Jane is choosing her words carefully. ‘Now we all understand things have been hard for you here too- that things have gotten a little unsettled lately, haven’t they?’

‘Yes….’ She wonders how much Jane knows about everything- she wonders if Jane thinks she’s a liar too: she’d ask but she’s having to focus too hard to make sense of what Jane is saying. Why is she making leaving sound so scary, why isn’t she doing the grownup thing of telling Cathy it will all be Fine even when it isn’t?

It reminds her of when Anne had to go to the dentist and she’d gotten into trouble for telling her how much it hurt when they prodded and poked your teeth (even though it HAD hurt, a bit, when she’d gone the week before and so she hadn’t been exaggerating THAT much).

But Jane is a grownup and grownups aren’t meant to try to scare you and-

‘-know things have been difficult, but sweetheart-’ Jane is looking at her very intently. ‘Catalina loves you so much, she only lost her temper because she was upset and she feels terribly that she scared you so much… The thought of losing you is really scary for her and I know she’d miss you so much if you went somewhere else, as would I. And Anne and your other friends. Your teacher too.’ Jane takes a deep breath. ‘Please Cathy, won’t you give it another try? I truly do think you’ll be better off here than in a foster home…’

Her mouth is dry, she feels sick with how upside down everything is. Has Catalina told Jane it’s her idea? But why-

Jane is looking at her, so patient and so hopeful. It’s somehow not as hard as having Catalina look at her.

‘But I-’ Her voice is croaky. ‘I HAVE to go-’

‘Why, sweetheart?’

‘Catalina doesn’t want me anymore.’

She’s said it out loud and it’s both a relief and exquisitely painful at the same time. It’s a relief because saying it out loud means it isn’t a secret, but also telling someone else makes it feel real, even though she knows Jane knows already.

Jane doesn’t LOOK as if she knows already though- her eyebrows knit in confusion.

‘Why do you think that, sweetheart?’

‘I heard her-’ She sucks in a little breath of air through her tight throat. ‘She said she didn’t want me ever and that she wanted me to go away-’

Jane looks even more confused. ‘She told you that she didn’t want you?’

She’s about to nod and then remembers that this is how it all started, not choosing her words carefully enough. So she shakes her head. ‘I heard her say it.’

‘To who?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Was it at school?’

‘It was on the phone.’

‘Catalina told someone that she didn’t want you over the phone- and you overheard-’

Cathy nods.

‘When was this darling?’

‘Last night.’

‘Do you remember when?’

She shakes her head. ‘It was after bedtime.’

Jane’s face is scrunched up like she’s trying to sort things out in her own mind, she looks as confused as Cathy feels….and then it’s as if something falls into place and her eyes open up wide and she starts shaking her head frantically.

‘Oh no, Cathy, no, no-’

‘I DID!’ She can’t bear to be disbelieved when she’s telling the truth this time. ‘I did, I did honestly, I swear-’

‘No, no-’ Jane looks even more urgent. ‘No, I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn’t mean I didn’t believe you, I just- I think you misunderstood what you were hearing...Oh god, what a mess...’ She looks terribly sad. ‘Did you really think Catalina wanted to give you up?’

‘Yes.’ She doesn’t understand why this bothers Jane so much- of course she thought it, she still DOES think it-

‘Come on-’ Jane stands up and holds out her hand again, and Cathy takes it automatically. ‘I think we should explain things to you. Properly.’

It’s easier back in the livingroom because although things are still confusing, it’s a bit less scary when she’s holding onto Jane’s hand. And because with Jane talking, no one is looking at her as much.

‘-and so she called me just to ask if I’d come and give some moral support because she was feeling a bit anxious about the visit today-’ Jane finishes. ‘It was never you she was talking about.’

‘Ay dios mio, no!’ Catalina breaks in fervently. ‘Not you, querida, never ever you!’ She glances at the social worker, looking incredibly guilty and more than a little embarrassed. ‘I was- I’m so sorry, I really am but I was so anxious and tired and-’

She takes a breath. ‘It was her- you- who I was saying I didn’t want to come, not you mija, not for a second. I have never not wanted you, never-’ She breaks off and turns uncomfortably to the social worker. ‘Of course- I do, I really do understand why these visits need to take place and i want you to understand that I am entirely happy to cooperate and work with you as much as I possibly can, I was just feeling very overwhelmed and-’

The social worker gives an awkward little nod and then coughs.

‘Of course. Ah- please don’t mention it…’ She half laughs, although nothing funny has been said. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time someone has said that about me, believe me-’

Catalina smiles awkwardly, and turns back to Cathy quickly. ‘So you see querida, it was all just a big misunderstanding, and if I’d had any idea that you’d overheard or that that was what you were thinking…’ She shakes her head. ‘Oh mija, I can’t imagine how you must have felt!’

Cathy swallows hard, it’s all so much to take in, like the world has been tipping up and down and now she can’t tell if things are upside down or not because everything is changing so quickly. ‘So….you don’t want to send me away?’

‘No! Not for a moment mija, not for a second- I have always, always wanted you, and I’d certainly never send you away!’

She does sound as if she means it.

‘And you weren’t ever going to send me away?’

‘Never.’

‘And-’ This is the hardest one but she has to ask. ‘Are you still cross that I lied?’

‘Oh mija…’ Catalina shakes her head. ‘I still wish that you hadn’t done it- but it was a mistake. And we all make mistakes sometimes.’

‘But are you?’

‘No. Now all I’m really feeling is sorry that you had to go through such a horrible couple of days- it must have been very frightening.’

Funny that thinking about it is almost as bad experiencing it- remembering it is like she’s seeing it all from the outside, like she’s watching herself hear the phonecall and everything else, and she’s sad for herself, for the past her that has been trying so hard to be brave.

She can feel the tears welling up again- funny, that she’s been able to keep herself normal all day when she’s believed everything to be terrible but now she knows it’s ok, she can’t.

‘It was, I thought that-’ She sniffs and wishes she still had the tissues from earlier.

‘Mi vida-’ Catalina kneels in front of her and opens up her arms- it feels so strange, after everything, because for the last couple of days, Catalina has felt like a stranger but now she’s her again but she hasn’t forgotten the stranger with Catalina’s face that shouted and snapped, or the other Catalina, who maybe existed just in her head, who wanted to give her away and looked forward to it…

So she hesitates for a second. Just for a second though, and then she can’t hold herself back anymore because really, what she wants more than anything is for things to be back to normal, for Catalina to hug her again and make everything ok.

Then she’s being scooped up and held tightly and it’s such a relief after the horrible loneliness of the last few days that she’s crying again, even harder than before, and gripping onto Catalina so tightly that she’s sure she’ll leave bruises.

She can’t make herself let go but it’s ok- Catalina is holding onto her just as tightly, after all.

(And she’s not the only one crying.)

Even when everything has calmed down, she still can’t really let go of Catalina- she’s scared that if she does, somehow everything will go back to being scary and confusing and lonely again. She holds tight to Catalina’s hand, as if she’s Kitty’s age, as she shows the social worker around the flat and talks about things like work-life balance and school support.

(At one point, Jane gets up and says she should let them get on with it and Catalina shoots her a very pleading look and Jane ends up sitting back down and pouring herself another cup of tea.) She even grips onto the hem of Catalina’s shirt when they see the social worker and Jane off at the front door and Catalina needs her hands back again.

Jane tells Cathy that she’s sorry she’s had to deal with so much but that she’s sure things will be better now that everything is sorted out, and that if Cathy ever wants to talk to her about anything at all, she will always be happy to listen.

She nods. (Maybe Jane isn’t ONLY nice to her because she’s Anne’s friend after all.)

Catalina hugs Jane warmly and says that she owes her a thousand favours and that Jane must be sure to come to her the minute she needs anything at all, that she’s a wonderful friend who Catalina will never be able to thank enough for helping sort all of this out.

(The social worker just gets a polite handshake and an embarrassed smile from Catalina, and a mumbled ‘goodbye’ from Cathy. But to her credit, she doesn’t seem to take it personally. She says she’ll ‘check in again soon’ and Cathy hopes that ‘soon’ means ‘months and months.’ She can tell from Catalina’s face that she’s hoping something similar.)

Then the door shuts and it’s just the two of them- odd, after everything, and even a little bit scary.

There’s a second of silence, of total stillness, of two people trying to scramble to untangle the confusion of the past few days...and then Catalina scoops Cathy into her arms again, lifting her right off her feet and picking her up as if she’s no bigger than Kitty.

‘Oh mija-’ Cathy wonders if Catalina is going to apologise to her again (she hopes she doesn’t- she’s said sorry at least a hundred times already, maybe a thousand, and she knows it will just make them both cry again and she’s cried enough for one day) but Catalina doesn’t, she stops herself with what looks like effort.

Catalina carries her back into the livingroom and sits down; Cathy wriggles into a comfortable position in her lap and looks up at her when Catalina takes a deep breath.

‘Mija- do you think we could maybe start again?’ Catalina is looking at her very seriously, almost like she’s talking to another grownup. ‘Could we start fresh tomorrow- forgive each other and begin again? I think we could both do better.’

‘Okay.’ Starting fresh sounds like a good idea- not being in trouble, not being cross. Still, she wants to say it one more time. ‘I’m sorry I lied.’

Catalina nods seriously. ‘Thank you, mija. And I’m sorry that I forgot your swimming things, I know you must have been very disappointed.’

Cathy hasn’t even been thinking about swimming- it feels like a long time ago. She shrugs. It probably doesn’t even matter any more.

‘It occurred to me…’ Catalina shifts her slightly and clears her throat. ‘I never even asked about how your first school swimming lesson went mija. And I did mean to.’

(She knows that this is true- Catalina had said more than once that she was looking forward to hearing all about it.)

‘That’s ok.’

‘I’d still like to hear about it. If you’re not too tired, that is….’

And with that, everything somehow starts to slide back into how it used to be- back into being able to tell Catalina everything, back into Catalina WANTING to hear everything…

‘Well first of all, I had to sit with Stephen on the coach-’

Catalina gasps, a real not-pretend gasp of horror.

‘But he’s that horrible boy that tortures insects!’

And Cathy knows everything is going to be ok.

#six #six the musical #six the musical fanfiction #sixfic #six fanfiction #the next best thing

20 notes · View notes

crimethinc · 5 years ago

Text

The Uprising in Ecuador: Inside the Quito Commune—An Interview from on the Front Lines

In early October, a wave of protests swept the streets of Ecuador against cuts in gasoline subsidies and, consequently, rising costs of living. This has become the country’s largest popular uprising in decades. Indigenous marches arrived in Quito, the capital, and occupied the Parliament building; thousands of protesters confronted President Lenín Moreno’s police forces, forcing the government to relocate its headquarters to try to escape the insurrection. Moreno is the successor to and former vice president of the leftist Rafael Correa, who rode to power on the momentum of the social movements of the 1990s and ruled the country from 2007 on, implementing the same neoliberal model for pacifying and co-opting social movements applied by other left governments in Latin America like the Workers Party (PT) in Brazil. The convergence of various rural, city, student, women, and indigenous groups has contributed to radicalizing a struggle that is now becoming a popular uprising.

On Monday morning, October 14, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador announced that the president had backed down and agreed to repeal the decree 883, the austerity bill (known as the paquetazo, package), and replace it with new agreements to be build with indigenous movements. But the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) announced that the struggle continues, demanding the departure of the Ministers of Defense and Interior, who were responsible for the violent repression of the protests.

We conducted this interview on October 10, directly with comrades on the barricades in the streets of Ecuador, in order to understand the background of the mobilization.

Protesters clashing with police in Quito, October 8.

The governments of Brazil and Argentina and institutions associated with the European Union are declaring their support for the government of Lenín Moreno in Ecuador and denouncing the popular revolt of working-class and indigenous people. Obviously, these institutions know that austerity policies are also on their agenda and fear that the same scenario will spread across the Americas and other parts of the globe.

How do you see austerity and subsidy-cutting policies affecting daily life in Ecuador? What was it that caused the urban population and indigenous people to say “enough”? Is there an anti-capitalist sentiment on the streets?

The resistance that is happening at this moment, which is already eight days old, is already an historic event. It is the biggest uprising in recent years—historically, I don’t know, but it is certainly the biggest strike in recent years, which has as its protagonist the indigenous people, because the uprisings of the past did not last as long as they are now.

Austerity and the policy of subsidy reductions affect daily life in Ecuador, but I believe there is a class divide in what is happening these days in Quito and throughout the country. Part of the population does not understand the reasons for the protest; they say that in fact the government is not raising the price of gasoline but merely removing an existing subsidy. What they do not understand is that increasing gasoline increases the price of tickets, for example. A 10 cent increase is a lot for a public university student. Food prices have also increased during this period. For small vendors who buy things for their everyday use and earn very little, it affects them a lot. For example, a sack of potatoes that was $18 ten days ago is now $30 to $35 dollars.

There has been an immediate spike in gasoline prices. The annual subsidies allowed for greater access to food staples and other types of consumer goods; most of the food—for example, vegetables grown in the Sierra [the Andes] or bananas grown on the Costa plantations—is transported in diesel trucks. Most city buses, too. There is a connection between gas subsides and the prices of basic grocery products. If gas costs rise, all prices will rise—food, transport, power.

As I said, there is a class issue: the middle class may not be suffering as a consequence of these measures, but most of the population is already feeling them. Indigenous people know that they will not be able to sell their products—and that when they have to sell them to townspeople, they will earn very little. In the end, this is a chain in which the direct producer is the one who earns the least, and they know it. It’s necessary to understand that here, the food in the big cities arrives from the countryside, so there is a direct effect of the rising price of gasoline on the small producers in the countryside, where most of the indigenous people live.

Regarding anti-capitalist sentiment on the streets, the left has been very divided since Rafael Correa came to power 12 years ago, establishing a left-wing government that capitalized on the social protests of the 1990s and the first years of the 21st century. Many of the protagonists of the struggles of those times ended up joining the government. During those years, there were people who believed in this government, but later realized that it was following a very capitalist direction. This prevented real unity on the left.

Now, at this moment in history, I do not believe that there was a growth process by which social movements developed until they reached this moment of explosion. Various things have happened in the social field in recent years, but there was no clear direction towards revolutionary and community organization. It is as if the social movements were asleep, and overnight, thanks to the “paquetazo” [the economic reform “package”],1 everyone suddenly came together, and this caused the struggle to radicalize. For example, there were many blockades in neighborhoods, on the outskirts of cities, in small villages, and this kept the struggle alive for eight days.

A march of thousands of indigenous people converged on Quito.

On October 8, thousands of indigenous people occupied the Parliament building in Quito. Can you describe for us what happened there?

In fact, the Indians arrived on October 7, on Monday, and there was a pitched battle in Quito that lasted five or six hours involving students, social movements, and other residents of Quito who were trying to keep the police busy in order to enable the indigenous comrades to enter. Recall that we are living in a State of Exception, so the military is on the streets and had blocked Quito’s main entrances, the North and South entrances, to prevent indigenous people from other provinces from entering. However, the people were so well-organized that the military did not have enough intelligence at their disposal to stop them. The fact that the fight took place in the city center also opened up gaps that enabled the indigenous people to reach the historic center.

Just as we pushed the police back, we saw the crowded trucks coming and the bikes that accompanied the indigenous caravan. It was a very exciting moment.

They went directly to El Arbolito Park, next to the Salesian University, where logistical support for the movement is organized. The following day, a rally took place at Parque El Arbolito and people agreed to take the Assembly (the parliament building in Quito). When we arrived there, a first delegation entered, then gradually more and more people entered, while there were thousands of people at the door of the Assembly wanting to enter. Police shot tear gas canisters at people, which created a mass panic. People could have been trampled to death because many could not breathe; people ran in various directions. Meanwhile, police continued to fire tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at protesters. At that moment, a very great repression began.

The Assembly, strategically speaking, is like a small fort perched on a hill; to protect it, the police positioned themselves at a higher point so that snipers could hit the protesters with tear gas canisters and also live rounds. As a result, the police inflicted a large number of injuries and some deaths, as they were in a strategic position.

The idea of going to the Assembly was one of the actions that the indigenous movement had decided to carry out during these days in Quito. Until yesterday [Wednesday, October 9], there was a lot of concern because there was no clear strategy, while the government refused to back down and kept increasing the repression. The fact that police sent tear gas into shelters and peace encalves such as the Salesian University and the Catholic University caused a great deal of outrage; in a way, this was a blow to the government, because the news circulated despite the news shutdown that the mainstream media and the government have been trying to maintain.

Today [Thursday, October 10], in the morning, eight police officers were captured by the movement and brought to the large popular and indigenous assembly at the House of Culture, where there were about 10,000 or 15,000 people. The reporters who were there ended up broadcasting the assembly live, even if they didn’t do it in the best way. In a way, this broke the media siege by disclosing, for example, the fact that an indigenous leader of Cotopaxi, Inocencio Tucumbi, had been killed. He had lost consciousness after inhaling a lot of tear gas and was then trampled by a police horse. That had not appeared in the mainstream media. Suddenly, the dead appeared on the big television channels and it became clear to the general public that—yes, the government is killing people and carrying out repression at an extreme level!

So today’s strategy was successful. As I told you, yesterday, there was still no very precise strategy, but today we were more organized. People formed a procession one kilometer long from the House of Culture to the Hospital to transport the body of a comrade. Many people applauded; it was also a moment of great emotion. We said goodbye to him with great honor, because he was a great fighting companion. People also promised at that time that the fight would continue in his memory. It was also a time to regroup, to rest, to consider what strategy to follow in the coming days, and to share this general pain by thinking of those who have fallen, those who are injured, giving us the courage to keep fighting.

The demand from the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) next was clear, announcing that if the government radicalized the violence, obviously the street would also in response become radicalized.

When night came, the police were released and handed over at the front of the Assembly, in the midst of a large demonstration. Because the Assembly and the House of Culture are near each other, there was a kind of permanent demonstration taking place in front of the Assembly and the area was full of protesters. There were about 30,000 people in the area tonight. When the police were handed over, the indigenous people made it clear that they had been detained for entering an area that had been declared a peace zone. This is why they had been detained, but now they were being released safe and sound. This stands in contrast to police practice, because on the day the Assembly was taken, the police took about 80 prisoners. Almost all of them were released yesterday with marks of violence and injuries.

Crowds taking over police vehicles in Quito on October 9 during the national strike.

Indigenous peoples have declared their own State of Exception in their territories, threatening and arresting state agents who have dared to enter those regions. Can you describe this form of autonomy and territorial organization?

About the State of Exception decreed in the indigenous territories, this also explains the episode I just described. For at this time, the House of Culture and the surrounding regions are being considered indigenous territories, so it was understood that the police violated the exceptional sovereignty of the indigenous peoples and were therefore detained. This also took place in other indigenous territories this week, when military forces who violated these territories were arrested and military buses and armored vehicles were hijacked. Indigenous peoples have long demanded autonomy in their territories and have their own indigenous principles. When a problem occurs within these territories, such as someone stealing or causing trouble, the case is resolved by indigenous justice without going through state justice.

From the moment the Government decreed the State of Exception, in response, the Indians also decreed a State of Exception in their territories as a way to reduce the level of repression and also to pressure the military and police. On the street or in the territories, representatives of the state repress people, so they know they are in danger of being detained. In response, in various territories, military and police officers were detained, disarmed, and released after a few days after having experienced indigenous justice. This functions to make the accused person face the reality of everything he has done, depending on the offense committed, and in relation to this, the punishment to be suffered by the prisoner is decided in a communal way.

Regarding ethnicities, let’s say CONAIE is divided between all indigenous peoples and other peoples including cholos (mestizos) and black people from the equator. There are the indigenous people of the coast, the people of Serra Norte, Serra Central, Serra do sul, and those from the east, from the Amazon region, and they all come together through the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador.

There are rumors from the government media that CONAIE is making deals with the government and it seems that the government is trying to divide the movement between “good protesters” and “bad protesters.” But in the last few hours [of October 10], however, there have been reports that there is no agreement between CONAIE and the government. What chance is there that state cooption will be successful? How willing is CONAIE to radicalize the movement or negotiate? And what influence or effective representation does CONAIE have among indigenous peoples?

Of course, there have been rumors, gossip, lies, and falsehoods from the government and the media aimed at dividing the popular struggle that is taking place today on the streets of Quito and throughout Ecuador. It must be said that the large organizations such as CONAIE and the FUT (the largest labor union in the country) have historically negotiated in times of weakness, and these negotiations have gone nowhere. And because they are large organizations, they also take place within a super-political scenario—thus, sometimes, the movements themselves see them as ambiguous political structures.

But this is normal. Besides, we must see the organizational capacity they have, in this case especially CONAIE, with its historical role, considering that in the past it has managed to overthrow several presidents. In those days, we also saw the power of bus drivers, truck drivers, and taxi drivers that paralyze the city and the power of the students who took to the streets. The truth is that bus drivers and truck drivers have a very self-interested historical role in Ecuador and they decided to get out of the strike as soon as they were able to raise ticket prices, whereas other people, especially students, managed to keep the fight going on the streets and the Indians immediately joined in. Both the urban movement and the indigenous movement soon managed to decentralize the attention that was initially exclusively directed at bus drivers and truck drivers.

So yes, there were these rumors. But today [October 10], there is attention focused on the arrests of the police officers and on the journalists who immediately went there. The leaders of each indigenous group and CONAIE’s president, Mr. Vargas, have publicly stated that they will not negotiate with the government because there is no negotiating about the blood of the dead and that the conditions for initiating a dialogue would be the elimination of decree 883 (the “paquetazo”), that the IMF leave the country, and that Interior Minister Maria Paual Romo and Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrín immediately resign because they are to blame for the deaths. Obviously, there is a lot of pressure from the base in these organizations.

Over the previous days, there were a few meetings, mainly between leaders and the high command of political organizations. But today [October 10], it was decided to hold a popular assembly that lasted many hours and every decision was the result of consultation with everyone, with the base population that was there. There were about 10-15 thousand people and everything was then decided collectively. We can also say that grassroots pressure is compelling the leadership to make radical decisions as well, not to sell out the movement out of desperation for fear of being arrested or in return for money the government wants to give them under the table.

CONAIE, in general, has a huge representation. In Ecuador, if you think of indigenous peoples, you think immediately of CONAIE. It is a very large organization with considerable political structure and also communicative, strategic. Today we saw very well how they managed to “turn over the tortilla” and put the government in difficulty.

Welcome to the Quito Commune: a barricade near the National Assembly building on October 12.

The government accuses former President Rafael Correa of being behind the demonstrations. But it doesn’t appear that the Correistas [supporters of Correa] are playing a leading role. What is Correa’s role in the current phase of activity, both in the marches and in the possibility of “peaceful” or electoral co-optation and exit from the conflict?

Obviously, the government accused Correa, accused Maduro, alleged that Correa had traveled to Venezuela and, from there, developed a plan to destabilize the government. Now they also saying that the ones behind the street turmoil are Latinquín, which is a “pandilla” (gang) and the FARC [Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, an insurgent group that fought a civil war against the government for years]. All this shows that government politicians no longer know what to say. Obviously, he’s used to blaming Correa, for two years Correa has been guilty of everything. Although it is true that Correa is a corrupt man who must pay for crimes against humanity, for the repression that took place under his governments, for corruption, it’s senseless to blame him for all that is the responsibility of the current government, which has ruled the country for more than two years. There is a general right-wing custom of supporting Lenín Moreno and blaming Correa every time there is a crisis. If money is lacking, it is because Correa took it; if there are criminals, it is because Correa made laws that liberated criminals; if there are many migrants, it is because of the mobility law. The previous government is always to blame.

That said, over the past year, in mobilizations and marches against the government—which were much smaller than they are now, because now it is a real revolt—the Correistas were always present and this created problems for some social movements who didn’t want to be with them. That made us expect that they would still be present in the marches that are taking place now, as they are also a very consistent group. In fact, on the first day they marched and were repressed; on the second day, they also appeared, but stayed behind the march and simply burned two tires outside the Central Bank while students tried to enter the historic center and confront the police. After that day, the Correistas practically disappeared; people gave them no space. Today [October 10], we were doing interviews with some self-organized companions and we asked them, “What about Correa?” And they all answered very clearly: “I’m not a Correista, I’m not here for Correa, Correa doesn’t pay us.” And this is evident: the Correistas are not in the marches. Certainly a few might be there as individuals, but they are not organized.

Two days ago, on the day of the assembly, Father Tuárez, the president of the Citizen’s Participation Council who was fired for being a religious fanatic, said that God had told him that Correa was the Savior and that he needed to return. He tried to infiltrate the mobilizations, but people forced him to flee. So in short, this possibility does not exist.

This is also interesting: neither political parties nor traditional politicians have been able to appropriate what is happening. The only authorities who propose more “policies” that are seen as possessing legitimacy are the leadership of the FUT and CONAIE unions, which are currently leading the mobilizations. In fact, the power lies in all the people on the streets, and that is very scary to the Right, to the bourgeoisie, to the bankers, to the “owners” of the country, because the street does not accept any of the political leaders.

So the solution may be for the “paquetazo” to fall and for the country to return to calm for some time, but obviously this cannot last long. Another possibility is that Lenín Moreno will resign and the “paquetazo” will remain, and the government will try to distract and pacify the people by focusing attention on the fact that Moreno has left or the process of building a “popular” government, a street-born government—such rumors are already circulating. So imagine what the Right is thinking, the Ecuadorian bourgeoisie. They absolutely cannot permit the streets to win, because that would mean that after 12 or 13 years people are shown something that in common perception no longer exists—that is, that going to the streets is good and that if you get organized, if you resist and keep insisting, you will acheive your goal. That would cause a chain reaction that would once again enable people to believe in their own potential.

The Right knows this and that is why they are all united to try to prevent it from happening.

Barricades in Quito on October 13.

How is the ruling bloc responding to the demonstrations? Could divisions open up between parties, in the military, or elsewhere?

The bloc that holds power is united. The greatest political leaders (Lenín Moreno, Guillermo Lasso, Jaime Nebot, Álvaro Noboa) are all united. Correa obviously says nothing because what he wants to do is capitalize on what’s happening in the upcoming elections. He is well aware that it is not convenient for him to talk too much, because the government is already saying that it is his fault and it is not strategic for him to get too involved. It is enough for people to think that “everything was better when he was there” and in the next elections he is very likely to win. The president is now in Guayaquil, which is the refuge of the social-Christians, the right-wing party, whom everyone feared would win the next election. But now it does not seem possible because, certainly, he will not have the vote of the Sierra, cities like Quito, Ambato, Riobamba, indigenous communities. So everyone in power is united, trying to use every possible means to criminalize the protest.

As for the Armed Forces, we now have a Defense Minister trained in Israel, the Mossad and the School of the Americas, a crazy fascist, a military man. Four days ago, the government imposed a mandatory one-hour government show on radio and television that all companies were compelled to broadcast, in which this madman spoke half the time, threatening that the Armed Forces will be able to defend themselves, that they should not be provoked, that people must remain calm because if they do not, the repression will be fierce, as if we were in a dictatorship. This clearly provoked a lot of outrage. It is not yet known, there is no accurate data, whether there have been desertions within the army or police. What is certain is that the historical role of the army has always been to repress the people, and at a certain moment, when popular discontent is already evident, they try to come up with a strategy to prevent the emergence of a popular government and present themselves as mediators to create a new government, but it usually always ends up being worse than the previous one. Then it is possible that at some point the Armed Forces will begin to create disruption within popular organizations and also to withdraw their support from the president.

**How did the movement transform everyday life in the city of Quito? And how is the day organized in the spaces occupied by the protesters?

The kind of solidarity that has emerged here in the city is amazing; some have renamed it the Quito Commune, because it is not just indigenous people, not just students, not just manifestations. There are blockades in the neighborhoods that are organized. Just as in the Historic Center, the neighborhood of San Juan, for example, is being organized autonomously. When a demonstration arrives, people give you food, water. Yesterday [October 9], when tension shifted to the outskirts of San Juan, in the upper part of the Historic Center, there were several locals arriving bringing stones, people opening the windows of their houses to give the protesters material to burn or to use to protect themselves from tear gas, people opening the doors of their houses to give us water.

Inside houses, people received and helped the injured, providing a space for volunteer doctors to treat them, since ambulances could not get there. There are many volunteer doctors, many of them medical students from the ward, who are helping in the streets, providing emergency assistance to the injured, saving lives. We have an incredible medical apparatus, very organized.

We have spaces to receive and redistribute food: I am part of one of these groups on Whatsapp because the place where I work is serving as a collection point. And throughout the city center, through all the universities, there are places that function as popular canteens, as welcoming spaces for outsiders who have come to Quito to fight. These places are full of donations; sometimes they do not even know where to take all the donations they receive. There are communal kitchens where people come to volunteer to prepare food. Yesterday, I was talking to people from a communal kitchen in Parque Arbolito; there was a gentleman there who was injured when police attacked the Park, because despite the attack the kitchen continued to serve people. The kitchen was set up by a neighborhood of Quito, organized through an evangelical church—there was the pastor and his three giant pots. I was told that they had fed 700 people this day alone.

I also met and spoke with a very humble lady from southern Quito who had a small business. She came in the afternoon in a small van along with her son, passing by the Park to hand out coffee and bread to the people. So really, food is not lacking, there is food everywhere—today I have eaten four times. Everywhere, there are people calling you to eat something; sometimes they take offense if you refuse, because it is a way of donating to the cause.

There are people organized to extinguish the tear gas canisters, and to take care of the people affected by the gas. There are all kinds of organizations—there are people who offer childcare. [At this point, the interviewee coughs: “It was bad, it’s the effect of gas on the lungs.”] There are people who organize games for children. There are people who spend the day singing, playing music. It is really very, very interesting what is happening here. This is why some here speak of the Quito Commune, some say that in some ways, in this regard, we have already made gains at the level of spontaneous self-organization.

But it took a lot of assemblies to be able to organize what is happening now. I believe this is the biggest victory, and we hope it can continue—this spirit of self-organization. This shows that together we can stand up to the government for eight days and paralyze a country for eight days, to ensure that our rights are respected.

October 10: these eight police officers were held captive by indigenous people after entering their territory.

How does the movement plan to organize from tomorrow [October 11]?

Today [October 10], there was a demonstration, with the release of the police who had been arrested, with a call to continue the fight; the indigenous people are still here in Quito. Today was a day of tranquility, peace, mourning. In fact, CONAIE has announced three days of mourning; I don’t know if that means that in the next three days there will be only peaceful marches. But I think strategically it can also serve a little; for example, today was a “peaceful” day, but a lot of things have been achieved, we have gained media attention, the media barrier has been broken—despite the fact that the government cut our cell phone signal and shut down the Internet, which made it difficult to document and communicate about the events via independent media and individual efforts.

I think we are all preparing for a long resistance. If at first we thought it might end suddenly, after what we have seen in recent days, we understand that it will last much longer—and it is. That is why we have to organize the moments of struggle strategically, not burn them up immediately. It is important to try to shape public opinion, to break the media barrier, to create new combat strategies as well as demonstrations, riots, times of conflict with the police. This is not to say that one thing is right and another is wrong, but that we need to use every possible tool to achieve victory.

Surely the fight will continue! Today we promised before the coffin of the comrade killed by the police that the fight will go on.

This refers to the decree 883 of the government of Lenin Moreno and its economic package, in Spanish the expression is used to give a negative meaning ↩

56 notes · View notes

sablelab · 5 years ago

Text

Covert Operations - Chapter 71

DISCLAIMER: This is a modern AU crossover story with Outlander and La Femme Nikita. LFN and its characters do not belong to me nor do those from Outlander.

SYNOPSIS: Claire finally meets Jonathon Randall at his birthday party at The Triangle nightclub. He puts a proposition to her and invites her to dinner as well as putting a move on her.

Previous chapters can be found at … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

My thanks again for reading, liking, reblogging and commenting on this story. I really do appreciate you doing so.

CHAPTER 71

Claire’s week at the OCTB had been taken up with investigations about the car bombing in Victoria Park and their shadowing of Samuel Li. With her two colleagues, John So and Ian Murray, she had been sent to find out as much as they could about the explosion. However, they’d reported that there were no obvious links to the Black Panthers that they could substantiate. Although surveillance footage of Samuel Li was plentiful, Claire knew that they would find nothing that connected him to the bombing in the park as well. Nevertheless, she was sure that Inspector Ng would no doubt find a fine thread that would implicate him and the Black Panthers triad in this atrocity thus making a case for his arrest. She had also managed to diffuse the issue of the mystery man that was seen walking away as there was too little to go on. The chance of the OCTB locating Jamie was less than one percent even if they had a recon photograph, which they didn’t, so the possibility of finding him without knowing anything of his identity was negligible. Hence inquires in this direction had turned up nothing. In the meantime, James Fraser had carried out his own surveillance on Inspector Ng. He’d spent time going over the disk Fiona Graham had given him, but what he had been able to make out was information that Section already had on him. Unfortunately, some of the Intel on the disk had indeed been encrypted, and Jamie was unable to decipher its contents. Hence Fergus had needed to go through the disk to access the information. As a result, Section had been able to add further Intel to Inspector Ng’s dossier. There was, however, some very explosive data on it too which showed proof that Jiang Ng was a criminal and member of the Rising Dragons. His connections to the triad actually went back over many years; he’d been recruited in his youth then had been sent to the police academy as a young man. He’d worked his way up the police ranks and now, because of his position at the OCTB, served as the triad's best mole. The more they learnt about Inspector Ng’s insidious treachery, the duplicity of his position at the OCTB and association with the Rising Dragons, the more became the need to bring him into Section One and if he was at the club tonight, that indeed would happen. Jamie had also mused over whether to bring Karen Yee and her boyfriend in, or to wait until after the party. Claire, however, needed them for her introduction to the target Jonathon Randall, and he knew she would be safe until then as Karen and Andy were away. He’d checked to see if her conference was legitimate and had an operative tailing her in Beijing. He had reported back her movements and they were as she had said. Karen had also rung Claire to arrange the time that she would be at her apartment to collect her for Jonathon Randall’s birthday party, and as planned she’d picked her up at 9 p.m. for their night at the club.

Saturday evening at The Triangle …

Jamie and the team were in position and had the venue under surveillance. As a precaution, he’d organized extra back up for the mission tonight for if all major players were in play, as he hoped they would be, the nightclub was the most logical place to make a move on each and every one of them. This time Section One would be waiting for Jonathon Randall, Inspector Ng and any other members of the Rising Dragons in attendance.

Section’s mission van was parked outside the club while inside James Fraser was watching the van’s monitors. Scrutinizing all the invited guests who had turned up for Randall’s birthday party, he waited for Claire’s arrival with her neighbour Karen Yee. He’d relayed the visual back to Section for Fergus to cross monitor any of the individuals in case one was a match to their data base on the Rising Dragons. Intel of those in attendance would also be stored for further reference should Section need it in the future. Studying the visuals Jamie suddenly zoomed in on the vision of loveliness that came onto his screen. His Sassenach was dressed in a beautiful, sexy, black cocktail gown. He magnified her image concentrating on her face or more specifically her eyes ... eyes that seemed to know he was looking right at her. She blinked once, then Claire Beauchamp’s blue eyes looked directly at him revealing the window to her soul. She knew that Jamie was gazing at her and her eyes seemed to soften with an intimacy that he would instantly recognise. Her eyes were sparkling with love and desire for the recipient of her feelings - James Fraser. Knowing that her man would be monitoring her and keeping her safe while she was meeting this new target, filled Claire with confidence that they would achieve their goals this evening.

Jamie swallowed a lump in his throat at the mesmerising, tell-tale glance of his beloved Claire, but he managed to keep his mind on what he had to do. Many of the proposed targets were gathered at this birthday party and apprehending them would bring them closer to finding the elusive leader of the triad. Reluctantly, he zoomed out to concentrate on her neighbour Karen Yee and studied her body language around Claire.

It was difficult to know whether she was merely exhibiting enthusiasm for the evening ahead or acting suspiciously. Either way, Jamie knew he would be keeping Karen Yee under close surveillance while she was around his Sassenach in the club tonight and he would act should anything eventuate that put her in jeopardy. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As they made their way closer to the entrance of the nightclub the two women were stopped by a new security guard who was checking ID for the guests who had been invited. “This is a private party tonight,” he stated as he gave the two women an officious look. “I’m one of the girls,” Claire replied cheekily suddenly feeling quite sassy after her eye sex connection with Jamie. “Why are you late then?” Claire pouted. “I had to take a philosophy exam.” “And you?” he said turning to Karen. “I’m with her,” Karen replied, “and my boyfriend is one of the band members.” “Okay ... you’re in ... but I don’t know about your friend here.” Turning, the guard looked back at Claire who smiled coyly at him as he looked her up and down. Standing her ground, she cocked her head to the side and with a flirty look on her face, responded with a dare. “You can frisk me, if you want.” His grin was quite leering as his eyes once again ran over her from head to toe. Capturing her gaze, the security guard was tempted by her challenge and took up the gauntlet.

“Works for me.”

Claire raised her hands overhead, giving him access to her body. Placing his hands over her breasts, the man slowly slid them down her body, then back up. He smiled, enjoying himself, while Claire stood perfectly still unaffected by his frisking. However, when he lightly ran his hands over her thighs, he felt a little bulge.

“Hmmm? What’s this then?” He asked looking at her intently.

“Why, I’m packing some heat of course.” Claire announced saucily giving the security guard a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, you’re definitely packing lots of heat babe.”

“Wanna check and see?” She replied lifting her dress just enough for him to see the garter belt she was wearing.

The head guard came over to see what was taking so long with the two women. “She’s a saucy little minx Karen. Where did you find this one?”

“She’s my neighbour Jimmy. I can vouch for her.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I remember. Let her in Freddie,” he said turning to the waiting guard who had carried out the body frisk on Claire.

The first security guard took a small step backwards so that she had to brush past him. “Have a good time girls,” was his parting remark as they continued to walk towards the entry of the nightclub.

“Ooooh Claire ... You are so bad!” Karen stated when out of ear shot of the security guard.

“Yes, I am ...” she replied with mirth in her voice.

“We had tickets you know ... we could have showed them.” “Yeah... but that was more fun.” Their laughter echoed along the passageway as they entered the club for Jonathon Randall’s birthday celebrations. The two women stood at the entrance observing the crowd that had assembled in the nightclub then turning towards Karen, Claire smiled broadly. “Should be a good night judging by the festivities already going on.” “Yeah ... It’s much livelier than the last time we were here. Come on Claire, let’s find a table before they’ve all gone,” Karen replied leading the way across the dance floor in search of a vacant booth. However, before making her way through the crowd Claire casually raised her hand and touched the brooch on her dress between her breasts, which activated the hidden camera in it. She turned to the left and right to view the people gathered in the club providing Jamie in the mission van with a view of the interior of the club. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “Okay, she’s in.” Jamie alerted Section as the images of those gathered were transmitted to Fergus’ computer. “You getting this Claudel?” he asked. “Loud and clear Fraser.” “Claire I'll coordinate from here. Work yer way through the club and standby,” Jamie stated from the van outside the nightclub. He’d purposefully located himself in the mission van knowing that Karen Yee may be suspicious of his appearance. Should she see him, she would recognise him and the plans they had for capturing the targets would cause the mission to be aborted. “Understood,” she replied as she watched Karen greet a friend warmly ahead of her. “Claire, get to yer point. Once ye’re there keep vigilant for the target. I’ll provide backup if necessary.” “Okay. Thanks Jamie.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Tonight, The Triangle was abuzz with the crème de la crème of Hong Kong society. Most of the women were young and gorgeous ... the men debonair and rich. Claire and Karen circled the party and tried to make their way across the floor towards a vacant table. Noticing Rupert Mackenzie, Claire made eye contact with him and he acknowledged her look with a corresponding nod as he walked past her. Claire watched as a woman danced with two guys in time to the music. As they drew level with the threesome, one of her partners grabbed her and began to imitate the erotic Salsa dance with her brushing his body against hers as they moved to the Latin rhythm that was playing. The other swirled Karen around the floor brushing their bodies together as well. Claire turned her head and Jamie had the visual of her looking straight at him as she danced. She found herself unable to look away knowing that he was watching her dancing the vertical expression of horizontal desire and erotic energy. Sensuality shimmered in her blue gaze like a warm flame, while back in the van; an appreciative look appeared on Jamie’s face as he watched her captivate not only him but the unsuspecting man.

She was good ... very good. His Claire was seducing him with her body movements and her eyes which seemed to peer deep into his soul.

The man twirled Claire around, periodically pulling their two bodies close together. The rhythm coursed in Claire’s blood letting her passions run free. Her hypnotic eyes conveyed her inner thoughts to the man who by now was fixedly watching his Sassenach dance. Passionate submission was certainly on her mind … I wish this was you ... this could be you Fraser! This will be you tonight.

Jamie had indeed read his Claire’s thoughts.

"Do ye see him yet …?" His voice whispered in her ear and the softly spoken words rolled off his tongue as if it was seductive foreplay between the two of them.

Slowly severing her connection to Jamie’s invisible gaze, Claire roved her eyes about the room but didn’t see anyone who would fit the bill of their target. “No ... not yet,” she answered in a provocative purr.

“Keep alert then … Beauchamp,” he huskily ordered dragging out her surname as if he was placing a lingering kiss to her lips.

Claire smiled knowingly at Jamie’s reply as she broke away from the man who danced his way back to where his partner was oblivious that she was dancing alone. Gathering her composure, she smiled and continued across the floor followed by Karen who had managed to lose her dance partner as well. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As they continued to cross the room a man standing near a wall watched Claire’s progress. Little did she know, but more than one pair of eyes were watching her. Surreptitiously she surveyed the surrounds keeping an eye on a man guarding the entrance to a restricted area of the club where a small group of people were quietly conversing. Looking up she saw a good-looking man sitting with some minders and a woman on either side of him on a couch drinking cocktails near to where they were heading. No sooner had she made eye contact than the man looked at her captivated by what he saw.

Claire flirtatiously smiled his way then looked away. “Fergus, twenty degrees to the left,” she whispered.

“Yeah ... okay I see him.” “Is he the target?” Jamie interjected. “I’m searching for a match,” Fergus replied to him before bantering with Claire. “Hey Beauchamp ...” “Yeah?” “Be careful crossing the rest of the room! Your dancing has set some temperatures rising.” If anyone’s temperature was rising, she hoped that is was just one … James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser’s … for that was the only person she was interested in causing a feverish rise in temperature.

“Up yours, Claudel!” She replied in feigned slighted banter.

“Anytime, babe, my number’s in the book,” was his equal playful retort. “You’ll keep Fergus!” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The party was certainly in full swing. Making her way towards the table, Claire saw various shenanigans taking place as the uninhibited crowd got down and dirty on the dance floor as the Latin music continued to vibrate through her body as well as those dancing. She couldn’t help but think again of what that would be like to do with Jamie and a slight blush coloured her cheeks at the mind visual. Getting her mind back on the job at hand was her first priority though, and Claire continued to cross the floor. She made eye contact and traded nods with another undercover Team Operative who was standing to one side of the dance floor. “Do ye have a match yet Fergus?” Jamie asked impatient for clarification of the target. “Yep ... Bingo ... It’s Jonathon Randall alright.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Whoa! You’d need a stepladder for that one Robert!” Jonathon Randall said to his bodyguard as he keenly watched the newest arrival to his party with Karen Yee.

The woman was intriguing. She was gorgeous with legs that went on forever and brunette locks that caressed her shoulders. Smitten with her captivating appearance, Jonathon just knew that he wanted to meet her.

Realising that she was being ignored, one of the blondes at the man’s side kept fawning over him, trying to reclaim his attention, but Jonathon Randall was too busy watching Claire Beauchamp sashay across the crowded dance floor. He fobbed off her attention as well as that of her friend as he was mesmerised by the new woman who had taken over all of his focus. Randall’s eyes followed her every move as she made her way through the crowd. With a petulant look, her eyes too noticed the statuesque brunette in the sexy cocktail dress capture the attention of the host. She was not impressed knowing that any chance she may have had with the owner of The Triangle nightclub had just been dashed by the appearance of the pretty, new, brown-haired woman at his party. Indicating that he’d like to meet the mystery woman, Jonathon Randall motioned for his bodyguard to bend down. As he did so he whispered in his ear. “Go and intercept wherever she is headed and invite her over for a drink.” Nodding, Robert Ling got up and purposefully made his way over to Claire. “My boss wants to meet you,” he announced sidling up to her and grabbing her arm trying to make her go with him. “I don’t think so!” she replied yanking it away. Insisting that she accompany him he persisted, “I really think that you should come with me.” “I don’t think you heard what I said ... I said no!” Intrigued, Jonathon Randall watched the play of events from a distance. He could not take his eyes off Claire and smiled at her tenacity. The second girl companion next to him realising that he was paying no attention to her as well, looked up to see what held his interest. “My boss won’t take “No” as an answer, I’m afraid,” Robert persevered taking her arm once again. “Come with me please.” Claire kicked the man in the shin insulted at his impertinent manner, and the gofer backed away a little turning his head towards where his boss was observing the interplay taking place with great amusement. “Claire ... the target is in sight,” Jamie announced. “Where is he?” Watching what had happened, Jonathon laughed as the blonde woman sitting next to him resumed kissing him on the side of the face trying to gain back his attention but to no avail. He was no longer interested in her whatsoever, and pushed her away like a pesky fly. He wanted the alluring, brunette woman with Karen Yee. “Hmm ... I like her!” He muttered with an arrogant tone to his voice. Seizing his moment, Jonathon Randall stood up. Leaving his two, blonde women companions furious, he brushed off their displeasure and ignoring their entreaty made his way towards where Claire and Karen stood. “He’s making his way over to ye.” “Got it Jamie ...” she replied noticing the good looking man leave his women companions and move in her direction. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Robert Ling continued to try and persuade Claire to accompany him for drinks with his boss but she just ignored him and moved away from him. As he was pestering her once more, the man she had noticed earlier approached and grabbed him by a lapel, yanking him away from her. “That was not a good call, Bob. I wanted to meet this woman ... I didn’t want you to harass her.” As Claire watched the dynamics between the two men, she replied looking him in the eye, “It’s all right. I can handle myself.” “Yes ... I noticed.” “Um, my mistake, Mr. Randall,” his bodyguard apologised contritely backing away. Dismissing the man as insignificant he turned again to Claire and said, “I apologize for my overzealous assistant.” “It’s okay.” Without taking his eyes from the beautiful, brunette woman he spoke to her companion who had returned to her side, “Introduce us Karen.” “Claire ... This is Jonathon Randall ... Jonathon ... Claire.” “Mr Randall? ... Hi ... I’m Claire Beauchamp ... It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you.” He took her hand and placed a kiss to her knuckles. “I assure you the pleasure is all mine ... but please call me Jonathon, that is until we are better acquainted, then you may call me Jack.” Nodding she turned her megawatt smile towards him, “Happy Birthday ... Jonathon.” “Thank you ... Claire.” “Are you enjoying your party?” “So much more now that I’ve met you. I’m very glad you were able to attend.” “Me too ... Thanks for the invitation,” Claire replied laying on her charm. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As if they were the only two people there, Jonathon Randall blocked out all those surrounding him including Karen Yee. He was not only captivated by this woman but he was smitten with her beauty and wanted to know more.

“Would you like to dance?”

“Of course.” The band began playing an evocative tune and the dance floor soon became crowded with couples twirling to another Latin beat. Taking her hand Jonathon Randall willingly led Claire back onto the dance floor. They began to Rumba together in time to the hypnotic beat and he dipped and spun her around in time to the music. Pulling her closer he looked directly into her eyes, “I haven’t seen you here before? First time?” “Second,” Claire replied putting her arms around his neck swaying to the rhythm of the music and distracting him long enough for her to plant a tracker beneath his jacket lapel. As soon as she did, it started beeping in the mission van. “Good. That’s the tracker. We’ll be able to monitor his movements in the club,” Fergus stated. Claire’s brooch camera was picking up their actions. Jonathon Randall took one of her hands and slowly guided it down his body to the waistband of his pants. “You do look familiar though. Are you sure I haven’t met you before?” he inquired suggestively dipping Claire back then pulling her close to his chest. What Jamie witnessed didn’t sit well with him particularly as he observed the target’s suggestive fondling of her body. He watched his movements closely waiting for any sign that he would need to go in if Claire got out of her depth. Maintaining eye contact she provocatively replied, “I’d certainly remember you if we’d met before Mr Randall.” “Yeah ... so would I ... nonetheless ...” He let his words trail off as Claire graced him with yet another one of her megawatt smiles and he was under her spell once more. Gyrating to the beat they continued their conversation. “So how do you know Karen?” Claire asked pumping him for information since Jamie had reservations about her neighbour. Perhaps she may learn something useful about her. “She comes here regularly and is the girlfriend of the guitarist in the band,” he replied never taking his eyes from this alluring and interesting woman. “I met him the other night ... but you weren’t here though.” Pulling her in close once more, Jonathon Randall stated, “Well this must be my lucky day ... I don’t normally come to the club ... but I’m glad I did tonight for my birthday celebrations.” “Yeah ... me too.” “So Claire what do you do?” “I’m between jobs at the moment.” “Hmm, perhaps I could offer you a job here at The Triangle. I’m sure we could find something you could do.” “Sounds good. I’ll think about it.” “Don’t think too long.” “Then ... I’ll sleep on it,” she answered back playing him for all he was worth. “I always feel that we miss some of life’s more exciting moments when we sleep,” he replied suggestively dipping her body in time to the music. “Well, I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open,” Claire replied as she peered into his eyes when he lifted her back up against his chest. Jonathon Randall laughed. “Witty and beautiful ... a deadly combination Miss Beauchamp.” “Oh, you don’t know how deadly I can be Mr Randall,” she replied with a beaming smile at the target. Twirling her to the Rumba rhythm he brought Claire flush to his chest once more capturing her look with a penetrating one of he is own. “Hmm ... I just might find out. I like a challenge. Have dinner with me tomorrow night.” “No, I don’t think so. I hardly know you.” “That can be arranged. You know I won’t take no for an answer. I can be very persuasive.” “Well ... if you put it that way ... okay then.” “Good. I’ll send my driver for you.” “That won’t be necessary. I can find my own transport.” “On the contrary Claire … I insist.” “Hmm ... how could a girl refuse ... Where are we going then?” “Why somewhere spectacular of course ... I want to surprise you ... You won’t be disappointed.” “My ... my ... you are full of surprises Mr Randall.” “Jonathon ...” he reiterated as he dipped and spun her in time to the music once more. As he did so Claire noticed that some of his minders were closing in on them ... surrounding them. One of Jonathon Randall’s assistants walked up and whispered silently in his ear conveying that he was obviously needed. Casting his eyes in the direction of Karen and her friend, he said reluctantly ... “Oh, you’ll have to forgive me; there’s something I must personally take care of. Regrettably I must return you to your friend. However much I want to monopolise your time, ... I can wait Claire Beauchamp, I’m a very patient man.” “Just how I like them ... Patient men intrigue me.” “Good. I’ll expect your answer tomorrow night then.” “Of course.” As they came closer to Karen and her boyfriend, he took Claire’s hand and placed a chaste kiss to her knuckles before taking his leave to check proceedings in the nightclub. “Until tomorrow Claire ... Karen ... Andy.”

Jonathon Randall then briskly walked off muttering something in rapid Cantonese to his bodyguard.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued

N.B. I will post the next chapter on TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY

and NOT on Friday next week as I am going away for a few days. My thanks again for reading, liking, reblogging and commenting on this story. I really do appreciate you doing so. I will post when I am back home again .

#jamie and claire #Jamieandclairefanfic #jamieandclaireau #jamieandclairecrossover #James Fraser #claire beauchamp #covert operations

45 notes · View notes

artyblogs · 6 years ago

Text

Across the Frozen Sea ch6

Star Wars the Clone Wars, Ahsoka/Barriss/Riyo

Across the Frozen Sea summary: Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo find themselves stranded in the Pantoran Taiga. They must get back to civilization, but the wilds are more dangerous than they realize. If the cold doesn’t get them, the locals will.

First Chapter : Previous Chapter : Next Chapter : Last Chapter

Chapter 6: Breede Ice Ferry

Overhead, the afternoon sky is blotted with a thick layer of dark clouds. Between the County of Bravado and the Duchy of Defiance runs a natural border: the Breede River. Many ships, freighters, and private boats traverse this river every day, but in the colder months, when the surface of the river has frozen over, they must all be retrofitted. Smaller boats are equipped with removable blades under their hulls, essentially making them sleds. Bigger ships and yachts, like the Breede Ice Ferry, have durasteel plows installed on the prow. These monsters cut through the ice with ease, leaving behind chunks of ice. Because of this, the parts of the river with the most traffic have almost no bits of ice left intact.

What's good good? And what's good evil? And what's good Seppies? And what's good people? And why's the Force have no comment when I com-call Them? If They holo-d, hallowed or hollow, would I watch 'Em then? The answers are negative every now and then Keep all these sentiments under a keycard then

Ahsoka sits on one of the lounge chairs on deck, and inhales deeply as she composes in her head. It's not as elegant as Riyo's work, or what she imagines Barriss' to be—Ahsoka's sure that Barriss does it too, no matter how firmly she says otherwise—but she figures she could do it too.

The ferry is moving fast enough to whip the crisp, cold wind into her face, and it's full of the scents of fish and pine and the floral and woodsy smells of the soap and perfumes of the other passengers around her. These Pantorans are dressed in embroidered coats and shawls lined in fur. The handles of their knives—worn openly on their hips and waists—are engraved with gold and silver, or are scaled in antler. Unlike Riyo's plain behemoth of a knife, these are much smaller, more decorative.

The women have coiled and braided hair, which are pinned in place with gold ornaments, not unlike how Riyo's hair usually is while she's on duty as a Senator. A few men puff on pipes carved from horn and wood.

A few younglings run past, laughing. They're chasing a sled dog, and after a few moments of chaos in which the adults lift their cups of caf and tea up out of their way, and a couple chairs are knocked over, they run off towards the stern.

Barriss sits in the chair next to Ahsoka. In her lap are the padlocks she collected from the Kortzeer garage and from Countess Xola Mafoo, totaling four all in all, but instead of practicing, she's busy staring at the people around her.

"Riyo, did you spend all of our credits on our tickets? This ferry is more well-to-do than I expected," Barriss says.

Riyo has abandoned her ruined suit for a new set of warm clothes. They're not nearly as nice as the clothes worn by the other passengers. In fact, they're rather plain, but Riyo still manages to wear them well. Under her knitted slouch hat, her hair has been pulled back into a simple bun. She sits at a small table near them with a newsflimsi and a small pot of caf. Riyo glances up at the Jedi and turns to the next page of her flimsi.

"I initially requested tickets for a different ferry line, but when they ran my identichip, they immediately gave me discount tickets for this ferry instead. It happens all the time," Riyo says. She sets the news flimsi over the table and makes a couple folds. She rips the flimsi along the folds, then tucks the flimsi into an interior coat pocket.

"What did you find?" Ahsoka asks.

Riyo reads and summarizes for them. "According to the news, the Summit is running smoothly under the direction of Duke Rommeruk Cho. Chief Thi-Sen and Cho are being civil and no one has been ejected."

"Duke Rommeruk took your post? I thought Sprekker Jok would have taken over as mediator," Barriss says.

Riyo leans back in her seat to look at them. "You're right, that is odd. I wonder why Sprekker didn't volunteer."

"We're going straight to Sprekker when we reach Defiance, right?" Ahsoka asks. Riyo nods.

"The newsflimsi says that he's been heading the investigating into our disappearance, so he must have some insight as to who is responsible."

"I still think it's Cho," Ahsoka says. "The guy doesn't like the Talz. I mean, I get why he doesn't, but doesn't that mean he has motive to sabotage the Summit?"

Barriss gives her a chiding look. "That motive could be applied to roughly half of the Assembly, because the late Chairman Cho was the leader of an entire political party. Any one of its members could be responsible for our abduction. If sabotaging the Summit were the goal of our abduction, then the Summit would have dissolved by now."

Riyo folds the flimsi back up and pushes it away. "As if any politician worth their salt would ever do something for only one reason. At any rate, if this ferry makes good time, then we might make contact with Sprekker by end of day today."

"And what about the bounty on us? Is it on us, or just you?" Ahsoka asks.

"Just me. The client is anonymous. What progress have you made, Master Jedi?" Riyo asks.

Barriss closes her eyes and holds her hand over the padlocks. After a few seconds they pop open one after the other.

Ahsoka whistles, and she and Riyo clap their hands. "Way to go, Barriss!"

"Thank you." Barriss picks them up and pushes them closed again. "But it's still a bit too slow for my liking. I'm trying to see if I can do it faster."

A flash of annoyance comes from Riyo in the Force, and both Barriss and Ahsoka turn to find her frozen, her hands open-mid clap. She's not looking at them, but instead is frowning at the wood paneling of the deck next to her table. There's nothing there, so Ahsoka follows the tilt of Riyo's ear. At the table behind Riyo sits a middle-aged couple. They're speaking in low voices, but not in a language that Ahsoka recognizes as Pantoran. It must be some regional dialect that Riyo understands, however, because the longer she listens, the more scandalized she looks.

"They must be talking about us, because they keep glancing in this direction," Barriss whispers. She tugs on the collar of Ahsoka's parka. "Don't stare, you might intimidate them."

Ahsoka's heart sinks. "But I haven't done anything."

Barriss gives an apologetic smile and takes Ahsoka's hand. She squeezes. "Yes, you're a big softie, but the fact remains that the both of us have been stared at the moment we stepped foot on this ferry. There isn't a lot of diversity on this moon and these people have probably never seen a Mirialan or a Togruta before."

"Have you come across something like this before?" Ahsoka asks.

Barriss' nose wrinkles, and she lowers her eyes. "When it's in one of the languages I happen to speak, yes. Some people have said the most scandalous things about me. And about Master Unduli."

"Oh, that is it!" Riyo turns around in her seat towards the couple, who gape at her. Riyo talks to them in their dialect, her voice harsh and scathing. The woman gasps, and her hand goes to her neck. The man turns purple. Around them, the rest of the passengers quiet down to eavesdrop, but a group of young socialites watch the unfolding scene with schadenfreude delight. One of them stuffs a gloved knuckle into his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

The couple answer back, sounding rather offended. The man gestures to one of the deckhands, who cringes and steps towards them, but steps back when Riyo turns her glare upon him too.

Then Riyo switches to Basic. "I dare! Let me repeat myself then, for the benefit of the entire ship: the amount of filth that spews from your mouths is extremely distasteful and embarrassing. You will stop and apologize to my friends, or I will have the crew take you out with the rest of the trash."

"Take us to the Captain!" The man shouts at the deckhand. He stands up and offers a hand to his wife, who sizes Riyo up and down with distain.

"You will regret this when you and your…friends are thrown off the ship."

"Then I must enjoy the time I have left. Go, you are dismissed." Riyo waves them off. The man starts forward, enraged, but his wife and the deckhand pull him away. Riyo watches them go, then turns to survey the rest of the deck. As if on cue, everyone else averts their gaze to their newsflimsies, data pads, and to their snacks. The low murmur of casual conversation picks up again as if nothing happened.

The group of young socialites, however, burst out laughing. They pick up their food and shuffle their playing cards together, then make their way across the deck towards Riyo. The one with the bite marks in his glove smiles down at her, his eyes bright.

"My name is Nanuk and this is my wife, Yuka, my in-law Ujarak, and our very good friend, Osha. May we join you?"

"Please. My name is Riyo," Riyo says, and the five of them push tables together and get enough chairs for everyone to sit. Riyo beckons to Ahsoka and Barriss. Ahsoka rises from the lounge chair to shake their hands.

"Hey, I'm Ahsoka Tano."

"Jedi Knight Barriss Offee," Barriss gives a short curtsey before joining them. Oops, maybe Ahsoka should have included her title as well.

"They are both Jedi," Riyo says and the socialites give vague noises of interest, like they don't quite understand, but are happy for them all the same.

"The same Jedi who command the GAR in the war?" Ujarak asks. They share the same shape nose and mouth with Nanuk's wife, Yuka.

"Yes," Barriss reluctantly admits.

"The war hasn't reached here on Pantora, thank the Gods. We don't have to bother ourselves about it at all. We must thank you for speaking up, Riyo. You have no idea how badly we've wanted to do that. Most of us on this ferry have been traveling together in a group tour for the past two weeks, and the Jaheems made every bit of that trip miserable for the rest of us. Do you play?" Osha, a tiny thing with thick spectacles perched on her nose, shuffles the deck of cards.

"Take a breath!" Nanuk says, and Osha blushes.

"Apologies. I know I talk faster than light speed."

"I feel seasick," Yuka says, and everyone stops and looks at her. Nanuk frowns and rummages through his pockets.

"Did you take the motion-sickness tabs? I have them somewhere."

"The medicine makes me feel sick too. You know traveling like this disagrees with me, Nanuk."

"You say this as if I made you do this when it was all your idea. I suggested we go by private ship, but you insisted on gawking at the scenery."

"There you go, blaming me when things go wrong…."

Nanuk and Yuka drop their voices as they continue to talk to each other in Pantoran. Osha and Ujarack sigh and turn to give them some privacy.

"Uh, are they okay?" Ahsoka asks.

"Please ignore them; they do this sort of thing all the time," Ujarack says. They're cut off when Yuka bursts into tears. She stands up, almost knocking her chair over in the process.

"Please excuse me." She turns and practically runs away, wiping her face on a fine handkerchief. Nanuk groans and slumps in his chair.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Ujarack asks.

"Tell me this, Ujarack, tell me this; why is it that every time I try to do something for her, I somehow make things worse?"

Ujarack shrugs helplessly and pushes their cocktail towards him. "My sister's always been like that, despite our parents' best efforts."

Nanuk sighs. "Thank you, friend." He downs the drink and hurries off after his wife.

"Yikes," Ahsoka says.

"How long have they been married?" Barriss asks.

Osha removes her glasses and pulls a cloth from her pocket to polish the lenses. "Not long. We don't quite know why they got married in the first place. We weren't aware they had anything in common."

"We introduced them to each other," Ujarack says.

"Whatever it is, we cannot do anything about it." Osha puts her spectacles back on and tucks the cloth back into her pocket. "Shall we play?"

The engine of the ferry, which has quietly rumbled beneath their feet all this time, goes silent. The ferry slows to a stop in the water. Barriss gently puts her hand on Ahsoka's arm.

"What is it?"

"We've stopped. Are we supposed to stop?" Ahsoka looks around for anything out of place, but finds nothing.

Ujarack chuckles. "Watch out, Riyo! The Jaheems are having you thrown overboard."

"Ha ha," Riyo says in a deadpan voice, but before she can say anything more, several bounty hunters climb aboard the ferry. One of them wears a familiar snow leopard mask, and they survey the deck until they see Ashoka.

"You!" The Leopard draws their blaster and aims it at her. One of the other bounty hunters tries to grab their hand.

"No! Remember the plan; we're here for the Senator!"

"I don't care! She killed my friends!"

PEW PEW.

Everyone hits the deck, screaming. Barriss grabs Riyo around the waist and pulls her down, and Ahsoka lifts the table and throws it clear across the deck. The Leopard dodges it, but it hits the other bounty hunter, who goes flying into the railing and crumples into a heap before the table lands on him.

PSSHEW. Ahsoka's lightsaber jumps to life in her hands and she gets into a stance. More bounty hunters come from the other side of the ship to surround them.

PEW PEW PEW.

Ahsoka deflects the blaster bolts with ease. "What do we do? We can't fight all of them without putting everyone in danger."

"We're right next to a lifeboat. We'll take it to shore." Barriss climbs over the railing, then hops down onto the covered lifeboat.

Riyo goes to the railing, but hesitates. "We have to get them to follow us."

"What?" Barriss asks. She tears the covering off of the boat and tosses it away.

"The bounty hunters must follow us. It's the only way to ensure the safety of all the passengers," Riyo says.

"I don't think that'll be a problem!" Ahsoka keeps blocking more and more blaster bolts in between banishing chairs at the bounty hunters. They've tipped a couple of the tables over and are crouching behind them, only showing themselves to shoot at her. The other passengers crawl out of the way until they're relatively safe, then retreat down to the other end of the ferry.

Barriss helps Riyo climb down into the lifeboat, then shouts, "Ahsoka, let's go!"

Ahsoka jumps and does a backflip onto the lifeboat. When she lands, the boat lurches dangerously, and Riyo grabs onto the edge of the thwart she sits on. Barriss staggers, but manages to stay standing.

"Cut it loose!" Barriss yells. She and Ahsoka swing their lightsabers through the chains holding the lifeboat aloft, and the boat falls onto a large, jagged, chunk of ice, cracking the hull in two. Riyo tumbles out of the wreck and onto the ice, dazed.

"I'm all right," Riyo mumbles. Ahsoka puts her lightsaber away, then leaps down and picks her up. Before them, the surface of the river is a cracked and churning mess of ice and water caused by the traffic of the ships and by the natural flow of the river.

"I did not think this through," Barriss mutters to herself as she gets up and brushes herself off. Behind them, the ruined lifeboat sinks beneath the water.

Above them, the bounty hunters lean over the railing of the ferry and take aim.

PEW PEW PEW.

"I did not think this through! They have the high ground!" Barriss shouts as she frantically deflects the blaster bolts.

"Which way?" Ahsoka asks Riyo.

"Huh?"

"Which side of the river is Defiance on?"

"Oh! That one!" Riyo points to the riverbank directly in front of them.

"Barriss, let's go!" Ahsoka sets off with Riyo still in her arms. She and Barriss jump from ice floe to ice floe, sometimes using the Force to jump across several yards of water. Eventually, the blaster bolts stop coming.

"Are they following us?" Riyo asks. The three of them pause and turn to look. There, cutting across the river at a breakneck speed towards them, is a speedboat laden with the bounty hunters.

"Oh. That must be how they got to the ferry in the first place," Ahsoka says. Barriss gives her a look of utter disbelief.

"If they catch up to us, then you can congratulate them in person."

"Let's go!" Ahsoka turns and they continue to run, but the speedboat closes the gap and soon enough, they start shooting again. Ahsoka and Barriss duck and weave until they get to shore. The blaster bolts go wide and sink into the surrounding ice and water, releasing steam.

The bank of the river is overgrown with trees. Ahsoka and Barriss climb onto land and keep pushing forward as fast as they can, but their clothes are caught on branches and bushes and must be pulled free. Ahsoka sets Riyo down on her feet.

"We are leaving a trail a blind kit could follow," Ahsoka says.

Barriss tugs her cloak free of a snag and winces when the branch snaps off. "What do we do then? Fight?"

"Spread out! They're in here somewhere!" One of the bounty hunters shouts. Judging from the sound of their voice, they're not that far away.

"Do you remember that time on Geonosis when I asked you to hide in that cave?" Ahsoka asks. Barriss frowns.

"You mean when you told me to wait in the cave?"

Ahsoka nods. "Uh, yeah. Wait. You're gonna have to wait again."

Barriss' frown deepens, but she doesn't say anything further.

Back on Geonosis, when Ahsoka went alone into the wilderness to hunt for her starving troops, she came across a Massiff. It was already old, but it was a huge, hellish thing, with bony, armored hide, round, soulless eyes, and a ridge of spikes growing out of its back. It could still eviscerate her if it wanted to.

It wanted to.

They stared at each other from across the desert, sizing each other up, and Ahsoka knew that if she wasn't careful, it would slaughter everyone who came out here with her. If she didn't do something soon, it would attack her first.

When Ahsoka killed the camel, she smeared its blood all over herself to entice the massiff to follow her instead. If the massiff thought she—a punk upstart interloping in its territory—was injured during the takedown of the camel, then it wouldn't attack; it would just wait for her to die. It would follow her to make sure she died, and if it were following her, then it wouldn't be waiting to ambush Anakin or Rex.

It worked. The massiff tailed Ahsoka through the desert, waiting, waiting, waiting for her to succumb from whatever injuries she appeared to have. Constantly lingering on the edges of Ahsoka's field of vision. And anything Ahsoka killed, it would leave alone, because its chief concern was making sure Ahsoka died.

And then Ahsoka saw Barriss walking in the desert too; a bright beacon of purple and green against a sea of red. And there was the massiff only yards behind her, coming too close out of curiosity.

Thank the Force that Ahsoka got to her first. It could have been so awful, and she felt pretty bad that she could have gotten Barriss killed. Ahsoka didn't tell Barriss what was going on (she might have dropped some clues in her panic), but she did walk Barriss to an abandoned cave.

And when Ahsoka was sure that Barriss was safe, she went back out into the desert and killed the massiff.

The things she does for that girl. The things she kriffing does. If Anakin ever found out that Ahsoka wouldn't kill a massiff for him, he would never let her live it down.

Ahsoka pulls down a branch of the nearest, overgrown bush to peer inside, but it's too dense in there. Barriss and Riyo would never fit. She inspects a couple other bushes before she finds one she likes.

"In here. Do not come out for anything, no matter what you hear. I'll come back for you."

Barriss nods and takes Riyo's hand, and the both of them huddle together in the bush. Ahsoka releases the branch again, and it bounces back into place. She carefully moves the foliage together to cover up the disturbance, and when she's satisfied, she walks on, purposely breaking leaves and twigs as she goes. When the bounty hunters find their trail, they'll follow it past their hiding place and walk straight to her instead.

The trail curves around and back towards the river, and when it leads far away from Barriss and Riyo, Ahsoka stops laying it down and begins to silently stalk through the trees. The bounty hunters make no attempt to muffle the sounds they make as they comb through the forest. They shout at each other in Pantoran, and their machetes chop through the foliage with ease. Ahsoka slowly makes her way to the nearest bounty hunter. He's a big, big man, stocky and helmeted. There is no one else in sight.

Ahsoka circles around him until she's just behind him and opens herself up to the Force. With how thick the trees are, there could be other bounty hunters on the other side of the next tree and she wouldn't know, but through the Force, she knows that they are practically isolated.

She draws her lightsaber hilt and darts forward.

BVVVWN.

PEW PEW PEW.

The lightsaber goes through the bounty hunter like he's nothing, and he shouts and pulls the trigger of his blaster. But Ahsoka doesn't stop and keeps going past him until she disappears into the trees again. The bounty hunter is dead before he hits the ground.

The others shout and start shooting too until they figure out that there is nothing to shoot at, and the forest falls silent again. Ahsoka climbs a tree to get a better view. If they're smart, then they'll regroup and search together.

"Keep going!" Someone shouts, and the rustling starts up again. Ahsoka smiles and drops out of the tree behind the Leopard.

Gotcha, she thinks as she activates her lightsaber again.

Barriss crouches with Riyo in the bush, her hand on her lightsaber. Ahsoka's footsteps have long since faded away, leaving her with one question.

What if this doesn't work?

It's not that Barriss doesn't have any faith in Ahsoka; quite the opposite. But what if they are underestimating the skills of the bounty hunters trying to find them? It's only the practical thing to ask.

A scream rings out through the forest, and there's a short burst of blaster bolts before the forest goes silent once more. There aren't even any birds chirping.

If one of the bounty hunters comes this way, and looks into the bush, then Barriss will fight. She'll tell Riyo to run, and then she'll hold them off to ensure her escape.

Another scream. Another pop of a blaster. In the Force, the bounty hunters' uneasiness grows into panic, and they start shouting at each other.

"What are they saying?" Barriss whispers to Riyo.

"They're, er, they're calling to each other, but some of their friends aren't answering. They're getting scared because they're getting picked off one by one. They're…they're going back to the river. They're running away." Riyo reaches for the branch of the bush, but Barriss stays her hand.

"It could be a trap, meant to lure us out of hiding."

But the branch is pulled away anyway, and Barriss lunges out of sheer terror, stabbing out with her lightsaber.

BVOOSH.

"Whoa!" Ahsoka leans back so that the blue blade of Barriss' lightsaber misses her head by a couple inches. "It's just me."

"Ahsoka!" Barriss turns off her lightsaber and jumps up to envelop her in a hug. Ahsoka hugs her back with one arm. Relief floods the Force around them.

"I said I'd be back," Ahsoka whispers.

"So you did." Riyo steps out of the bush and brushes herself off. "What is that? Did you bring us a gift?"

Barriss pulls away and looks down. There, in Ahsoka's other hand, is the limp body of the Leopard. Barriss steps back in horror. "By the Force, you are an overgrown tooka! Ahsoka, why?"

"Because no one knows they're dead! They've got a comlink and in that comlink might have the com code for the person responsible for abducting us. Come on, give me some credit. I didn't drag them all the way back here for nothing." Ahsoka kneels down next to the body and begins stripping off the mask and the armor. She hands these to Barriss.

"Put these on."

"WHAT?"

"Well, I can't impersonate them, I'm taller and heavier and my montrals won't fit in the mask."

"And I suppose I'll have to play dead to give some credence to our ruse. We'll trick the patron into revealing themselves." Riyo says.

Of all the loper-brained schemes Barriss has ever heard, this one is by far the worst, and this is coming from someone who suggested death as a contingency plan. Barriss holds up the Leopard's clothes and shakes them. "They stink. I hope you realize that. This person must not have had a bath in weeks."

Stink is an understatement. These clothes smell like five million unwashed armpits, like they were fished out of a rubbish bin, like they were marinated in rotting eggs. Ahsoka and Riyo cringe in agreement.

"Strange, I thought leopards liked water," Riyo says. Ahsoka snorts and turns away to hide a smile.

"Jokes? Now? Really?" Barriss asks. She feels so betrayed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just relieved that we're all still alive." Riyo tries and fails to school her face into something more neutral, but Ahsoka bursts out laughing.

Barriss drops the clothes onto the ground and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry too, Barriss, but you gotta admit that we have a pretty good opportunity here. Just put it on, and it'll only be for five minutes, and I'll owe you one," Ahsoka says as she wipes away a tear on the back of her hand. She picks the clothes back up and holds them out to Barriss.

"We'll both owe you one," Riyo says. Barriss points at them both.

"Fine." Barriss unbuckles her cloak and pushes it into Riyo's hands, then grabs the clothes from Ahsoka. "I'm going to change. Over there. Don't look." Barriss ducks behind a tree and regards the clothes again. She's smelled better in the grimy Coruscanti Undercity, and she resists the urge to gag. This is such a mistake. She pulls the shirt over her head and really does gag this time.

Ugh, this is the worst thing she's ever done. And all because Ahsoka suggested it. The things she does for that girl….

Not a minute later, Barriss steps back out from behind the tree. She trips over boots that are several sizes too big. In fact, everything is too big, from the body armor, to the gloves, and even the pants. The pants threaten to drop, despite the belt being cinched on the smallest notch, and Barriss tugs them up.

"Here, I found this burner on them, but I can't read Pantoran." Ahsoka gives a cracked data pad to Riyo, who swipes and taps through it.

"There's only one com code on it. It must be the Patron's code." Riyo sits down next to a holocomlink and enters the code, but doesn't press enter. "Where do you want me?"

"A little further out. We don't want you to be too close, or he might notice something," Ahsoka says. Riyo scoots back until Ahsoka gives her a thumbs up.

"Will you play dead too?" Riyo asks. She hands Ahsoka Barriss's cloak and lies down. Ahsoka folds the cloak into a neat bundle and tucks it under her arm, then leans down and arranges Riyo's limbs. She throws some leaves over her too, to give off that freshly-killed vibe.

"Nah, I'll be watching from behind that tree. I really wanna see this guy." Ahsoka jerks her thumb over her shoulder at the tree line, then turns to Barriss. She squints. "Barriss? Is that you?"

"Can we get this over with? The longer I wear this getup, the more I long to depart from the Living Force." Barriss says.

Riyo bites her lip to hide a smile. "The good news is that the com call will have to be as short as possible. The longer it goes on, the more time the patron will have to figure out our trick."

Ahsoka's lip curls as she sizes Barriss up.

"Not a word," Barriss says.

"Okay! This should work as long as you don't say anything." Ahsoka ushers Barriss to stand before the holocomlink, then swipes through a cracked data pad. "I found this burner on them, and there's only one com code on it. It must be the Patron's code."

Ahsoka picks up the Leopard's arm and backs away, dragging the body with her. "I'm gonna hide behind this tree."

A nervous whine escapes Barriss's throat, and she reaches for her.

"You'll be fine! Just stand there and point to Riyo. Oh, and nod if he asks you something. Or shake your head. You're gonna be great!" Ahsoka and the Jaguar disappear into the brush.

"Break a leg," Riyo whispers from the ground. She turns her head and closes her eyes. In the following silence, a bird call sounds from far away.

Barriss would take a deep breath to ease her nerves, but if she does, the stench will make her vomit into the mask. She should just get it over with, like ripping off a stubborn Bacta patch, and not think too much about what she's doing. Barriss crouches down and presses the 'call' button, then straightens up.

After a few moments, the holocomlink sputters to life, and blue light springs from it to make a grainy, flickering hologram. Barriss takes a few steps back to give the hologram more space.

A figure appears, wearing a cloak with a deep hood to obscure his features. He opens his mouth, and in a distorted voice, and to Barriss's horror, he speaks to her in Pantoran.

Barriss freezes and changes her mind. This is the worst thing she has ever done. The figure stops talking and seems to wait expectantly. Barriss is lost until she sees Ahsoka poking her head out of the brush.

Point at Riyo, Ahsoka slowly mouths. She also pantomimes it.

Barriss jerks, then mirrors Ahsoka's movements to point at Riyo. The figure turns to look, and he starts talking again, only this time sounding more fascinated. He talks again, then pauses as if expecting an answer. Barriss glances at Ahsoka, but Ahsoka can only shrug.

What an awful plan; undone by a language barrier. The figure chuckles as he stares down at Riyo's still body, and talks again, and Barriss cannot help but feel the doubt churning in her gut.

And then the comcall ends, and the blue light sputters out. Barriss stares down at the holocomlink until Ahsoka comes out of hiding and plucks it off the ground to turn it off. Riyo rises from the ground and goes to Barriss.

"Are you all right, Barriss?" Riyo asks.

"I ruined it, didn't I?"

"You did just fine. It couldn't have gone any better." Riyo pulls the leopard mask off of Barriss' head, freeing her to the fresh, crisp air. She drops the mask onto the ground.

Barriss stares. "It worked?"

Riyo nods. "The Patron probably thought you were quite dumb, but he thanked you all the same and promised to transfer you half of the credits, then the other half after you've delivered my body. He said he'd send the coordinates for the rendezvous to the burner data pad."

Ahsoka laughs and picks Barriss up. "It worked!"

"Whoa!" Barriss laughs as Ahsoka spins her around. "Ahsoka, put me down!"

"We're gonna catch this guy with his pants down! We're gonna arrest him! And we're gonna take his credits anyway!" Ahsoka gently places Barriss back down.

"We can't take his credits, that's evidence," Barriss says.

The burner data pad beeps, and Riyo looks at it. "Huh. The rendezvous is scheduled to take place in a couple days just outside Defiance."

"Does that give us time to rest?" Barriss asks.

"Yes."

"Good. Because I need a bath. I stink." Barriss pulls off the gloves and throws them down in disgust.

Want to read this on Ao3 or on FF.net? Click here for the links.

#star wars #star wars the clone wars #Ahsoka Tano #barriss offee #riyo chuchi #fanfiction #fanfic

8 notes · View notes

idramaticasian-blog · 6 years ago

Text

OUR VIEW ON GENDER ROLE IN SOCIETY & POLITICS

It’s not surprising or even a debatable topic that we live in a heterosexual male dominating world. One doesn’t have to look far to see how or why it’s happening. We all experience it in our daily lives, families, educational communities and politics.

In today’s political landscape, motherhood is often deployed as a tool to highlight the ‘sacred nature of a subject, ranging from the Gau Mata to Bharat Mata and Ganga Mata. At the same time, issues around women’s rights and empowerment, varying from triple talaq to Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, are regular topics of conversation in Political circles. But an important question remains- do the men in Indian Politics only want to talk about women, or are they also willing to make an effort to share power with them?

Yes, we are moving towards women empowerment to achieve gender equality step by step. But that’s still just a perception; even today the vast majority of Indians (64%) are of the view that the role of women in society is to become good mothers and wives and they should focus mainly on home, according to the findings of a global survey by Ipsos. The Ipsos global trend survey 2017 examined attitudes towards the role of women, parenting, and family across 22 countries, interviewing 18,180 adults.

“More Indian women may be moving out of their homes, seeking employment and carving out a niche for themselves at workspaces, but society sees them more as accomplished mothers and wives in primary role, relegating other roles to secondary positions,” Executive Director, Ipso Public Affairs, said in a sentence

From personal experience, in my household, my mother is a business owner and my dad a government employee. No doubt that my mother plays the role of a housewife, mother and a badass boss. But still even today when it comes to decision making she hands it over to my father. It’s more like a system is fixed in women’s head that the final decision has to come from the man of the house. And I’m pretty sure this must be the case in most of the liberated and slightly upper-class families like mine. I’m not denying that there aren’t exceptions but, yes these things happen around us all the time.

Now, when it comes to politics, in India, nine out of ten legislators are men. While, Indian politicians are eager to talk about women’s empowerment and the political legacies of India’s female politicians like Sushma Swaraj, Indira Gandhi or Pratibha Patil, these women remain largely anomalies in the Indian political landscape rather than a norm.

Among our South Asian Neighbors, we rank fifth in the women’s political representation in parliament falling behind Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. On the other hand, while many countries around the world gasped at the idea of a female head of state, India was the second country in the world to elect a female head of state, Indira Gandhi. Presently, women in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet lead some of the most important ministries, from defense to foreign affairs. Yet still, cases of violence against women increased by 40 percent from 2012 to 2016, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. A woman was raped every 13 minutes, a bride was murdered for dowery every 69 minutes, and six women are gang-raped every day in India.

Politically, women have been making their presence felt in voter turnouts. According to the Election Commission data from 2014 General Elections, the female voter turnout was higher than male turnout in 16 states and union territories out of 35. However, women remain underrepresented in state and national decision-making bodies. The decision making which is done from ministry for women and children is done by men. When someone looks at you suggestively regardless of what you are wearing, just because you have a bigger chest and ass compared to that person, or travelling alone no matter what time of the day while a man following you or listening to comments being passed on or being looked down on by your colleagues at workspace, colleges or even schools by men for being a female and not having a penis; why should those very men make decision for an entire county where 55 percent of work is done by women. So obviously, women remain underrepresented in state and national decision-making bodies. India’s handful of female politicians have occupied some of the highest seats of power but their rise, like many of their counterparts in Asia, has often been through the patronage of the family legacy.

The barriers of entry for the female politicians are much higher as they contend with multiple other surface and structural issues. According to the Economic Survey 2018, prevailing cultural attitudes regarding gender roles, domestic responsibilities, female illiteracy, lack of confidence or finances and the threat of violence, are just some of the obstacles women face.

One way to combat this disparity is through quotas.

In 1994, India ratified the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution, granting women 1/3 reservation in rural and urban democratic bodies. This was followed in 1996 by the introduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill that would reserve 33 percent of seats in Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies for women on a rotational basis.

After much contestation, the bill finally passes in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but lapsed in 2014 with the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha. It continues to languish-22 years since the initial proposal.

One thing so far is clear as water, that we need female representation in Politics because we need women who have experienced all the problems a female goes through from being a girl to a woman. It’s not just about representation, but to initiate gender equality at the highest rank, for transgender and non-binary citizens to step up and represent their communities. Role model effect also erases the gender disparity in educational attainment of young girls.

While quotas allow women access to positions of power, according to some detractors, they also weaken the ideas of the election based on merit in democracy. There is concern that women in government may compromise growth as pro-female and pro-family policies are often associated with welfare. However, many women run for the local governments, because of pressure from relatives eager to keep a particular seat in the family or gain material benefit. Their spouses, the “panchayat patis”, often control the position, wielding power through the women’s position. Furthermore, once elected, women often run again for political office even after their constituencies have been de-reserved. While the reservation for women is only for 33 percent of the seats, women make up 46 percent of the elected representatives in Panchayati Raj institutions, exhibiting active participation and leadership at local governments levels.

Presently, the two largest political parties of India, the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC), support the women’s reservation bill in their rhetoric. However, contrary to the popular rhetoric support, India Today finds that in the 2014 General Elections, BJP gave only 8.8 percent tickets to women candidate and Congress just 12.9 percent.

The Times of India reported that BJP was planning to field at least 25 percent women candidates in Madhya Pradesh for the 230 seats. BJP’s past record, however, remains a shoddy record.

In the Karnataka state elections in May, only 6 of the 224 candidates fielded by the BJP were women, less than 3 percent of their total candidature. Ironically, Prime Minister Modi’s slogans as he kicked off the state election campaign were, “Beta, Beti Ek Saman” (Son and Daughter are equal). The other two big parties in Karnataka elections didn’t fare much better when it came to representing women. The INC and JD(S), fielded 15 and 4 female candidates respectively.

In August, the INC president, Rahul Gandhi, penned a scathing letter to Modi urging him to “walk his walk” on Women’s empowerment and pass the bill. Like BJP, in practice, only 14 percent of the newly formed Congress Workers’ Committee leaders are women, despite the constitution of the INC calling off for 33 percent reservation for the party’s committees.

Studies show that for women to have a meaningful impact in Parliament, they need to reach at least a 30 percent threshold.

“We want respect and to be treated on par with another citizen. That I defeated a person, who is not a transgender shows people love me” these are the words spoken by Dnyaneshwar Kamble, a 40-year-old transgender women elected as Maharashtra’s first ever transgender Sarpanch on 17th October 2018 in the gram panchayat elections in Tarangfal villege of Solapur. Kamble intends to focus on lok sevs (welfare of people) and gram seva (welfare of the village/society). Villagers in her area still defecate in the open- Kamble said she would concentrate on making her village open defecation. She is a Standard VII dropout, but she regrets not completing her education. Kamble would also focus on providing better education to the villagers.

The Logical Indian community appreciates the fact of how people have chosen Kamble as their representative. Kamble and many others have been on the receiving end of social ignorance. A move like this works as an encouragement for the entire society. We hope this acts a precedent for other communities as well.

In short, representation matters. Either you are gay, lesbian, binary, non- binary or whatever, we as a whole are citizens of a country which doesn’t allow or even recognizes that representation is the key to a progressive nation and be recognized as a first world country as we should be.

REFERENCES:

https://thediplomat.com/2018/10/where-are-indias-women-politicians/

https://thelogicalindian.com/news/transgender-sarpanch-maharashtra/?amp

https://thewire.in/gender/politics-womens-representation/amp/

#womenempowerment #women representation #equal rights #representationmatters

1 note · View note

newsieevents · 3 years ago

Photo

APC To Commence Sale Of Nomination Forms On Tuesday Party sources from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has confirmed that it will start selling of nomination and expression of interest forms on Tuesday Initially, the sale of the forms was scheduled to begin on Saturday, but was postponed due to logistic and administrative challenges. On Sunday, a source from the APC media office in Abuja told Channels TV that the challenges have been resolved and forms will be available from Tuesday. The exorbitant cost of the APC nomination forms has attracted criticisms for the party. Nonetheless, many aspirants are eager to shell out humongous amounts to obtain the ruling party’s ticket. APC fixed the cost of forms for presidential hopefuls at N100 million, while governorship aspirants will buy for N50 million. Senatorial, House of Representatives and State Assembly aspirants are required to obtain their forms at N20 million, N10 million and N2 million respectively. Meanwhile, APC women leader Betta Edu defended the prices of the forms, claiming it was done deliberately to weed out “unserious” aspirants who may just want to get in the mix as a cog in the party’s wheel of progress. ... Read More On www.newsieevents.com https://www.instagram.com/p/CcvouMghTCx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

0 notes

oselatra · 6 years ago

Text

Sixty years ago, Little Rock closed all its public high schools rather than desegregate them

The tossed year.

On Sept. 27, 1958, 60 years ago this month, Little Rock decided by a vote of 19,470 to 7,561 to keep its public high schools closed rather than desegregate them. Although the events of school desegregation at Central High in September 1957 are etched in the local, state and national consciousness, the events of the following year are unjustly overlooked. When they are mentioned at all, people refer to them as the "Lost Year." The term is misleading because the year was not lost, but rather tossed — that is, thrown willfully away by a predominantly white Little Rock electorate that was hoodwinked by segregationist politicians into believing that the city could survive without public schools. Events proved just how wrong those politicians were.

School closing was the result of an ongoing legal battle over school desegregation. On Feb. 20, 1958, the Little Rock School Board petitioned U.S. District Court Judge Harry J. Lemley for a two-and-half-year delay in its desegregation plan. On June 21, Lemley granted the delay on the grounds that the city needed a cooling-off period after the clashes witnessed in September 1957. On Aug. 18, NAACP attorney Wiley Branton successfully had the delay overruled on appeal. School board attorneys then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Since the Court did not convene until Oct. 6, it could not hear the appeal until after the Little Rock schools opened, presumably on a segregated basis, in September.

On Aug. 25, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren announced that the court would meet in a special session Aug. 28 to hear the Little Rock case. On Sept. 12, the court ordered the school board to proceed with its desegregation plan. In the landmark ruling of Cooper v. Aaron, the court said that violence and disruption could not be used as an excuse for delaying school desegregation. If the court had allowed a delay, it would have signaled that mob rule could be used to stall the enforcement of federal laws. The federal government afterward indicated that it was prepared to support the opening of schools with the assistance of federal marshals if necessary. Everything appeared to be in place to ensure a smooth and orderly process of desegregation, in contrast to the scenes of lawlessness in 1957.

Gov. Orval Faubus had other plans. While desegregation was being debated in the courts, Faubus made his move. On Aug. 26, the governor presided over a special session of the Arkansas General Assembly that pushed through six bills providing him with sweeping powers to uphold segregation. One bill allowed Faubus to close any school ordered to desegregate by federal order. With the school closed, voters in the local school district would participate in a referendum to decide if the school should reopen or not. On the day that the court ordered desegregation to proceed, Faubus closed all of Little Rock's public high schools. In the referendum held Sept. 27, the governor handily stacked the cards in his favor by providing a single choice between keeping the schools closed or accepting "complete and total integration."

The morning after the referendum result, Faubus pressured the school board into leasing the public high schools to the Little Rock Private School Corp. (LRPSC) for private operation. NAACP attorneys won an injunction to stop this. Faubus then assisted the LRPSC in purchasing private buildings with public funds to operate as schools. That year, white students variously attended private segregated schools, schools in other Arkansas districts, out-of-state schools or took correspondence courses through the University of Arkansas. With access to fewer resources, black students were hit the hardest. Most attended classes in other Arkansas districts or went to an out-of-state school. Some took a correspondence course offered by L.M. Christophe, the principal of the black Horace Mann High School. The state retained both white and black teachers on full pay to preside over empty classrooms in closed schools. The only thing that took place in public high schools that year was Central High's football program, which was apparently the single part of its educational services that the city felt it could not survive without.

Faubus reaped the political benefits of school closing. In November 1958, he became only the second governor in Arkansas history to win a third consecutive term in office. The leading segregationist voice in the state, Arkansas Association of White Citizens' Council head Jim Johnson, won election to the Arkansas Supreme Court. In a shocking result, Little Rock segregationist and school board member Dale Alford defeated, as a write-in candidate, incumbent Congressman Brooks Hays, who had held the seat for 16 years. Meanwhile, all of the Little Rock School Board (except for Alford, who would soon leave to take up his role as congressman) resigned. As one of its final acts in office, the board voted to buy out the contract of school Superintendent Virgil Blossom, the architect of Little Rock's school desegregation plan.

The election of a new school board proved a watershed event. At the school-closing referendum, a group of white women had formed the Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC). At its helm was Adolphine Fletcher Terry, the wife of former Arkansas Congressman David D. Terry. Although unsuccessful in getting the schools opened, the WEC, itself segregated, remained an important lobbying force within the white community. At the school board election, Terry managed to persuade five candidates to represent business interests against attempts by segregationists to dominate the school board. In a closely contested election, a split ticket of three business candidates and three segregationists won.

The partial victory belatedly stirred Little Rock's white businessmen to speak up about school desegregation. There was a rising awareness of the community damage being done. Teachers, unoccupied in empty classrooms, were leaving the public school system in droves. The education of the city's students was being severely disrupted. And, of more pressing concern to the businessmen, the city's economy was suffering badly. Not one new industry had chosen to locate in Little Rock since the events of September 1957. It was claimed that the negative headlines surrounding school desegregation had cost the city five new industrial plants that would have brought in $1 million in revenue and 300 new jobs.

E. Grainger Williams, the new president of the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce, questioned the wisdom of school closing in his inaugural speech on Jan. 14, 1959. Williams told the audience that, "no matter what our personal feelings might be," the "time has come for us to evaluate ... the cost of the lack of public education." The politicians did not seem to care. The 1959 Arkansas General Assembly passed another 32 pro-segregation bills into law.

A showdown between the business community and committed segregationists in the city finally came in May 1959. At a meeting of the new school board May 5, segregationist members attempted to push through measures to remove anyone unsympathetic to their cause from the public school system. Blocking each of these measures, the school board members representing business interests then withdrew from the meeting to dissolve the quorum. However, after they left, Ed McKinley, the segregationist president of the school board, ruled that the meeting could continue as normal. Segregationists proceeded to make a series of arbitrary decisions about the running of the school system. Most dramatic of all was the decision not to renew the contracts of 44 public school employees, including seven principals, 34 teachers and three secretaries.

On May 8, a group of downtown business and civic leaders met to form a new organization, Stop This Outrageous Purge (STOP). The organization was dedicated to recalling the three segregationist school board members for election. On May 15, segregationists formed a Committee to Retain Our Segregated Schools (CROSS) to recall the business community representatives. On May 25, the day of the recall election, the vote narrowly went the businessmen's way, with all the business representatives reinstated and all the segregationist candidates dismissed from the school board. The new board, taking the election as a mandate to reopen the schools, began preparations for token desegregation in September 1959 by assigning three black students to Central High and three to Hall High. On June 18, the U.S. District Court upheld the contention of NAACP attorneys that Arkansas's school-closing laws were unconstitutional.

In a surprise move designed to stymie attempts by Faubus to prevent the schools from reopening, the school board announced in July that the school year would begin a month early, on Aug. 12. When the schools reopened as planned, three black students, Effie Jones, Elsie Robinson and Estella Thompson, peacefully entered Hall High under a city police guard. At the state Capitol, 1,000 whites attended a segregationist rally. Later, around 200 segregationists marched on Central High. City policemen firmly enforced order as two of the Little Rock Nine, Jefferson Thomas and Elizabeth Eckford, entered the school. Carlotta Walls, another of the Nine, and the third black student assigned to Central that year, had not yet returned from completing summer school in Chicago. For segregationists, the battle had been lost, and their struggle to retain strictly segregated public schools was finally over. The struggle to achieve the meaningful desegregation of the city's schools, and to ensure equal access to a quality education for all of the city's students, continued on, as it still does today.

John A. Kirk is the Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Sixty years ago, Little Rock closed all its public high schools rather than desegregate them

#Sixty years ago #Little Rock closed all its public high schools rather than desegregate them

5 notes · View notes