Harem

... That morning Ami found a bandeau top, short skirt and jacket on her vanity. At breakfast she found that Persephone also had "public clothes" on. Persephone knew something was up, especially as it was only the two of them who had clothes, a shopping trip was usually four to six girls. David dropped them at a decidedly down scale mall compared to where he usually dropped them. Persephone was very suspicious now and Ami's cover story that she wanted to go to the beach wasn't cutting it. So Persephone wasn't entirely surprised when Ami directed her to One Hour Lenzs.

... They were able to do a prescription and the glasses. (Jason must have done some calling around.) Persephone and Ami had an hour to waste while the glasses were being made up. There wasn't much that interested them in the mall. Ami found a door to the outside from which she could see the beach a little more then a block away.

... "Do you think we can?"

... "Sure!" Persephone pushed the door open and lead the way. Along the beach was a row of touristy shops. They walked a couple of blocks.

... "The water looks great. I wish we could go in."

... "I can't see it. Give me an hour."

... Ami smiled, she'd been afraid that Persephone would be mad at her for setting her up for Glasses but the frames she'd chosen looked good on her and she seemed to have accepted the idea.

... A filthy little girl of about ten yanked on Persephone's skirt (about pulled it off). "Excuse me, do you have any money?"

... They'd each started with a thousand. Persephone had spent almost half that but Ami still had all of hers. The question was, how much should they give her? The smallest bill Ami had was a twenty. She stepped in front of Persephone and gave it to the girl.

... "Thank you." The girl ran away and Ami put a restraining hand on Persephone.

... "Let's see where she goes." Ami followed the little girl at a distance. Persephone followed Ami. The little girl went to the beach side of some kind of public work where a pile of junk revealed a filthy woman.

... "Mom, a lady gave me a twenty." The woman gruffly took the bill from the girl and examined it.

... "Take it to Ricky and get me some smak." The girl looked disappointed but she moved off down the beach. Ami followed at a greater distance.

... "What's going on?"

... "What can you see?"

... "I can see figures moving around. I told you I'm not blind. I just can't see faces and I'm not sure what exactly is happening."

... "She gave the money to her mom. They're homeless. Looks like they live on the beach. Her mom told her to take the money and get some "smak." I think that's drugs but I didn't think they still called it that. Now we're following her, way back this time, to the dealer. I think. Or maybe just a Cuban food stand."

... "This is why I hate leaving the house. I don't have to see there. I know what everything and everyone looks like."

... "After we get your glasses you can lead and I'll follow."

... "What's happening now?"

... "I'm not sure, it's hard to see."

... "Then why don't we get closer?"

... "Because crack dealers don't like witnesses."

... "That's a point."

... The little girl left the dealer and made her way back to her mom. Her mom did her set up and heated the powder in a spoon. "Okay, I saw the kid run back."

... "I think it must be heroin, not crack. The woman's heating it up in a spoon."

... "Right there on the beach?"

... Ami looks around.

... "We seem to be the only ones who care."

... "I can't see the girl anymore."

... "She sat down."

... "She must be blending in with the garbage. Did she get anything to eat?"

... "No."

... "God, my parents may not have understood me, may have said terrible things and had me locked up but they at least feed me, clothed me, put a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. And they made sure I went to school, even if it about drove me crazy."

... "I wish we could do something for her."

... "We could give her the rest of our money, but the mother would probably just buy more dope with it."

... "Yeah."

... Ami thought for a few moments. "What about Jason?"

... "You think that would be an improvement?"

... "He wouldn't screw a little girl would he?"

... "We don't exactly live rent free."

... "Where's David or Frank? They should be around here somewhere, watching."

... "David's probably in the limo watching TV. Franks at the house looking after Jason."

... "Isn't one of them watching us?"

... "I don't think so."

... "You mean we're out here without a guard?"

... "No."

... Ami looks at Persephone for the rest of the answer.

... "I'm the guard. Jason knows I would never do anything to hurt him."

... "Okay. Your going to tell me what Jason has on you?"

... "A guy named Perry King."

... "The actor?"

Persephone laughs. "I wish. No, Jason knows everything there is to know about Perry King."

... This is difficult for Persephone but Ami has no idea why it should be. If some guy was hounding her- "Jason made Perry go away. If anything happens to Jason, Perry comes back."

... "Why? How?"

... "I think I'd rather help this little girl right now then talk about history."

... "But its not hist-"

... Persephone begins walking towards the shops along the beach.

... "Where are you going?"

... "To find a pay phone."

... "There's one just there."

... "Thanks." Persephone picks up the receiver.

... "Who you going to call?"

... "Jason." Ami was stunned. Persephone knew Jason's phone number? Well she was dialing so it appeared she did. Ami realized too late that she should be trying to memorize the number. "Hello, may I have David Touché? He's personal assistant to the director. ... I'm not surprised he's not in the building and no I can't leave a message. Call him on his cell phone, 555-4129 and say Persephone needs to speak with Jason. I'll wait. ... No you'll do it now and it should only take three minutes. I realize anyone could try to get to the director's assistant this way but if I have to go through a public exchange to try and trace him down you won't like the result."

... Ami admires the fire in Persephone's voice. Ami knows Persephone can't see more then twenty feet and that she is wearing loose sandals, a linen skirt and a halter top but Ami's still a little scared listening to her.

... Exactly three minutes later, "Hi, No we're fine and don't blame David. We've taken a walk and didn't tell him.

... "We're about six blocks South of the mall. ... Write this down. ... Along Boardwalk between Seaview and Sand. There's a little girl between eight and ten years old. She begged money from us. Ami gave her a twenty. She took it to her mom who's a heroin addict living in a junk pile on the ocean side of the old picnic ground. The mom made the girl use the twenty to buy drugs.

... "I know the girl's hungry. I think she may even be starving. Yeah, Ami tracked the girl to the dealer. He's dealing from a car parked behind a doughnut shop three blocks farther South.

... "What kind of car is it Ami?"

... "Oh, uh. It's a brown Impala. About fifteen years old. Two doors."

... "Did you get that? Thanks. No, we haven't picked them up yet. Yeah, we'll do that now. Thanks, love you." And Persephone hung up.

... "Come on." Persephone started walking North.

... "Why, what's going on?"

... "We shouldn't be here when they get here."

... "They?"

... Persephone didn't answer. Ami tried to keep up with Persephone while also keeping an eye on the girl. They went back through the same glass door into the mall. Persephone made a bee line for the food court. She bought some hamburgers and they sat at a table from which they could see the street through the door but not the beach.

... A few moments later some police cars with their lights and sirens off passed, heading towards the beach. They were followed by unmarked cars and what might have been official government vehicles, but not police.

... "Wow. Jason did that?"

... "Uh huh. Hopefully the mom and the dealer will be going to Jail."

... "And the girl?"

... "Foster home."

... "Uhmm." Ami has to let this sink in. "Well that's better then coming home with us."

... Persephone nodded.

... Ami has a million questions. "The first person you spoke to, she didn't want to connect you to David."

... Persephone nods.

... "What would have happened to her if she had hung up on you?"

... "I don't know. She would have been fired for sure. She would get a bad reference and the word would be put out to temp agencies that she was 'a fuck up.' I don't know what else. I don't want to think about it."

... Persephone looks at Ami's face for her judgment. "All I know is what ever that woman did or had done to her, she would be a hell of a lot better off then that girl on the beach. The girl on the beach never had a chance."

... Ami looks at Persephone. "Until now."

... Persephone gives a small smile.

... "Why can't you just get a restraining order against this Perry King guy?"

... Persephone swallowed. She took a sip of soda and swallowed again. "Because he's inside me."

... Ami doesn't get it. "You mentioned an actor before, you ever see the play, The Actor's Nightmare?"

... Ami shakes her head, No.

... "It's pretty weird. This guy wakes up and he's on stage and it's his line. Only he doesn't know what play it is or what part he's playing. He figures out that it might be. Hamlet and he might be playing Hamlet but he doesn't know the lines, the audience is restless, the other actors are mad and he's not really an actor. He's an accountant.

... "Its a type of nightmare we've all had. Mine was a little different though." She paused and looked at Ami while she tried to figure out how to say it. (Though she had practiced this speech several times in her head.)

... "My makeup wouldn't come off. And everyone told me it wasn't a play, or a dream, this was real life. But when I looked in the mirror, it wasn't me. It never was, and this nightmare went on and on. Everybody seemed to be in on this great big conspiracy, they all said I was a boy. But I wasn't, I knew I wasn't. But when I looked in the mirror, I saw a boy. When I looked at my body, it was a boy's body, hairy legs, dick, everything. I even had to start shaving at one point.

... "But it was all a huge lie, because I was a girl. I didn't talk like a boy, I didn't move like a boy, I didn't act like a boy, I liked boys but not the way I was supposed to.

... "I barely survived high school, and once I graduated I started going to clubs and dressing like a girl. My parents told me to stop it or they wouldn't pay for college. They knew I was a boy. They had wanted a boy, they had a boy but he thought he was a girl. They finally had me committed, I was crazy, they were sure of it. I think I either was crazy or almost crazy. What would you think if your nightmare never ended?

... "I wasn't considered dangerous, so the place I was put in didn't have much security. When I escaped I went to Jason. I'd met him before I graduated from high school, I won't say how."

... Ami caught on something Persephone had said. "Then you know where The House is?"

... "No, I don't even know what town it's in, but I did know Jason's real name and I knew where his offices were."

... "And his phone number."

... "Yes."

... "But-"

... "No." The previous part had been difficult but this part was painful. "I sympathize with your hate of Jason but I don't share it. I owe him more then I could possibly repay. There was no reason for him to take in a crazy kid like Perry. But he did and he paid for the psyche evaluations, the therapy, the surgery, the hormone treatments and the follow up therapy.

... "I understand why you hate him. And I agree with you that what he does is wrong but ... you fear him too and I don't. But I'm much more afraid then any of you.

... "If Jason should have an accident, or grow old, and die. You would be released and able to try to find your old lives. But without Jason to pay for my hormone cocktails, my old life will find me. And this time I think I will go crazy. I've stood on the edge and insanity is worse then any physical torture Jason or anyone could come up with."

... "But wouldn't your parents-"

... "They'd swear out a complaint to have me locked up. And their insurance wouldn't cover my needs and neither will welfare or Social Security."

... "You've checked into this."

... Persephone gave a sick smile. "My surgery is considered elective and my hormone cocktail is some kind of sick perversion."

... "But that doesn't make any sense. You had a psychiatrist-"

... "The conservatives still believe homosexuality is a choice. Don't even try to convince them that sex assignment can be screwed up at birth. I've argued this case in every venue in the country, at least in my head."

... "That's why you study law."

... "Yes, I hope to one day construct an air tight case for myself but at the moment emotion overcomes logic in the courts on issues of sexuality."

... Ami spent that night with Gina. Her head rested on Gina's breast. Her leg was across Gina's hips, her arm across Gina's chest. Gina's arm was around Ami's shoulder. Ami didn't sleep much. Persephone had given her too much to think about and the day hadn't been over.

... Ami had theorized when Brittanie had left that Jason must have deep establishment roots in the community to open a bed for Brittanie on such short notice (money alone wouldn't have done it). Jason must be on the boards of this and that. He must have decades of experience and trust built up. He probably had buildings with his name on them. That's the kind of person who found beds for daughters in the middle of the night at secure mental hospitals.

... But he had to be something more to get the police and at least two other government agencies to respond so quickly as they had that afternoon. The police must have been heading out the door before they got the entire address. And not just local police but Child Welfare and ... DEA?

... Those types of people would have responded to a rich well established man in the community. (Ami was pretty sure though that The House was in a different town then the mall had been.) But they would have required some kind of confirmation before they pulled out all the stops. And the situation was one that they must have known about, the mother and the drug dealer weren't exactly hiding. So what would make them react so quickly to a non-threatening, on going, problem?

... That was more then wealth, more then names on buildings, more then simple power. That was fear.

... Who was Jason?