It wasn't until we got down to the jail that Dick warned me to be prepared. He admitted that Sid had been beaten up when he had seen him the day before, but he was all right.
I wanted to slap Dick right in his face. The idea that he would keep secrets from me made me so mad that I wanted to hit him. I wanted Sid to tell me something to keep away from Dick. It wasn't fair. Just because I was a woman they had assumed that I was too weak to be let in on certain things. The way I feel about it is.. is...is my own business!
I was still pretty steamed until saw Sid. He had a black eye that was swollen shut, a nasty looking bruise on his temple, both hands were bandaged, and he had little bruises and cuts here and there. He was limping as he came into the little booth on the other side of the glass from mine. I was appalled. The little face slaps I had received the day before were nothing compared to what the cops had done to Sid.
My anger turned to compassion. Sid had had all of that done to him and he had been worried that I might worry if I knew. Men! They are so...weird!
"Are you alright?" I asked concerned.
"Yea, don't sweat it. I've got the best medical care that Tower city can offer."
I think that was supposed to be a joke of some kind. I could tell from the way Sid moved he was still sore all over. "What happened?"
"I ran, they caught me, I don't want to talk about it!" he answered testily.
"Ok." I submitted.
"Has Dick been able to find Jimmy?"
"He's dead."
"What! Whose dead? You do mean Jimmy!"
"Yea, sorry. Dick's fine. The cops killed Jimmy last week."
Sid was still holding his hand over his heart and breathing through his mouth. "Sorry Cookie, be careful what you say. The way things are going I thought for a moment that something had happened to Dick. Whew! Let's start over...I haven't asked how you are doing..."
"I'm alright. I'm here for you Sid. You'd better know that. Anything I can do for you let me know. Ok?"
"I promise."
"Good. Now, I brought in some Cookies for you. Dick said that's about all they'll let you have that's edible. There's some magazines and some stuff to clean up with and some depilatory cloths so you can shave. They said I couldn't give you any of the clothes I brought. Is there anything you want that I can bring?"
"No. Thanks. Don't bring any more magazines--I can't read."
"I wasn't sure. I got some with lots of pictures. Maybe you can trade them for something."
"Naw, sorry. It was nice of you."
"Dick contributed too."
"Thank him for me."
"Don't worry about that Sid, we both just want to see you back out of here."
"Hmmm...If Jimmy's dead then I don't see how I can clear myself. Have you been able to find the owner? We could buy him off..."
"Dick's been looking. He'll find him. Don't worry about that."
"Ok. What did they set my bail at?"
"10,000 credits."
"Sheesh! A new amp only costs four or five hundred!"
We stopped and looked at each other for a moment. It was hard to talk. Sid was looking at 10,000 credits down the tubes--if we could get that much! What a rip off! What if he had to do time!
Should I have told him that I had talked to Mike about some financial aid? No, Mike was still thinking about it. Should I have mentioned Dick's willingness to sell his car. Maybe later. What was there to say.
"Sid, I want you to know, and you can derive any comfort from this that you can, That I will wait for you. I'll do anything that I can to help. I don't want you to think that I will just forget about you. I'm here for you. We will work this out somehow. Ok?"
"Ok. Thanks Cookie. You are the one thing that's holding me together right now. I keep telling myself to just hold on until I can get out there and hold you in my arms again. You're one in a million."
"You're kinda rare yourself."
We talked some more. Sid had some messages for me to give to Dick. I don't remember what all was said. It was all eating away at my stomach. I remember getting mad inside, where it wouldn't show in front of Sid. I remember feelings of wanting to sacrifice what ever I had to help Sid. I would be the martyr, if I had to be!
I remember leaving. There was this big cop walking down the corridor towards me minding his own business right in front of him and stood there with my hands on my hips and made him walk around me. I was daring him to do something. I wanted to hurt them the way they were hurting me. I was being selfish.
***
I was sitting on the couch dejected. I was wearing my waitress outfit. Mike still wouldn't let me come to work. I couldn't blame him. I had an attitude, a bad one. I sat there with my chin in my hand while inside I was burning up. Dick was laying on the bed but he wasn't relaxed. From time to time he would hit his hand on the wall next to the bed.
Neither of us had lifted a hand to repair the damage the police had inflicted on our home. What was the use? I had just finished paying for all the damage they had done at my last place. The only thing I knew Dick and I could do was to find the guy that owned the amp. We'd have to wait until Monday to get up with Sid's legal advisor. She would know who's amp Sid was looking to do time for.
The stupidity! How much time was one amplifier worth? Would an hour behind bars do it? How about a hundred days? Years? Life is so precious. Think of all the things we can do in just one day. Sid had already been behind bars for nearly three. In twenty seven more days Sid would go to trial. How many more days would it take after that? It was stupid, stupid, stupid!
It all went back to that stupid CB thing. Hell, if the dweebs wanted to persecute us so bad why didn't they just ship us over to the next colony or let us start our own? Why treat us like they did? I had hated CBs when I thought I was a dweeb but I had never dreamt just how much they were made to suffer. Did any of the dweebs realize what they had done to us? Did they know how they made me hate them back? How I wanted to hurt them like they were hurting me. They deserved it! Stupid dweebs!
The whole book in zipfile format.
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