Routines

By Jevon Allen
She closed the book, put it on the table and finally decided to walk
through the door. Lowanda hadn’t read enough but she had had enough.
She already learned way more than we wanted to know. Whether or not
she was prepared was no longer an issue because there was not turning
back now, she had already closed the door.
Three days ago the world was still pure; her world, her life. Yes,
she had to get up early every day, before five, but she set her alarm fifteen
minutes before that so she could hit snooze once and feel like she had slept
in. She only had a half an hour to get ready but she figured out little ways
to feel like she had a proper breakfast. Being spring she would have
poached eggs on toast with spinach thrown into the same water. She
wrapped it up in foil with a healthy dose of hot sauce and put it on top of
her lunch bag. She donned her light jacket, shouldered her bags, grabbed
an umbrella and took her car keys off the hook. The door opened on it’s
own accord. Lowanda stood back and clutched her keys between her
fingers as two suits appeared on the other side of the doorway.
“Ms. Williams,” the man the left started. “You can sit down and eat
your breakfast on your sofa before we go. You have a long day ahead of
you. Leave you coat on, we will be leaving momentarily but I will use this
time explain any questions you have.”
“Pardon me?!” she snapped. She could wrap her head around what
he had just said. “I’m sorry, I have to go to work,” sweetening the tone of
her voice hoping to slip out and get on her way.
“That is not necessary. We have already contacted your employer
and informed them of your absence.”
“You what?! I’m sorry, who are you?” She stepped back as they
opened the screen door and entered. “I didn’t say you can come in. This is
a private residence!”
 “You threatened us ma’am,” said one of the men as he points to the
keys jutting out from between her fingers. “That constitutes our right to
enter under Self Defense law 4825-PR but you can scan our chips if you
want to. We don’t me to threaten you but we are very busy and it would be
much faster if you just sat down and ate your breakfast.” He gestured
toward the sofa.
Lowanda swung her umbrella up toward the crotch of one of the
men but he side-stepped, caught it and with a twist it was in his possession
and back in the stand in one fluid movement.
“It would be helpful if you just scanned us,” and they both pulled
up their right sleeves revealing a small cylindrical bump on their inside
forearms. “Here,” said the man on the left and handed her small black
scanner.
“Thanks but I prefer to use my own,” and she reached in her bag to
retrieve her cell phone.
“No. The other side of you purse ma’am. I had pepper on my eggs
this morning already.”
She was stunned by how much they knew and she reached for the
other side of her bag and pulled out her phone. She scanned the men. It
read “Christopher Paul, Dept. of HLS” and “Francis David, Dept. of HLS”.
“Please has a seat and we will be brief.” She sat down took out her
still warm sandwich we she had been looking forward to eating while stuck
in traffic on the Del Rose bridge.
She sat back, unfurled the to off the foil and took a bite angling the
sandwich so the yolk ran over the whites, sat back and resigned to enjoy the
only thing she ever enjoys. She swallowed, cleared her throat and asked,
“So, what’s this all about?”
“Well you are in direct violation of 4825-PR. You have neglected to
register with the Citizens First Patriot Pledge.”
“Yeah, you told me that first one but the what pledge? ”
“Having you been watching the news? You know it’s mandatory.”
“First of all probaganda shouldn’t be mandatory. Second of all, I
believe you know my schedule. Do you think I have time to watch
anything?!”
“Ignorance is not an excuse. Your trial is schedule at nine hundred
hours. I believe we better leave now.”
 “Trial?!” She was standing now in all kinds of insubordinate rage.
What does this mean?” and she hucked the remainder of her breakfast at his
head.
He ducked. “It means you are coming with us!”
She vomited a little in her mouth. She clutched her neatly
organized purse closely to her chest. Lowanda was led out of her own
house past her well maintained Volvo she bought used from her co-worker
and was ushered to the backseat of a nondescript vehicle. This was not
according to her plans.

As Lowanda went into the court house building through the back
stairwell of the underground garage her mind raced with adrenaline induced
means of fantastic escapes but she knew that was unthinkable. She instead
began prodding the two men for as much information as possible. It
seemed they knew more about her than about her charges and means of
remedying them. They brought her to an interrogation room half full of ten
sad souls sitting in old wooden chairs against the wall. They had taken her
phone when they took her backs. She had no devices left. The quieter of
the two men turned on his way out the door, looked at his watch and shed,
“It’s eight o’eight now. Your trial begins in fifty two mintues,” and turned
to leave.
“Wait!” She stood. “I need more information. At least give me a
copy of the law I have broken.”
“By all means,” he responded cordially. “But I don’t think it will
do you much good.”
“Of course it will.” She cocked her to the side and down.
“This law was designed to catch illiterate illegals, non-patriots,
communists and other treasonous spongers!” His lips quiver with anger as
they curved upwards into a smirk. He walked back into the room. Put his
briefcase on the wooden interrogation desk in the center of the room and
pulled a book the size of a bible out of it. It was black and bound like a
book of god as well. He walloped it down into her hands and finished his
smirk with a puff out of his nose. “Good luck to you Ms. Williams.” And
he was gone.
Lowanda sat down at the desk and went straight for the index while
the others surrounded her like a Greek chorus. She found what she was
looking for realized what he was talking about. It would take her forever to
read this. She had worked long enough as a researcher to know that less
than an hour was not nearly enough time. No wonder the ridiculous law
was past. Nobody could probably get through the whole thing. She
plowed through as much information as she could. The minutes flew by.
Some curious people in the chorus began asking her questions and slowing
her down since she could explain any of the facts that she read so she opted
to read out loud. Let them make of it what they could. Lowanda was on
the hunt. Other accused entered and left the room but she barely noticed.
At two minutes of the hour the door opened and she knew it was time.
“Are you ready?” the man asked mockingly.
“No,” she said matter of factly. This was the one thing that she was
sure about anymore.
He respected he lack of emotion in her response and felt a
connection to her, so he let her know, “You have been allotted twenty five
minutes. What you do with that time is your choice. I’ll wait here until
you are ready.” He scowl disappeared. He closed the door, put his hands
in his pockets and waited by the door.
She went back to where she was. She skimmed the next page, then
the next then she saw something that caught her eye. She went to rip the
page out the book.
“HOI!”
She stopped.
“That’s government property.” His scowl returned. “The book
stays here. Tick tock, tick tock.”
Lowanda looked up at the wall and saw there was only fifteen
minutes left. “Click.” The door had closed and he was no longer waiting.
Was he going to tell them something. She was suddenly filled with more
anxiety when she realized she had no idea what to expect. She was at the
precipice and she couldn’t see the bottom but knew had to flee for fear of
attack from behind. This is not what she was used to. She had organized
her whole life to minimize surprises. Thinking on her feet was not her forte
and this was definitely not routine.
“Three times,” she thought. The number came into her head. She
read the page three more times as loud as she could this time hoping to
remember it auditorily as well. She felt better and worse but she was
committed now. Lowanda breathed in deep through her nose.
Yup. It was time. It was time to jump.