Chapter 8: The Gift for The Siminov Family

Nine thirty in the morning, the first case on the court docket, Wednesday, is a Mitigation Hearing in the case of Ivanka Siminov. Beth-Anne Takinva, the Spokeswoman for the Criminal, Professor Wilhelmina Novotna, and Lt. Mykel Drakov stood before the Judge in the Criminal courts, each expressing the same story from a different perspective.

The Professor stated the act of false swearing that she submitted the wrong theme paper in her hands. Ivanka might better serve to accept this matter as a case of carelessness to deal with on university terms. Rather than as a criminal matter. Hindsight being her perspective, she explained to the judge that she did not take the totality of circumstance into account.

“Your Honor,” Professor Novotna continued, “when I was a junior instructor, I carelessly reviewed a paper and graded it without assuring myself it was indeed the student’s work. The following semester I read the same paperwork word for word handed in by another student. I brought the matter to the attention of my Department Chairman. After reviewing the paper, he told me this same paper had been circulating among students for several years.

“It was then, Your Honor, that I instituted the pledge as part of my classes. With that oath in my official capacity, if a student swore that the work was theirs I had the duty to pursue the falsehood and prosecute it to the fullest. No Danubian likes being lied to, particularly not one in a position of authority. I have to hold a very tight rein on the students in my classes. Despite this, at least one student a year tries to get away with passing another person’s work as their own.

“In the matter of Ivanka Siminov, I believe I may have misplaced my reason and substituted my legalistic application of the rule and the law in its stead. A reasonable woman would have taken the proper theme and graded it, not the draft. I admit I was unreasonable in this matter with Ivanka Siminov not to receive further punishment born of that unreasonableness.”

Beth-Anne Takinva, acting as her client’s voice, noted that her client had accepted the consequences set by Professor Novotna. Despite knowing she had the correct paper in hand and had taken the suspension from the university, lost exchange student status, and the criminal penalty as an obedient child of Danubian society. Her right to protest the false swearing charge had been limited to the plea-bargaining gained at her original sentencing.

Mykel Drakov acted as a character witness. He cited the many visits to the Siminov home with his American lady friend Marcia Shevat, during which he discussed with the extended family and Ivanka the events of the day leading to her arrest and the family entering public penance. He offered that the young woman was not criminally minded and had no duplicity in her life whatsoever. He asked that she be returned to full citizen status and allowed to return to school in the January term,” If Your Honor so decides.”

All three of the plaintiffs asked for the same thing: Ivanka’s sentence was commuted to time served and she was returned to full citizen status the morning following the Day of the Dead celebration. The judge, swayed by the honesty of the Professor, the effectiveness of the Spokeswoman, and the testimony of the military officials, agreed to end Ivanka’s sentence immediately following the ritual cleansing the morning after the Day of the Dead.

Following the court case, Mykel Drakov met me for lunch in an outdoor café in the central square of Danubia City. His reason for appearing in court was not a secret between the couple and was not open for discussion. I knew that until Mykel had the appeals court document in his hand a petition for leniency might yet fail in the appeals court. Therefore, waiting before even openly discussing the matter seemed a wise choice.

We discussed the participation of me in the annual Day of the Dead ceremony. All penitents and criminals were required to march the ritualistic route around the city. Mykel explained to me that many who did so feel a profound spiritual presence and gained insight from the spirits of the ancestors as to the participant’s life path.

“Some lead to see old hurts in the past that have caused their present to be imperfect; others see glimpses into a future that might be, if they set their feet on a particular life path in this present, while, sadly, others see nothing at all.”

“So, at the end of the day, I might see nothing but learn much about myself?” I rephrased Mykel’s statement. The young military officer nodded and smiled.

Twenty days later, penitents and criminals, numbering 2300 in all formed in the central square of the capital city to receive a coating of white body paint and then daubs of black to represent the rotting physical body on death to free the soul on its eternal journey. All were issued torches and torch holders sent to walk around the city perimeter clockwise while the other half marched counter-clockwise. All would pause for food and rest at daybreak and the halfway point and would complete their journey the following night as the sun set, ending in front of the temple at sunrise.

The groups would march in silence, each keeping eyes on the buttocks of the person in front of them to clear their minds sufficiently to catch a glimpse of what the spirits of the ancestors might wish to share with them. I was walking with the Siminov family. Ivan and his wife led the family, then Ivanka, then me, with Kivar just behind me.

Seven hours into the first night’s march, I heard a voice she recognized. After determining it could not be anyone in the line of marchers, I listened intently.Then I heard the voice joined by a vision. Visions of a family picnicking along the Danube River, a toddler wandering in the streamside, slipping in the mud, and being swept away in the current.I stripped off my military caftan and sandals, plunging into the water, and clutching onto the little arm of the frightened babe.