Chapter 5

When I got home Monday afternoon after spending some productive time at the uni, Mrs F amazed me again with her incredible knowledge of so many people in Fairbanks.

“Emma,” she called to me when I came in the door.

“Yes, ma’am?”

I heard something this afternoon and I think it may be important—about that nasty Mr Hayword and what it appears he’s up to now.”

“Oh, blimey, what’s this now?”

“You know Rita from my bridge group?”

“Yep.” Mrs F was a bridge fanatic; played with her group every week without fail.

“Well, Rita’s cousin is the school district accountant, Roy Hodges, and his sister has a daughter in the school, a freshman, and you know her—she’s in your tutoring group. Sally Nevens.”

“Oh yes. Nice girl.”

“And that family is so grateful for what you’ve been doing at the school with her and everyone else. I suppose that’s why Mr Hodges broke confidence and passed some info on to Rita for me to warn you.”

“Damn. What’s that bloody berk Hayword up to, then?”

“Hayword came into the district office this morning asking about the status of his request to use some of the school’s Program grant funds to bring a number of Program officials to Fairbanks. It seemed that he planned to bring six people from Seattle and had arranged their flight and lodging for them starting this Wednesday. The board treasurer had cleared his request with the board lawyer last week. Roy said that he heard the treasurer say that all the flight and lodging arrangements had been made and that the Program people had their air travel confirmed and would be here Wednesday.”

“This sounds bad—I have a bad feeling about this...” I mused.

Mrs F went on. “Maybe this can help you a bit. Joe Whiston is in security at the airport and his brother has a son in the high school...”

“Yes! Larry Whiston is one of my lieutenants. His dad is in charge of security at the mall.”

“Well, perhaps Joe Whiston can find out who these mysterious Program people are,” she finished.

Yes indeed. It’s ace having such an effective intelligence branch in my little army, I chuckled to myself. I’ll ask Larry to see what he can learn about our expected visitors.

On the Wednesday afternoon after the tutoring session, Larry came rushing in with his news.

“I’d been telling Uncle Joe about all the crap goin’ on at the school with us resisting the Program, so he was on board with us learning about who was coming in. He was watching for the daily Seattle flight and saw these six big guys get off. He said they were wearing official-looking badges, ones he’s never seen before. You told me that they were supposed to be Program officials but Unc said they looked more like private dicks, his words. Big guys who like to swagger around. Unc said he’d get the scoop on them; he’s coming to my house after supper.”

“Good job, Larry. Let me know what you find out. Ring me up later, okay?”

“Sure, Emma.”

That evening, Larry’s call came. He was excited.

“Uncle Joe told me he got a look at their checked luggage. One bag had a tag that said something like ‘U.S. Office of Social Awareness, NiS Enforcement Division, Seattle, WA.’ So we Googled the office names on the luggage tag and found that there’s actually a department called ‘Naked in School Enforcement.’ I didn’t know there was such a thing as that. They were very protective of their luggage when it came out; then rented two cars and left. That’s pretty much all we know now. Does that help?”

“Damn, I’m not sure. Let me think about this. Thanks and thank your uncle for me too.” I rang off.

I didn’t know there was such a thing, “Program Enforcement,” either, but it made sense in an ominous kind of way. How do I find out more? Maybe Sir George. He’ll know who to ring up. So I texted him the question. I got a response on Thursday.

“Good afternoon, Emma. Well, it’s still morning for you up there in the frozen north. The Program enforcers deal with problem pupils in the Program. They have wide latitude, apparently, but their authority is limited by state law so they only have civil authority. My sources told me they can be heavy-handed and use questionable tactics, though, so best be prepared if they’re visiting, as you believe they are.”

Hmm. I better find better reinforcements than kids if they bring feds to the school. Cynthia’s mum is a constable detective; I need to find out where Cynthia is now. So I went to the office. Yes, I actually do have the run of the school. With my varied hours here and at the uni, I’m always coming and going.

“Hi, Mrs Begay. You’re looking quite chipper today,” I joked. “Say, I need to reach Cynthia Master’s mum—got a personal question. I’m not going to ask you for her mum’s contact info, but could you give me the class Cynthia’s in now and she’ll tell me?”

“Let me look her up ... okay, Room C117. I’ll give you a note so she can leave the classroom with you.”

“Thanks! You’re ace.”

I got Cynthia out of her class and we went to the media room; it was the closest empty room right now and we could be private there. Whilst we walked, I told her what I had learnt.

“I heard that we might have Program trouble on the way. Blokes just got here from a Program office in Seattle and they’re supposed to be some kind of enforcers,” I told her.

“Enforce how?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but it sounds menacing. Let’s assume that Hayword was given free rein to get the Program going here, and he decided to bring in some berks to intimidate us —or even use force on us, to try to get us to participate. I heard that these are big blokes and have official looking badges; that tells me that they feel self-important to needlessly display them.”

“Oh, hell. What do we do?”

“Well, I think I’ve figured out Hayword’s strategy, if you can call it that. He’s so transparent. Back in early fall when this dog’s dinner all began and they were gonna forcibly strip me starkers, I got my solic ... erm, lawyer to send a legal warning to the school that if they use force, it would be charged as a crime.”

“Emma, you need to learn the right words,” she chuckled. “And what’s a dog’s dinner? You use such weird slang.”

“Ha. It’s Brit slang; my still using it is a bad habit. I’m trying to learn American slang but a lot doesn’t make sense to me. ‘Dog’s dinner’ means ‘a mess.’ Now that makes sense, not like a lot of Yank slang I hear,” I giggled.

“Yours makes worse sense, Emma,” she snickered. “And the legal warning—you probably mean an injunction. Touching someone with an intent to injure in any way is assault and battery, I know that from Mom.”

“Oh yeah, my lawyer said the crime would be sexual battery. So could you ring your mum and ask her what we can do? I’m guessing the showdown will come when they announce the next group of Program selectees on Monday morning. And oh, did you notice that there’s a crew in the gym covering the plywood with tarps? I also saw a couple of very big heaters in there when I went past an hour ago. I’ll bet they plan to get the whole school in there again for the event.”

“Sure. I’ll call her now. Let’s see ... Thursday am ... she should be at her desk ... Hello, Mom?”

“...”

“Oh, no problem; I’m okay, but Emma needs to talk to you.”

“...”

“Yeah. It’s that Emma. Let me put you on speaker. Here.”

“Hi, Mrs Masters.”

“Hello, Emma. Thanks for taking Cynthia under your wing. She’s blossomed since she began working with you.”

“Thanks, ma’am. She’s a great person and’ll go far.”

“What can I help with ... you’re not in any trouble?”

“Oh, no. At least I’m not. Other people might be. Let me explain.”

I told her what I had learnt, detailed my assumptions, and told her what I thought was being planned for Monday.

“Sounds to me like you figured it all out,” she said when I finished. “Yes, I know about that injunction—this is a small department, after all. Word gets out.”

“So what I didn’t mention,” I went on, “is that I know the British ambassador and he checked out what these enforcers do...”

“What? You move in high circles, young lady.”

“I guess. Anyway, he told me that they can be high-handed and, I gather, play fast and loose with the rules, maybe even with the law. Maybe it’s only by using intimidation, but maybe they even use force. So what I think is that Hayword obviously knows about the injunction but he’s making the assumption that these enforcers, since they’re federal, they’re immune from criminal charges. But I heard that they only have civil authority, not like constables.”

“Constables?”

“Erm ... oh, police officers.”

“Ah. Well, you’re exactly right, dear. And even sworn law-enforcement officers can’t assault or batter someone. In general, any physical contact has to be in the line of duty like when they’re responding to an apparent crime, and even then we have to follow a very precise set of rules.”

“Okay. But can you help?”

She laughed. “It’s slow right now. I’ll bet the guys in the department would be up for some fun at the expense of some federal enforcers, if they want to play foul with you kids. Hmm. How about if we have a couple of plain-clothes officers at the school Monday and ... he-he-he ... oh, they’ll love it ... have the swat squad just outside? Oh god, they’ll have a ball if anything happens to get them involved. The most action they got recently was when a horny bull moose went on the rampage downtown last year.”

“Brilliant. Perfect. And oh, I just had a thought. My mind just keeps analyzing; I must have been thinking about what Hayword would want to do to throw more weight around and I just realized that I’m gonna be the prime target. Uh, I didn’t mean his weight; that just came out that way. He’s obese but I don’t like to criticize people for how they look. I know how that feels. Anyway, Hayword thinks I humiliated him and probably figures that I was behind the initial resistance but really, it only took off after I got it started.”

“I heard all about how organized everybody in your Program resistance was. And off the record, we at the department have had a bit of a blind spot when certain things were happening outside your school. Just sayin’.” She chuckled.

Okay, that explains a lot. I wondered how some of those stunts got pulled off so smoothly. It helps when the police are on your side too.

She went on, “If you all will be in the gym, then we’ll have you covered. I think you’re right about it being done in there; it would provide a real show of force, which could explain their sending six of them. Two would work if it was just to intimidate a couple of reluctant kids. It looks like they intend to try to frighten the whole school. But if they do try to take you somewhere private instead of the gym, do this. Before Monday, pick maybe five-six friends who are in your classes and can watch out to see if you get taken away somewhere. I’ll give you a number for them to call if that happens, but I don’t expect it.”

“Sounds like a plan, then. Thanks so much for the help.”

“Thank you, dear. You have a few fans here in the department, not only me.”

“Bye and thanks.”

“Bye, Mom.” Cynthia disconnected and looked at me. “Wow. Goddamn wow.”

“Now watch your tongue, young lady,” I snarked.

“Okay, sailor-mouth. You have a great vocabulary yourself.”

“Guilty as charged,” I admitted. “Both Mum and Grandma were known for their salty language. I come by it legally.”

She laughed and headed back to her class. I had somewhere to go but now I can’t recall where. I’ve lost track of time. Okay, I’ll try the tutoring hall.

There were a few kids there. I saw three whom I could trust with the police phone number; I’ll find a few more later. Once I got that sorted, I tried to recall the names of the kids who had been in that first Program session. My guess was that Hayword would try to start with the sixteen of us, to make us a strong example of what happens if you resist. Yeah, that makes sense. I recalled the names of eleven of that group and, looking around, realized that amongst the kids here, they knew at least nine of them, probably more, and maybe between us we’d have them all. I gathered the group together.

“Okay, you blokes. You don’t wanna hear it, but there’s Program rubbish coming soon...”

“Thought that was over with!” someone moaned. Others just sighed.

“Nope. Sorry. School’s under new management, innit. So you have to keep this quiet. Okay?” There were nods. “On Monday, Hayword’s gonna try the same dog and pony show that he planned for us back in October, using an assembly in the gym; you know how that worked out for him.”

They laughed.

“So he’s gonna try doing it again, ‘cause he’s getting the gym ready as we speak. What you probably don’t remember is that during that assembly which didn’t happen, the first group of Program kids were supposed to be stripped starkers in front of everyone. Then Hayword announced our names, second week back from holiday; said we’d have to do two weeks starkers instead of one. Remember?”

They did.

“Well, I’m just about 99 percent certain that he’ll call the lot of us again at Monday’s assembly to have us stripped. So here’s what I want you blokes to do. I know that between all of us, I think we know most of those kids in that first group. So between us, how many do we actually know?”

They all began talking; comparing names of those kids they knew. Of course, of those kids they didn’t know, the ones in that first group would most likely know.

I went on. “Now then. Here’s the really secret part. Find them and talk to them in private and tell them about the Monday assembly thing. Say you heard, from a leaker in the office, that they were gonna be called to participate in the Program again. Tell them to go along with any normal orders they get, like going up to the front and stuff; they should do whatever they’re ordered to do, but reluctantly. Except if they’re ordered to remove any clothing at all. That, they must refuse. If someone just grabs them, they shouldn’t struggle very hard. They can resist, but not so much that they could hurt themselves. However, if anyone tries to pull any of their clothes off, then they should do what they can to resist and yell for help.

“But assure them it will never get that far. Help will be there instantly if anyone attempts to remove any article of clothing from anyone and they will have the best time of their life watching what will happen to the people who try it. Okay? This will only work if these instructions are kept secret, okay? Now go, find those kids, and tell them that they should tell only the others who were in that first group. Tell them not to spoil the fun for everyone. If any of them has a question about whether this is on the level, I’ll be happy to chat with them.”

In the Friday morning announcements, there was no mention of any school-wide meeting that was scheduled for the Monday. Hayword obviously assumed that by keeping his assembly secret, it would mask his plans; he probably assumed that we’d somehow kill the heat in the gym again if we knew that there was to be an assembly. No, we had something more entertaining planned...

I guess the high school communication system had operated with its typical efficiency, because by mid-day Friday, it looked like every one of the kids in my first Program group had gotten the instructions and six of them had found me to get additional assurance about the festivities that I assumed would occur on Monday. Even Adam. He sidled up to me after home room (yes, his eyes were still on the floor, but there’ll be no more snarky comments from me about his doing that, okay?) and began telling me about Monday. I stopped him and thanked him, telling him that I had heard about it from someone else in the group. He shuffled away, greatly relieved at not having to talk to me any further, judging by his posture.

On the Saturday, Mrs ... I should say Detective Masters stopped at my house. She had brought a small radio mike system—in crime novels, a “wire”—with her and showed me how to turn it on and where to wear it.

“This has a locating beacon too, Emma. We don’t think that they’d try to grab you, but this is our backup.”

Huh. I never thought of that. Guess that’s what police need to think about.

The weather was a little better on Monday. It was a cold gray day, but the snow had stopped; the ice had been cleared from the roads, and all the busses arrived on time for the home room class period. When the announcements came on, the only message was that everyone was to go to the gym when the period bell rang and find somewhere to sit or stand.

When we got to the gym, all of the fold-up seating benches had been pulled out and mats had been placed on the floor, spread out randomly over the entire area of the double basketball courts, except for a big space in the middle of the gym. Okay, it’ll be crowded in here. My mental calculator looked around. A bit less than a thousand kids, in this area? I run on the track in here; it’s a 200 meter loop, the gym’s maybe about 80 by 40 meters. Looks like the open area is just under 50 meters long and 30 meters, a bit more, wide. That’s something like one and a half square meters (16 square feet) a person; a tight fit. I wonder what the fire laws say about this. When everyone got settled down, Hayword appeared but I didn’t see Jenkins anywhere. I guess he had turned the whole show over to the feds. Hayword began speaking using a handheld mike.

“I want to welcome everyone to our long-delayed assembly about our Naked in School Program,” he began, and the room erupted with booing, hooting, and jeering.

He got the noise settled and continued.

“I don’t think I have to review what the Program rules are, since all of you have gotten the pamphlet, seen the video we played for you, and heard the numerous announcements we’ve made in the past. Now we have some catching up to do since the Program is well behind schedule. So this week we’re starting up again and we will begin with the first group that was chosen last fall, but had refused to participate. I request that the students whose names I call now come to the center of the courts here.”

He read our names as the student body hushed, looking on with fascination, like a mouse stares at a snake ready to strike.

“All of you, now, come up here,” he finished.

I looked around as the named kids stood and looked around, saw each other, saw me, and then a few gestured an “okay, what now?” question.

I pointed at where Hayword was stood and began to slowly make my way there, threading between the kids on the mats on the way. As we walked up to the center of the gym, a quiet sigh sounded from the kids surrounding us. We lined up as far away from Hayword as we possibly could.

When we got there, Hayword regarded us with a barely concealed smirk and I noticed that a few gym teachers—plus six husky blokes—were stood in scattered locations around the room but were close enough to get up here quickly. There were also teachers stood at the doors, but I noticed some additional adults coming into the gym just then. The plainclothes reinforcements, I assumed. Hayword was speaking again.

“Last fall we couldn’t get the student body all together like this because the gym couldn’t be used,” he began. “But we’re here now. These students standing here were to begin participating in the Program back then, but, in violation of the federal Program law, they refused to comply. The rules call for an additional week’s participation being imposed as a penalty for this group. Now we’ll begin by class, seniors and juniors will go first to remove their clothes; we’ll get the clothes boxes for them later. But we have one special case, a student who has overtly flouted the law and who has also illegally encouraged other students to not comply with the Program rules. The punishment for this student will be four weeks on the Program. Emma Clarke, come up here now, stand in front of me. You will be in the Program for four weeks. And I want the seniors and the other juniors to line up next to her.”

I looked at him and shook my head no. Taking my lead, no one else moved, either.

“If you don’t come here, we’ll help you,” he responded. “If you try to run, those men will Taser you,” and made a hand motion to where his reinforcements were stood.

The six blokes pulled pistol-like gadgets from their belts and kind of jiggled them in their hands, whilst all of the on looking kids in the gym gasped in surprise. Hayword pointed at us, one by one, directing an adult to each of us. Two teachers filled in for the remaining two of us who weren’t approached by an enforcer. The murmuring of the kids in the room began to grow.

One big berk grabbed me (they were all big) and said, “You come with me now, miss,” and despite my resistance (for show), he almost carried me forward.

Very soon, all of us were stood in front of Hayword, who looked at us, nodded, and said, “The girls will go first...”