Chapter 16: Purity Ring

October 7, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Birgit

“Patricia, could I speak to you?” I said as she was about to leave after Dad’s Philosophy Club meeting.

“Sure. Let me give Jorge Louis back to your sisters. Where should I meet you?”

“We can use my room, if that’s OK. Dad is using his study. I’ll just wait here for you.”

Three minutes later we were in my room, sitting on my sofa.

“It’s VERY pink in here!” Patricia declared.

“I know,” I giggled. “I like pink!”

“So, what do you need an attorney for?” Patricia asked.

I reached over to my desk, grabbed my purse, took out a five-dollar bill, and handed it to her. She laughed very hard.

“Now I’m actually afraid! You’re putting me on retainer?”

“Attorney-client privilege,” I declared. “That means you can’t tell anyone anything I ask you about or tell you about.”

“So long as you don’t tell me you’re going to commit a crime, that’s true.”

“I want to talk to you about my friend Fatimah.”

“Remember I represented them, so that might create a conflict.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“It depends on what you’re going to ask me about. I’ll tell you if it’s a problem.”

“Is there ANY way she could stay in the US? I don’t think she really wants to get married.”

“I’m not an expert in immigration law, but I do know that asylum is very, very difficult to get. She’s not eighteen, either, so that would make it even MORE difficult.”

“She’ll be eighteen in December, but her dad is thinking of going back to Saudi Arabia soon because of the way stupid people are treating Muslims.”

“Has she said she doesn’t want to go home?”

“Well, she said she’s never had a friend like me and doesn’t really want to leave, but I’m sure she believes she has to do what her dad says. And that means marry this boy she doesn’t even know.”

“Well, if she were your age, there might be an angle with regard to her being underage, but the fact is, if her marriage is legal in Saudi Arabia, the US isn’t going to interfere because she’s a Saudi citizen. Now, if, for example, Kara was your mom and an American, and your dad was Saudi, and was trying to take you there to get married, then the US government would stop it, even though it would be legal in Saudi Arabia, and you were a Saudi citizen because of your dad.”

“So there’s no way to stop it?”

“Has she said she doesn’t want to marry?”

“No, but I think that’s because she’s afraid of her dad.”

“But, is her life or health at risk?”

“Only if she doesn’t do what her dad says.”

“But she plans to do it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then even that won’t work.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s possible, although very, very difficult, to get asylum based on the threat of violence or death if you were to return home. Almost nobody is successful in making that claim because it’s very, very hard to prove it. Do you know what ‘honor killing’ is?”

“Yes.”

“Even if that were a risk, and it’s not because Fatimah is complying with her father’s wishes, it’s very difficult to prove. Think about a teenage refugee from Central America. She comes here and says if she goes home, her father will ‘kill her’. How does she prove it? After all, don’t you and your friends sometimes say ‘my parents will kill me’ for something you did or are about to do?”

“Yes. But what if it’s real?”

“That’s the problem with the way the system works, Birgit. I’m not telling you how I think it should work, just how it does work. I think anyone who truly believes they are at risk should be allowed to stay, but think about what would happen if we said that?”

“People would lie to be able to stay in the US.”

“Which is what the government is worried about. I don’t have a solution to that problem, but I think we’re way too strict as it’s currently handled.”

“So, like, and I’m not saying this would happen, if her dad threatened her and she could prove it, that might work?”

“Until she’s eighteen, the Saudi government would very likely insist she be sent home, and the US government would most likely comply. Some human rights organizations might try to get involved, but the Muslim countries mostly ignore them.”

“But if she were over eighteen?”

“Maybe. Don’t scheme about this, Birgit. The only thing likely to happen is for harm to come to Fatimah. And, so far, you haven’t said anything that would convince me she wants to defy her father and stay here. And, as I said, even if she did, the chances of success are very small.”

“Dad said getting married wouldn’t help.”

Patricia laughed, “Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of your goal?”

“Yes, sorry, I was just saying. I guess it’s something to do with her visa?”

“Most likely, yes. She’d have to go back to Saudi Arabia and apply for a visa based on the marriage, but remember, the Saudi government might object and not allow her to come here.”

“Because her dad is in charge of her?”

“Yes. They have guardianship rules there, and Fatimah might not even be able to get her own passport without permission from her dad.”

“That stinks! So what can we do?”

“Vote for politicians who promise to liberalize immigration law, though, given the current political environment and the war that just started, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”

“Maybe we need a girl President! Dumb boys have made a real mess!”

Patricia laughed, “You are your father’s daughter, that’s for sure!”

“He’s smart and likes having the girls in charge!”

“Yes, he does. Do you have more questions?”

“No. You told me pretty much what Dad said, but I wanted to ask a lawyer.”

“For a ‘dumb boy’, your dad is pretty smart.”

“He has his moments,” I giggled.

October 8, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“March 14 and 15 in Chicago,” Cindi said coming into my office on Monday morning.

“I assume you confirmed with our top clients, and Stephanie approved?”

“What do you think I am around here? The night watchman?”

“Well...” Penny smirked, her fingers continuing to dance over the keys of her keyboard.

“Watch it, Penelope!” Cindi threatened. “Your princessly salary depends on me!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Penny replied, not even looking up from her screen.

“I’ll get Kimmy the information so she can book the necessary hotel rooms,” Cindi said.

“Thanks.”

“Do you need a room?” Cindi asked. “And if so, just you or a companion?”

“Pick me! Pick me!” Penny exclaimed.

“Behave, Penelope!” I ordered.

“Just no fun,” she groused, but I saw the corner of her lip turned up as she fought a smile.

“He’s plenty of fun,” Cindi teased, “perhaps...”

“Cindi,” I cautioned.

“Sorry. Can’t break Boring Bob’s rules. I’ll save it for the next Philosophy Club meeting!”

“Bring it!” Penny said fiercely.

Cindi laughed, winked, and left the office.

“It would be a lot more fun around here if you got rid of Boring Bob!” Penny said quietly.

“And we’d have to hire someone else to do the job, and guess what?”

“It’s time to overthrow the fucking government!” Penny growled.

“I’d advise against saying that outside the confines of our Japanese sanctum. And I’d advise a long lunch with Terry to work out some of your frustration!”

“I’ll show you frustration, Buster!”

I laughed, “I love you, Pretty Penny.”

“I know!”

Before I went back to testing my latest module, I checked the news and saw a report that an SAS MD-87 had collided with a Cessna Citation on takeoff in heavy fog at Linate Airport in Milan, Italy, killing everyone on board both planes, along with four people on the ground.

“Steve, Clark Brody asked for time to see you,” Kimmy said.

“Let me call him directly.”

I used the directory on my phone and selected Clark’s extension.

“Let’s have lunch,” I said when he answered. “Call Kimmy and tell her what you want from anyplace on her list, then come up at noon. We’ll eat in my office. Penny will be at lunch.”

“I’ll be there,” he said.

I hung up and sent an instant message to Kimmy with my lunch order, then went back to work. Penny left for lunch five minutes before noon, and Clark arrived two minutes early, per NIKA’s traditional practice.

“Any back problems?” I asked.

“Did I stroll in here with a walker?”

I laughed, “Some people can’t handle the Japanese chairs.”

Kimmy brought in our lunches and we sat down and began eating.

“You know why I’m here, right?”

“I do, but I’d actually like to pick your brain about something as well.”

“Who goes first?” Clark asked.

“You,” I said.

“I just have one question - why?”

“Terry asked for you, by name. Terry got his job because Samantha asked for him by name. The same is true for Keri, who left before you joined us. One of our team went to M&M the same way - Melissa asked for Michelle York by name.”

“And that’s it? They ask and you say ‘yes’?”

“It’s worked out that way because none of them would ask my permission unless it was in the best interest of the person they wanted to hire. And, it’s always for a position for which they’re fully qualified, but for which we can’t offer anything comparable in any reasonable timeframe. Terry would have been the natural successor to Julia, but she’s not going anywhere for a couple of decades. Keri would have been the successor to Elyse or Kimmy, but neither of them is going anywhere anytime soon. And so on.”

“And you know I’m right for the job?”

“No, but Terry thinks so, and I trust his judgment. He worked for me for fifteen years and did every job I assigned to him very well, but there was nothing more I could offer him. Samantha needed him. She actually wanted me, but that was never going to happen.”

“It’s strange, though. I worked for SPSS for about fifteen years, straight out of college. But I’ve only been here a year.”

“Strange as it may be, the opportunity is there if you want it. And, if you want to stay, nobody is going to say a word, but I doubt we’ll have an opportunity like the one Spurgeon is offering for years.”

“And you’re totally cool with this?”

“I’d have told Terry ‘no’ if I wasn’t.”

“So what did you want to pick my brain about?”

“Janice Parker.”

“That bitch?! She can rot in hell! I don’t go to church or believe in hell, but if there is one, she deserves to be there!”

“So, tell me how you really feel.”

“Hey, man, that bitch tried to fuck up the best doctor I ever met in my life!”

“Do you think she’d stoop to a setup to get NIKA?”

“I can’t tell you any more details about what she tried to do to Mike, but I wouldn’t put anything past her. Is she still causing trouble for you?”

“We’re not sure. Did you see the Op-Ed in the Sun Times?”

“No. I read the real paper, the Trib.”

“They probably wouldn’t run it.”

“What did she say?”

“The gist? That NIKA is female-friendly to cover up being female unfriendly.”

Clark laughed, “Yeah, that would fit her MO. When there was a serial rapist, this Parker bitch refused to allow any guys to sign up for the escort service she set up. That meant there weren’t enough escorts, so you can guess what happened?”

“Someone called for an escort, was told they had to wait, and ended up raped because they tried to walk back to campus unescorted.”

“That’s exactly what happened. We ran our own unofficial service for our dorm floor and all our girls were safe because they always had someone to call. Can I ask what she tried?”

“I’m not sure she’s done anything, but she’s the prime suspect. And you just confirmed she’s capable of that kind of action.”

“If she has it in for you, I don’t think she has any limits.”

“That’s what I needed to hear. By the way, there is one fringe benefit of working for Spurgeon which isn’t available here.”

“What’s that?”

“Ask Terry about Guys’ Night.”

We finished our lunches and Clark went back to the Annex. Kimmy came in and cleaned up from lunch. I’d have cleaned up myself, but years ago I’d acceded to Kimmy’s desire to take care of me, so I simply went back to my workstation. The first thing I did, as usual, was check the news and saw that anthrax spores had been found in the offices of The Sun, a Florida tabloid newspaper, where the victim who had succumbed to the disease had worked. In addition to on his keyboard, spores were found in the nasal passages of a coworker. The FBI had sealed the building and was investigating whether it was an act of terrorism.

“That has to be terrorism,” Kimmy said from behind me.

“I’d put my money on it,” I replied, swiveling my chair to face her. “Honestly, it’s a perfect follow-up to the attacks last month, though personally, I’d have gone for pipe bombs in mailboxes in small towns.”

“That would have turned things even more upside down!” Kimmy exclaimed.

“And increased anti-Muslim sentiment and distracted the FBI and the so-called ‘intelligence’ agencies.”

“So-called?”

“The more information that is released, the more obvious it is that they missed clues and warning signs. I mean, a report of men taking flying lessons and not wanting to learn to take off or land? In a vacuum, maybe that’s not enough to go on, but given the plan we thwarted to bomb or hijack a dozen planes over the Pacific and fly one into CIA Headquarters, somebody should have checked it out. I’ll bet there were more clues which were missed, too.”

“You blame the government?”

“Always,” I chuckled. “And maybe creating the Office of Homeland Security to combine some of the intelligence groups under one official will help, but I doubt it. It’s just an even bigger bureaucracy.”

“Rant #18?”

“Yes. Thanks for taking care of lunch and cleaning up.”

“You’re welcome!”

“You may have three kisses.”

“Where?” she smirked.

“From the petty cash box.”

“Is this where Penny says that you’re no fun?”

“Yes.”

“You’re no fun!”

Kimmy winked and swayed her hips, sashaying from my office. I waited until she was back to her desk before I averted my gaze and turned to my workstation.

October 10, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

“I’m very happy you managed to trade for your old shift,” I said as I walked Jessica to work very early on Wednesday morning.

“Three more weeks of this schedule. I really am sorry, Tiger. I thought it would be better.”

“We all did. We just didn’t properly think it through as a trio. But we managed, and it was nothing like your PGY1.”

“Something nobody should have to go through, either as a doctor or as a loved one. And before you say it, you know Dad and I want to change it, but it’s not up to us. The entire medical community would have to agree.”

“I know.”

“I need to ask a favor.”

“We don’t do ‘favors’ in our marriage, Jess. We just ask.”

“This is a special request then. One of my med students is in serious need of your attention.”

“Jess...” I sighed.

“Not that, Tiger! Well, unless you’ve decided to switch hit! My other student could use that, but I know better than to ask!”

“What’s the problem with ... what is his name?”

“Cole. He’s very intelligent, studies hard, and knows his procedures. He’s one of the best students I’ve seen in years, but he’s hopeless because he’s insanely shy. I thought maybe someone outside the medical community might be able to help him. I think a doctor would be too intimidating.”

“And I’m not?”

“You can be, but I’ve also seen you be very, very gentle. And wipe that smirk off your face, Mister, I’m not talking about sex!”

“Why not a nurse?” I asked.

“I think he’d curl up in a ball and die.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Have lunch with him. Eventually, invite him to Guys’ Night and get him out of his shell.”

“I’ll call Becka, Mattie, and Claire,” I chuckled. “THAT will get him out of his clothes and into hot girls!”

“I thought they were all spoken for!”

“They are, but they all owe me favors!”

“As if you’d ask them to violate their commitments!”

“I can have lunch with him,” I said, being serious. “Why him?”

“If you can get him to come out of his shell, I think he’d make a great ER doc. Someone we’d want to Match with us. But he won’t even be able to interview.”

“Then how the heck did he get into med school? You told me the interviews were key.”

“His dad is a major donor and pulled some strings. You know it happens, especially with the sons and daughters of doctors, just as it does with lawyers and their kids with regard to law school. He’s totally qualified, except for that one impediment.”

“I’d say we should invite him to dinner, but the Adams/Block/Clarke gang can be more than a bit intimidating! What if you and I invite him to dinner at Bucktown Bistro, in the small private dining room. That would be a good introduction, and I can figure out which of the unattached women would be best to bring him out of his shell!”

“Tiger!”

“OK, men then!”

“Will you be serious?”

“Why start now?” I teased.

“Men!” Jessica groused, sounding just like Kara did.

“You owe Kara a performance fee for that!”

“I’m going to put scalpel blades on the floggers if you aren’t careful!”

“That will be fun explaining to the medical licensing board!”

“You wouldn’t!”

“No, but imagine what your dad would say when Alejandra writes THAT in my medical files! Anyway, in all seriousness, invite him to dinner. I just need two weeks’ notice for Alex. It’ll need to be after my trip to LA.”

“I’m not sure going to a mosque is a good idea,” Jessica said quietly. “With all the threats and actual murders.”

“On the contrary, this is exactly the right time to go. First, I’m reassuring my Muslim employees that NIKA will not tolerate ANY kind of bigotry, hatred, or intimidation. It sends that same message to the other employees as well, and to our clients and customers.”