Chapter 19: Paging Robin Williams

“I almost couldn’t believe it, seeing all of them out there exercising, not malingering, and taking things seriously,” Hunter said at the breakfast table.

“Yes, well, it’s helped so many of us lose weight and get into better physical shape than we’ve ever been in our lives. It became quite obvious to us that what we felt we were being forced to do, was actually better for us all,” el-Azizi replied. “Other than the few women that simply wouldn’t learn. I hope they’re happy with their new lives, as whatever kinds of toys the Indians make of them.”

“Why did everyone strip naked before exercising, though? No one ordered it.”

“With the exception of myself, the guests have all been issued two sets of scrubs. Now that everyone has clothing that fits, instead of standard military issue of too small or too large, they want to keep them as clean as possible. The laundry unit here is primarily for the cleaning of the staff clothing, plus all of the bedding, to make sure personal hygiene so far as lice or bed bugs are controlled. When it rained a few days ago, and the field was muddy, the Captain gave the women the choice of staying inside instead of sitting on the wet field. They all removed their bottoms and sat on the cold, wet ground. You’re the psychologist. Why would they suffer like that, when they don’t have to?”

Victoria Hunter shook her head in wonder. “I had no idea that they would be that eager to learn. None of us did.”

“That’s why half of Three is now sleeping quarters, and the other half is our one room schoolhouse,” Anderson said. “We’re actually teaching them, starting with stuff they should have learned in school, but didn’t. Oh, some of them don’t need that much basic education, like simple math and reading. Most of the women in One – what was One and Two – are married, or college educated. Go talk to Ketria Dean if you want to find out how the higher education system in America failed her, and has failed our country. If I were a suspicious man, I’d almost suspect there was a plan from many years back, that was put in play to purposely make us the way we are – or would be, if we lose this war.”

Private Bell came to the door. “Sir, the towers report seeing dust down the road from several vehicles.”

“That’s troublesome. They’re actually early, instead of late.”

“It’s okay, Sir,” Bell said. “Sergeant Jackson told me to tell you the supply room is ready when you are.”

“Thank you, David. Tell him I’ll finish my coffee and be out front in a moment.” Bell nodded, and left. “I think this will be most educational for you if you watch, Private Hunter. Do not say a word. Just hang with me, like Zuhra will.”

He finished the last bit of his coffee, stood up and made sure his equipment belt was on straight. Zuhra picked a piece of lint off his collar, to the amusement of Hunter. Then they walked to the front area, where a smaller convoy had pulled in, this time two buses. An OKARNG Humvee pulled up, with the same Lieutenant as before getting out.

The Lieutenant saluted, then did a double take, seeing el-Azizi naked and standing behind and to one side of Anderson. Anderson returned it. “What’ve you got for me this time, Lieutenant?”

Blinking and shaking his head, Barker got under control. “Sorry, Sir. Two loads from Colorado, Denver. Same as before, transferring them to your custody and keeping for the duration.” He handed Anderson a clipboard.

Anderson took it, then frowned. “Zuhra, my iPad, please.” She handed it to him. He pulled the information up on it.

“Lieutenant, this is my letter to fatso, telling him we will accept no more than forty new guests. This is his response, telling me that he will send us forty. Why are their sixty-five names on this list? And only twenty of them actually match the list that fatso sent me?”

Barker looked confused as he said, “Sir, I got orders last week to get a new group to bring here, and those orders didn’t come from Colonel Wellington. Here are my orders, Sir.”

He opened his shirt pocket and pulled them out, handing them over to Anderson.

Anderson looked at them. “Assholes do vex me! First Sergeant! We’re going to be a bit crowded in Four and Five for sleeping. Get the buses unloaded and get them out on the parade ground!”

He looked at the Lieutenant. “Made you pick them up in Denver, huh?”

“That’s where my unit was operating anyway, Sir. This is a weird war, if you call it that. A war, I mean. We’ve seen combat, but most of it’s been against hoods and thugs. My team was sent through to patrol a neighborhood, and some dumbass fired a pistol at an MRAP. So, we put him down, hard. Then some other assholes came out, yelling at us, and throwing shit at us. Our ROE is simple. Maintain or restore control by any means necessary, up to and including lethal force. So much for the other assholes. Would you believe one of them had the balls to get in my face with a cell phone and scream at me about brutality?”

Chuckling, Anderson said, “I bet you showed him brutality then.”

“Her, and yeah, poked her in the gut with the barrel of my M4, then butt stroked her to the ground. Yeah, the locals weren’t sure what to do when we didn’t give two shits about their civil rights ... or the lack thereof. But that’s not the weirdest thing. I don’t know if you’ve been to Denver before, but the easiest way to get to here from there is to take I-25, and then come across on 87 and 412. That happened to take us right by the Air Force Academy and Fort Carson. Not only was it business as usual at both locations, we actually stopped at Fort Carson, for fuel and food, because we originally weren’t going to escort them the whole way, and someone changed their mind. We got waved in off the Interstate by an active Army MP at Fort Carson, with our change of orders. What in the living fuck is going on here, Sir?”

“Let’s go with need to know at this point. Neither one of us is cleared for it, but I’m much less likely to get in trouble, Lieutenant. Just ... accept it.”

Barker took in a breath, then slowly let it out. “Over our paygrade, Sir? Got it.” He looked up and saw the buses were empty. “Well, once more unto the breach, dear friends. We get to drive four more hours, then we get to take a break.”

“Do you need anything from us?”

“Um, no.” He shook his head. “Good luck, and thanks for your work.”

Getting back into his Humvee, the Lieutenant led his convoy back out and down the road, stirring up more dust as they left.

Anderson stood, lost in thought and watching the dust plume, until el-Azizi lightly touched his arm and softly said, “Charles, duty calls.”

He shook his head. “Thank you, Zuhra. Please don’t react to what I’m going to say. I don’t think I’ve told you this outside of our quarters, but I love you.”

She smiled. “That’s a good thing, because the feeling is mutual. Now, go be your ‘take charge and forceful self’ with the ‘fresh fish.’” She laughed at his expression, saying, “Pearlina has been teaching us some of the lingo.”

The group of women standing in groups on the grassy field weren’t sure what to make of the man walking towards them, laughing, while being escorted by a naked woman. They could see other women walking between some buildings, some of them carrying bundles, others picking things up off the ground. All of the women in sight were wearing tops, but at least a third weren’t wearing bottoms. A couple of the women already resident walked over to a sandy area and squatted down, peeing, and then stood up and walked away.

“What the hell kind of place is this?” one of the new women asked out loud.

Using his megaphone, Anderson said, “I heard that, and I’ll tell you what kind of place it is. This is a facility being run by the Oklahoma State Guard to detain individuals that are what we consider to be traitors to the United States. But, before I get too far into my explanation, since it’s going to take a while, all of you, take a seat.”

“I’m going to get my pants dirty,” one of the new women said.

His voice flat and menacing, Anderson said, “That’s fine, take ‘em off. You’re either going to voluntarily sit on the ground, with or without your pants, skirts, or whatever, or I walk over and hit you with a taser, baton, or I simply shoot you dead. Doesn’t matter to me, one way or the other, I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.”

He was pleasantly surprised that it worked, with all sixty-five of the women sitting down. Just as before, some of them were so large they needed help getting down, but within a minute, all of them were seated.

“Thank you for your cooperation. Now then, I’m sure many of you are wondering why you were loaded into a bus in Denver and sent here.” He then went into a variation of the account he’d given the first group of women, while adding in certain points that el-Azizi had made in yesterday’s discussion. He noticed that some of the women looked rather grim at the points he made.

“Now then, I’m sure many of you are wondering what’s going to happen next. You’re going to remain seated here, while we do in-processing of you. No doubt you’ve noticed some of the guests at our educational and exercise facility no longer have full heads of hair, and many of them are wandering around without any bottoms. That is so we can control things such as lice, as we do not have full shower facilities with shampoo or beauty salons available. After my interview with you, you will have your heads, armpits, and pubic hair shaved. We also do not have personal hygiene products, such as tampons or pads. When you have your period, it doesn’t hurt the ground if you bleed on it. You’ve also noticed some of our current guests using our spacious and climate controlled restroom facilities. We’ve spared all expense in making things ready for you. Now ... Dean, come here!”

Ketria Dean had just finished peeing and came running over. “Sir!”

“Miss Dean, you were troublesome when I interviewed you, attempting to hide jewelry inside your vagina. How’d that work out for you?” He handed her the megaphone.

Dean almost dropped it in surprise. “Are you sure you want me to say something, Sir?”

“Be yourself, Ketria. Go ahead, I trust you.”

“Damn! Thank you, Sir!” She put the megaphone up to her mouth.

“Listen up, bitches! You’re all fucking idiots! I know, because I was sitting on my ass on that field not that long ago, for the same damned reason! This is Captain Anderson! You will call him ‘Sir,’ and you will respect him! Not because if he feels like it, he could pull his pistol out and shoot you in the head, blowing your brains out all over this field. He’s done that! We’ve all seen it. No, you will respect him because he’s a soldier in the military doing his job in a time of war! That’s why you’re all stupid idiots! We had no idea when we came in here what it means to be an American. We do now; and we’re happy to be here, learning more. I can see you, sitting there, thinking I’m full of shit. There was one hundred of us in our group. They’s only eighty-nine of us left. The others? They’re dead, and fed to the pigs. You listen to what he tells you! You do what he tells you, and you listen to those of us that’s been here a while. You might live, then. Oh, and when I was trying to be a smart-assed bitch, he took that baton and damned near choked me to death with it. He won’t fuck around with you.”