Chapter 8

When Tori arrived home, Debra was waiting for her.

"Where were you... ? You're supposed to be with Chef Jacques."

"At a meeting at the warehouse ... It took longer than I anticipated. I'm sorry."

"What was it about? We didn't have any kids here at all except for the day-care set."

"Oh, that's right ... you weren't here last weekend. You gotta hear this. Let me go to the kitchen and I'll fill you in after supper."

In the kitchen, Tori told Chef Jacques "Sorry I'm late, Chef, but the kids are organising a protest march against that moslem group Farouq was warning us against. Would you ask Farouq if he could give us a hand with the posters... ? We want to make them in Arabic as well as English." Tori could barely contain her excitement at the idea.

"Oh? What do you want to do?"

"We want to march from here all through town all the way to the Marina. All the kids from Manatee Bay will be in it. We want it to be just kids, no adults, because we want to do it naked and Sheriff Fernandez will have to arrest any adult who's not wearing anything. It's going to be a real Children's Crusade."

Chef Jacques thought back to his own student days when the whole city would go on a general strike at the drop of the hat to protest some thing or another and smiled.

"Okay, I'll talk to him. In the meantime, I need you to slice these zucchini. Let's try for something different ... Slice them at 45°, say about 3 millimeters..."

"How much?"

"Oh, sorry. An eighth of an inch thick."

"Okay."

"And then, afterwards, I'd like you to julienne these carrots. After we've sautéed the vegetables, I'll show you how to sculpt an apple into a swan as a plate decoration. It's really easy and it gives a special touch to the table service."

That evening, at the coffee bar by the pool, Tori brought Debra up to date with the happenings at the Marina and the upcoming protest march.

"So you see, we don't insist that everyone in this country be nude; that's just not realistic ... but I will not accept, and neither will anyone else in the group, that women be treated differently from men. If I guy can be nude, or even top-free, then a girl should be allowed the same rights. You know what I found out in my research... ? If a woman did not have a husband or a father or a brother, she had to ask permission of her SON to be allowed to go outside. I mean, how ridiculous can you get? And don't get me started on what they euphemistically call 'honour killings'. The whole thing makes me so angry, I could just ... just..." She was at a loss for words.

"I know what you mean; its disgusting ... but I've got other worries. I have this place to run; I can't just leave it to go off somewhere to... 'tilt at windmills' even though I agree with you."

"I'm not asking you to ... you're over 18, anyway. Technically, you'd have to wear at least a pair of shorts. Look at how you're dressed when you go on the grocery run. It's not that I wouldn't appreciate your support but the very reason it's us kids that are doing this is because the law allows us to do it in skin. We don't want to cloud the issue by doing anything illegal. That way, the only message will be that 'they' want to stop us from doing something we're allowed to do by law."

"Have you talked to Dad about this?"

"No ... I don't really know how to go about it. I mean, I feel really deeply about this and I'm going to do it, whatever comes. I think that Dad would support me in this. What I don't know is how His Honour Paul Jackman is going to react."

"Do you want me to tell him?"

"You can if you like. I'm still going to do it, whatever he says."

In the dining room, Sheriff Fernandez, Chef Jacques, Farouq and I were discussing things, as well. Chef had dropped the bombshell about a half-hour before and I had immediately called Jose at his place and asked him to drop by while Chef had brought Farouq up to speed.