Chapter 6 -- Nothing to be proud of
Cecilia was awake as soon as it started to get light outside. She started breakfast for the household, roused her nephew to force him to get ready for school, and finally laid out a pressed shirt and suit for Victor Dukov. Up until late April, most of those tasks had been handled by Mrs. Dukov. Cecilia took over the household responsibilities shortly after the cancer diagnosis and had been in complete charge of the house since May.
As Cecilia pulled a stack of dishes out of the cupboard and started distributing them around the dining room table, it suddenly occurred to her that Maria Elena, if she remained in Victor's house, could take over most of the housework. The idea made sense, because it would automatically give the Colombian a place to live and right away make her a useful member of the household. More importantly, having Maria Elena take over the chores would free Cecilia to concentrate on her own responsibilities at the university. She felt that she owed it to the Dukovs to help out when Mrs. Dukov became sick, but she had no intention of taking care of the house more than a few weeks. Four months had gone by and there was no sign that Victor was ready to assume any of the household responsibilities, or any sign that anyone else was about to come in and relieve Cecilia. Now, possibly, she had stumbled across a solution to her problem.
Cecilia woke up Maria Elena and ordered her to join her in the kitchen. She continued to cook, but told the Colombian to start taking food to the dining room and to clean the pans. That freed up Cecilia to push her nephew to get ready for school and to check his homework. She then checked on Victor, who was close to being ready to go downstairs. Ordinarily Cecilia would have started making his bed, but she realized that she could have Maria Elena do that. Yes, she thought to herself, Prisoner # 101025 is gonna earn her keep from day one.
Once the table was set, the Colombian stood quietly, not sure whether to sit down or not. Cecilia made sure that Victor, as the head of the household, was properly seated before Pedro could sit down. Then she addressed Maria Elena:
"Kneel. Once Victor gives you permission to join us, you'll need to thank him and you can take a seat."
Once Maria Elena and Cecilia sat down and started eating, Cecilia explained:
"You'll have to kneel before each meal, 'cause you're a criminal. It's not just you; Jason has to do the same thing when he comes over. It's not so bad, because Victor is at least letting you sit at his table, which is a favor in this country. In a lot of households criminals have to eat in the kitchen because of the shame they've brought upon everyone else. There's a lot of parents who won't even allow their kid to sit on any of their furniture if he's collared. He has to eat standing up and kneel if he's talking to anyone. Victor won't make you do that unless he's pissed at you."
Cecilia briefly talked to Victor in Danubian to present her idea of having the detainee permanently stay at the house in exchange for helping out with the chores. He was much more receptive to the proposal than Cecilia had anticipated, which meant that the only person she still had to convince was Kim. If the Spokeswoman agreed, then Cecilia would simply tell Maria Elena about the arrangement and she would be expected to comply.
However, as she considered the prisoner's situation, she decided that she did at least owe her an explanation. She asked Victor to take Pedro to the school bus stop while she and the prisoner would remain behind to clean up from breakfast. Once the kitchen was clean, she ordered Maria Elena to sit down in the living room so she could braid her hair. Since properly braiding her companion's hair would take about 30 minutes, Cecilia used that opportunity to explain the plan of having her live with Victor Dukov permanently.
"There's a couple of things I'm worried about. First of all, I've got my classes, my fiancé, my nephew, and 60 exchange students to deal with, and I'm not doing any of that very well because I'm having to take care of Victor. I owe him a lot, but I also have my other responsibilities and I need some help. Also, because of your language problem, you'd have to stay here for a couple of months anyway, so I figure we can make that permanent from the outset. That way you won't have to worry about where you're gonna live, because that'll be taken care of. So, we've got a solution to several problems. Does that make sense?"
"Yes, Cecilia."
"Now, you're not here to relax. You're here to help me and Victor, and you're here to do what I tell you. Eventually you'll know what needs to be done, and I'll expect you to do it automatically. Victor's OK with the idea, so the only person I need to talk to is your Spokeswoman. I don't know if she has any other ideas about where you should live, but if I have my way, you're staying here."
With that Cecilia told Maria Elena to stand up and look at herself in the mirror. The prisoner looked very different with her hair tightly braided. She did not like her appearance at all. Cecilia picked up on her disapproving expression:
"You're in Danubia. This is they way women keep their hair. A lot of those strange looks you got yesterday had nothing to do with the fact that you were naked or collared, it was because of your hair. Women just don't have loose hair in this country. That's something that actually they've gotten stricter about over the last couple of years, I think because they don't like the foreign tourists coming in with their hair flying all around."
Cecilia grabbed two large sacks of books and student papers to take to the university. She handed the heavier one to Maria Elena and the two women exited the house. They walked several blocks along tree-lined streets before entering the main campus of the National University. Because classes had not yet started, the university was largely empty, with the exception of grounds-keepers and several groups of students who were exercising.
The prisoner was shocked to see that the majority of the people on campus were naked. Cecilia explained that exercise was normally done in the nude, since swimwear and most athletic clothing were prohibited by law. The students who were running wore shoes and nothing else. As for the grounds-keepers, most of the older employees were dressed wearing nothing but knee-pads, aprons, and wide-brim hats, while several collared criminals working under their direction were as naked as Maria Elena. This was one weird country: they made such a big deal about braided hair, but no one cared about public nudity.
Cecilia noticed the gardeners and commented: "This might not be a bad job for you, working in the garden at the university. It's right next to where you live, it would fulfill the work requirements of you being out in the open, and wouldn't require much language. I don't think your Spokeswoman thought about this as an option. I'll suggest it when we see her."
Maria Elena said nothing, but inwardly cringed. Digging in the dirt with her hands? Certainly that was beneath her; she wasn't a peasant, after-all.
Cecilia led her companion to the exchange program office to drop off the books. She then told Maria Elena to follow her to a professor's office to introduce her and request that she be added to the exchange program's Danubian language training group. Cecilia ordered the prisoner to kneel during the introduction, but then told her to stand up. The professor and the program coordinator talked briefly before she turned to Maria Elena:
"OK, you're in luck. The professor's gonna add you to the program. To make sure you're not totally lost in class this afternoon, right now he's gonna give you the basics of Danubian and teach you the alphabet. I need to meet with some of my students anyway, so I'll just leave you here."
For the next two hours Maria Elena received a very intense class in Danubian language training. The professor grilled her on the alphabet and taught her some fundamental phrases and questions that she needed to know for simple survival. She learned numbers and how to say her legal name in Danubian, she learned how to ask for permission for basic needs such as going to the bathroom, and she learned greetings appropriate for a criminal. Finally the instructor gave her a study guide from the class and ordered her to review it until Cecilia returned.
Twenty-four hours had passed since Maria Elena had been arrested, but already her new life was beginning to take shape. She had a place to live, she knew what her legal situation would be, and she had learned a few words and phrases needed to exist in the country that held her captive. She understood that there would be no transition for her. She already was considered a criminal and as such, had her established place in Danubian society. No one considered her as Maria Elena Rodriguez-Torres, the Colombian detainee. To the Danubians she was Prisoner # 101025, property of the Danubian Republic. The people around her would assist her as much as they could, but only to help her understand and assume her duties as a criminal. No one was interested in helping her regain her freedom or return to her old life.
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Three hours after she departed, Cecilia Sanchez returned to pick up her prisoner and escort her downtown to the Central Police Station. Cecilia explained that within a few days Maria Elena would be expected to make the trip by herself, pointing out which trolley routes she needed to know to travel downtown and to return to the university:
