Warning, this story has a very intense theme. Expect it to be disturbing. Based on where you found this story, you will probably be turned on by the beginning. However at the end, it should be clear that something wrong happened. It should illuminate how we consume news of bad things happening to people as entertainment. There is no denying that many would find the headline of what happened as titillating. Yet, the actual experience that the person lived through was very sad. Read this as an examination of the conflicting feelings.
The story is very loosely based on reality. Video surveillance tapes have been released on the Internet. Wikipedia has a detailed article about the incident.
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"Macky Dees, Farnhamville, Joe speaking. How can I help you?"
"I am officer Scotty. We have a report that a suspect may be working at your business. The suspect is female, white, slight build, blond hair. Does that description match any of your employees?"
"Sir, we have about 70 employees, many of which are female and blond. Do you have any more information?"
"This is privileged information, because we don't want anyone to know how close we are. Her first name initial is 'L'."
"No, Laurie is a very hefty girl, definitely not slight."
"Maybe, she goes by another name..."
"Officer, my manager just told me that you need to come down here, if you want any more information. He told me to hang up right now, as I am not authorized to speak on behalf of Macky Dee Corporation."
Click.
"Macky Dees, Harcourt, Karl speaking. How may I help you?"
"I am officer Scotty. We have a report that a suspect may be working at your business. The suspect is female, white, slight build, blond hair. Does that description match any of your employees?"
"If you got a warrant, you come down here. Otherwise, fuck you very much!"
Click.
"Macky Dees, Churdan, Janet speaking. How may I help you?"
"I am officer Scotty. We have a report that a suspect may be working at your business. The suspect is female, white, slight build, blond hair. Does that description match any of your employees?"
Janet swallowed. Her body heaved with tension. Her body was the shape of a pyramid. Her head was the pointed tip. Down from there, her torso expanded into every which direction with her fat hip being the ultimate foundation. She wore a dark blue shirt-pant combo that was oversized with many ripples in the clothing. It gave her body the outline of a blob without definition. The mouth with the flaming red lip stick in the pale face dropped open.
"Oh gosh, oh gosh, the police," she muttered under her breath. She waved her arms to get enough momentum to slip off the round, hard plastic disc that served as a bolted-in seat. Everything about the tiny restaurant was cheap, sturdy, and vandal-proof. The chairs and tables were bolted to the floor. The shine of the white tiles had gone. A thin permanent coating of gray grime covered it. The small fast food counter fit one registry and a big glass case with factory made apple pies, guaranteed to be 100% sugar, chemicals, and artificial flavor.
"I got to take this in my office." Janet was already panting from the effort of walking and the adrenaline had her eyes starring wild ahead at the door handle of her office. It was a small 7x7 feet cube filled with boxes of personnel records, promotional items, and cleaning supply. That's all that was needed for a place serving a rural Iowa city with a lazy main street up front.
"We got a new girl working the floor right now. She looks so innocent. She is barely 18. I can't belief her having gotten into any trouble."
"Is the initial of her first name 'L'?"
"Oh, yes, Lisa Forrester is her name."
"I think we got our suspect. There is a small reward out in her name. You may be able to collect it, if you help us in apprehending her."
"Oh, no, it must be drugs. She must have gotten into drugs, poor girl."
"Janet, I cannot share case confidential information with you. A police car is on the way. In the meantime, I need you to go back in the store and be my eyes and ears. Observe her from the distance and report back to me."
Janet stood behind the counter holding the cordless phone in her hand. Roger, a black, tall lanky college kid, was punching orders into the register. His eyes looked bugged and glanced at the timer in the top right corner every ten seconds. The counter constantly egged him on to get his average order taking time to under 80 seconds. There was a line of five corn fed customers waiting for lunch. A bulky construction worker had a pink fedora feather in his wavy dark hair. A five year old was holding a colorful toy car high in the air pretending it to be a plane.
Lisa was bent over a table corralling the yellow burger wrappers, red food baskets, and paper cups into a pile. A dirty, used, originally white cleaning rag lay twisted on the table. Her arms moved lanky and awkward like teenager ripped out of her world of playing all day in her room to doing something productive in an adult world. Her face looked contemplative at the pile of refuse. She tried to balance the cups on the garbage pile. Then, she put some garbage in the cup to lower the pile. That worked better. She smiled. Her hair was dirty blond and hung down limp from the low end shampoos.
"Janet, describe her clothing."
Lisa wore Old Navy sneakers with neckless socks, so that it seems like the foot is barefoot in the shoe. Yet close observation usually finds a sliver of white sock near the opening of the shoe. Her jeans had a stiff and tube shaped cut to it that little conformed to her body. The white t-shirt was size S and fit her snuggly. The fabric was fluffy from the many washes. The bra strap clearly showed on her back, when she was leaning forward.
"None of the witnesses were able to give us a precise description. We need us to give clothes sizes."
"Oh, that's maybe a 26 inch jeans. Shoe size is 6. That's definitely an S-size t-shirt."
"What's her bra size."
"Gosh, you need to know that as well. I have to wait until she turns around."
Lisa turned around to go for the garbage can. She began sprinting with a slightly desperate face. She seemed worried about her job performance, not cleaning fast enough. Her feet flung sideways in a funny way, as she was running. She bumped into a customer's stuck out elbow. "So, sorry," she said while brushing the man's arm. The man looked surprised and thrown out of contemplation.