Mayor Hipatia Van Alen and Governor Minerva Olson, due to the upcoming start of the election season, were planning their re-election campaigns. That afternoon, without intending to; they met at the entrance of the exclusive Ailes Dorรฉ.
They both like the sumptuous setting provided by this glamorous place, which is ideal to be close to the best of society, which is their constituency. These outstanding women belonged to different political parties.
Hipatia is a prominent 42-year-old lawyer. Beautiful and multifaceted, tenacious in her endeavors and with a strong personality, she is used to achieving everything she sets her mind to. Thanks to her outstanding work as a litigator, she climbed the rungs of local politics and due to her ambition, in addition to electoral favor, she became the youngest woman to become mayor of the city on behalf of the Liberal Labor Party.
During her tenure she has boasted a great number of achievements, especially for the profound reform achieved in the central-eastern area of the city, which currently enjoys a prosperous and buoyant economy for any business that decides to establish itself there, something that can fill her with pride.
Minerva Olson is an elegant woman who has been able to stand out in the social, business and political spheres, at 52 years of age; she has been able to maintain her physical attractiveness very well, as well as her mental agility. She considers herself; as a "Bon Vivant." She is an avid reader of the classics and is perceived as a great example of morals and good manners, among her social circle. She possesses a great talent for negotiating, even under the most adverse conditions and with the most reluctant politicians.
She is well known for her great talent to always get her way, something that usually causes a lot of discontent in all the people who know her and who in some way have been affected by the willful behavior of this mature beauty, who represents the conservative party, for which she intends to be re-elected as governor.
It was no secret to anyone the fierce rivalry between these two prominent ladies, who for purely political reasons, had come to treat each other with a certain deference when they coincided in public. Among the aristocracy of the city, there were certain rumors of the possible causes of this enmity, one of them was the difference between political sides and a certain incident that occurred in parliament years ago, when both held positions in the house of representatives.
Everything was logical, as certain ambitions were evident on the part of each of them. They were strong-willed, strong-willed women with powerful capacities, with dimensions equal to their own ambitions, whose interests continually clashed, with very few exceptions during their respective governmental administrations.
After the obligatory and diplomatic greetings, both were received by the maรฎtre d', who immediately led them to one of the exclusive reserved rooms, arguing that he had received precise instructions from someone who had identified himself as part of the national security, and that in fact one of his representatives was already waiting for them in that room.
Something in them immediately put them on alert; as soon as they realized that the presence preferred to keep its identity in the shadows, they could only see a woman who was identified as a federal agent and who was there in order to ensure the safety of that mysterious person who began to address them with a certain ceremony.
A voice that was impossible to identify sounded from the back of the room and told them to make themselves comfortable, while she spoke to them about the reason for the meeting.
"Ladies, I have summoned you here this morning; since it has come to my attention that you two intend to begin your respective campaigns, with the eagerness to seek reelection." -said that voice from the shadow in which she stood.
Both Minerva and Hypatia affirmed with full authority in their words, with their distinctive airs of smugness.
"It seems to me very well that you want to launch yourselves for a new term. And tell me, do you intend to repeat the same formula that brought you to your present positions? -asked that lugubrious voice with a certain ironic seriousness.
Both women remained silent for a moment before answering in the affirmative, while an icy sensation ran through them as their palpitations began to accelerate. It was a moment of extreme discomfort, as they both began to recall certain alliances and maneuvers, which they preferred to keep secret.
"I suppose the Robutti family; will be very pleased with your management! For the diligent way in which you have reciprocated the favors they did you. Isn't that so Minerva? -Said that voice in a mocking tone.
"That is a vile slander! My political record is impeccable! If I have managed to reach the governorship, it has been on my own merits. You should know that I am an impeccable woman! And I have nothing to hide." -Responded Minerva indignantly.
There was silence and again; that icy sensation took over the atmosphere, to such a degree that both women could feel their blood run cold as they listened to that.
"I admire the confidence and virtuosity with which you make your statements. I suppose that Hypatia, in spite of a certain secret support that has made her ascend, also shares that admirable stance; and she has nothing to hide.
You know something? I just want to help them achieve their goal, and what you have said from the top of your virtue; it seems to me that it could be an excellent slogan for their respective electoral campaigns.
Hipatia began to get nervous, as soon as certain memories related to the brand new commercial zone began to form in her mind, which filled her with pride and which was part of the brilliant achievements of her administration in the mayor's office of the city.
She boasted of having been extremely careful in the means she used to clean up that once abandoned part of the city, which was plagued by criminals and vagrants, in addition to a huge number of buildings that were in the most absolute abandonment.
Her great intelligence, as well as her profound knowledge of the laws, allowed her to earn a fortune, having carried out a series of abusive expropriations in the whole area, to immediately carry out an advantageous auction that casually benefited many of her friends, who were able to buy a large amount of properties at a ridiculous price. These properties served as a guarantee for the city council to finance half of the development that renovated the area in a matter of a couple of months.
It was quite a mathematical feat to have diverted the necessary resources for that purpose, but this made the mayoress earn a real fortune, charging a juicy commission for each square meter that was auctioned and subsequently renovated. Not to mention that by now, Hipatia is still receiving profits from the rents of many commercial spaces in this now coveted area.
Minerva, for her part, was being besieged by other kinds of memories, which she found tormenting in the way she suddenly felt like an open book, which her mysterious interlocutor seemed to be enjoying reading.
From her position as governor, she had extraordinary powers to appoint some judges, who sporadically; did her certain favors, ruling in favor of certain people of dubious reputation and little honorability. The last of these scandalous trials involved a member of the Gambino family, who was facing severe federal charges.
Minerva managed to divert public attention; by secretly negotiating with some members of parliament, some changes in the penal code, and then commissioning Virginia Roig, a judge who owed her position in the supreme court, to prosecute with superb rigor a group of women who at that time had been victims of the dreaded serial stripper, who far from being caught by the authorities, the government preferred to embark on a crusade for public nudity.
This would gain unprecedented notoriety when a prominent couple of women, belonging to the local aristocracy, were criminally prosecuted after the police found them walking around; completely naked! In the vicinity of the Great Central Park, everything got worse when a member of the tabloid press recognized them as they were taken to the precinct.
The national tabloids made a scandal of epic proportions, publishing huge spreads with full color photographs, where Natalia Pierce and Frida Arrow, well known ladies of good dress and members of the best society, appeared without a stitch on, and were arrested on charges of moral turpitude and indecent exposure, something that, in other times, at most, would have generated a simple administrative fine.
And given the circumstances of having been victims of an attack by a wanted serial pervert, this growing group of women of various ages and social strata began to fill the arrest docket at the various precincts of the city.
The honorable Judge Virginia Roig was charged with summarily prosecuting all of these women as if they were public enemy number one. Regardless of the cause that caused this forced situation, against their will, so that the Gambino family could operate in the shadows, disappearing witnesses in the criminal case that should have had all the interest of the press.
Seeing themselves without sufficient evidence to prosecute this recognized mafioso, the prosecution and the court had no choice but to release him, to focus all their strength on the scapegoat fabricated by an absurd law, which the governor and her henchmen in the parliament had secretly conspired to satiate the need to fill the jails for a certain period of time.
The circumstance was aggravated for Natalia and Frida, who were charged with contempt; after presenting themselves in absolute nudity in court, besides flatly refusing to dress again by the express order of the honorable judge.
Both decided to remain nude during the entire trial to which they were subjected as a form of protest and civil disobedience because of the ominous treatment they were subjected to from the very moment they were arrested.