Nancy (part 1 of 3)

Nancy

"There she is,"

concerned Polished City citizen.

There were people protesting the transfer of prisoners from the Cretan International Super Prison to the Polished City Holding Facility (PCHF).  Nancy Hope Rodriguez-Sabotcka stood with them in the mid-morning along the road up to the courthouse. The buildings across the street cast shadows over her and the rest of those protesters.  The police barriers corralled the protesters there and away from the small convoy creeping up the street.  It also kept them a safe distance from the protesters across the street who were protesting the protesters. Elroy wasn’t lying when he said this was a divided city.  The courthouse was the second to last stop for the prisoners being transferred from the Cretan International Super Prison.  The prisoners would be registered and then moved to PCHF in the morning which was just outside of the city. 

The super prison risked closure from a warning about harsh treatment and the inability for legal representatives to reach their clients. Then, a week later ex-Ambassador Seamus Grant, Nancy’s fiancé, leaked reports of prisoner abuse and mistreatment to the BBC and Newtopian Public Radio (NPR) while within the walls of the super prison.  The final straw was that Grant was not able to be contacted for further questions and the warden had disappeared. An example of the controversial prisoner safety was one of Galvin Maruicci’s, one of the prisoners being transferred today.  He claimed to have survived six life or death scenarios while there.  He was sentenced to fifteen consecutive life sentences for his crimes.  So when he exited the blue school bus he waved nine fingers from cuffed hands to the crowd.

Nancy thought she might get into the courthouse in the morning and wait for the convicts inside in order to ask them about Seamus.  But there was already security in place anticipating intruders to help or harm the infamous group arriving at PCHF.  Now, there were two guards holding shotguns flanking Maruicci.  The same protection or provisional security was provided to a female in hand cuffs behind him.  And then the same armed escort flanked a final prisoner who looked just like Nancy’s old boss’ body guard, Mark Marcelli.  Is that him? She searched for foreign features that would discern any sort of distinction.  But she could not find anything that proved he was someone else.

The crowd around her seemed to get more agitated as the convicts neared the entrance of the courthouse.  Something flew out from behind Nancy and hit a police officer.  The crowd burst into a hush.  People began looking around for the culprit.  The attention was on the courthouse entrance and the surrounding crowd, There is no way I am going to get in here today in broad daylight. The stillness of the crowd made the bodies around her separate just enough to squeeze through.

She started slipping through the crowd which was easy at first.  But after a few layers of people it began to get harder and people were not moving easily.  They were more rigid and some were like walls to her small figure.  Then the realization hit her all at once and made her feel hotter that the opposite side of the sun soaked street, they’re all looking at me. The heat was anger.  She pushed harder against the tightening barrier of bodies.  “Come on!” She shouted. The desperation in her voice made her push frantically.  “There she is!” She turned and saw a tall man pointing at her. His face had hot anger. What did I ever do to you?  Someone grabbed her as the crowd began to part to let the police through to her.