New Reality 2: Justice (15 page)

"I think you do. You look exhausted, Marie. You look worn down. I see it every day at work. I know we're not supposed to look at one another, but I watch you."

Marie didn't respond.

"How far gone are you?"

Marie's jaw fell and her breath left her lungs. She spoke in a whisper. "
How
do you know?"

"Duh."

"It's that obvious?"

"For me, and maybe our other sister in the control room, but for the guys… no, I don't think so. They see bigger boobs and a fuller arse long before they see why. Nice corset, by the way." GG looked down at Marie's chest and half-smiled. "You look smoking in it. It's a very clever way to distract Doug."

Although Marie's throat had dried, her coffee was still too hot to sip.
Had Doug set this up as a trap? Was that where he went when he left the restaurant earlier?
"How do I know you're not getting this information out of me so you can report back to Rixon?"

"Honestly?"

Marie nodded.

"You don't." The same warmth stared at Marie when GG leaned across and stroked the back of her hand. "You have to trust me."

"In a world where an error in judgment could ruin my life?"

GG stared at Marie without blinking. "Yep."

***

For the next five minutes, Marie sipped on her coffee and made small talk with GG. Should she trust this woman? All she wanted was a friend, but what if GG was there to catch her out?

Another sip of her drink and Marie placed the cup back down on the table. "You're right, this does taste amazing."

Without replying, GG leant across and held one of Marie's hands in both of hers. It was the kind of thing Frankie would do.
 

Marie closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Trust was a hard thing to find when living in Nirvana. The only thing she had to guide her was her own intuition.
 

When she re-opened her eyes, the dam broke and hot tears ran down her cheeks. "We're registered as roommates so no one knows we're in a relationship."

"That's sensible."

"We need to make sure he keeps his hours for as long as possible. He's a teacher. Of course, it means he won't be present at the birth, but if it keeps us off the estate…"

Empathy radiated from GG's kind face.

"He was born on the estate and he got out. The only way he could get into school was if he cleaned the classrooms at the beginning and end of the days. He would then do an entire day at school and do his homework. He lived off four hours sleep a night. On the weekends, he worked in a laundromat."

"How did he cope?"

"He's a strong man and he wanted out. He saw the way and set his sights on it."

"He sounds like an amazing man."

"He is. Although he hates that he doesn't earn great money."

"Teachers get treated like shit in this society, eh?"

The corset felt even tighter as Marie drew a deep and stuttered breath. "It seems so hard to survive now—all because we can't afford to get married."

GG then slid a credit card across the table at her. The red LED light read, 'MAX'.
 

"What is it?" Marie said.

"You know what it is."

"I do, but why are you giving it to me?"

"I have no need for it. I wish I had the full twenty-five thousand credits for a marriage certificate, but I don't, I'm sorry. There's three thousand on there. It's yet to be registered, so no one will know where it's come from."

"I can't take this."

"Either you do, or the person who cleans this table will be getting an
amazing
tip."

"But why?"

"I own my flat outright. My outgoings are modest and I have enough money left over each month. I'll have saved another three thousand credits in six months' time, but you need this now."

A tremble took over Marie's body as she looked at her new friend. "But what about when you want to get married? You should keep it for then."

"I don't want to get married."

"What about children?"

A shimmer cracked GG's face and her voice broke. "I can't have children."

Gasping, Marie covered her mouth.
 

"When I was a teenager, I got pregnant. Stupid really. My parents hadn't made their money by then, so it would have condemned us all to the estate if I had gone ahead with it. My parents insisted the choice should be mine. They didn't want to force me to do anything I didn't want to do. I chose an abortion. It was one of those back alley clinics—rusty scalpels and cockroaches kind of place. It was all we could afford."

The baby moved and Marie grabbed her stomach.
 

"The anaesthetic took some time to work. I couldn't move or speak, but I was still conscious. I saw
everything
for a time." Her eyes lost focus. "I watched the doctor wait for everyone to leave the room before he dropped his trousers and climbed on top of me. I couldn't feel him, but I watched his
twisted
features as he raped me."

It knocked the wind out of Marie and she placed a hand on her thumping heart.
 

"I saw him climax, his
horrible
face just inches from mine. Then I blacked out. I was only sixteen."

"Fucking hell, GG, that's horrific!"

Still staring down at the table, GG sighed. "I get the impression that what he did to me to abort my child was worse. When I got home, I bled for days. I stayed in bed for three weeks. My parents were so worried about me, they got a professional doctor over. They blamed it on someone from the estate. Said I was beaten up on the way home from work. I'm certain the doctor didn't believe that, but we were paying him good money so he kept it to himself. The bill took them years to pay off. The doctor said there was nothing that could be done, other than to look after me; we had to let nature take its course. He said I would be okay in a month or two. The other thing he told me was…" GG cleared her throat. "I could
never
have children again."

Tears left a glistening trail down GG's cheeks when she looked up. "I never told my parents about the rape. They argued for months after the operation. It damn near tore their relationship apart. Any more stress would have tipped them over the edge. So you see, there's no point in me getting married because I can't have children anyway. But to know my money could go to saving the life of another child… Well, it doesn’t make up for what I did, but it’s something."

The hot and bitter coffee burned as Marie sipped on it. It took a strong gulp to get it past the lump that had formed in her throat.
 

When GG nudged the card towards her again, Marie took it and slipped it into her top pocket. She then leaned across the table and placed a hand on GG's arm.
 

With a crooked smile, GG spoke in a whisper. "You're welcome."

As Marie stood up, she said, "I need to get back to Frankie. He'll worry where I am. Can we meet up again? Maybe at the end of the week? Same time? Of course, if you don't want to, I'd understand. It's just—"

"I'd
love
to, Marie. I'd love to."
 

And with that, Marie waited for GG to open the booth, took a deep breath, and stepped out. Today wasn't the day to be talking about Jake and what was going on with Rixon. That could wait for next time. She'd told her enough already.

Chapter Twenty-Four

The television may have been on, but Marie wasn't paying any attention to it. How could she, with what had happened today? With her shirt unbuttoned, she had one hand on her belly, the bump clearly visible without the corset to clamp it down. Soon she wouldn't be able to hide it.
 

The card from GG was still in her top pocket. Despite being home for several hours, she hadn't mentioned it to Frankie. He was paranoid enough without knowing about her covert meetings in a strange cafe.

When Frankie groaned, she blinked her thoughts away to see the opening credits for his least favourite show. As much as he hated it, though, he never changed the channel when it came on.

A funky beat accompanied chrome letters that slid across the screen. Different scenes from past episodes played out on them. Each scene showed the suited host looking thoughtful and intelligent—or that was the intention anyway. An idiot was an idiot whether you put him in a suit or not.
 

After the forty-five seconds of self-glorifying drivel, the full show name was revealed—
The Jezza Kuntz Show
.
 

The show opened with the host grinning at the camera, and Frankie groaned again. "That man's such an arsehole."

The studio had a seated audience of maybe five hundred people. All of them clapped and whooped as the camera swept across them, the bad theme music still playing.

Timed perfectly with the end of the happy tune, the camera settled on the woman on the stage. She had the red hue to her skin of someone from the estate. Of course, she did—every person that went on that stage was from the estate. Text scrolled across the bottom of the screen—'I'm having a child out of wedlock!'

Jagged anxiety wobbled Marie's heart. She lifted her other hand so both were cradling her bump and pushed against it gently. The poor thing undoubtedly went through every emotional twist and turn of Marie's life; it was going to be a nervous wreck by the time it came out. A gentle push and it moved slightly; maybe the pressure helped her realise that Mama was here. That Mama would always be here.

The camera found Kuntz again as he walked onto centre stage with his shoulders pulled back. The crowd continued to applaud as he stood as straight as a board.

"The man looks like a fucking dictator," Frankie said. "He gets so much pleasure from other people's misfortune."

"Look at that poor woman," Marie said, leaving out,
that could quite easily be me
. Frankie didn't need to hear her talking like that.

"The only reason people from the estate go on this stupid show is because they get a free meal." Frankie rubbed his face. He looked tired. "It's not because they aren't as smart as everyone else. When I lived there, I used to pass lines of them queuing to get on similar shows. They were doing it to feed their children. They knew they'd be humiliated, but their family's wellbeing was worth it. Kuntz is such a… well, what kind of a man makes his living baiting the poor?"

As Jezza moved around the stage, posturing at different points and hideously playing up to the cameras, the woman in the chair chewed her bottom lip.

Big eared, thinning mousy-brown hair and no tie, Kuntz bounded close to the woman and loomed over her.
 

"Look at him!" Frankie said. "As if she's not already shitting herself."

The crowed quietened.

A couple more seconds passed and Kuntz beamed like a giddy schoolboy. He held the silence.
 

Then he let rip. "Slut. Whore. Slag. Prostitute."

Every insult made the woman flinch and her eyes filled with tears.
 

The camera showed the audience laughing; some of them so hard their faces were red.
 

When it fell silent again, Kuntz sat down next to her and held one of her hands, tilting his sympathetic head to the side. "Is that what you want people to call you, darling?"

The woman's bottom lip wobbled as she shook her head. "But I've only slept with
one
man. I've loved him for years and getting pregnant was an
accident.
"

Kuntz jumped from the seat and threw his arms wide at the audience. "We don't care about the story, do we?"

A resounding "No!" fired back at him.

Kuntz smiled and turned back to the woman. "Did you hear that?"

The crowd laughed.

Something pressed against Marie's palm. Was it a small hand or foot? It was hard to tell. She rubbed her belly. "What's wrong with this world, Frankie?"

Frankie sighed. "Everyone's measured by either their finances or potential finances; the less you're worth, the less you're valued."

The sound of Kuntz's shiny shoes clipped against the stage as he paced up and down. "So you sleep with someone, get pregnant, and now you expect to keep it?"

All the woman could do was nod while tears rolled down her cheeks.
 

Did they seriously expect her to have an abortion? Was that Jezza’s aim?
The thought of a sixteen-year-old GG being raped hadn't left Marie's mind. The imagery was so vivid, she could see the old man lying on top of her and slathering over her sedated form.
How many women had experienced the same thing to avoid this kind of humiliation? Was there ever a time where having a bastard child wasn't a social crime?

With his face twisting into a red mask of hate, Kuntz rushed at the woman. "And who's going to pay for it, you whore?"

The television's speakers struggled to handle the rapturous applause.
 

Frankie pointed at the screen. "They've turned her microphone off. Look, she's trying to say something but they've muted her."

When Kuntz spread his arms wide again to the crowd, he looked like he thought he was the new Messiah. After he'd drunk in as much applause as they could give him, he cocked an eyebrow. "Shall we bring the daddy in?"

Sparks exploded from the stage, and the crowed jumped to their feet. A side door opened and a man fell through as if shoved from behind. For a moment, he looked at the crowd and then he dropped his head. The barrage of abuse was clearly too much for him.

As the camera panned across the people in the audience shouting, spitting, and throwing hand gestures at the man, Kuntz walked over to him and put his arm around his shoulders.
 

He led the man to a chair next to the woman as the crowd bayed for blood. When the pair held hands, they turned feral.
 

It took a few minutes for the crowd to settle down and when they finally did, Kuntz said, "I didn't say we
condone
your behaviour."

Returning Kuntz's scorn with a hard glare, the man held on.

Jezza's voice broke into a screech. "Let go of her hand. Now!"