Here is where you return to the introduction.

 

R.A.T is the acronym for Rose Among Thorns and Rose Among Thorns House #2 located at 411 Hillview Place, Ithaca New York 14850 is affectionately sometimes called the Rat Hole. It is home to Naama Roth, Tareisia Kakira Simmons, and Mendel Menachem Schneerson-Roth. It used to be home to Alise Liddell, but she got drafted. She tells her Tales of Deracination elsewhere.

 

 

 

Dear all,

 

Every day I walk the younger fosters and Mendel to school. I'm glad to have Mendel along. Everyone is curious about Mendel which means that every body stopped being curious about me a long time ago. That means people have either writen me off or become used to me.

 

On the walk most morning, the fosters keep to themselves. Two of them are in high school. One is in special ed, and the last one is a middle schooler, a boy in sixth grade. The boy wants nothing to do with Mendel and that is a sore spot with me. I like Mendel.

 

Why do I like Mendel? He is a quiet boy and doesn't do dumb things like try to crack his head open riding skate boards. He likes to read so we can talk about books. He doesn't understand much about literature though because it is not Jewish. It is new to him. History, including most European and all American and nonwestern history is new to him. The part of social studies that is not history makes him suspicious. He likes mathematics and will probably enjoy physics and chemistry. He had what was a two year engineeing degree when he was alive. He is supsicious of biology due to Darwin and according to Iseult, one of the students who cooks, somebody named E.O. Wilson. Sherman who is not vermin says that there are even more surprises in store for Mendel hidden in the bosom of the humanities.

 

With all that, Mendel cares about school which is more than I can say about the somewhat worthless foster boy whom I also walk to school. Today Mendel and I had a problem. It is a Mendel problem being that no one else in the world except Mendel and his close associates would understand it. "The teacher (He never calls his teachers by their names. He has only one for all his subjects this year. He'll be on semi-departmental next year and for the first year of middle school. After that it's full departmental like Earnesty, Jumana, and of course I have) is going to assign another book reports yet not pick our books for us," Mendel began. Choice is Mendel's downfall. When he was growing up in his last life in Russia, his teacher and later his father and private tutors decided what he would study. There were the Jewish holy books and certain important commentaries. There was also mathematics which was used for practical things. I once asked Mendel what his favorite subjects were the first time around or the least time around (depending on how you see it) and he said he did not have a favorite. The idea that one should pick a favorite was just not something he ever considered.

 

"Tareisia," he began (and he always gets my name right!) "I knew everything my teachers taught me would be useful and help me serve HaShem and teach others." That was supposed to end the conversation, but it doesn't. I learned many useful things in school and still do, but I like some things better than others. I find gym useless. It probably is teaching me what sports I can not stand, but I find it embarassing and immiserating. Mendel does not like gym either so I brought this up. He said his parents and teachers considered sport a waste of time in the last life time and he agrees with me about gym.

 

Still Mendel had not answered the question about a favorite academic subject. Actually, in this life it is math because the teacher tells you what to learn and Mendel has seen math before and it does not contradict Torah and so math gets the favorite spot by being trouble free. English and literature (sometimes called reading but really more English and literature) are giving Mendel trouble. "The teacher said we had to choose another book. She does not even tell us which ones are worthwhile to read. Some of the kids are reading those junky books about a make believe school where everyone learns magic and then goes and fights the evil sorcerers and the teacher says that is fine. Young people need guidance."

"Why not ask the teacher to suggest something then?" I offered.

 

Mendel shook his head. The last time he did this, she suggested a book Mendel could not stand. It was about criminals in a gang. Mendel said it made him sick to read a book that was sympathetic to sinners and miscreants. Such children, he said deserved to be punished either by HaShem or the civil authorities.

 

"You want me to suggest something?" I asked.

 

"You know me better than that teacher. I know she is learned in what..." Mendel stopped dead because if he uses a certain g-word he owes the epithet jar twenty-five cents and I enforce this because I am a person he could call that rotten g-word. "GEN-TILES consider knowledge of educating children and she is trying to do right, but Tareisia, she can't understand that I only want to read good things. Good words make a person stronger."

 

I mused on the problem. Mendel cold probably tackle Steinbeck or Hemingway. I have tried both. I even read some Dos Passos last summer, but novels leave him floundering like a fishing bobber on a lake. "What does this teach?" he would ask. "What is this good for?"

 

"Why not get some poetry?" I asked. "There are Hebrew and Yiddish poets in translation."

 

Mendel is very multilingual but his teacher insists that everything he reads is in English. "We can get them in Uris or Olin. We'll get Aunt Naama to sign you out the books."

 

Mendel looked past me. It was not Naama's day to cook so it was not our day to be in the kitchen since we work as part of the Bais crew. Yes, our crews are named for Hebrew letters. "Mendel," I prodded, "A walk up the stairs behind Ithaca gun will do you good. Remember what Dr. Rothstein said about fresh air and chest colds."

 

"As long as we keep the window closed at night," Mendel added.

 

"Well you tell Chris you're cold. Stick up for yourself."

 

"Christopher is such a stupid...." Mendel did not want to lose twenty-five cents pocket money for that ugly g-word. "Just give him a football (a soccer ball) and he is happy. He could spend eternity kicking around a ball if he is not careful."

 

"There are worse fates," I told Mendel.

 

((This is an out take...It is getting too snarky to inlude.))

 

"Like those stupid....." Mendel did not say the g-word "out among the stars. Why did people go to such a cold dark place? The stars are meant to be enjoyed from here. Don't they know HaShem made the earth for man and the rest...." Mendel let his thoughts drift.

 

"That's not supposed to be our future," I told Mendel. "Their libraries burned down and they did not save the data."

Mendel shook his head...."And they have even forgotten the mitzvah of visiting the sick."

 

"Shannon visited Earnesty's mom and they let Earnesty see her once," I answered.

 

Mendel nursed his dark thoughts of divine vengance aloud. I won't reprint them here. "Look, they've got an ugly beaurocracy and you get that any where and I'm with you about keeping the word of God from kids who are the ones who need it most. That's a crime, but I didn't sit on my tush about it. I made sure we had Bible study and explication on the Telegraph where Earnesty could read it. Her mother let her stay on the Telegraph so this way she got to read what her own people would not let her have. That was all I could do. I caught tons of fire for having those religious arguments but I didn't care what my opponent thought. I did what I had to do. Maybe it's done some good."

 

"Of course now they have that custody hearing and they're not even going to give Earnesty's mother a 2PC. It is too early for a 2PC anyway. First they put you in the hospital for thirty days observation and then if you are doing better they send you home, and if you're doing not enough better they ask you to sign yourself in and if you won't sign yourself in, they have to get a 2PC. That's two physicians concurring which they can get if you are a danger to yourself or others. Without a 2PC they can't lock you up or send you away against your will after they observe you." I sighed.

 

"I'm going to pray for Earnesty," answered Mendel.

 

"Me too," I added "and Earnesty's poor mother. You know my mother never had a 2PC. They let her out after three weeks the first time and the second time she signed herself in and the third time it was the same thing. She just said she knew she wasn't well enough to go home. That used to make me very angry knowing that. Now I'm not sure....I mean she got better all three times. Now she's on better meds so maybe she's going to make it."

 

We let it go. My mom and the three middle siblings in my family are all OK down in Kingsville, Texas. I am trying to save up enough cash to take a bus there to see them at Christmas. I haven't seen my mother since I was ten. "It is very hard for orphans," said Mendel. "We said a refua shlema for Maxine from the bimah on shabbos." I know because I heard it. A refula shlema is a prayer said for healing. Prayers for the sick are part of our services on Saturday. I also prayed for Maxine at the alter with the beautiful mosaic mural in Sage Chapel.

 

((The out take ends here))

 

We were almost at Fall Creek School where Mendel goes. I promised to meet him at 3:15pm so we could go up to Cornell and get him a good book of poetry. I'd call Naama on the cell phone so she could meet us at Uris Library and check out Mendel's books. I made a mental note to write to Earnesty separately.

 

Tareisia K. Simmons

Boynton Middle School

1610 N. Cayuga Street

Ithaca, New York 14850

Point Two-Five

 

Dear Earnesty,

 

If you want to know about life on Earth, Ilive there too, though I think of it more as Ithaca, New York. Ithaca has a modified continental climate. Peter's climate is milder due to the Gulf Stream. This means we are heading from fall in to winter so there is not much outside that is green. All the deciduous trees (the maples and oaks and birches) have lost their leaves. Most people have swept them off their lawns and put them in big plastic bags to go to the city composting pile. Some people have taken the dead leaves and scattered them in their gardens for mulch. We had to get dead leaves for our garden at Rose Among Thorns since we have a garden space and pavement but not any trees on our property. I live in what was once a public school that has now been converted in to dormitories, kitchen, classrooms and meeting halls.

 

That said the grass is still green because cold weather does not kill grass. It will even be green when the snow melts off of it in the spring. Likewise there are pine trees and fir trees that still have dark green needles. Some of the bushes have lost their leaves but still have their berries. There are white berries and red berries and even some black and blue ones. Most of these berries are not good for humans to eat and some may be poisonous. The birds can eat them. We have little sparrows and junkos (big and grey) and bright red cardinals and nasty blue bluejays that stay all winter even in this harsh northern climate. We also have crows which eat garbage. They are big and black and have an evil call that goes "caw, caw, caw, caw!"

 

Then there are the mammals. We have to be careful to keep the lid on the dumpster where we put our garbage because otherwise the raccoons get inside it and drag out the garbage and make a mess. Raccoons weigh about twenty-five to fifty pounds. They are grey with black and white striped tails and black faces that look like masks and black paws. They are quite intelligent. Baby raccoons are cute. Raccoons in your garbage are pests and if you have a dog or a cat or other smaller pet, raccoons are dangerous because they can fight with your pet and kill him or her.

 

We also have skunks which are not hibernating this winter due to global warming and the abundance of garbage that people do not put in sealed dumpsters like we do at Rose Among Thorns. Skunks are about ten pounds and black with long bushy tails and big white stripes down their backs. They do not have sharp teeth. They don't kill dogs and cats in fights, but they have scent glands under their tails. If you threaten or frighten a skunk he or she lifts his or her tail and squirts out the most noxious stink imaginable. People often fear skunks more than they fear raccoons. I have sometimes seen skunks late at night on Hillview Place. I always give them a wide berth. I don't want to get "skunked."

 

On to other subjects, you are in my thoughts and prayers with regard to the custody hearing. Make sure you wear a clean shirt. I don't know if you wear dresses or skirts on your world, but put on your best clothes. It impresses the judge. (You call the judge something different). The judge may ask your wishes for placement. They do this in New York State for all kids seven and eight or older and sometimes for any kid who can voice a preference. If he does have your wishes prioritized.

 

Something you may want to consider is visitng rights and contact with your mother if they lock her up. You don't seem to be angry with your mother for getting sick, so you are a good person to visit her. Your mom also only got sick once which makes it different from my mom who is schizophrenic. You might consider asking for a placement on Luna if they send your mother there. This is just a thought. It is all a question of priorities. If you value staying with adults you really like more, then don't ask about going to stay with strangers on Luna.

 

Custody hearings are tough and judges don't always listen. Also one more thing, if the judge wants to ask Domino for his wishes, he should do it in chambers (which is a comfortable office behind the court room). Open court scares little kids. When the judge at my first custody hearing asked Vivianetta (my younger older sister. I'm the oldest of five kids remember) who was only five years old her preferences, she froze like a deer in the headlights. By the way, if you are uncomfortable with standing up in open court, ask the judge to talk to you in chambers as well. Just say "I'd prefer to talk about this in chambers" or whatever you call chambers. You can also get a stool if you are short. Make them give you a stool if you need one. In Queens when I had my first custody hearing, they gave all three of us older girls a high stool to sit on.

 

I am hoping some of this advice applies to your world. Just hang in there. Remember mental illness is treatable and your mom is going to get better. The medications usually work.

 

I'd also like to say I'm sorry about what happened to your father. I won't give you my condolences because he is still very much alive. I have heard that will change but none of us ever knows the future. I am praying for a miracle and for your entire family, including your dad.

 

Tariesia K. Simmons

Boynton Middle School

1610 N. Cayuga Street

Ithaca, New York 14850

Point Two-Five

##############################################################################################

Dodgeball -- At 10am I find myself ejected from the school buiding and out in to the cold school yard with twenty-six other students. It is sunny but far from warm and thick fleecey grey clouds scud across the sky. The school yard is a rectangle of battered black top painted in obscure markings. I play the role of a child here. Sometimes I am a child. I know that sounds strange but there have been other children with memories. I am not the first and surely won't be the last. Being myself in a different life time is not easy which is why most people don't remember.

 

I could tell you more, but the teachers have demanded that we waste our time in the school yard. They line us up male and female, the girls in long trousers just like the boys. On their feet are rubber soled shoes and sneakers of various types and thick socks. Over their sweaters and turtlenecks are quilted coats in a riot of colors. The females are mainly red, pink and purple. The boys are brown and blue.

 

"Line up!" balls the teacher. I tryt to imagine her as a mother. How can such a coarse thing be entrusted to children, especially those who remember being nothing else?

 

"I said line up Men-dell." She doesn't like me because I think what she gets paid to teach is foolishness of the lowest order.

 

"Now count off by twos..." bellows the teacher.

 

I'm a two. I line up next to a South Asian girl, a tiny thing with brown skin, feral eyes, and a lavender quilted coat. I check my kipah to make sure it won't fall off. "Firing Suqad!" calls out the teacher. We make two lines. "Ones go first!" she yells and hands the ball to a brute of a blond female who is the teacher's daughter in spirit. The ball is large and red and round. It is a typical gym ball. I see the brute with the ball glance at me. She knows I'm the weak spot in the line. Stinking anti-Semite cow, I think.

 

I feel my mouth go dry and fight back a word that is considered an epithet by my well meaning but ignorant foster mother. Then the brute fires the ball like a bullet. I duck not wanting to feel it hit in the stomach. I go sliding across the pavement belly first, roll over and scamble to my feet. My boy body surprises me. "Woo Mendel!" my team mate in the lavender coat calls out. Two girls are out having been hit by the ball. One boy has caught the ball so it is the other team's turn to take positions and avoid the projectile. That is how this game is played except that the teams line up as if they were facing a...firign squad. The boy gets out two boys and then we get another throw. Lavender jacket has taken a count of the other team and says we are six players ahead. Her eyes glisten with delight.

 

I could care less. One of the few black boys in our class has caught the ball so he gets out as far as he can and sends it in an interesting sideways toss. The brute tries to catch it but gets hit in the stomach. I want to cheer, but a small girl in a red jacket with white fur trim on the hood and a striped red and white hat has the ball on the other team now. She bobs and weaves like a boxer as she looks for an opening. We spread out. "Spread out!" calls lavender jacket. How can she adore this silly game? "Go!" she orders me. I see her features contorted with excitement.

 

I try not to look at where red coat throws the ball. Then I see it coming at lavender jacket who is on her toes ready to catch it. I run towards her and take the ball with my body. "There," I think. "Now you can keep playing." I'm glad to take my place on the sidelines.

 

Lavender jacket stands relieved and a bit shocked. She doesn't know I wanted out of the game and took a hit so she could keep playing. I've done my act of chessed for the day, I think and I sit down on a bench where several kids are having a soft voiced talk about a movie and an older sister who sings in the Praise Choir. Nearly everyone in this school knows someone at Rose Among Thorns.

 

I watch the game because I don't feel like committing lashon hara. Lavender jacket has the ball now and she walks forward. She doesn't bob or weave. Instead she throws it down so it bounces in no man's land then flies upward so that it will

drop and land on someone's head of not caught. I think of chess moves but we are all human pieces. A tall boy tries to catch the ball and misses. A girl with long blond hair also gets hit and last but not least, a black haired girl in gloves with each finger a different color can't catch the ball. The Ones are down to four players. There are seven on the side with the Twos. It takes another ten minutes for the game to end but the Twos win. We pat each other on the back. Lavender jacket pats me. She doesn't care whom she touches. "You're getting better Mendel," she tells me, "but next time you gotta catch the ball." I just nod and smile. I am going to go through several years nodding and smiling. I have to try not to let this irritate me.

 

Mendel Menachem Schneerson-Roth

Fall Creek Elementary School

1205 Lynn St.

Ithaca, New York 14850

Point Two-Five

 

Yes, the crew of Independent Rainbow Zia now has its own space besides their home in the shared conceptual

space with a physical gate in New Hartford (Novi Heart Fart to those who know and loved it well), New York, a suburb

of the third world half dead but don't bury it yet city, Utica. Independent Rainbow is the 10,000 pound elephant in

my characters' living room. They are a secret and very powerful organization that run a series of worlds within worlds. Naama, Alise, and Vijaya were all Independent Rainbow employees during high school and either have or will again have Independent Rainbow scholarships to Cornell. Naama's father works for Independent Rainbow as does her mother. Independent Rainbow is very powerful. You will see them flex their muscles every now and again.

 

The Independent Rainbow characters who do most of the talking are Kathleen FitzRoy PhD and Murray Kalish MD. Kathleen is IR Zia's ethicist. Her PhD is in philosophy from Cornell University. Her undergraduate alma mater is Syracuse. She grew up in Amsterdam, New York and spent high school living in Old Forge, New York. Murray Kalish is from the northeastern United States. He earned his MD at Yale. Let's start the action rolling...

 

__

 

"All in! All in now! Meeting! That means you!" yelled out Dr. Carpenter as I stood trying to peel a jicama in the kitchen. It was a good jicama and the skin parted easily from the white fleshy interior of the root. I was glad that Dr. Rothstein and I had sent a box of these to the Rat Hole in Ithaca. If nothing else, Rat Hole food gives Cornell Dining a run for its money.

 

"Kathleen!" Dr. Carpenter called. "Quit playing with the potatoes and come in for the meeting."

 

"It's not a potato," James. "It's a jicama. You eat them raw. They taste sweet."

 

Reluctantly, I walked in to the dining room. Over our dining room door hangs a sign that says "No Suits." This means Top Strand is supposed to keep out. They come in every once in a while, but they were not in today. We sat around the table. Dr. Carpenter (James Carpenter III PhD), a social psychologist and our titular leader, Dr. Murray Kalish MD, our psychiatrist who keeps everyone walking and sane, Madelynn Rothstein MD our family practice physician who handles physical ailments, Zvonko our security expert, Bonnie our lawyer, and several others. Independent Rainbow Zia has credentials that sink a table and we're not afraid to use them.

 

"I received a phone call from Top Strand National regarding Alise Liddell," Dr. Carpenter cut to the chase.

 

"Is she all right?" asked Dr. Kalish.

 

"Being that she got tased, she's pretty sick," answered Dr. Rothstein. "Apparently one of the women she befriended has medical knowledge and they've managed to keep her going somehow. Actually, it's not a mystery, fluid, electrolytes, and antipyrrhetic, but the girl needs some down time and she's not going to get it with plain clothes goons chasing her. More importantly," Dr. Rothstein continued. "Taser attacks resisted via delirium can be lethal. I had a long talk about this. Security will NOT tase Alise again."

 

"So what is next?" asked Dr. Kalish.

 

"Alise has convinced her friends in Langley to break the security rules," said Dr. Carpenter. "Also her cellular phone is untraceable. Someone has tampered with the GPS."

 

"Dr. Karch did that," I responded.

 

"Fortunately," interrupted Zvonko "Her transponder from several years ago still works. We traded a file on her movements for a future favor to be named."

 

"Where does Alise go?" asked Bonnie.

 

"It's called Oak Gardens Plaza," announced Zvonko. "The locals in DC call it Choke Gardens Plaza, a run down bunch of apartment complexes and grubby convenience and package store. The main form of business in that part of the world is illicit controlled substances."

 

"Shit," I groaned. "Now Special Recruitment does have a safety issue."

 

"Not immediately," answered Dr. Carpenter. "Top Strand is very concerned about Rose Among Thorns. It seems..."

 

"Top Strand has some real competition," I smile. In my native corner of New York State Rose Among Thorns has its work cut out for it. Rose Among Thorns is an alternative to chaos among the forgotten, among my own people. They are still my own people even though I work for Independent Rainbow. They are Colin and Kayla's neighbors. Colin and Kayla are the Top Strand Reps for Upstate New York, Western New England and Pennsylvania except for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. That is a lot of sad territory. It is their home despite their wealth and they understand that Rose Among Thorns can make it better for most of their neighbors. That is why they donated the building for Rose Anong Thorns in Ithaca.

 

So far there are six Rose Among Thorns houses:

 

House number one is Syracuse headed by Margurite Weisntein, the movement's founder.

House number two is Ithaca, headed by Naama Roth.

House number three is Binghamton.

House number four is Rochester.

House number five is Albany

House number six is Buffalo.

 

That puts Rose Among Thorns across a T shaped swath of territory formed by RT 13 and I-90 also known as the New York State Thruway. Rose Among Thorns has yet to expand to any large Eastern seaboard city. Though there are Rose Among Thorns members in New York, there is no attempt to put a house together. Washington, DC did not appear any where on the map until less than a week ago. I'm kind of glad Alise is in Choke Gardens Plaza. If Rose Among Thorns can take root there, then Independent Rainbow has an ally in its mission to keep civilization alive and this world from going under, and a powerful ally.

 

"If Top Strand were really 'concerned' about Rose Among Thorns, transferring Alise to some place like Vermillion, South Dakota," commented Dr. Kalish. "True, they'd lose a translator, but any where sparsley populated would neutralize the movement and keep it confined to Upstae New York."

 

"You don't have all the story," Dr. Carpenter continued. "Top Strand National appears to be divided. Local Washington area likes Alise and Rose much the way we do...Others in National are not so sure. If Rose Among Thorns became a movement of millions instead of a couple of thousand, it would overturn business as usual. There are a lot of people with investments in business as usual."

 

"What is your point?" asked Dr. Kalish.

 

"Top Strand National is divided and seeks our input since we nurtured Alise."

 

"Do they want a report?" I asked.

 

"No, they want our presence at a meeting in Washington to be held in an hour. You teleport with the best of them, Kathleen."

 

"I dont' have kind words for much of Top Strand," I answered.

 

"Colin and Kayla will be there," Dr. Carpenter assured me.

 

Well..... I guess I was going to meet wtih the suits. At least they don't hang signs in their board rooms that say: "No Middle Strand."

 

Welcome to the world of Independent Rainbow.

 

Kathleen FitzRoy PhD

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow Zia

Shared Conceptual Space

and

555 Oxford Rd.

New Hartford, New York

Point Two-Five

 

No, they didn't put a sign on the door that said "No Middle Strand," but as a plump short thing with greying curls and no fancy clothes, I waddled in feeling imediately out of place. The meeting was in the Mathilda Room of the Silver Springs Hyatt Regency. It was an anonymous rented location. Apparently no Top Strander wanted me sullying their offices and several of them came from far away. I could see Gavriel Roth, Naama Roth's father, sitting in his white swaeter and grey curls. With him was a little he used to take notes. He hadn't gotten that little from us. Most likely the source was Machi Penne or was someone hatching out proti eggs illicitly? It was hard to tell the little's gender. He or she wore a floppy pullover, faded denim pants, and sneakers and sported a full head of wispy light brown hair.

 

The other faces at the table were familiar. Colin and Kayla were there. A priest from Ellenville was there. This is a spirit priest and pathetic compared to what Naama Roth or for that matter I can do. There were the Rainwaters from Midland, Texas. The Rainwaters are the couple that put our current President in power, a Senator whose name I can't recall as I write this, and a woman with long chestnut hair and the heir of a queen. Her name was Harmony and she was Top Strand's rep for the Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia areas plus a few other counties.

 

Dr. Carpenter was right. We were a divided lot. The Rainwaters wanted Rose Among Thorns crushed, not only in DC but up in Syracuse and out in Ithaca. Mr. Roth said that Rose Among Thorns acted as a magnet for crazy and powerful young people like his daughter. The Rainwaters just looked at each other and smiled. Both of them had housed Naama temporarily around the time she turned eighteen. The Senator shook his head. "You know with all due respect," he began. "Washington DC is nto Seer-a-kews. It's the big leagues. The question that none of us know is can Rose Among Thorns play ball in the big leagues?"

 

"You're saying," said Donna Rainwater "That you want to see how far Alise Liddell can go."

 

"With enough rope she and her movement might hang itself."

 

"Then you are going to help her?" asked Colin.

 

"How would you help her?" asked Douglas Rainwater.

 

"She's going to need a response from law enforcment, a strong one. She's taking a crowd of her followers in as a ring of fire around the....drug dealing supermarket at Choke Gardens Plaza," I began. "If law enforcement does not help her, her movement ends right there. People die. She may die.You probably cripple Rose Among Thorns." I sit back. Being on the Telegraph pays off at times.

 

"All right," said Harmony. "You are a winner today, Dr. FitzRoy. I can talk to the Chief of Police. You get word to Alise that she is not to bring the ring of fire

to that pit of depravity until the fix is in at our end. Is Alise enough of a realist to understand?"

 

"Yes," I answer. "The ring requires some special technological equipment to coordinate it. It's also going to take some time to get it set up."

 

"Excellent," answered Harmony. I wanted to hug and kiss this young woman of wealth, power, and position. She outranks me but she is my ally and Colin and Kayla's ally, and in the end Alise' ally and in the biggest end of all humanity's ally.

 

Kathleen FitzRoy PhD

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow Zia

New Hartford, New York

Point Two-Five

Humanity is our business!

 

Dear Alise,

 

This is to let you know what you may all ready know by now. The security restrictions that did not let you and your friends tutor, attend religious services, run errands and visit Oak Gardens Plaza are a thing of the past as of four pm this afternoon. Enclosed is an official copy with a big red "Rescinded" on it. Yes, if you read the Telegraph, you know that Independent Rainbow down here in Washington had a big hand in helping to straighten things out as did Dr. Rothstein and I.

 

You owe us Alise and you owe yourself not to collapse in your tracks. From what you have written, you have been sleeping on the floor at Oak Gardens Plaza. You're in no shape to do that. Please come home to Langley tonight and sleep in your own bed. In the morning, you are not to go to work. You have a half day off (more if you need it less if you get done sooner) to see a doctor. Barring anything very wrong with you that you don't all ready know about, this will be an outpatient visit. The doctor's name is Nicholas Latimer and he is a classmate and good friend of Dr. Murray Kalish. He is an internist and he has worked with taser victims before and also unusual individuals if you get my drift.

 

I am glad to hear you are out there, working, and in one piece. Keep up the good work.

 

Kathleen FitzRoy PhD

Ethicist

Independent Rainbow Zia

Shared Conceptual Space and

New Hartford, New York

Point Two-Five