Three days before school opened, Deb got an e-mail from Jane's father. He had a “job” at a bicycle repair shop. This was quite a drop in status for him, from the owner of a bicycle factory to a repairman, from a free man to an enslaved worker. He had to work fifteen hours a day. His sleeping area included his wife and two boys. The kids went to a slave school. They were picked up by a “bus” that had no seats. Armed guards yelled at the kids to run into the school so that the school doors could be locked as soon as possible. One day, two girls that were judged to be too slow were shot and killed. Jane's mom did the best she could with very limited time and supplies. For a few weeks, she worked in a brothel and was whipped several times. The message ended with a heart-breaking line about how proud they were that Jane was doing so well and was able to continue the memory of the family.
It tore Deb apart even to think about what to do. She decided to take off all of Jane's restraints and bring her over to the computer. Together they talked quietly about how to respond. Deb suggested that she encourage her brothers to seek out all opportunities to learn, to read, and to grow. She also suggested that Jane leave out her sexual experiences as a slave.
Deb turned around so that Jane could write in privacy. When Deb turned back to the computer, the screen was blank except for a prompt for the passwords that let Deb send out the message without violating Jane's privacy. They were both crying quietly.
For the first day of school, the gang of eight knew they would be closely watched. Jane wore the best clothes that she salvaged from her life before her capture. The gang of eight spread out a bit but stayed in eye contact as they walked in the front door half an hour before the start of school.
Sarah held Jane's leash, just as she had done in summer school. Jane was wearing her highest quality indoor/outdoor ankle chain. It was well padded and did not scuff the floor or make much noise. Sarah and Jane made quite an entrance. The better students, who had not gone to summer school, all looked shocked. Jane and Sarah further confused the situation by saying things like, “Wow, we had a wonderful summer! It was a blast! How are you doing?” By being so upbeat, cheerful and confident, they were puzzling everyone. They were careful to say, “Nice to see you again!” to anyone they recognized from summer school.
Deb went to school by herself. Part of the plan was to misdirect. They wanted to make it appear that Sarah's family had purchased Jane. Sarah's family owned a car. Who knows, they might also own a slave. This hid Deb's role as de-facto owner, which hid Mr. Mitchell's role as the actual owner. There was no registry of slaves that any citizen could search. Access to those lists was allowed only for the police and the wealthy.
One could get some basic information by running a search based on a slave's full serial number. At an owner's discretion, a slave could wear their serial number or could have an electronic collar tag that broadcast the serial number locally. The electronic tag that Jane wore broadcast just four letters: jane. For those with the tools to read electronic tags, this just deepened the mystery.
Some of the students who could afford a slave were upset that a slave was attending the academic program of the school. Everybody knew that the tech school had slaves who were both students and workers. They were usually chained in one place for most of the day. The idea that a slave could take academic classes and keep a regular class schedule in the school was foreign to students and staff.
Most of the students had their daily/weekly schedule mailed to them during the summer. Some students, Jane included, did not have their schedules yet. Sarah and Jane went to the Guidance Office to pick up Jane's. The guidance worker took one look and said, “Please see Mr. Christopher in the office over there.”
Mr. Christopher came right out and said, “I am sorry, I cannot allow this. There is no way the school board will allow this.” Sarah just asked, “Is it was OK to appeal this to the school board?” Mr. Christopher just laughed and said, “Sure!”
Sarah and Jane quickly left the office. They hurried to the teachers' lounge. They knew that a student turning on a phone anywhere in school was against the rules. There was electronic gear to detect if someone was using their phone anywhere on school grounds. But not so in the teachers' lounge. They guessed that on the morning of the first day of classes, it would be empty. They were right.
Sarah pulled out her phone, turned it on, and called Mr. Mitchell on speed-dial. She just said, “Mr. Christopher in Guidance Office will not allow Jane into any classes.” She waited for the words “got it,” and then hung up the phone. They made sure the phone was fully powered down before sneaking out the door and heading back towards the Guidance Office.
After 15 minutes, they went back into Mr. Christopher's office. He was ashen-faced. He had heard from every member of the school board. He looked almost frightened. He used the intercom to make sure that Jane got into all of her classes, even if it meant bumping someone else.
There was still a last-minute task. The gang of eight needed to compare everyone's schedule to match against Jane's. Each and every class that Jane attended needed two “minders.” They needed one person to hold the leash and a backup in case the leash holder was absent.
Fortunately, Jane, Sarah, and Deb had the same schedule for the first two classes: English and Geometry. They could wait until recess for a more thorough schedule comparison. They got into the English class just barely on time. They easily found space in the front row of the class because students always tend to bunch up in the back of the classroom and leave the first two rows empty.
Mrs. Scheckner asked each student to say something about what they did during the summer. Many students described visits to water parks or alcohol-fueled fender-benders. The talk about car accidents allowed the student to show off that not only did their families have enough money to own a car, but they could also wreck one without a care. When it was Jane's turn, she said, “I am the slave formerly known as Jane Foreman. I am looking forward to this school year. I have read over twenty books this summer to get ready. I know there are some people here who are not happy to see me here. I am determined to do my best for the benefit of my current owners.”
Jane's use of the plural was deliberate, to offer more misdirection. Her classmates were instead astonished about “twenty books.” The school required incoming students to read two books over the summer. Most students started their summer assignments at 4 pm the day before school started. The truth was even stranger. As Jane later explained to the rest of the gang, “It is amazing how many books you can read when you are chained up for the whole summer.” Jane had actually read about 35 books. Her favorite topics were general interest math, the history of science, the history of recent technology development, and slave narratives. The slave narratives were very restricted. Mr. Mitchell was able to obtain them through confidential intermediaries. He always made sure that Jane had the books that she wanted to read. Mr. Mitchell could not get more books on older computer technology, but he had about a dozen books in his library. Over the next two years, Jane read them all. She loved all the stories of down and dirty competition: Microsoft vs. Apple, Sony Betamax vs. VHS, and Google vs. the rest of the world. The descriptions of GPS technology seemed very exotic. She eventually learned that the GPS satellites wore out in ten years or so. No one had launched a major rocket in decades.
Mrs. Scheckner did hand out a list of the books that the students would be reading during the school year. Jane was pleased that she had read all of the books on the list except three. She guessed that she would have the time to read each of the books one more time and still keep up with her other classes.
Geometry class was more of a worry. Jane had not studied any geometry during the summer. Instead, she had focused more on algebraic problems and manipulations. She had even done some early calculus. She quickly reviewed the textbook and decided that it was very manageable. She needed to read the text before each lesson and do each homework problem all the way through, and she would be fine. Mr. Franks did not give Jane a second glance. She knew that he would be a fair teacher.
At recess, the gang of eight met on a grassy lawn to review the rest of the schedule. Thinking through the walking path of the gang through the campus, they decided that it was best for Becky and Cathy to be Jane's minders for American History and Biology. All other classes and activities were best handled by Deb and Sarah. They noticed that by now, they were attracting quite a crowd of onlookers. They decided to make a bit of a scene. Since American History was just after recess, it was logical to turn over the leash to Becky. Jane reacted sharply, “No way am I letting Becky hold my leash. I find this totally unacceptable.” Rose yelled, “Jane, pipe down! You are creating a scene!” They ended up turning the leash over to Cathy for the next two classes.
Lunch was memorable. While carrying a cafeteria tray, Alex Cherrystone, a jock, came over and crudely knocked Jane's tray to the ground. His movement was so poorly timed that he also hit Jane in the chest. In a lightning-fast move, Deb put her tray down, took the leash and wrapped it around his neck. She kicked him in the groin while still holding the leash around his neck. He fell over backward, hitting a table and then the floor, bringing Deb and Jane down too. Deb waited until his face was turning purple before lessening the pressure on his neck. Jane and Deb stood up, leaving him lying on the floor gasping for breath. Deb said loudly, “If you touch my slave again, I will have the insurance company sue your ass for any damages!” The fact that Deb and Jane were largely “undamaged” and he was barely conscious was noted by everyone present. Deb added that they would not report the incident if he cleaned up Jane's tray.
Jane did not want to walk away from this. She yelled, “If your family attempts to sue, they will find that they will face the most expensive lawyers in the state. Your family will be hauled right from the courtroom to the slave processing center. They will slice you open and sell your heart for fifty dollars. And by the way, if you want to touch my titties, they charge fifty dollars for that at Fred's Adult Entertainment, where I work the evening shift.”
Deb said, “Fifty dollars?” Jane answered, “I am all about returning value to my owners!” Deb said, “No, the part about the heart. Don't those places get more than fifty dollars for a heart?” Jane just said, “When they put you on a table, slice you from your crotch to your neck, and start digging through you looking for something to sell, they got lawyers on one side of your body and doctors on the other side, well then, your heart is worth whatever they agree to when they stop arguing!” Of course, the value of internal organs was set by computer programs, which were probably written by other slaves, but Jane did make her point.
Since no one in the cafeteria had any knowledge about slaves being harvested for their internal organs, they got quite an education there. Deb said, “I love you so much, I am going to miss you so much when I have to sell your ass! Can I come over to your new place and visit?” Jane just snorted, “Well, you have to behave yourself. I hate discovering that the leash attached to my neck is being used in every bar fight in town!”
Jane added, “I have lost my appetite and so have you. Come outside with me.” Now everyone was listening to every word. Was Jane ordering around the person holding her leash? What was going on? Deb just hurried to keep up with Jane and said, “Coming dear. Slow up; I got banged up there when we all fell over.”
Alex's family did consider suing for damages. There was a video that a student made that clearly showed Alex coming over and hitting Jane and her tray. There was no court that would allow any lawsuit. The law clearly fell against anyone who started a fight. Deb and Jane never learned how close Alex's family came to being sliced open for their organs, which would have been worth top dollar in the medical marketplace.
After The Battle of the Cafeteria, the French and Art classes were uneventful. The last period was being split between Art and Physical Education depending on the day of the week. They were wondering how they were going to manage Physical Education. But that would be worked out in the coming weeks. They ended up setting up a set of six cameras with electronic tag readers pointed at any location where Jane would be taking PE classes. As long as Jane stayed in a specified zone, she could be free of all restraints except for her permanent steel collar.
Many parents were very alarmed by the presence of a slave in their child's school or classes. They started to write letters to the newspaper about the possibility of disease and “unclean things” being introduced to the school. Their basic argument was that since slaves are dirty, no slaves should be allowed in a school.
The truth was that Jane was very hygienic. She did take frequent baths. The problem with slaves is that they were rarely allowed to use bathrooms. Smelly lawns, sidewalks, and streets were the results. The folly of this silly circular argument should have been obvious to a five-year-old.
Becky and Jane presented a report to their biology class on The Disease-Carrying Difference between Slaves and Free Students in Our Biology Class. The assignment asked for a report that incorporated proper data gathering and analysis. The very provocative title and the findings caused a local stir. Surprisingly, the Slaves (i.e., the sample of one) in the class were much cleaner than all of the Free Students whose germ-carrying capacity was measured. The paper demonstrated this while also showing how many decimal points should be used considering the very limited data points available.
Of course, these antics caused complaints to the local school board. They knew they had to dial it back when Mr. Mitchell heard complaints from the members of the school board. Mr. Mitchell liked to chuckle at the antics and tiny battles conducted by the gang of eight. They all knew that by constantly switching roles, no one could figure out what was actually going on. By and large, observers of the gang of eight took what they saw or heard as the real story. The whole idea that they were just goofing around was somehow never seriously considered. The result was a large number of opinions about who was really in charge.
As much as possible, they acted as if Jane lived at Sarah's house. Of course, people came over to Sarah's house to visit with Jane. But Jane was never there. The family said, “Oh, she has a night job that pays all the bills!” They said it in a way that hinted that she spent the night in a brothel. Another remark was, “No wonder she is very tired during the school day!” But in reality, Jane came to school each day very well rested and well prepared for the day.
For anyone who wanted to meet Jane in the afternoon or at night, they had to ask around in school. Jane would never directly answer any inquiry herself, just saying, “My schedule is at the whim of my owners.” No one seemed to notice that the word “whim” was insulting to her owners. There were always some negotiations with one of Jane's leash-holders. The result was that Jane and a handler would show up at the person's house or some negotiated neutral territory. At no time was Deb ever associated with the housing for Jane.
Mrs. Blair, the senior English teacher, was the fly in the ointment. She had her list of the gang of eight that she made during the summer. She still remembered her anger at seeing this group of happy kids devouring food each day at one of the town's best restaurants. She knew they were up to no good. She tracked their grades. They were all very high. It would be a flip of a coin to guess whether it would be Jane or Deb that would end up being valedictorian of their class. She knew in her heart that there was some cheating scandal that she could expose. Perhaps the steel collar was a fake and that it contained some new type of miniaturized cheating apparatus.
Mrs. Blair figured that Karen and Zach were the weak links in the gang. She called them in and offered protection from the inevitable punishment if they spilled the beans. The questioning of Karen and Zach was inexpert enough for them to work out what Mrs. Blair knew. There was a secret account at a somewhat expensive restaurant. Zach and Karen said, yes, they did eat at the restaurant on the days that Mrs. Blair stated. But they denied any knowledge of who paid the bill. They just said, “Eating at a restaurant when someone else is paying for it is not a crime. We have never cheated. We worked hard during the summer to teach each other how to do better at school. Trying to be excellent is not cheating!” But Mrs. Blair had this fixation that the expense account was somehow a crime and that the obvious conclusion was that the gang of eight was cheating.
The gang discussed this endlessly. They told Zach and Karen, or anyone else, to say nothing more to Mrs. Blair. Instead, they would answer any questions at a formal school inquiry. They hoped that it would not come to that, but they started to work on their defense.
The first step was to tell each of the families about the free lunch deal. They asked their family members not to answer any questions about it, but to turn over any inquiries to those who were part of the summer lunch club. And the eight members of the summer lunch club all said that they would answer any questions in a formal school inquiry.
In mid-November, the gang was asked to appear before a formal panel. The principal, the Dean of Students, and Mrs. Scheckner were members of the panel. At the panel, Rose read a formal statement. She said that their parents and the committee of owners all shared in the expenses of helping “The Slave Formerly Known as Jane Foreman” do well in high school and hopefully graduate with honors. To do this, they all paid for the summer school class, their study materials, and yes, the free lunches on each day of the summer school. While it may have appeared like reckless spending, it was crucial for allowing them to spend the whole day on academics, from their intensive morning class to their hours of homework and study each afternoon and sometimes the night. This kind of intensive tutoring was not available to other students. It was all paid for by the desire to increase the financial value of “the Slave formerly known as Jane Foreman.”
Rose then asked to have one of her friends bring a large cart into the room. It contained all of the books they had read and studied during the summer. It also showed all the homework they had done. Each homework paper was dated and marked with the student's name. Since each of the papers was photographed on their phones, they had the date stamp that could forensically prove that they had done all of this work. And yes, they had all the signed receipts for the so-called criminal lunches.
Rose asked the school panel to study their evidence. She asked the panel to ask the summer school and see if they all had a perfect attendance record. Rose knew that the summer school staff was too lazy and too uncurious ever to learn what was taught in their classroom. This was one of the reasons why no one had connected the dots before.
Naturally, they had taken away anything that was incriminating, like the forbidden books of slave narratives that Jane had been reading. Anyone who went through the books and papers would be struck by how much work had been done by these students, hour by hour, day by day.
The one part where they did misdirect was stating that each of their families had an ownership share of Jane. Since they all stood to profit in the increase in value, financially, this was true. Since all of Mr. Mitchell's expenses would be deducted off the top, it was fair to say that their families had paid for the summer program and its free lunch. It was true; there was no such thing as a free lunch. Once you went through the math, each of the families was directly paying for their son or daughter to have a whole lot of free lunches. They were just going to pay for it in three years when the expense bill was deducted from their share.
This formal statement had quite an impact. The text was given to the newspapers. The whole town started discussing this attempt by a bunch of rich kids to game the system. There was some discussion that any increase in value to Jane belonged to the school system, not the owners of Jane. But others said that was “socialist.” One newspaper letter writer demanded that the school system bill each graduating student each and every year for the value of their salary beyond what a high school dropout would earn.
The mood of the gang of eight was soured by this turn of events. In effect, they were branded as cheaters by reading and studying much more than an average student would do. They decided to organize a debate featuring Deb and Jane against any other student or teacher on whether what they had done was inappropriate. It was telling that no one wanted to debate the issue. Bit by bit, public sympathy started to turn towards the gang of eight.
The gang of eight said that if an organization, such as a school, library, or church, offered a suitable location, they would offer five-hour study sessions on the weekends. They got only two inquiries. And this is how the gang of eight became the gang of ten.
Peter Anderson and William Farjani were clever kids who were always falling through the cracks. They were avid readers and were always looking for ways to improve their grade averages. They were not afraid of hard work. While adding two people to the group seemed like a small change, it was huge in terms of changing from an almost all female group to one that had three young men. These two boys changed the flavor of their clique. No longer could it be argued that it excluded boys. No longer could it be argued that it was exclusive. Two young men just said, “I am not afraid of hard work,” and they were fully accepted.
The gang still had its secrets. The exact ownership of Jane was kept hidden. The role of the gang as “Friends of Jane” and nothing more was still hidden. The use of ever-changing role-playing was not discussed at all. Peter and William were brilliant additions. They sometimes played as dumb bodyguards for the girls and Zach. They sometimes played the role of great independent thinkers. They had struggled to function well without good resources for so long that they had insights and knowledge that no one else had. All the summer school gang took turns bringing them up to speed on what they learned and how they approached each problem. Peter was an especially good actor and helped pull off some memorable stunts.
At one point, when Peter knew many people were listening to him, he tried to talk Jane into escaping with him to “the forest on the other side of the mountain.” Part of the fun was no one had any idea where that was. Another time he “accidentally” dropped Jane's leash, and then affected a very dramatic re-capture. What made an ordinary episode memorable was Peter's skill at keeping a straight face. He had the ability to come up with wild excuses that were somehow plausible.
One other consequence of the November Affair was the fate of Mrs. Blair. This was the doing of Mr. Mitchell. He put some information through various business data centers that made it appear that Mrs. Blair could not handle her debts. This information pushed Mrs. Blair down one notch in the six-level social structure. For those who do not know this, here are the levels:
Mrs. Blair went from level four to level five. While this was done artificially, it had real consequences. Someone at level five was just a tiny mistake away from slavery. They had to wear ankle bracelets. They were not allowed to travel without police permission. Losing a job or even a drop in pay made one subject to arrest. Mrs. Blair was brought into the police department to be carefully measured, photographed, and warned about the things that she was forbidden to do. She knew that if she complained about the evil summer school kids again, she might be a slave within minutes. For her, it was very cruel and very real. It was also very public. The ankle bracelet was obvious to everyone. It was clear to anyone who reviewed the situation that there were real consequences to standing in the way of this one particular group of students.
One day, Deb, Becky, Jane, and Mrs. Blair met on the sidewalk downtown totally by accident. Mrs. Blair just said, “Is it OK for us to talk for a few minutes?” The girls said yes. They walked to a small park and sat on a bench. She just asked, “Are you angry with me?”
Jane answered for the group. “When my friends and owners were faced with unfounded accusations, they got deeply upset. At no time did you come to us and politely ask what we were doing. We are not criminals; we are diligent students. You know this now. In our senior year, we will be your best students. I think I could pass at least half of your tests right now. But we are the tip of the iceberg. Powerful business and financial interests are paying most of our expenses now, including my purchase price. They saw you and anyone who would try to launch false accusations as a threat. These people, who could sell me into a brothel at any time they choose, have done something to you that is quite distasteful.”
Jane continued, “I am glad you sought us out. If you are truly remorseful, we will plead your case to have your status restored. We are not blackmailing you. We want nothing from you except to be treated fairly.” Mrs. Blair quietly said that she understood and deeply regretted her behavior. Everyone agreed that it would have been much better if she had just sat down at our restaurant table and asked what we were all doing. It would have been quite awkward, but it would have been much better than launching false accusations months later.
Jane added one request. She wanted Deb and her to take Mrs. Blair's famous Senior Grammar Quiz, a test that was feared by all the students. Mrs. Blair asked if they wanted to take it in January with the seniors. Deb replied that taking it after school in Mrs. Blair's classroom was best. Jane said, “You can search us for notes, set all your cameras on us, do what you want. We just want to show you that we are not cheaters and that we respect you as a teacher.”
There were a few tears in Mrs. Blair's eyes. She had expected to be talking to some haughty rich kids who were trying to force her to do things to give them an unfair advantage. Somehow, she never expected to be treated with such respect and decency.
Deb and Jane took the test a few days later. Mrs. Blair was attentive for any signs of cheating. In her career, she had seen it all. She graded the papers a few minutes after the test was over. The girls did much better than Mrs. Blair had expected but worse than the girls expected. Deb just looked at the graded papers and said to Jane, “Come on, we have some studying to do!” Mrs. Blair whispered, “Thank you,” as Deb and Jane left the room. As usual, Deb held the loop of the leash on her wrist. As they walked out the classroom and down the hall, they were holding hands.
At every opportunity, Jane slept with Danny. They both found the relationship gratifying on many levels. They were very fond of each other. They could complete each other's sentences. Having a relationship with someone she cared for so deeply caused her to think deeply about how she could structure her life to keep this relationship going. That train of thought kept hitting a dead end. As a slave between the ages of 15 and 23, it was impossible for her to have any say about her personal life. Once she was 24, she could request marriage to another slave. Her request would be granted if certain conditions were met. Again, as someone who was not 24 yet, she was not fully aware of what her rights were. But they seemed very limited.
In March, Mr. Mitchell let his slaves Sally and Roger go on a vacation by themselves. This seemed to have been a logistical feat for Mr. Mitchell. He claimed that he needed someone he trusted to review a resort hotel for a few days. Everyone said this is highly irregular, but Mr. Mitchell obtained all the travel permits, the permission of the police, and various banking entities. Sally and Roger had to carry special documents and a cell phone that would only ring Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell himself went for a business trip. Danny got to stay with Deb and Jane.
When Deb came to pick up Jane and Danny, she got to see him for the first time. Deb was surprised that Danny was black. Danny just said, “My mom is black, my dad is white, do you have a problem with that?” Deb quietly said, “No, of course not.” Jane and Danny knew what the issue was. Deb had only seen Roger up until now. Sally and Danny always stayed inside during times when Deb dropped Jane off or picked her up. Jane just thought it was fun to have Deb learn about this as a visual surprise. Jane added, “Sometimes people have the same reaction to my mom. She has a complicated set of DNA.”
Deb, Jane and Danny shared the same bedroom for a week. Jane and Danny took the bed, and Deb slept on the cot. They certainly got to know each other very well by the time the week was over. Deb wished she had a boyfriend who was so devoted to her. She had been spending so much time on her school work that she rarely thought about her social life. She decided that she would try to change this in the coming school year. Deb noticed how happy Jane was that week.
Since it was a school week, they brought Danny to school with them for the week. Danny was much better at English literature than anyone ever thought. He finally confessed that Mr. Mitchell had set up a bookcase with two sections. One section contained books for him, and the other section was for books that he was forbidden to read. By the time he was fourteen, he had read all of the books in both sections. It took years for him to realize that he had done exactly what Mr. Mitchell had expected. But since he had violated a direct order from his owner, he did not want to tell anyone. Jane and Deb thought that was hysterical. This was more proof that Mr. Mitchell had a wicked sense of humor and deep antipathy to the highly structured social system.
The Sophomore Field Trips in April were very stressful for Jane and her friends. There was a week of spending each morning at a seat of power in the community. They were scheduled to visit the police station, the courthouse, the local governing council, the town business association, and the local TV station. The field trips were supervised by the police, who initially would not allow a slave to visit these sensitive locations.
There were some negotiations with the school. The administration was frightened about excluding Jane from any school activity. The experiences of Mr. Christopher and Mrs. Blair were mirrored by the various inquiries that members of the school board made on behalf of Jane. Eventually, a compromise was reached. The gang of ten was not happy about it, but Jane just said brightly, “Think of this as a Social Studies lesson for the sophomore class!”
The first visit was to the police station. Three police with long rifles pointed their guns as Becky took off all of Jane's restraints. The police put on their own very short leg shackles. They locked two leashes to Jane's collar, given to Peter and William, who were sternly warned about the consequences of any funny business. Jane was also put in handcuffs behind her back. She was not allowed to speak out loud but was allowed to whisper a question to a fellow student.
Jane tried to be as cheerful as possible and thanked the police for their professionalism. She was being sarcastic. She was upset that the police officers putting restraints on her were wearing rubber gloves and masks required for toxic and smelly environments. All of Jane's fellow students were shocked at this treatment. Jane just wished someone would take a picture for the yearbook.
The tour of the police station was uneventful. There were many officers that dealt directly with the public. People were coming in to pay fines, obtain travel permission or permission to make a payment that was rejected by the computer network as “suspicious.” Most of the revenue for the police station was fees for services, including a daily charge for holding slaves who were awaiting transport or pickup. Jane knew they also punished slaves for a fee and supervised slave self-transport for a fee.
If three or more slaves were going from the same sleeping area to the same workplace, they could self-transport. Or if three slaves needed to walk from their workplace back to their sleeping area, they could self-transport. They were chained together securely and wore wide-broadcasting electronic tags. A travel document would be filed, for a modest fee. An officer could monitor all the self-transporting slaves if desired. If the slaves left their assigned path or took too long, alarms would sound, and officers would be sent to intervene. There were large fines paid for slaves who caused alarms to go off. As a single slave, Jane was not allowed to self-transport. This was what made her so unusual. It was typical to buy at least three slaves unless an owner was fond of constantly traveling around holding a leash.
Jane already thought the police were lazy, nasty, and best avoided. A police/slave encounter often went bad. Jane kept her mouth shut and was very happy when she could switch to her regular restraints. She rubbed her wrists when they left the station. This was going to be a rough week.
Tuesday was the courthouse. The courthouse was not as strict as the police station. They just added handcuffs to Jane's normal restraints. Jane asked the court official to be gentle with the handcuffs. There was no problem there. Many kids asked the court officials about how someone could be sent from level four straight into slavery without a court hearing where they could offer evidence. They were told that the court just follows the law. That did not reassure anyone.
The next two days were uneventful. It was obvious that the “slice-owners,” the level one people, set all the rules. In Warren, the level two people made sure the rules were followed. Jane realized that Mr. Mitchell was clearly level two. That made her proud; she was the personal property of the nicest level two person she could have ever imagined.
Friday was the TV station. That was eventful. As usual, they made a live mini-feature about the visit of the sophomores. Two students had been given cards to come forward and ask questions. The first person was William. He asked if the station tried to help deal with social problems in the town. The newscasters all said, “Of course.”
He then held the microphone for Jane, who popped out from right behind William a few seconds earlier. Jane asked, “How about encouraging Warren to build public toilets to keep our town clean, healthy, and pleasant-smelling?” They all said, “There are plenty of public toilets in this town. That is not the problem.” You could see the producers and staff all getting nervous. They did not like the idea of having a slave on their TV segment. Jane just asked, “Can I use your restroom, please?” The newscasters all yelled at the same time, “No!”
There was an uproar in the room, as the students started to yell: “What!?” “Are you kidding me?” “What is your problem?”
Needless to say, there were technical problems, and they cut off the show. No student had ever had any problem using the same restroom as Jane. There was a certain amount of freedom at the high school. Students could use any restroom they wanted if the ones for their gender were fully occupied.
Jane and William were in trouble. William just said that he did not know Jane was not supposed to speak. Jane said, “I have been ordered to ask that question by my owners. If there is a problem, fine my owners.” Mr. Mitchell did get a fine for $1000. He later said, “I paid it gladly. It was the best show I have ever seen on the local TV station. Warren would be better off if Jane had a regular TV show. The catch is that I would not be able to keep up paying all of the fines I would be getting.”
Unless the reader enjoys the minutia of the daily grind of high school life, there was not much to say. Jane was still being insulted by students who came from level two or high level three families. She mostly answered, “Have a wonderful day! I love having interesting things to write down in my diary!” The next day, Jane would loudly say in the cafeteria, “I hate being a slave. My owners keep reading my diary and making lists of people to punish. Why cannot I just have a private life like everyone else?” The implied threats were real. Everyone knew that Mrs. Blair was placed into level five just because of her witch hunt on the gang of eight.
By the end of the school year, Mrs. Blair was restored to level four. She looked much happier when that happened. She would be allowed to take a summer trip and would not be legally obligated to work during the entire summer.
At the end of the school year, the final grades were posted. Everybody in the gang of ten did much better than they had during the previous year. The obvious implication: people who had always made the top 10 or 20 of class ranking were bumped way down by this band of what were now revealed to be not-so-rich kids. Once again, there was anger and frustration as some privileged kids did not get the cars or vacations that were linked to school rankings. A new set of enemies was growing as summer vacation was just starting.
Right after school ended, the gang took a stroll to Hawthorne Park, right next to the river. Everyone stripped down and jumped in, except Jane. She said she would guard the clothes against falling into unfriendly hands. It was too risky trying to swim in a river wearing restraints. At the minimum, it would be considered “risky behavior,” that Jane promised to avoid. Jane remembered that Mr. Mitchell had an outdoor pool. The next time she visited, she asked about using it. Mr. Mitchell agreed that they needed to get rid of the shackles. They ended up borrowing the monitoring equipment from the PE department at school and setting it up around the pool. Jane could swim for the first time in over a year. Mr. Mitchell made another donation to the school for the “summer rental.”
The swimming pool became a way for the gang to mix socially with Danny, his parents, and Mr. Mitchell. Somehow, the stripping off of all clothes in a swimming pool made it much easier to ignore all the artificial social layers. Down deep, everyone is just the same. They spent some time reviewing the past school year and talking about the next year. The general agreement was that there needed to be fewer antics and more serious work. But they all pledged to push back at any attacks on the group.
Jane and her friends also learned a detail that astonished them. Their mystery young teacher, Emily Johnson, was none other than Emily Mitchell, the niece of Mr. Mitchell. She was the youngest daughter of Mr. Mitchell's youngest brother. They took lessons from a level two person! When in the history of the earth had that ever happened before? It was vital that they keep this secret from everyone, to avoid a massive scandal. That Emily could work under a false name seemed like impossible skullduggery. How on earth could that happen? It appeared that the intense Personal Identity laws of the nation did not apply to level one and level two persons.
Summer School was very funny. The room for the class called “Junior Year Enrichment” being taught by Emily Johnson was packed. When Emily explained that the class would consist of six Monday sessions, and there was no free lunch, 80% of the students left. The remaining students were the gang of ten plus seven others. Emily handed out an examination to determine who was entitled to subsidized books and study materials. Five of the newcomers failed the test, and they left the room, leaving twelve students.
Emily passed out books and learning materials which students were encouraged to share. There were long handouts with questions and problems. The students spent the remaining two hours reviewing the books, and speed reading the questions. They wanted to find out if they could do all of their assignments before the next class in a week's time.
The two newcomers were Carol Nguyen and Kathy Hoang. Kathy spelled with a K, not to be confused with Cathy with a C, who was part of the original core group supporting Jane's efforts from the beginning. The best way to describe Carol and Kathy would be to say they were somewhat spoiled kids who were used to doing well in school. The end-of-year rankings shocked them to their core. They both decided to join the gang rather than fight them.
The gang of ten was a bit uncomfortable with these two newcomers. They decided to conduct themselves on two levels. For summer school activities, they were a group of 12. For anything else, they were a gang of ten. Carol and Kathy did say that there were six kids who were determined to take down the gang any way they could. The gang was appalled. They retold the story of Mrs. Blair, who got herself in a very difficult position. Without being too specific, they relayed the danger these six students would face. As the summer wore on, it was clear that these warnings were being dismissed as silly fear-mongering. They did not think that the gang had the power to turn their sunny lives upside down.
Carol and Kathy did not work as intensively as the gang on their summer studies. But they definitely got a big boost. If they stayed focused on their school work during the coming year, they would clearly make their way back to top-twenty students. They knew that their families wanted them to make the “top twenty list.”
One step the gang did take was to report to Mr. Mitchell that there was potential trouble in the coming year. When Mr. Mitchell asked for names, they turned over the list. And that was when Mr. Mitchell made a surprising discovery.