Crime and Punishment

Emmeline  arrived at home before Alice, and MacGregor met his 2nd Most Important Person at the gate. "Hello, you!' Em greeted her favorite K9 with a pat as she entered the house through the back porch, taking jars of canned okra and tomatoes from the pantry shelf with her.  A nice hot stew she thought, would be just the thing on a cold mid-winter's day.
An hour or so later with stew tasted and pronounced  incredibly delicious, she fed MacGregor and sat at the breakfast nook as he appraised her with head cocked to one side. 'You, Sir, have been fed! And no, chilie peppers are definately not to your taste!' She and Alice always made sure to celebrate the fall harvest with plenty of dried chilies from the garden,herbs and mushrooms, and canning anything else that didn't move gave provender against the cold winter.
Where was Alice, anyway? Em knew they both had finished work at the same time, but Alice was not at the trolley stop when she headed home directly. Em sat at the table and pondered the day's events, Mac flopping at her feet. That signature sheet...bodes ill indeed, she decided, as she scratched his bristly head. 'Where's your mama, eh?' she asked. Mac sighed then, making her smile. My stars, but it's dark out! Where could the girl be?
Just then, Mac raised his head and 'whuff!'d.
'At last!' Em got up as Mac raced off to the front door.
'Oh, well now! My stars, dearie, it isn't as though I'd run off with the gypsies!'Alice bent to pick up Mac who was near wiggling out of his skin with joy to see his Numero Uno.
'Soup's on!' Em called from the kitchen, as she set bowls out for them both and a loaf of rye-caraway bread on the cutting board.
'Smells wonderful! I'm fair famished!' Alice exclaimed, hanging her coat and scarf in the hallway.
She washed up quickly then bent over the stove and dipped her spoon into the pot, thick with okra,mushrooms, tomatoes and rice, and chilies naturally.'Needs more chilie pepper!'she winked at Em.' But, not bad!'
'High praise indeed, coming from your mama!'Em addressed Mac who wagged in agreement. 'So! What have you been up to, then?' she asked as she took a seat and bent to her steaming supper.
Alice joined her and first savored several succulent  sips of soup, purred like a cat and sat back before answering. 'Ummmm...Diosa, but that's what a body needs on a cold winter's eve! Good work, girl!' Al set to with knife upon rye then.'Have I got news!' she declaimed enigmatically.
Em cocked an eyebrow.
'Well! You recall the dread signature sheet we signed today? I took the matter up with some friends of mine.'
'Indeed, Al! Good! That has certainly been uppermost in my mind all day. I can't quite fathom what it portends...but I don't trust it.' Em sat back then,regarding Alice seriously.
'Exactly. I met with a couple of my old pals, a nurse and teacher, who have been trying to persuade their fellow workers into organizing for a labor union. You know one of them, I believe--Ernestine Guevara.'
'Oh,Ernestine! Truly? That's great news!' Em sat up now,'I haven't seen her since the night of the war games on the esplanade...'Em  rested her chin on her hand in thought. 'That new 'guideline' as they call it...they're claiming that it was only instigated in order to target repeat offenders and take steps to get them to shape up or ship out.'
'Bull Frogs, Em!' Alice set her spoon down with a thwap. 'If that was the case, they'd simply deal with the bad apples, not the whole barrel! Oh, no. They are after the foolish long-timers like us who believe we actually have a career! Just you watch! They'll target us, and then we'll be replaced with youngsters desperate for work at bottom dollar!Not that I begrudge anyone a job.But we have worked hard, believe in our work as something worthwhile to the community. And we're good at what we do, doggone it!' Alice sighed and stood then. 'I have something to show you. Come into the parlor.'
...said the spider? Em thought as she followed Al and took a seat at one end of the sofa and curled up with Mac on his blanket in the middle.She could hear Alice rummaging about her coat pocket in the hallway. Alice then entered the room carrying papers which she proceeded to unroll.
'They look like handbills. Let's see, Al.'Em leaned foreward as Alice sat on the other side of Mac and
taking a glance at Em, Alice read: 'ORGANIZE! There Is Power In A Union!' She paused and handed Emmeline a couple of the flyers.
'Oh, Alice! At last! You know we've been talking about this ourselves! And I have spoken of it with Ernestine...' Em read the bill: 'Labor Meeting - Wednesday Evening 7pm - Community Center. A Grassroots Movement For Worker's Rights' Emmeline studied the papers. 'We're going!'
'You bet your boots.' Alice arose and went to the hallway.She returned boasting a handfull of handbills.
These she dropped triumphantly upon the tea table.
'Marvellous! Good work yourself, Al!' Em paused and reflected a moment, 'I wonder...dare we take them to work though? You know the chilly climate.'
Alice smiled her Cheshire cat smile. 'I'll give them a Chilie Climate!' She raised her fist in air. 'Viva la revolucion!'She and Em exchanged smiles. 'It was divine stew mi amiga. But...diosa! Where's the cayenne?'
Em  grinned with determination. 'We should take them, don't you think?' She took up half the sheaf of bills.'And you're welcome to the stew!But you know I haven't your hot tongue, querida!'
 'I'll give them muy caliente at the meeting Wednesday.'
Alice stared at the flyers.'By the way, I saw your old beau, Lev, at the printers when we went to pick these up.'
Emmeline leveled her gaze at Alice. 'Lev Kopalski?' She remembered.
'You two had quite the thing together at one time,'Alice ventured.
'Lev, back in Pankhurst.And, just in time for a labor demonstration!' Em smiled and shook her head slowly. 'Same old Lev.You're right, Al. We did have a great thing going. I miss him. But, it just wasn't in the stars.'
'Hm.' Alice regarded her. 'Well. He certainly remembers you. Asked about you, he did.'
Em sat back, her leaflets in hand, and stared into space. At last she closed her eyes and smiled again, a little wistfully. 'I remember Lev fondly.'She looked up then. 'And we had much in common. But...we had our differences too. Still...'she stared into the distance once more. 'it'd be nice to see him again.'
Alice stood. 'Wednesday night then.'
Em looked at her leaflets,'So it is written. So shall it be.'
                            . . . . .
The Community Center was lit up like a Christmas tree as the old song goes, and full of town&countryfolk as well as pro-union agitators from various parts.Wednesday was a good night for town meetings as the church also had prayer meetings then and so this kept the anti-union crowd down. However, there were one or two radical priests from out of town who actually had one foot on the ground as well as a head in the clouds, as it were. Alice and Emmeline jostled through the crowd trying to nab a couple of rare seats together. They'd just sat down near the podium when they heard a familiar voice call; " Em! Alice! Diosa, it's good to see you both!'
'Ernestine!' Em motioned her friend over and when she and Alice had hugged her hello, Ernestine began to regale them with the meeting's agenda in, well, earnest.
'At last! It looks as though it's coming together here in Pankhurst. The teachers are all of one mind on organizing and most of us in nursing are in agreement as well. Whether to consolidate the two unions or keep them separate is just one of the issues.'
'I wonder where our library would fit in...?' Emmeline
deliberated.
'We'll fit you in somewhere, never worry!' Ernestine was the perfect name for her,Em thought. She was always so ardent in her passions, for healing, and equality, for what seemed to her, basic human rights.
Her mother was something of a local legend, a curandera, who was held in reverence by the townspeople, especially the womenfolk, who went to her for healing herbs and advice when the medical doctors could do nothing.Ernestine had inherited her intuitive gifts and had taken that much farther; having gone to Mexico City for her medical training.Her father was a respected scientist there, although he and Tina's mother were now separated.
She herself,was the perfect blending of old world herbal healing and modern allopathic medicine. Her de jure standing in the community was given her by an ingrained probity;she commanded respect simply by believing, no, by knowing that she deserved it.'I must speak with someone. I'll see you at the next meeting, if not before?' Em nodded and Tina disappeared into the throng.
Several speakers approached the podium then, and as the crowd began to take their seats, Alice nudged Emmeline and said, 'There's Lev,'her eyes on a figure standing to the far left of the stage. Typical! Thought Em. Oh, my. He hadn't changed in the years since she'd seen him last...how long ago has it been now? 2, 3 years? Still ruggedly handsome, one might call him. Lev, rarely a snappy dresser, looked like a typical poster of a factory worker from the North Countries; cap on his head at an angle shading his brow, arms crossed over his chest and sleeves rolled up to reveal hard,tanned forearms,farmhands' denim trousers held with braces, and heavy workboots, with not quite a scowl on his face, but looking as dead serious as he usually was. She remembered when they first met that she thought here was a guy she could never joke with, but she found out differently! He had a ready wit that soon had her in competition for comedic material and droll one-liners.He was a playwright as well as a union agitator, and all of his plays were heavily armed with Marxist rhetoric,'Lev-ened' by some of that much-needed waggishness.
Ah, Lev...still looking deadly attractive with his long fair-to-auburn curls tied back in leather laces at the nape of his neck like Paul Revere ready to ride and rouse the town to revolution. Best keep my mind on the business at hand, Em decided. Lev was still trouble, for her. And diosa knew that she'd had enough problems with men lately.
'Ladies and gents, workers and sympathizers!' A voice rang out over the hall and shushed everyone into silent attention. 'We meet here tonight not to debate on whether unionizing is needed or not, for of course it is, absolutely!'
This pronouncement was met with loud cheers and applause, some whistles. The older distinguished looking gentleman at the podium with longish white strands of wispy hair and a full handlebar moustache continued, 'This is only the beginning of what will soon become a full-on assault of workers, together, against those institutions, individuals, corporations and legislations which have been lately gaining ground against the rights of every worker to a living wage, a chance to pursue their chosen field of endeavor, and to do so in a safe and healthy environment.' Again, a loud chorus of agreement from the crowd.
'Didn't realize our humble purlieus boasted such a
rout of tovarishtchi!' Alice murmured. Em had to agree...it felt good to finally be amongst those with whom one felt comraderie,rather than constantly pushing uphill against the tide of management and their endless rules, demands, 'guidelines' they'd trump up just to make life a little crazier, and the brown-noses who kowtowed to them...
                        . . . .
A couple of hours and several impassioned speeches later, Alice, Em and Tina were gathered 'round the podium speaking together with some of the organizers who pressed more leaflets and newspapers upon them and made sure to receive their promises to attend the next meeting come January of the new year. Em was perusing one of the hastily printed papers, noting the ink smudges on her hands, when a shadow fell over the article she was scanning. She looked up into Lev's intent cornflower-blue gaze. 'Hello, Emmeline,' he
said, but he didn't smile she noted. Was he still...ambivalent toward her, she wondered? 'Hello, Lev. It's good to see you here. You're looking well.Back in town, then?'
He looked around, not answering for awhile. 'Briefly,' he admitted. 'You look well, too, Em.' He didn't seem pleased by this observation. He was always so hard to read... Well, it probably was generous of him to even approach me, I suppose, she decided. 'Are you organizing for the library?'he asked at last.
'I hope to. Oh, Lev, it's getting worse there all the time! I know we don't have to deal with unsafe work conditions like the factory workers...but the bosses seem to want to be rid of those of us who have been there some years, so that they may hire younger folk at low wages to replace us.'Em paused, seeing how Lev took all this in. 'I'm worried, frankly.''
'Yeah,' Lev sighed and reached down to retrieve his ever-present satchel and heaved it over one shoulder.
'It's a story I've heard many times before, Em. Don't let them push you out! Organize! Together, we can effect change.' At last the ghost of a smile hovered about his handsome mouth.'But you've heard my speech-making before, I think! Say, I'm putting out a paper now. The printer is working on the newest edition...possibly it will be out soon. Shall I drop afew off at your place? You're still at Alice's, I reckon?' She noticed his gaze slide briefly over her left hand, devoid of any gold band.
'Oh, yes, of course! It's home, after all. You're welcome by anytime, Lev. And your input is always on target! Alice and I are heading into the City for New Year's Eve, but we'll be home before and after.'
Lev glanced all-too-briefly into her eyes, then looked away. 'Remember the New Year's Eve we had together
watching the fireworks over the river?'
She remembered. All too well. 'I do. It was a wonderful way to welcome the new year...'she gave a brief shrug, 'Freezing though, wasn't it? And such a crowd!'
'I didn't notice.' Lev looked at her again, then switched his bag to the other shoulder. 'Well, I'm off, then! Give my best to Alice and Tina, will you?
I'll drop off the latest edition of the Comrades Cooperative Speaks, ah, as soon as the ink dries!' he allowed himself a half-grin, eyeing her hands. 'Viva la revolucion, Em!' and with that he swung himself off the stage and joined a throng of men who exited together.
'See you, Lev...'she said to his retreating back, rather wistful now.
Alice approached her then. 'Well! That was energizing!
Ready to hit the road, Em? Workday tomorrow, I fear.'
Em smiled and linked arms with Alice as they strode from the hall into the night air. She noticed Lev in a wagonload of men who were rattling off down the road singing songs of revolution to the accompaniment of guitar and concertina.
'Saw you talking with Lev.'Alice looked at her enquiringly as they sauntered home along the elm and sycamore lined avenues.
'Yes, we spoke briefly.' Em sighed. 'Oh, Alice...whatever became of us?'
'You broke it off with him, as I recall!' Alice stated matter-of-factly.'So, you should know.'
Em looked down at her boots. 'I know, I know. I had to. But I didn't want to. It was...complicated.'
Alice gazed ahead into the night sky, stars twinkling above them, and began to softly sing:'"The song...has ended but the melody lingers on...."She winked at Em. 'You both seemed to get along so well. You were always laughing, carrying on together. And rarely a moment apart, it seemed to me!'
'Maybe...that was part of the problem. Things were just then getting more difficult at work. And, well, I simply didn't have his inexhaustable Scorpio energy! We Libras wear out easily,by comparison; even from too much fun! Diosa, imagine complaining that a relationship was what, too good?' Em smiled. 'Well, actually, it wasn't all roses.' Damn, she remembered...the huge bouquet of roses he gave her on Valentine's Day. He was always ferociously thrifty, most comrades are...but for that special holiday he'd gone all-out. She began to get teary. This won't do! Get a grip, Em, she told herself.'I was exhausted...trying to keep up with him.He's a one-man tornado on fire, that one. And, as much as we had in common politically, we differed on some very important issues.'
'You argued alot then?'asked Alice, genuinely curious.
'No. Not at all. I never...brought it up. When I found out he felt the way he did about some issues, I was appalled. I kept it to myself...'
'Appalled? Truly?' Alice gave Em a droll appraisal.'weighed, measured and found wanting...'Al intoned sonorously.
' Eventually, all these minuses added up in my book...'Em shot Al a wry glance, 'and yes,I felt it was just time to end it.'finished Em. 'But now, hopefully we can just work together. As comrades should.'
'Em how can minuses add up? It's highly illogical.'
Alice was gazing at the stars...' Never thought of bringing up these...differences of opinion? Politics! You split because of fine print,Em?'...you know...'Alice began anew, 'I used to talk with Yeats alot, in the kitchen back at Jack's.'she looked over at Em, to see how she was taking all these blasts from the past, as it were,'and he made the sage observation that all relationships can be mollified by the use of regular intervals of wine and copious amounts of garlic...'
Em actually laughed then. 'Oh, Al...Lev and I never lacked for either wine or garlic!'
'Lev is a good guy to have on our side,'Alice concluded. She always did like Lev.
'It was complicated, like I said! And a long time ago!' Em quickened the pace, 'Anyway, he said he's publishing a newspaper now. He'll drop some issues off for us when the new edition is out.Okay by you, Al?'
Alice squeezed her arm,'Of course, cherie. Lev is always welcome. Will he be in town long?'
Em didn't think so. 'Apparently not. He seemed abit cagey as to his doings of late. I didn't press him.'
'Well, at any rate, tonight seemed a good beginning. At least we're not in this fight alone! That's something! Have we a chance at organizing our library, do you think?'Alice frowned slightly.
'We have to try, Alice! It's either that or just get walked all over by the likes of the Soup From On High!'
'...Soup From Hell, more like...'Alice muttered.
'Bloody Halfwaffle! It curdles my brain to think of her! Lets get some of these flyers into the hands of our colleagues at least! That's a start. Maybe some will have the gumption to show up for the next meeting, then!'
'Hope springs eternal...' Alice concluded as the two friends' footsteps echoed down the empty street and they rounded the corner that brought them at last to their quiet avenue home.
                    .....
The next day, although Em was raring to go, Alice had decided the best approach was to be as circumspect and subtle as possible. Of course, Em agreed, knowing Alice had much more to lose than she, should their agitating become cause for disciplinary action.
So they each approached, on their own, friends and colleagues with whom they had some measure of trust and allegiance, and left them with a handbill and invitation to the next town meeting.
Em was feeling that she'd actually put in a good day's work by closing time, unlike some days when she just felt frustration.  We did a good thing for worker's rights, and we didn't compromise the library or our jobs, she determined, by our efficient yet clandestine means to that hopeful end.
She was humming 'There is Power in a Union' while she read some of the previous night's literature at the trolley stop, when she noted Alice heading across the street her way.
'Alice!' she smiled and waved, but she noticed her friends' troubled countenance as she approached.
'What's up, Al?'she asked, taking Alice's arm in hers.
Alice looked at her and her chin began to tremble.Em had rarely witnessed such emotion in her normally stoic friend. 'Oh, my dear. Here, let us sit down!' and Em led her over to a nearby bench.
Alice took a deep breath and pulled herself together.
Then she looked down and began, 'Oh, Em. I, I am to be transferred.'
'What? Where?' Em couldn't imagine where or why.
'To...to...Siberia!'...Alice sortof wailed out the 'iiiiaaaa' part as she blew her nose into her handkerchief.
'Alice! What do you mean? Tell me!' Em demanded.
'Well. I think it's because they found some of the handbills on my desk.' Alice looked up at Em at last.
'Oh, no...Oh Alice. It's all my fault! I'll go in and tell them so, first thing! They cannot lay the blame on you!' Em was aghast.
'But why not?' Alice dabbed at her eyes. 'I can't deny it! Oh, Em...it's just that...'
"Alice. Tell me. Where do they want to send you?'
'It's the old archives warehouse. Across town.' Alice looked glum.
'They can't! Nothing's out there! And what are you to do? No trolleys run that far out...' Emmeline suddenly knew this was war. Diosa! They couldn't do this!...could they?
'Oh, Em...I'm afraid my days of a long walk to work or a short trolley ride are over! The only problem is, I'm not the young athelete I once was...'
Em smiled painfully,'Alice,were you ever a young athlete?'
'Nooo...more's the pity...' Alice slumped over in total misery.
'Alice, no, don't despair! I promise you, I'll tell them they were mine! They can't do this to you! It's my fault--I insisted we flyer the library!' Em felt lower than a backsliding gambler pilfering granny's cookie jar savings.
Alice sighed in resignation. 'Em, I won't let you do it. You have much more to lose than I!'
'I do not!'
'Don't argue. You do. You need gainful employment. You always have a place to stay, with me, and I always have my widow's pension. Frank is as good as gone.'
Em touched Alice's shoulder. Alice continued,'I'll make it somehow, Em. Get a bicycle? I don't know. Don't think I can afford a horse and buggy...and where to put them?'
The trolley pulled up then and the two friends embarked and managed to land a seat together. 'We'll think of something, Alice. They won't get away with this!'
Alice just looked at Em with eyes that bespoke her thoughts of more misery to come. 'All we wanted was some respect. Some rights. We just want to be able to do our jobs!Is that too much to ask?'
Em shook her head and said nothing as they rode home.
                             . . . .
Soundtrack: 'Brother Can You Spare A Dime' and Devotchka has that perfect Eastern European and Latin gypsy flavor.
Say don't you remember when you used to call me Al?
It was Al all the time--
Buddy do you remember, you used to be my pal?
Buddy can you spare a dime?