THE ALPHA, SHE RARELY TALKS, BUT WHEN SHE DOES
THIS IS HOW LEGENDS ARE BORN
Martha Beth: Just answer their questions. Don't ask any, don't say anything extra.
Ofjoseph, June Osborne, she thought she'd already seen every dusty, cob-webbed corner of Commander Lawrence's basement. At one point, there had been a dozen injured marthas in that dusty place, now June knew where they'd put them all. Because apparently she missed one - this one, hidden behind a pillar. As Beth guided her through, Ofjoseph got more than one full-faced cobweb that she could not spit out fast enough, or get out of her hair. Yuck!
Beta Martha #1: Are you working on a plan to get kids out?
Ofjoseph: - still spitting out dusty cobwebs - Yes.
Beta Martha #2: - sharply from another direction, but close in - Who asked you to do that?
Ofjoseph: - more annoyed at the question than the spiders - No one.
Beta Martha #1: - causing June's head to snap back - So it was your idea?
Ofjoseph: Yes.
Beta Martha #2: - June's head was now on a swivel - Dumb idea. We're shutting you down.
Beta Martha #1: We have our own plans and you are interfering. - pause - You didn't even ask.
Ofjoseph: I don't need permission.
Beta Martha #3: - sharply to June, from an even different angle in the crowded basement space - We could fucking poison you. Dump your body in the river. No one would know, no one would ask.
Ofjoseph: - taking the hand from picking dust from her mouth so she could rub her hair clean - Fine, I'll ask. Will you grant me permission to rescue 52 kids from a lifetime of salvagings, torture and rape?
Beta Martha #1: No one's going to help you.
Ofjoseph: They already are.
Beta Martha #1: They answer to us.
Beta Martha #3: So you took a poll about whether people would be better off outside of Gilead, and you got a few Marthas to say yes. What a victory!
Ofjoseph: My Commander, he will provide the vehicles.
Beta Martha #2: Lawrence!?
Ofjoseph: He's done it before. We did it before.
Beta Martha #1: You didn't do a thing. You jumped onto a train that was already moving and now you're fucking Che Guevara,
Ofjoseph: There will be an escape vehicle with room for 52 kids. If you want it to be empty, be my guest. But why? Why would you ever prevent those kids from a better life?
Martha Beth: - nervously - I vouch for her. She saved this house. She got the chemistry teacher out. She saved the five from going to Chicago. I trust June, she keeps her cool. - sort of -
Martha Lori: - speaking from the darkness, silencing her betas - Beth, there's a shipment scheduled to fly in next week. We need you at Jezebels for that. Billy's helping us unload. - coming out from a shadow, turning to Ofjoseph - We want you to wait, until after his shipment. We will not, repeat not interfere with your plans. We've worked on this shipment for a long time, there cannot be a security crackdown. - silence - This has a small chance of working, and a high probability of you dying. You, you and your polyanna Marthas, you're on your own. If this goes sideways, their blood is on you.
Ofjoseph: - with a tinge of sarcasm, because this was the first she'd ever heard of Martha Lori - Thank you.
Martha Lori: - with sincerity - Godspeed.
AGENDAS
Canadians, apparently, are really nice when they arrest people. I'd been arrested by Boston police at demonstrations, and I'd been arrested and tortured by Gilead. By far, Canadians were nicer. I'd recommend them. In fact, the RCMP officer who'd put the arm on me, she was a woman.
Toto, this was not Kansas any more.
Even that, though, did not spare me from a melt down. Me, at this late stage of life, the most frequent time I ever got panic attacks, was when someone - a man - reminded me of 'my guy'. I'd also picked up the 'melt down' reaction to being originally rounded up and tortured by Guardians. In Gilead's case, the Guardians were all gropey-feelie men. Hence, my paralysis at all people in uniform.
'My guy'? That was the euphemism we'd used back in the day, when we put the names of our abusers into print, and then burned them in bonfires. No, 'my guy' had not been Mr. Zero, Mr. Oh-for-Osborne, June's biological sperm donor…. he'd never managed actual violence towards me. Everything he and me did was purely consensual.
Fuck, eh? I can't hate him for that. (Being in Canada, I've just done my first 'eh'!)
But when a woman with long yellow stripes down her trousers, a Canadian Mountie, comes up to you and says, "Ma'am, I request you come with me. You don't have to, but a man at the American consulate in Toronto needs to talk…..", well, I'll admit it, I'd soiled myself a bit.
Like I'd do regularly if someone passed me by, resembling 'my guy'. My reaction was always as fresh as the day everything happened. When I was 17.
At the consulate, I'd been forced to wait in their lobby. My fucking God, these were actual Americans in the building - I'd not seen one….. well, since January 6th of the year that the vice-President had caved in to election deniers. Men and women in this office, real Americans working together. Me, I was not one to sing 'America the Beautiful,' or to drop my deconstruction of 'Manifest Destiny', but I must admit - if 'The Star Spangled Banner' had broken out, I would have at least stood.
I was led to an office. The name-plate on the door said, "United States Department of State - Mark Tuello."
Inside, already seated, was Dr. Emily Malek, now in Toronto clothes. Beside her a tall, stately African American (Canadian?) woman, who gave off 'Martha' vibes.
Without me speaking, the man behind the desk stood and reached over for a hand to shake. "Welcome, Dr. Maddox. On behalf of the Secretary, welcome to the consulate, a bit of America in downtown Toronto. I'm Mark Tuello." He said with a broad grin, "I take it you know Dr. Malek. I must say it is a privilege to meet you, you are a person of strength - and of a unique vantage point in helping us understand, understand Gilead."
Looking a bit annoyed at being forgotten, the other tall young lady stood and extended a hand to me. Not waiting for Tuello she asked me to sit which I did. Which was a good thing.
"Dr. Maddox, I'm so pleased to meet you. I'm Rita, Rita Blue. You and your daughter, June, we were enslaved in the same Commander's house in Boston. Let's just say that I am so proud of her, she's a real boss!"
Too much was happening. Too many agendas which were foreign to me. Too many people actually wanting my opinion, my perspective. At my age, I was less certain I had one.
So stuck for anything else to say, I said to Rita Blue, "is June here? Is she in Toronto." Instead of answering, Blue looked at Tuello who was already seated, somewhat shielded from us three women.
Tuello said, "Canada is changing, Dr. Maddox. In fact, you and Dr. Malek may be two of the last allowed across the southern border. Canada's southern border. Ever since Gilead, Canada's Prime Minister's Office has been an ally of Anchorage, of the Stars and Stripes. Not so much any more."
Fearing I'd swapped torture in Gilead for bureaucratic double-speak in Toronto, I asked more forcefully, "Is June in Toronto, or isn't she? Can I see her?"
Emily's demeanor through all this was stark. She looked numb. She looked beaten. She'd meant to fade back into the couch behind her, but her silence was revealing.
So I serious'ed up. I remembered the sexism of Somerville Hospital, and how us (then) young female interns had to make noise and stand up for ourselves.
"Mr. Tuello, I'm old. I'm tired. Would you please fucking answer my question."
Mr. Tuello, he raised his left hand, and with his right started to point out his fingers, "one, Dr. Maddox, your daughter is on a train, right now, rolling across Canada to the west coast. She's one of about 50,000 being deported from Toronto, to be interred somewhere out in British Columbia."
"Two," he said pointing to his second finger, "we Americans are now losing support from the Prime Minister's office. The PM faces re-election later this year, and polite Canadiana is fading, fast becoming political - becoming isolationist with regard to America's beef with Gilead."
"Three, I need to know what you know about a woman identified as 'Martha Lori'. Dr. Malek here claims not to know her. I believe she does."
"And four, we have a high level asset in Gilead, a Commander. We've lost touch with him. Once again, Dr. Malek says she's never heard of him. With respect, Dr. Malek is lying."
Rita Blue then spoke. As softly as a Martha serving her Commander in an ornate dining room, where he wanted to be served - he wanted her to serve him before he had to ask.
Dr. Maddox, Mr. Tuello is talking about Commander Nicholas Blaine. The three of us were talking about him before you arrived. Dr. Malek here, I understand fully why this would be hard for her. Mr. Tuello, he dissents.
But Holly, can I call you Holly? Me, I knew June, your June. June, she saved my life. But I'm not naïve. June's impulsiveness got many good women killed. Not her fault, if I can put it that way. She was driven by good, she got lucky. But when resistance operations go awry, people die.
Me, I was at the Waterfords when June arrived. As Offred. I was there when Nick Blaine was a house Guardian there, a Commander's body-man. Nick saved my life, many times. I was there when Nick and June became 'friends' as it were. It was not like anyone in this room thinks. Not nearly. You had to be there, June teetered on the edge constantly. Nick kept her upright. Commander and Mrs Waterford, they were monsters.
Nick, he saved my life. Nick tried to get June out, June kept refusing. Nick got short with her, she always put him in his place. I trust she got that single-mindedness from you, Dr. Maddox.
Then Nichole. Nichole, she's Nick's. Not The Commander's not even June's husband's. Nick's. Your son-in-law, Luke, he's a saint with that little girl. Me and Dr. Malek here, she and I have had our differences.
But let me be clear.
What you're running into in Canada, Holly, is everyone's agenda. Everyone has one, including Mr. Tuello here, he has a US State Department agenda, in case you haven't noticed.
CARDS ON THE TABLE
Mark Tuello: Trust Rita to cut to the chase, Dr. Maddox. It's true. I need to know things. I need to know about Martha Lori, I need to know how to contact her. Also, I need to know what the hell happened to our Commander, the asset we'd developed, that we now desperately need.
Dr. Maddox: I cannot help you on much, Mr. Tuello. But speaking of agendas, mine is to see June.
Mark Tuello: There's also talk. Informant-chatter, if you will. Not conclusive, but the thought is out there, being whispered. - pause - Some are saying that June Osborne is working for Gilead, that she always has been.
Dr. Maddox: That's absurd. I know nothing about that.
Dr. Emily Malek: Bullshit!
- silence -
Mark Tuello: Well, we really are laying our agendas out aren't we?
Dr. Maddox: Look, put me on a train. I want to see June. We can clear this up.
Dr. Emily Malek: - sharply - No. Put me on that train!
Mark Tuello: Dr. Maddox, America is on the wane. One point on America's triangle is about to be erased, the triangle between Honolulu, Anchorage and Toronto. We're being put out of business here in Toronto. 'Little America', Canadians are now moving us out to solve their housing crisis. Just last week, I crammed 500 Yankees onto a cattle-train - five days to the west coast. There's thouands more. Me, I did that. Soon it will be me, and every American you see in this office.
- silence -
Mark Tuello: But America still has a few cards to play. One of them is that the PMO has ordered that the RCMP take lawful commands from me, from the US Department of State. For now, probably not for long. - pause - So, for now, you and Dr. Malek, you're both going to be detained. No, you're not under arrest. I don't have that authority. But you won't be going anywhere - not until we have an open line to Martha Lori, and until we know what the hell happened to Nick Blaine.
Rita Blue: Mark, no! You promised. - at that, two US Marines came in with one male Mountie and escorted Dr. Malek and Dr. Maddox out -