I could hear the fear in her voice. She was smart. Got it after
you, Clara .
“That means, sweetie, that you will be taken.”
We drove for some time. The night was silent. It was curfew and
at this point Angels didn’t even bother patrolling the streets.
“Where do we go now, daddy?”
“Wherever you want, sweetie.”
“I want to see the sea.”
“Alright. Ocean is as good of a place as any. Let’s go see the sea.”
I was certain that they didn’t patrol the streets at this time. I was
wrong. They held up the sign that said “Stop.” So I did.
A man approached us. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead.
“Birth certificate and family tree,” said a sleazy man while he was
chewing tobacco. Who does that ? He lifted his fedora and nodded at my
little girl.
“What’s the magic word?” I asked him.
“Faster,” was his response.
I turned around and reached for my bag. I whispered to my
daughter to cover her ears and eyes and to start singing.
“Just one second, sir.”
I could see that he grew impatient. His partner came to his side.
Perfect . I found my berretta. That was when Leyla started singing.
“Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light…”
The partner was in shock. The sleazy one was ready.
“GET OUT OF THE CAR! NOW!”
“…what so proudly we hailed at…”
That’s my girl. You couldn’t sing that song. It was considered to be
against the Empire. As the sleazy one was reaching for his gun, I put
one right between his eyes. The partner was as frozen as he was when
he first heard Leyla singing. Good. Moving targets are hard to hit.
Montage, May 2017 10