I am posting this before I head down to A-Kon.  Hope to see some of you
there.

- Lara




                    The Mother's Predicament

                         By Lara Bartram

                               ***

              "Our life, our sweetness here below"
                 "Our hope in sorrow and in woe"

                 - Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina)

                               ***

	"Ma'am, just come with us."
	The woman looked blearily at the heavily armed man holding 
her elbow.  "Is it Wednesday already?" she asked, her voice 
heavily slurred.
	"No, ma'am.  Just come with me and we'll clean you up."  
He was slowly leading her a van parked on the street, the entire 
area swarming with men dressed similarly.
	"But it's not Wednesday..."
	The man gestured to an emergency vehicle, and a paramedic 
jogged over to them.  "Another one?"
	"Yeah.  Is it safe to sedate her?  She's confused and 
flying like a kite."
	"Let's get her back to vehicle first," the paramedic 
answered, taking the woman's other elbow.  "Can you tell us your 
name, ma'am?" he asked gently.
	Name?"  She looked at the two men with bloodshot eyes.  
"His name was... Ta... Tate... Tategawa."
	"Yes, ma'am," the armed man answered.  "Tategawa Masaru.  
We have him in custody.  You don't need to be afraid of him any 
longer.  But what's your name?  We need to notify any family you 
might have."
	"Family?  I... don't remember."
	The two men looked at each other and nodded.
	"You just keep trying to remember your name, ma'am.  We're 
going to get you to the hospital," the paramedic said 
soothingly.
	"I'm so tired.  So tired..."

                               ***

	"What's today?"
	"It's Tuesday.  It's time for dinner."
	The woman shook her head slowly.  "Tuesday...  No dinner 
on Tuesday."
	The orderly faltered for a moment.  "Well, sure.  You get 
dinner here on Tuesday."  The young woman smiled brightly and 
set the tray down.  "When you're done, the officer would like to 
speak to you."
	The woman stared at the food in front of her blankly.  She 
was hungry, but...  There was a voice telling her not to eat it 
for a hundred different reasons.  Clasping her hands in front of 
her, she closed her eyes and began to rock herself slowly.
	There was a fire in her blood that made her nervous and 
sick and tired, and she just wanted to go to sleep and never 
wake up.  The voices she heard sounded very far away, but they 
weren't ones she was familiar with.
	"She won't eat."
	"Don't worry about that.  I think it's better that we set 
her up with an IV.  There's no telling what she's been through.  
Look at her; I'm amazed she's even alive at this point."
	"Can we question her?"
	"Yeah, but I don't know how much she'll be able to tell 
you.  It looks like she's high for the past three months."
	"I've managed to get answers out of criminals three days 
high..."
	"Not three days.  Three _months_.  Tategawa was a very 
disturbed man to do this to any human being."
	"No shit.  Thank you, doctor.  I'll give it a shot."
	The sounds of footsteps and creak of vinyl.  "Can I ask 
you some questions?"
	She opened her eyes and looked at the man sitting in the 
chair next to her bed.  "What's today?"
	He answered, "Tuesday.  What's so significant about the 
day?"
	"Eating on Tuesday wasn't allowed.  He... he said we... we 
were too fat.  No eating on Tuesday..."
	The officer shook his head, disgust plain on his face.  
"For the love of...  What did he do to you?  Was it like this 
for all of you?"
	"Who?"
	"The other women.  Was it always like this?"
	"I... I don't know.  What's today?"
	"Tuesday," the officer repeated.  "Ma'am, can you tell me 
your name?  There must people who are looking for you."
	"My name?  I... I forgot."  She spoke with a quality that 
reminded the officer of a person speaking in their sleep.
	"Anything you can remember.  What letter does it start 
with?"
	The woman's brow creased.  "N, I think.  N... N..."
	The officer smiled, trying to reassure the woman.  "N.  
That's a very good start."
	"Ne... Nemuko.  My name."
	The officer pulled out his pad of paper and wrote down her 
name.  "A family name?  Can you remember your family name?"  He 
handed the piece of paper to another officer outside the door.
	"I...  It's... so...  What's today?"
	"Tuesday.  Nemuko, can you tell me..."
	"Sergeant," the uniformed officer said quietly.  "I think 
I found her."
	"You just keep thinking, Nemuko.  I'll be right outside 
for a moment," he informed the victimized woman.  He went 
outside to see the other officer consulting a list of names.  
"You think you found her?"
	"There was a woman, personal name of Nemuko, abducted in 
the same manner as the others over four years ago," he said in a 
hushed voice.  "No guarantee it's her, but..."
	"What's the family name?  She might be able to help us out 
a little more if she hears it."
	"It's Kuno.  Kuno Nemuko."

...

- There is more of this written... dunno when more of it will get released
though.