The man sat in the chair in the interrogation room. He had just eaten scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast with orange juice. He was in a fresh suit, ready for the day ahead. The papers, which the interrogator left from yesterday, sat on the desk.
He was alone and his hands were free.
He stood up, and decided then to look through them, just in case they would require more preparation on his part. Surely nobody would mind, or even notice….
Footsteps came up to the desk.
He looked up. He was a deer caught in headlines.
“Sit down,” the interrogator demanded. The man sat down, setting his arms on the rests, letting them be locked. The interrogator’s stormy eyes raged at him, darting from his lips to his eyes. “What did you see?”
“I saw nothing.”
“Bullshit.” The interrogator reached into his pocket, holding a silver remote in his hand. “Don’t make me.”
“But—”
The interrogator pressed the button.
His hands were the first to sting. From there, a shock rippled under his skin like hot, thick water, squeezing his bones. His lungs grabbed on to any oxygen they received, his heart skipping beats, his head sizzling from being punched, his organs and veins about to burst….
The current stopped flowing.
His heart thumped against his chest. He slid down on the chair, sighing. Every breath he took was clear and cool, the feeling yoga and all those other Zen things promised but never delivered.
“Are you going to get up?” the interrogator snapped.
“I…might.” He jerked his shoulders up, but it only made him slouch more. He was Jell-O.
“What did you see?” the interrogator asked.
“I read your questions regarding The Overseas Subsidies Protection Act.”
“All right then.” He took out his pen, ready to write. “How did that come into play?”
“Well,” the man said, sighing, “the bill was written by a Senator. A committee, which I was not a part of, was formed, and it got passed there. On the calendar it was planned to be voted on within the next few days. It gained the majority support in the House. It was close in the Senate, but it was eventually passed and then signed by the president.”
“Did you vote yay?” the interrogator asked, sounding bored.
“A close lobbyist friend persuaded me to support it,” the man said. He closed his eyes, trying to regain his strength.
“And you just blindly took his word and didn’t question it because…? Oh wait, he funded your campaign.” The interrogator cracked his knuckles, farther than any time before. It startled the man, causing him to sit up and open his eyes. “Did any of the media news outlets cover it?”
He shook his head. “MSNBC made a little fuss about it, and so did a lot of the grass root outlets, like The Young Turks. Maybe Jon Stewart had a segment on it; I’m not really sure.”
“Democracy at its finest,” the interrogator mumbled.
Comments
Another brilliant read Kitty. I hope you are promoting this through facebook and Linkedin to get yourself a strong following of readers. The high quality of your work deserves promotion.
I support Bruce Kitty. When the prisoner read the papers I was tensing and mentally warning him to watch out. Then he was caught. Darn! You could make more of that moment as it is over very quickly. I'm dying to find out how it all comes together.