Throwaway People

Pain and Hate

"I told the head curator. He said he'd look into it." Crow shivered a little. She had told no one else what happened, except Mai. "There were ten maintenance men. They caught me in the basement, digging around the old exhibits. They dragged me into one of the storage rooms where I wouldn't be heard when I screamed. All ten of them, multiple times, and all I could do was scream until I was hoarse. Until I passed out."

Crow wiped away the tears. Key had sat beside her. She was hugging her. Crying too. It must have struck a chord in Key. She had to have had a similar experience. Possibly more. For Crow it had been ten men who used her several times, but it had only been once. Key must have endured it more than once.

7:00 AM

"You should have told us." Patty said. "It does hurt to know that you are hurting, but we can help you through the pain. That is what is important."

They had discussed the subject over breakfast. Crow had convinced Key to tell Jim and Patty about the dream she couldn't remember.

"In a couple of weeks, Key will be going to San Francisco, where she can get real counseling on her abuse." Jim said. "It might be prudent to wait until the proper specialist is available to help Key."

"Who's to say you aren't the proper specialist in this case." Crow said. "Or that this isn't the proper place for it."

"Crow, this is serious shit we are talking about." Jim said. "I could mess Key up more by trying to help her without the proper qualifications."

"Mai never had the 'proper qualifications'." Crow told him. "She helped me more than any therapist did."

"You were in love with Mai." Patty said. "That's different."

"Jim, do you love Keyote?" Crow asked.

"I do." Jim said. "I'm as proud of her as a father would be. That is different though."

"How?"

"It's the love a adult has for a child he is mentoring. Mai and you have a different kind of love." Jim said. "That kind of love helps to transcend the trauma that happened to you."

"Love is love." Crow lectured. "Adults love each other without sex. An adult can love a child without sex. We love pets without sex. What is sex but a luxury people enjoy. They don't even have to love each other. Both of them don't even have to enjoy it."

"I think sex is a carnal desire." Patty said. "It doesn't even have to be associated with love. I think that we have sex out of a basic humanistic need."

"Precisely." Crow said. "Mai helped me through my crisis, but she had begun helping me long before we had sex."

"You are saying that you think that my love for Keyote will help her remember this dream and deal with the horror of it." Jim said. "I don't know about that, but I think you are right about one thing. This house might help Key remember the dream and deal with it."

"I don't know about love, but I trust Jim." Keyote said. "I want to do this because I trust your abilities, Jim."

"That is good enough for me to agree to this." Jim said.

8:00 AM

The situation was similar to the last time they tried to get Key to remember her dream. Jim sat on the edge of his recliner. The coffee table was pulled away. Patty sat in a dining chair next to Crow. Key lay on the couch. Comfortable on her back, hands crossed over her chest. She was practicing breathing as Jim had taught her. Breathing evenly, moderately.