103 :: Women in limbo
Mariam opened a camera of the common room. The one Hank had said. The escape route. She kept the
She did not mark up a report on Hank. She did not track Naomi. She did not want any signs to say she knew what was going to happen. If a guard caught Naomi going through the door she would be sent back in. The door locked. Nothing more. But if they thought Naomi was being watched she would be put in solitary.
Mariam kept the screen open. She continued writing reports. She continued updating her data. She sent a message to a colleague in Taiwan. A request for an update. An important request. She asked politely in a friendly way. Mariam believed in being polite and friendly. She believed friendly got the best results. She told anyone she could that being polite and friendly got the best results. She claimed this was why her track record was so good.
Mariam watched the women sitting in the common room. Women sitting alone. Staring at the big screen. Just staring. Not watching. Not talking. Women in limbo. Waiting for time to pass. Waiting for their next life to start. Waiting for deportation. Mariam recorded the women sitting. She saved it as a minidoc. She changed the colour palette. She added the text women in limbo. She searched for haunting music. Mariam hated hard life minidocs. Drama students bemoaning their hardship of a tragic clash of fashion accessories. She had posted minidocs about hating hard life minidocs. Although women in limbo minidoc proved her point she did not post it. She deleted it.
Mariam analysed the performance data for the centre. Trends and numbers. Her shift ended. She carried on working on her tables. Her graphs.
The door closed. Mariam had not seen who went through. Naomi was not in the room. She had probably gone. Mariam sat with her head in her hands working out what to do.
Just wait for ten. No fifteen. (Mariam)
Mariam labeled her graph. She closed and saved. She updated. Switched off. She grabbed her bag. She walked through the office. She waved to Precious. Precious always worked late. Some people are just like that.
104 :: Biometric checkpoint
The Au Pair