Chapter 22 Facade
On The Wire
The drama at the 4M clinic had been child’s play for Darren and Amber. They basically had kidnapped Peggy using a readily available “date rape” drug. The first 4M treatment had already made her very compliant. As long as they got her strong, regular treatments, they could manipulate her in just about any way they wanted. They planned to keep her until after her baby was born. With the portable Lansing III unit as additional help, it wouldn’t be too difficult to keep Peggy on a tight leash.
Unfortunately, this type of thing was common by the 2100’s. Much like cybercrimes had become mainstream a hundred years earlier, Crimes of Manipulation (COM) had become a mainstream technique for robbery, extortion, sex offenses, and controlling a spouse, employees, relatives, anyone. All you had to do was get someone a strong initial 4M treatment, assuming it was the right type of treatment, and then you could keep them under your control. The hardest part was always getting them to the initial treatment.
The challenge for Darren and Amber now was going to be convincing Peggy’s parents that she needed and wanted to stay with Darren and Amber for a few months to “sort things out.” It was going to take some careful finessing so that they wouldn’t be suspicious. This could be the deal breaker.
While Darren distracted Peggy with some food and drinks in the kitchen, Amber went into their bedroom and called Peggy’s mom.
“Hi, Mrs. Miller? It’s Amber. How are you doing?”
“Oh, hello dear. Peggy was so excited you called last week and couldn’t wait to get over to see you. Did she get there alright? Oh, and congratulations on your baby. I bet you two are just thrilled.”
“Thanks. Yes, we are very excited. And Peggy did get here just fine. In fact, we just got back from my prenatal appointment.” Amber paused. “Peggy seems pretty upset about her baby and the whole situation with the father and all.”
“Yes, she’s talked about it, wondering what she should do. Her father and I have had the tough love talk with her. We told her that we just can’t be raising a child at our ages. We are still working too, you know. So this is going to have to be entirely up to her whether to keep it or not. I don’t mean to sound uncaring, but if she wants to be a mother and raise her child, she’s going to have to make some serious changes in her life, and work two jobs because that’s what it takes these days.”
What a stroke of luck, thought Amber. This will play quite easily right into our hands.
“Well,” said Amber, “Darren and I thought it would be good for Peggy to stay with us for a while. You know how sometimes friends can have influence when parents don’t?”
Mrs. Miller laughed, “Oh, yes. We’ve seen that over and over with Peggy.”
Amber continued, “We can help her out. I had already planned to take some time off from work, starting now, until after our baby is born. Whatever Peggy decides to do we’ll help her through it. What do you think?”
“You kids are such good friends to Peggy to unselfishly sacrifice so much of your time like that. I think it’s a great idea for Peggy. I just worry a little about the imposition to your lives…”
“It will be fine for us. We’ll make Peggy help out, so she’ll carry her weight. It will be good for her I think,” Amber said. “Plus it will be nice for me to spend time with Peggy again. It’s been a while.”
“I couldn’t agree more. This is just what Peggy needs, I think. Be sure and let us know if there is anything we can do to help.”
They talked for a few more minutes, and that was that. After the call, Amber took a deep breath, went out to the living room and looked at Darren, who was grinning, having heard the entire conversation on his ear bug. Peggy was still in the kitchen.
“Can you believe it?” Darren asked. “I thought they’d be wondering what the heck we were trying to do, calling up and saying Peggy was staying with us. Sounded like her mom pretty much said, ‘that sounds great.’ ”
“She didn’t even ask to talk to Peggy,” Amber said. “Don’t you think that’s a little strange? Maybe her husband’s running a 4M routine on her!” Amber laughed, though it really could be a possibility.
Having successfully completed the physical and emotional kidnapping of Peggy, Amber started her two month leave from her job at the grocery store so she could keep tabs on Peggy at all times. That was essential for making this plan work.
Any major improvement to Darren and Amber’s SIN Score depended on them paying off the Marriage to Freedom obligation—giving over a second baby. Without that done, there was little hope of moving up any class level. The government wasn’t in the business of forgiving debt.
While they groomed Peggy for giving up her child, they continued to work their other plans for improving their Scores. At the news agency job, Darren took every opportunity to post comments, that Amber had pre-written, on any article he uploaded that was remotely related to family life or government policies.
Whenever he and Amber were at home, they took turns wearing the conversation band that he had bought from his mechanic friend. They tried to sleep with their right hands in close proximity so they both could benefit from the conversation band at night.
Peggy required a 4M treatment from the portable Lansing III unit daily to keep her from asking too many questions. At first they tried to go two days between treatments, but they noticed that by the second day Peggy’s intellect would grow stronger and she’d start questioning more why she was at their home and not at her parents’ place. She required an in-clinic treatment about once a week.
They tried to also have daily talks with Peggy about giving up her baby in order to keep reinforcing this idea in her mind. Early on, Peggy made quite a fuss about it, saying that she wanted to keep the baby. But Amber kept reiterating Peggy’s mom’s same sediment about how it is too hard for a single woman to raise a child and how her parents still had to work too much to be able to help. Slowly, as the weeks passed, Peggy began to accept the idea that giving the baby up would be best. But she still had concerns.
“Who’s going to adopt my baby?” she would ask. “I hope some nice, young, A class couple is waiting to adopt my baby.” This posed another challenge for Amber and Darren. They’d have to make sure Peggy was 4M dosed pretty good the day of her delivery so she wouldn’t be saying such things, as arrangements were already completed to give the baby to the State Commune System.
Amber already applied to a State office posing as Peggy, and signed the documents for the State “adoption.” She also picked out a nearby State sanctioned birthing clinic and signed up for a “curtain delivery” so that Peggy wouldn’t even see the baby.
Darren had saved up a lot of sick time and vacation time at his mechanic’s job so he was free to go whenever he needed. The news agency job, being part time, was flexible about what hours he worked, but not so flexible about taking time off, as Darren was working under the Buy Up program.
The last two months of the girls’ pregnancies went by pretty fast. Peggy’s due date was two weeks before Amber’s. Amber was hoping that Peggy really would have her baby first so everything could be finalized. The plan was for Peggy to be returned home before Amber’s baby came. Amber worried that if Peggy saw her baby so soon after giving up her own baby, it would cause some trouble.
About a week before Peggy’s delivery, her parents showed up one afternoon at Darren and Amber’s apartment without warning. They were just starting to give Peggy a 4M treatment in the back bedroom when the doorbell rang.
Darren stuck his head in the bedroom where Amber was setting up the 4M machine with Peggy laying down on the bed. “You expecting anyone, Amber?” She shook her head. Darren went back to the front room and opened the door, “Mr. and Mrs. Miller. Good to see you.”
He told them to sit down, “Peggy and Amber are both just resting. I don’t think they’re asleep.” Darren nervously went back to the room where Peggy and Amber were. Sticking h
is head in the door, he whispered and pointed toward the front room, “Her parents are here!”
Amber was startled. The treatment on the portable unit was not as intense or as fast as the clinic treatments. They didn’t have twenty minutes, so the treatment would have to wait.
“Your parents are here for a visit, Peg,” she said. “They’ve probably come to see how you’ve been doing and also find out what your plans are with the baby. Remember what we’ve been talking about. Let’s not upset your parents with talk of keeping your baby.”
Peggy looked at Amber as she helped her up from the bed. “I know Amber. It’s just hard, but I’m glad I have your support.”
“You have your parents’ support too.”
As Peggy walked out into the living room, her parents got up and rushed over to see her, giving her hugs.
“You’re looking great, Peggy,” her mother said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling pretty good, except…”
“What it is, honey?”
“I know it’s best that I give up the baby, but it’s a difficult choice. What you do think?”
Peggy’s mother continued, “I know it’s a hard thing for a mother to give up her baby. But it’s even harder to try to support a baby by yourself. I had to give up a baby before I met your father. Same kind of situation. I thought I was in love with this guy, but after I got pregnant, he vanished. There was no way to raise a child on my own. It’s even worse today.”
“I never knew that, mom. Why haven’t you ever told me this before?”
“I didn’t see any reason for you to know until now. Plus,” Mrs. Miller paused, “I gave it up to the State. I’ve always been ashamed of that. I’ve always wondered what kind of life she’s had, and how it may have been different if I could have found a regular family. But things were different back then…” She paused again.
“She?” asked Peggy. “Don’t you know what happens to…”
“Now, Peggy,” Mr. Miller interrupted. “Let’s not make your mother upset. She did the only thing she could at that age and under her circumstances at the time.”
Mrs. Miller squeezed Peggy’s arm. “I’m sure you have a nice family lined up to adopt your baby by now anyway, so I think you’re making a really a good choice, for you and the baby.” Mrs. Miller turned and looked at her husband and then at Darren and Amber, as if asking them to agree.
“Your mother is right, honey,” Mr. Miller said reassuringly. “Darren, Amber, have you been able to help Peggy line up anything in the way of a family adoption?”
They all stared at Darren and Amber, who had deer in the headlights kind of looks.
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