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| - (some typing, Kamal goes offline)Kamal/Offline: Heh, looks like the mask is working. I'm offline, but as far as my data profile in New Jersey knows, I'll be living my normal life. Sophia: You even know how we're going to get there? Kamal: I was going to figure that out next. Hang on... Sophia: The best bet's the packbus. There a 6:00 pickup in the abandoned lot behind the monorail station. Kamal: What do you mean 'we'? Sophia: Here, give me some of those chips. I'll cash them out. And bring some with you, because sometimes people take them. Kamal: What do you mean 'we'? Sophia: What, you would prefer I turn myself in at one of the camps? Kamal: Coral... Sophia: There's no Coral to deport me to Kamal. It's a refugee camp for me now. Kamal: ...I, I thought you were going to marry Aiden? Sophia: Yeah, I know you did. Kamal: Sophie, you can't come-- Sophia: --The packbus has a driver and a couple passengers on the grid. They fill the rest of the seats with refues. A couple of blue chips should get us as far as Reno. Kamal: Is Aiden still in jail? Sophia: I'm going to try to bail him out one more time this afternoon, then meet you at the station at 5:30 for the 6:00 bus. Kamal: No, you're not listening to me. You can't-- Sophia: --Watch out getting to the pickup, because gangs sometimes hang around watching for loners to mug, or worse... Kamal: Or worse? Sophia: Teenage girls, especially. Kamal: How do you know all this stuff? Sophia: I told you once Kamal, I've been poor. Kamal: I thought... didn't you come here like me, with a scholarship? Sophia: Well there was this aunt and uncle, supposed to look after me... it didn't work out. Kamal: Did your parents know? Sophia: I spent a year in camps, another year after that squatting... I found this burned out apartment, but by a miracle it still had running water and that was the key. Kamal: I didn't know. Sophia: Yeah. Only certain kinds of jobs you can get if you can't get cleaned up. Kamal: Two years... and then? Sophia: I met Aiden. Kamal: Sophie, you can't come with me. It would be too dangerous-- Sophia: --Oh sure, and who's going to look after you after you're offline? You? Kamal: I won't let you go back to the camps. Sophia: You don't know which restaurants compost, and what day they put their old vegetables out back. You don't know which bathrooms are neutral and which are gang turf... Kamal: You have to marry Aiden, dammit! Kamal: Ya, okay. There was something I never expected to hear myself say.(laughs) Sophia: You're eager to get rid of me. Heh, not so pretty now that you know I'm just another refuse girl. Kamal: You've got to do it Sophia. It's just a piece of paper. Marry Aiden and you're a citizen. Sophia: I don't love him. Kamal: This isn't about love. We aren't teenagers, Sophia, even if I sometimes act like one. This is the real world. Sophia: I know you're trying to be nice to me... Kamal: It's not working? Sophia: It... I'll go bail out Aiden, you make your arrangements, we'll meet behind the factory by the monorail station. I'll be there by 5:30 to catch the 6:00 bus. Kamal: You can't throw your life away like this just... just to make me happy. Sophia: 5:30 Kamal. Don't be late. Liaison: Ms.Basarian Sophia: I'm here to post bail for... you're not a Berkeley cop. You're immigration. Liaison: Ms.Basarian, I am the liaison working with the police on this matter. Sorry to make you wait sweetie. Can you please just step back this way? Sophia: (nervously) I-I'm sorry I can't stay. I have to go meet someone in a little while. Liaison: That wouldn't be your friend, uh, Dr. Zaman? Sophia: Kamal? Liaison: Yes. Kamal. You know, we'd like to talk to him. Come with me, this will just take a moment. Sophia: Why do you want to talk to Kamal? Aiden didn't do his papers. Liaison: Ms.Basarian - Sophia -- Sophia: Miss Bosseron.. is fine. Liaison: We think Dr.Zaman may have done some, uh, moonlighting, for your boyfriend. Sophia: No, no, I don't think so. Kamal's a medical student. Liaison: (closes door and takes a seat) You know, there are a number of special dispensation visas—for refugees - they're a difficult thing to come by, but um... someone who helps an investigation could certainly qualify. Sophia: A visa? Liaison: Mhm. Sophia: To stay here. Liaison: That's right. Sophia: (giggles) So what are you now, the tooth fairy? Liaison: Pardon me? Sophia: No, Santa Claus! The one who hands out presents. Yeah I get them all mixed up... and then the Easter bunny - what's with that? Liaison: Huh, Aiden said you'd play stupid. Sophia: Oh, it's like that. Liaison: Yeah, it's like that. Sophia: So what happened? Aiden forget to pay you this month? Liaison: Oh, let's just cut the crap okay? Get to the part where you tell me where Kamal has gone, and where he stashes his chips. Sophia: Ummmm... I told you I don't know. Liaison: Hm. Sophie. Did you enjoy prison the last time you were in? Hm? Oh yeah. I looked into that too. My sources tell me it hasn't gotten any nicer inside. Sophia: (chuckles) I'm headed for refugee camp. You think prison is a threat? Liaison: *sigh* This is going to be tough on Aiden. He was counting on you. Sophia: Aiden's real trusting that way. Liaison: And you don't know where doctor Zaman is huh? Maybe if you slept on that. Here. You know, in a cell. Sophia: Hey, it's got a roof. I've slept in worse places. Liaison: Ah, Sophia. Sophie, Sophie, Sophie... You know, there is nothing between you and the big bad world but that dress and my good will. So... Sophia: I do like this dress. Liaison: So tell me, does it really matter what happens to one more colonial and his money, Sophia? Tell you what. Tell me where to find Kamal, and you and your boyfriend walk. Hold out on me, I send you back to the camps. And, I will make it my business to see you never get out. Liaison: Is the choice really so hard? Hm? Sophia: I used to have this friend... I met her in jail. She was from Coral too. She said, all immigration cops were the devil. But you aren't the devil. Liaison: Hm. Gosh. Thanks. Sophia: You're just the guy that runs into the quickie store to get the devil a box of breath mints. (chuckles)(chatter on) Liaison: Send a patrolman to my office, would you please? I have some garbage I need to throw away. Eleanor: Mom, can I have an ice cream bar on the way home? Mother: No, it'll make you sick. You can have a freezy. Kamal: Excuse me, can you tell me the time? Mother: It's 2 Minutes late, maybe he got busted. Kamal: This friend is supposed to be meeting me here. Mother: She'd better come quick. Kamal: How did you know my friend was a girl? Mother: Lucky guess. Kamal: You like freezies? Eleanor: I like ice cream bars. But I'm not allowed. Kamal: How come? Mother: Doctor said she had food intolerances, said to avoid dairy, wheat... doesn't matter what she eats or doesn't eat, she still gets sick. Kamal: They tested her? Mother: Too expensive, I couldn't do that. We waited 4 hours, and Eleanor had a tummy ache the whole time and the doctor saw us for 5 minutes. Eleanor: I cried and I cried because my stomach hurt so bad. Kamal: That doesn't sound right. tadpoles Mother: What, you're a doctor? Kamal: No, but.. uh... I used to work in a hospital. How long has she had trouble? Eleanor: I got it from Eccatrina. Mother: Eccatrina used to watch her, back when I had a job. Kamal: Wait, there's my friend... ...no, that's not her. Mother: That's... a guy. Kamal: Oh. Oh... (ponders) She caught food intolerances from someone? You can't do that. Eleanor: Eccatrina got sick and went to the hospital. Mother: We don't know what happened to her. Eleanor: I miss her. Staying with her was fun. One time, we went out to her cousin's farm for the weekend. Mother: Eccatrina had a lot of... "cousins." All of them guys. She was young and pretty, you know. Eleanor: We milked a cow and we went in a pond, and we had tadpoles in a jar, but mom said I couldn't bring them home. Kamal: Does she throw up? Mother: No, she gets diarrhea, runs a fever, she's lost weight. Kamal: That's not food intolerance. Look, go back to the clinic, tell them... tell them she was exposed to TB. Mother: TB?! Kamal: Yes. Tell them your neighbor had intestinal TB - not the kind in your lungs. Public health law says they have to test your kid if she's been exposed. Mother: You're sure. Kamal: I'm sure. And tell them about the fever. I used to work in a hospital. Mother: Gee, thanks, thank you so much. Look, what's your next stop? Kamal: Uh, I don't really know. My friend was kind of in charge of that. I'm headed east, all the way to the east coast. Mother: Here comes the bus. Look, my sister Cammie lives in Reno. We're here to pick up her good-for-nothing son. You take this bus back to Reno, and Cammie will put you up for the night. Kamal: You don't even know me. Mother: Here, I'll write down Cammie's name and address, and I'll let her know you're coming. (gives him the note) Kamal: Why are you doing this? Mother: I never knew I could make them test her. The stomach thing I've... been so worried. Kamal: It's nothing. And I'm not a doctor. But, she should get a test. Kamal:What time is it? Mother: Quarter past 6. Kamal: She said she'd be here at 5:30. Mother: Is your friend young and pretty? Kamal: Yeah...? Mother: They have a lot of choices, the pretty ones. Kamal: Well, there's this ex-boyfriend. She was just going to stop by and see him. Packbus-Op: Reno! Kamal: I told her she should stay with him, I told her it was it crazy to come with me. Packbus-Op: All aboard who's coming aboard! Everybody up! (to Kamal) You riding, son? Kamal: Just a second. Mother: She's not coming, kiddo. Kamal: I told her not to come with me... but... she said, she told me. Mother: She's not coming. Kamal: Yeah. I know.
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