Why Not Murder

34. Protest

"That's making an and-and issue out of what is actually an either-or situation," Spark said, "It's only lower wages that will bring more jobs."

Maya agreed, "The bottom line is the quickly eroding standard of living. Power is defined by what you can buy and more and more people are feeling powerless in the face of what is making their lives so hard. They are getting more and more angry."

"I'm outside of all that," Spark said, "Glad too. I wouldn't want my soul to be trapped in a shopping mall. You feel that same way too, I'm sure." Maya smiled and said she did.

Cars were stuck behind the marchers as they made their way to the main square. They weren't honking and seemed to be in no rush to get to work on a Monday morning. The anger in the marchers was growing as more and more police were escorting them flanking the sides of the protest march. Like the day before, Spark and Maya left the marchers, handing their signs to others, and got away from the crowd just as a vicious brawl, taking on the seriousness of war, broke out between the protesters and the agents of law.

Spark went to his job and Maya took the opportunity to wander through the city system of interconnecting parks where a person could easily get lost. At one point she arrived at a huge open space larger than a football field. The grass was starting to grow and the patches of snow were very small. Crocuses were blooming just above the top of the new grass. In the center of the field was a maze made out of thick evergreen bushes. Maya heard a voice calling from within it, "Help! Help me! I can't find my way out!" The voice was feminine and sounded weak, like that of someone quite old. Maya called back, "I hear you! Keep calling so that I can find you!" and Maya entered.

Maya had an exceptional sense of direction and always paid attention to her location, where she had come from, where she was now and where she was going. It was a life-saving, fundamental skill if one wanted to live in the forest. The walkways between the bushes were narrow, all of an equal width. The bushes were so tall, Maya could not see over them. Interwoven with the evergreen plants was another type of plant. On inspection it appeared to be a vine with small, deep-green, speckled pointy leaves with two small portions of each leaf branching off the tip so that each leaf had the shape of a fish and resembled so many fish stuck on a line. This vine, which seemed to be all one plant, had extremely sharp blood-red thorns. Maya was cut several times touching the vine. So, there was no way to shove through the evergreen plants. Around and around the maze led, sometimes going inward and at other times outward. Even though the sun was high and shining in a cloudless sky the pathways were in dark shadow from the maze walls. The lost woman's voice was sounding tired but she kept calling and Maya would answer. Maya was sure that she was getting closer. Now and then the pathway would fork and a decision would have to be made on which side to take. Maya would call to the woman to speak out, which the woman would do, so that it would help Maya decide which way to go, but Maya thought, given how higgilypigily this maze had so far proved itself, the fork that seemed to go towards the woman may not be the right one to take. Finally, after nearly an hour and a half, Maya found the woman, who hugged her with joy. The woman lived with her sister, beside the park, in a beautiful house and Maya accompanied her there and left her under her sister's care who was scolding the woman for wandering and thanking Maya for bringing her home.

Maya met up again with Spark at the late afternoon starting point. The marchers were half in number because of those taken by the police. Many were limping, their signs broken and dirtied. Some had not washed the blood off their heads, faces and hands. The mood of the marchers was pale compared to the anger that hung in the air around them in the morning, but they still shouted and made victory and peace signs with uplifted hands. The police flanked the marchers same as in the morning. Many, including Maya and Spark walked silently with both their hands up as though in surrender. Cars were honking furiously behind them. It was a different matter entirely to be blocked on the way home from work at the end of the work day than it had been during the morning rush hour. The cars behind the last of the marchers were getting closer and closer trying to frighten the protesters out of their way. Then one car got too close and knocked a man over who ended up under the vehicle screaming at the top of his lungs. The car immediately stopped, its windows shut, and protesters swarmed the car pounding on it, terrifying the exhausted worker driving it. The man who was under the car managed to crawl out. The police rushed into action, clubbing everyone near them, protester or not. Spark and Maya had to force their way against the strength of the oncoming crowd to escape. Spark went back to the shop and Maya went back to Sheila's bed & breakfast and arranged with Sheila to have her dinner there, in the dining room.

Mitchell was also taking his dinner in the dining room. Sheila brought the food, water and tea to the table and explained that she normally ate on her own at the end of the day and wished them 'bon appetit'.

"Hey, Maya," Mitchell said, "What'd you think of the march? I saw you there. I was masked."

"Scary," Maya said, "I left when the fighting broke out. Were you there professionally or privately?"

"Mostly professionally," Mitchell said, "Privately, I'm sympathetic though. Did you hear that two more XX Fuel executives were killed in the same way as the newly installed ex-CEO?"

"No!" Maya exclaimed, "Is it a coincidence?"

"Coincidence?" Mitchell asked, "You mean timed like the one prior seemed to be, to coincide with the march? No, I don't think so, but it's been opined by In-Depth shortly after the occurrence that these attacks are linked to the protesters. You were at both the morning and afternoon march today. How long have you been a member of Justice Will Come?"

"I joined Saturday and that was my first march," Maya said, "I'm in it for animal rights."

"We may be able to help each other out," Mitchell said, "an exchange of information if you like." Maya said she was interested.

After dinner, Maya went into the kitchen and thanked Sheila for the lovely dinner. She was busy washing the floor. Maya told her about her walk through the park system and the maze. Sheila stopped mopping and looked strangely at Maya. "I've lived here all my life and been everywhere in the park system thousands of times over," Sheila said, "Never have I ever seen or heard of the maze you speak of."