***
Part 22 March 29, 1974 - The Third Day, Villa Grimaldi
Eulalia, hooded and cuffed as usual, went through the corridors feeling better than she had since the first day. Release was on the horizon. Juan was working to get her free. The warm tea and biscuit felt good in her tummy.
They stopped and removed her hood while opening the door to her third cell in three days. B wing was certainly better than C. The cell was a little larger, maybe 3 X 2 1/2 meters. There was a real commode and washstand (with only cold water – did they love the cold here or what?) and a paper roll! There was a foldout bench on one wall with a folded blanket which looked much better than the last one. And it didn’t smell too bad. They locked her in.
Eulalia’s mind raced. End in sight! The Colonel would get her out.
Even the excitement of impending release wasn’t enough to stave off the effects of sleep deprivation. Eul slowly began to relax and her mind wandered. The Colonel had been so strong and caring. She remembered when he was holding her with the afghan for warmth, his arm around her. It seemed like forever since someone older and wiser had cared for her. She had looked up into his eyes. Yes, she could admit to herself that she had thought of kissing him then. It had been just a silly thought. Giving him a little peck on the cheek, like a father. He would be a good father, she mused. She had wanted to kiss him. Kiss the man… On the lips... With her lips open… kiss…
Eul hadn’t been asleep five minutes when the door banged open and she came to with a jolt. The Sergeant was there with a guard. “Exercise time. All prisoners in B wing get regular exercise. We take good care of you,” he said with a disgusting wink. “I remind you that the silence rule doubly applies during exercise. You will be with other prisoners. If we even suspect you of talking or communicating, the punishment is severe!” He left the guard to cuff and hood her and take her to the courtyard. There he removed the hood but left her cuffed. She joined a half- dozen other female prisoners walking in a slow circle around the outside of the yard. She looked around and realized it was a different courtyard than the one she first entered. It was larger, with a raised platform in the center sporting two posts.
It was nice to be outside in the fresh, though very chilly air. She hadn’t seen the sky in three days.
I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went
With sails of silver by.
Eul recognized what Wilde had meant. Two years at hard labor! It had broken him! She’d been here less than three days and was going crazy wanting out.
The others all seemed dressed in their street clothes, though several were torn. No one showed any obvious signs of abuse. No one dared make eye contact.
Walking in the circle, Eul looked down and saw that her last button seemed straining. Her top was almost totally open. She was so embarrassed.
After about 30 minutes, the guard whistled and they were hooded and herded back to their cells. It had been surreal, seven women with similar concerns, together for half an hour and not the slightest sound.
Soon lunch came. On a tray! Tea! Not as good as the Colonel’s but recognizable as tea! Thin but decent porridge and a small piece of not too stale bread! What luxury, Eulalia thought. Like flying first class, she joked to herself. Thank you, dear Colonel, she thought as she hungrily consumed the meager meal.
Soon after lunch, they came for her. As she was hooded and cuffed, the Sergeant toyed with her. “You see Capitán Trueno now,” he chided. Do you know what his name means? I think I will let you find out for yourself. The women all ‘love’ the Capitán, he treats them so especial!” he laughed heartily. Despite the Colonel’s assurance, Eul began to worry about her interrogation.
***
Part 23 March 29, 1974 - The Third Day, Villa Grimaldi
Trueno sat relaxed at the examiners desk in interrogation room 1, in B wing. He and the Colonel had discussed his role and it was going to be fun. They were really stringing the Scotch bitch along nicely. When they tightened the noose, she’d never know what hit her. She would break just like a little girl. Trueno loved American Folk Rock. Those lines in “Just like a Woman” by Dylan had always seemed very erotic. “You make love just like a woman, but you break just like a little girl.” He’d had a chance to see both of those many times with his subjects.
The door opened and four guards escorted Eulalia and stood her, cuffed and blindfolded in front of the desk. Trueno took a moment to look at the girl while she was hooded. The colonel was right, she had a nice figure for a 24-year-old. Tall and slim, but curved in all the right places. Her uniform blouse appeared to have lost all its buttons and opened tantalizingly in the front, giving a glimpse of her flat belly and her bra between her small but pert breasts. He gestured to the guards to remove her hood.
Eulalia blinked at the light for a moment. Then she saw a tall, dark and handsome (what a cliche, she thought – but true) man in a crisp uniform standing at attention before her.
He nodded his head in respect and spoke to the guard. “I think I will be safe with Miss Burns even if she is not handcuffed. Please remove them.” When they had done so, he said, “I will call you if I need you, please wait outside.” The guards filed out leaving Eul standing, facing the Captain, holding her top closed.
He gestured to a chair in front of his desk, “Please be seated, Miss Burns.”
She could sit! Eul had steeled herself to stand for hours as she had done yesterday with the Major. And this Captain was being so polite. And they had been right, he was very handsome. She just wished the last button hadn’t come off during the march here. Now she had to constantly hold her top closed. She blushed to think of how she’d looked upon entering with her arms bound behind her.
“I must apologize in advance, Miss Burns. I am afraid that this session will be very boring for you. I need to go over the information you supplied yesterday. I will ask many of the same questions. It is our way to be excessively thorough. We want to be sure we have asked everything in every way possible to ensure we have missed nothing. Please be patient and answer honestly and we can complete this process.”
“I will try my best. Captain.”
“Thank you, that is all we can ask. As you also see, we record the entire session from the moment you walk in until you walk out.”
“Yes.”
“Very good, Let’s begin.”
It was just as he had warned, repeated questions from yesterday, asked multiple times, worded multiple ways, over and over. Some new and surprising ones, but Eul was too tired to try to second guess the inquiries, she just answered honestly except when he asked about any contact with “rebels,” which she denied, and the source and purpose of the recorder, when she repeated her memorized story.
“Dr. Margaret McAdam, she gave you the recorder?”
“Yes.” She answered with conviction. Trueno noticed, as had the Major the day before, the stronger tone of her answer. Such an amateur liar!
The Captain repeated detailed questions about McAdam and Eul relationship with her. Eul answered that she knew her very well, they had worked closely together, that she had last seen her the day before leaving Glasgow.
Pressed about the recorder, she stated it was the professor’s personal property. That she had seen her use it in class and in discussion groups for at least a year.
The interrogation rooms never had clocks, so Eul was dependent on the examiner telling her the time.
“I am sorry to have taken so long, Miss Burns, but I like to be thorough.” Looking at his watch, “It’s 7 PM already! We must let you get some supper!”
Just then the rear door opened and the Colonel entered. Trueno snapped to attention and Eulalia stood, holding her shirt tightly.
“At ease, Capitán, so sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to see how you were getting along.”
“Very well, Mi Coronel! Miss Burns has been very forthcoming. We were just finished.”
“That is gratifying to hear. Miss Burns, I would like to see you briefly after supper. I will have the guards bring you then if it is acceptable with you?”
“Why yes, of course, Jua… Colonel. I’d be glad to cooperate.”
The Captain buzzed and the guards entered, hooded and cuffed Eul. The Colonel and Captain exchanged smirks as her blouse opened nicely again.
, formerly Winnie on Wonder Years, as Eulalia Burns, with Patrick Stewart
, as Coronel Juan Manuel Rodríguez, and Sean Bean
, as Capitán Carlos ‘Trueno’ Balenge.
