Centered In { Xiaojun Series }

Chapter 8

Bīn lù and Treasure sat at an open-air café enjoying croissants and lattes. The process of verifying Treasure's identity was taking longer than they had expected. Apparently, the Nigerian birth certificate the French government had found for her had a misspelling of her name. She had not been aware of the discrepancy until now, and due to bureaucratic red tape, they were still waiting for her identity to be verified so she could board a flight home.

Treasure was back in her original outfit after washing it and drying it on the shower curtain rod of the hotel bathroom. It wasn't that Bīn lù cared what Treasure wore, but her "work" clothes certainly elicited quite a bit of attention from people on the streets. Even now, as they ate breakfast, they could feel the judgmental stares from all the "respectable" people around them.

A well-dressed woman in her late 40's sat at a nearby table. Her pinched frown made her look older than she was. She pulled out her phone and began to record Bīn lù and Treasure as they ate. When Bīn lù gave her a withering glare, she put her phone in her purse. A few minutes later, she got up and walked away.

Bīn lù breathed a sigh of relief when the woman was no longer in sight. Apparently, eating breakfast while Black is offensive to some people, she thought, grateful that Treasure seemed unaware of the situation.

As they got up to leave the table, they were approached by two police officers. One was a rather large man whose bulging stomach threatened to break the strained buttons on his uniform. The other was a female officer, who, while much more petite, seemed equally as annoyed with life as her male counterpart.

"Bonjour," said the portly officer. "We received a call that there was a woman causing a disturbance at this café."

Bīn lù cursed under her breath, "Damn you, French Karen!" The woman from before must have called the cops on them for having breakfast.

"Officer, I'm unaware of any disturbance here. We've been here for half an hour and have seen no cause for concern," explained Bīn lù in flawless French.

The officer eyed Treasure suspiciously. At that, the female officer stepped in. "We'll need to see identification for both of you ladies. It's standard protocol on a call like this."

Bīn lù produced her passport and US driver's license and said, as casually as she could, "She doesn't have her ID on her, but she's with me."

"I don't care if she's with the Pope," quipped the male cop. "She'll need to show us some ID. We're willing to follow you to your hotel so she can get it for us," he added.

Bīn lù sighed. "She is in the process of having her identity verified with the Office of Foreign Affairs," she explained. "She intends to return to Nigeria as soon as that verification clears."

The female officer whispered something to her partner which only elicited a shake of his head. It appeared she may have been asking him to move on, but it was obvious that he had no intention of doing so.

"If she can't produce her ID, I will have no choice but to arrest her. She will remain in custody until her identity can be verified," he stated as he scratched notes on a small ringed notepad.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Bīn lù exploded. "I can give you the name of the guy who's working on her case right now!"

"You can give me any names you want," said the exasperated officer, "but this woman will remain in custody until such time as we can verify her identity. You know we have a problem with illegal sex trafficking?" asked the officer rhetorically.

"You don't say," deadpanned Bīn lù.

"Listen, if you want to get difficult here, we could take you in as well," threatened the red-faced cop.

He pulled out his handcuffs and grabbed Treasure's left arm. He tried to pull her toward him, but she resisted, planting her feet firmly on the ground and leaning away from him.

"Why he touch me?" she demanded. "Why dis man touch me?"

Bīn lù attempted to explain the dilemma, but Treasure would not have it.

"I did not do nuttin' wrong! Why dis man touch me?" she protested.

The male cop motioned to his partner to assist him in controlling Treasure. She reluctantly grabbed Treasure's free hand and attempted to cuff her. Treasure continued to squirm and protest.

"I do not know dis man! And why do you help him?" she inquired of the female cop.

"Ma'am, stop resisting arrest or we will add that as a new charge," warned the now irate officer.

Bīn lù attempted to calm Treasure and to explain that she would put in calls to all the pertinent authorities, but to no avail. Treasure continued to squirm and kick at the officers.

"Fuck you!" she yelled at the officers. "And fuck you too!" she screamed at Bīn lù as the officers finally managed to cuff her. They pushed her into the cop car and Bīn lù could see Treasure's piercing eyes glaring at her from behind the window.

Bīn lù spent the rest of the day calling the Office of Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Embassy, a lawyer friend from college. None of the calls produced anything terribly helpful. The Office of Foreign Affairs said they were "working on it." The Nigerian embassy said they did not intervene in immigration issues in other countries. Her college friend gave her a quick run-down of US policies but said that he had no knowledge of international law. The long and short of it was that Treasure would remain in custody until her identity was verified.

Bīn lù ran a hot bath. Her mom always said there was very little in life that couldn't be remedied by a hot bath. She wasn't sure she believed it at that moment, but she had to get whatever help she could because her nerves were completely fried. As she emersed herself in the hot water, she heard her phone ring. She wiped her wet hands on a towel and picked up her phone from the floor to answer it.

"Hello?" she said wearily.

"Nĭ hăo ma?" asked the concerned voice on the line.

"Bù hăo," she admitted.

"Rough day?" Xiaojun asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Bīn lù sighed.

"What are you doing right now?" he asked.

"Taking a bath," she answered honestly.

"Dang, girl! Don't give me mental images I can't take!" Xiaojun protested.

Bīn lù laughed. "I needed that laugh," she admitted. "You will never know how much I needed to laugh right now."

When she finished her bath, she was still on the phone with Xiaojun. She put it on speaker so she could dry off and get dressed. As she lay in bed with the phone beside her, she snuggled up under the covers to listen to Xiaojun's calming voice as he lulled her to sleep with Chinese lullabies.