Bucky's

Chapter 1: Arrest

Tanya, as usual, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She seemed to be perpetually cursed with bad luck, or perhaps bad judgement—most likely, a combination of both. She had let her roommate Jenny borrow her car, despite her misgivings. Jenny, regrettably, was not the most responsible of individuals, and indeed was a bit seedy, but Tanya couldn't afford the rent herself, so she had to live with somebody. If nothing else, Jenny was at least conscientious enough to pay her share of the rent on time, and that was enough for Tanya.

When Jenny got her own car towed due to parking in a spot where she wasn't supposed to, she asked Tanya to borrow hers. Tanya didn't entirely trust Jenny with her precious car, but if Jenny couldn't drive herself to work then she couldn't pay her share of the rent. So Tanya allowed her to use her car, until Jenny managed to get her own car back.

Tanya's problems began when she started driving her own car again. Soon after, a reckless drunk driver plowed into her car, totaling it, and police were called to the scene of the accident. Tanya discovered, at the same time as the police, that her lovely roommate had stashed big bricks of drugs in her car, and not an inconsequential quantity either. The drugs had been dislodged from their hiding place and revealed due to the damage from the wreck. Of course, the police didn't believe Tanya's story, and she was arrested for possession of illegal substances.

Her misfortunes didn't stop there. The police got a warrant to search her apartment, and found more of Jenny's drugs. Jenny had the foresight to hide them in Tanya's room, rather than her own, so she could deny any culpability. Tanya was now facing two back-to-back felony charges. To her dismay, she learned that the laws for drugs were especially draconian within her jurisdiction, since the area suffered a high crime wave and had been infested with drug dealers, addicts, and violent gangs. The politicians wanted to clean up the city, so they voted in significantly harsher penalties for drug possession.

Tanya was caught in the perfect storm. When her employer heard about her arrest, her boss promptly fired her. Now, she had no source of income, she was facing a losing case, and she needed a lawyer that she couldn't afford. She had no choice but to go with the public defender, who was too overburdened with other cases to give her trial the individualized attention it required. When she was taken from her holding place in jail after a few days to her trial, she was discouraged to find that her court-appointed lawyer had not even reviewed her case until he walked into the courtroom. He was completely unprepared to defend her in front of a stern, unsympathetic judge, who regarded her with scathing condescension. The judge was an ancient man layered with wrinkles and weariness.

"I hate slimy little maggots like you," the judge ranted down to Tanya from his high perch, narrowing his beady eyes at her. "You think you can run this city into the ground, peddling your poison and fattening your wallet with no regard for others. All you criminals are the same. You disgust me."

Tanya bit her tongue at his rude, inappropriate remarks. She knew talking back within the formalized setting of the courtroom would only get her in more trouble. She glanced over at her lawyer with desperation. The lawyer was a bleary-eyed, doddering fool who looked too young to have graduated from law school, and too tired to be up this early in the morning. She was horrified to behold the incompetence of her defense, the lack of impartiality she was facing from the judge, and the terrible injustice of a cold, inhumane system.

Not surprisingly, with the evidence against her, and the paper-thin argument from her lawyer, the trial was alarmingly brief. Tanya was declared guilty. Her heart stopped as the judge pounded the gavel on the podium, smashing all her hopes and dreams in one fell swoop. She felt weakness in her knees as she awaited her sentencing.

"I'll give you a choice," the judge announced. "You have the option of serving ten years in prison..." Tanya couldn't restrain herself from gasping audibly in horror at the severe punishment. A decade of her life would be gone, just like that. "Or you can spend one year doing forced labor." Tanya couldn't believe her ears. The choices didn't make any logical sense. How was one year in any way equivalent to ten? She could only conclude that there must be some sort of trick or catch. She presumed the labor must be brutal, backbreaking, and hellacious, a job that no sane person would voluntarily choose.