“It’s nearly ten years since I’ve visited L.A.,” he said, seating himself opposite her at one of the little tables.
“It’s almost rebuilt now, isn’t it? You wouldn’t know anything had happened.”
“Apparently the people know. I understand they’re leaving.”
She nodded. “Terrible for business, isn’t it? Pretty soon we’ll be a ghost state. I suppose that’s why they had to pass all those laws.”
“The California Enabling Act? Browder mentioned it.”
“It’s terrible, but necessary. Something had to be done after the last disaster.” She pressed the button for the waitress. “All those scare headlines in the papers, everybody talking so much — that’s when the real panic started.”
“You mean after the earthquake?” he asked just as the waitress appeared. Across the table Lola Miller’s face suddenly drained of color. The waitress took their order and hurried back to the counter.
“You shouldn’t have said that,” Lola cautioned him. “Not in public. She might turn you in.”
“Said what? The word earthquake? Well, that’s what it was, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, but we’re forbidden to—”
She was cut off in midsentence by the appearance of a tall young man dressed in the style of the ’70s. There was no mistaking his appearance or the tone of his voice. “Would you step outside for a moment, sir?” he asked.
“What for?”
The newcomer gave a little frozen smile and pressed a button on his flipcase, showing the gold card. “California State Police, sir. I’ll have to ask you to come along quietly.”
“But what have I done?”
“Greg—” Lola began, trying to interrupt.
“Reported violation of Section 45431 of the Criminal Code, sir. The California Enabling Act.”
Gregory got shakily to his feet, still not believing it was really happening. “You’ll have to explain it more clearly than that.”
“You were heard to utter a word that it is forbidden to speak in public, sir.”
“Word? What word?”
A hand of steel closed around his wrist. “Just come along quietly, sir.”
Gregory looked back in despair at Lola. “I think I need a lawyer,” he said.
The officer in charge was a towering hulk of a man who came right to the point. “You’re in big trouble, Gregory. Conviction on a violation of 45431 carries a prison sentence of five years.”
“All because I used the word earthquake?”
“Exactly. You used it in a public place and thereby violated the law. The word cannot be used in any periodical printed within the state of California or uttered in any public place.”
“But that’s ridiculous! You can’t simply wipe a word out of the language!”
“Mr. Gregory, the future of our state is at stake here. Believe me, we’re not the only place that has passed laws about what can or cannot be said in public.”
“The Supreme Court—”
“The Supreme Court itself once stated that no one had the right to yell ‘Fire’ in a crowded theater. Likewise, during the airplane bombings and hijackings some twenty years ago, no one had the right to talk about bombs while flying on a plane. Men were arrested for joking about a bomb in their luggage or saying they were going to take the plane to Cuba.”
“But—”
The officer, whose name was Vitroll, cut him off with a wave of the hand. “It’s the same thing here. The state is in an emergency situation. The only way to control it is to blot out all mention of what happened a few years back. After a time people will forget, and start to return.”
“I’m from out of state,” Gregory argued. “I had only the vaguest idea of the law here.”
“Ignorance of the law has never been recognized as an excuse in a court of law. In fact, it might go harder on you being from the east. It’s all that eastern propaganda causing us the trouble in the first place. Eastern magazines and newspapers and television, always talking about things out here, about the disaster and how it’s sure to happen again.”
“I’m not exactly an easterner. I’m from a suburb of Chicago.”
“That’s east to us,” Vitroll said, moving his hulk from the edge of the desk. “I’ll have to book you.”
“How much will the bail be?”
“That’s up to the judge. In cases where it seems likely the offense will be repeated, no bail is granted.”
“All this for just saying a word?”
“These are troubled times, Mr. Gregory. The survival of the state is at stake.”
He went away then, leaving Gregory alone in the room. For a time there was nothing to do but ponder the position in which he found himself. Surely a call to the home office would bring him the best of legal aid. This sort of thing could not go on unnoticed.
The door opened and a uniformed guard said, “Follow me, sir.”
“Are you taking me to the judge?”
“No, sir. To a cell. You’ll have to wait there until it’s time for your hearing.”
Gregory followed reluctantly, noticing that a second guard had come up behind him. They were treating him exactly like a criminal, taking no chances. “I’m harmless,” he said. “Really.”
“In here.”
The cell door slid shut automatically behind him and he was left alone with the gray metal walls. He walked over to the bunk and tested its lumpy surface, wondering how many had occupied it before him and for how long. Sitting there, trying to collect his thoughts, he took out his pen to make a few notes. It slipped from his numb fingers, clattering on the steel floor, and he bent to retrieve it.
That was when he noticed the word scrawled under the bunk, where the guards would not see it. Though he might have expected some obscenity in such a place, the word was much more frightening.
There, beneath the bunk, some earlier prisoner had scrawled: earthquake.
They took him to the courtroom, between two guards, and he looked up at the frozenfaced judge who seemed almost unaware of his presence.
“Violation of Section 45431 of the Criminal Code, your Honor. California Enabling Act,” a voice behind him said.
The judge nodded slightly. “How do you plead?”
“Not guilty, your Honor. I’m from out of state. I knew nothing of this law.”
“I would have thought it had been well publicized,” the judge commented dryly. “Will you waive your right to a trial?”
“No, sir, I will not! I haven’t even consulted a lawyer yet.”
“Very well. I’ll schedule the trial for October 15th — two weeks from today. Bail is set at five thousand dollars, and you are ordered not to leave the state.”
“Five thousand—”
Behind him Vitroll cleared his throat. “Bail has been raised by a friend of the defendant, your Honor.”
Gregory turned and saw Lola Miller standing behind the railing. He walked toward her, feeling at once the need for fresh outside air. “Thank you,” he said simply.
“The company put it up,” she explained, “but they didn’t want their name involved.”
“Thanks, anyway. I know you had a hand in it.”
“I was with you when it happened. I felt some responsibility. Come on, my car is outside.”
They drove back to the office where a distracted Browder was waiting. He rose as they entered and hurried over to shake Gregory’s hand. “My God, I’d thought we’d lost you! The. home office would never have forgiven me! When Lola told me what happened—”
“I wasn’t aware of the details of your laws out here. What happens now? I’m supposed to stay here for two weeks.”
“What happens?” Browder repeated. “Why, you’ll jump bail, of course! The company will stand the loss. Otherwise, believe me, it means a jail sentence.”