Body Surfing

smile was almost gloating. “The boy’s father has taken care of it.”
    “Where in the hell did he find a judge at this hour?” Sue glanced at Q. “Your dad has some connections, doesn’t he? Well, then,” she turned back to Mohinder, “get him some clothes. And see if you can find his watch, for God’s sake. This isn’t rehab .”
    As soon as Mohinder scurried away, Sue pulled a card from her desk, wrote down a number on the back. She was surprised she remembered it after all these years, but Thomas had been important to her. He’d been the one who told her she was too empathic to be a therapist, after all.
    “Take this, Q.” She pressed the card into the boy’s hand. “It’s a doctor in the city. He specializes in cases like yours.”
    Q. took the card, but Sue couldn’t tell if he actually noticed it. His eyes were full of a nameless fear.
    “What if he comes back?”
    “What if—?”
    “For me. What if he comes back to finish what he started?”

6
    T he order went like this: corps, division, brigade, regiment, battalion.
    Two companies in a battalion, two platoons in a company, two squads in a platoon. The squad was the smallest martial unit: only ten men, plus a corporal and a staff sergeant.
    Only ten men. Plus a corporal whose name meant peace, and a sergeant with swimming coals for eyes.
     
    They tied her wrists to the posts of her parents’ bed. They didn’t undress her, but each soldier ripped a little more of her yellow dress away, until eventually there were just tatters sticking to her skin like poorly applied bandages. The corporal dragged in a pair of kitchen chairs, and he and the sergeant commented on this or that soldier’s technique or endowment while they waited their turn.
    “Don’t be shy, Stanko, you’re like the bulldozer, you have to open her up for everyone else.”
    “Vinko, Vinko, Vinko. You have more hair on your ass than on your head. You should shave it off and wear it as a toupee.”
    “Good Christ, Grigor, is that a foreskin or a garden hose? You could tie a bow in that thing!”
    It was getting dark by the time the corporal approached. Maybe itwas the whiskey or maybe it was the major’s eyes on his naked ass, but the corporal’s penis remained soft the entire time, and after squirming on top of her for a few minutes he faked a few groans and rolled off.
    “She’s got more juice in her than a watermelon.”
    The sergeant was staring blindly into space, the bottle dangling from one hand.
    “Da,” he said in a distracted voice. “Close the door on your way out, Corporal. I want time alone with this one.”
    The corporal glanced back at Ileana. It could have been pity or loathing that he offered her, but in either case he only nodded, then pulled the door closed.
    For a long time the sergeant just sat there, twirling the bottle in his hands. At length he brought it to his lips, held it there for a moment before he realized there was no more alcohol in it. He held it up for Ileana to see.
    “Empty.”
    His voice had changed. Had grown older, world-weary.
    “Empty. Do you understand?”
    By now Ileana was past shock, past pain even. She stared at the sergeant dumbly.
    “To me, you are all empty. Every last one of you.”
    Ileana licked her cracked lips. “Croats? Bosniaks?”
    The sharpness seemed to have retreated from the sergeant’s eyes, as if the fire within had been stoked but could flare up at any moment.
    “Croats? Bosniaks? What do I care of Croats or Bosniaks, or Serbs for that matter? To me, you are all as empty as this bottle, vessels to be filled and drained.” He hurled the bottle against the wall over Ileana’s head. It shattered, and she closed her eyes against falling glass. Faster than seemed humanly possible the sergeant was on her. She felt his hands on her face, brushing the shards away with surprising tenderness.
    “Open your eyes, sestra . I want you to see this.”
    The sergeant leaned over her. His paunch sat heavily on herstomach, yet he held himself with the grace of a cat. The fire in his eyes was back, burning into hers. The light swirled around like lava flowing beneath the ocean.
    “Today we took everything from you. Your family, your country, your purity.” He stroked between her legs with his blunt fingers. “But perhaps we gave you something in return.”
    A groan escaped Ileana’s lips, but no words were equal to it.
    “Da, sestra , I know, I know.” The sergeant turned her face to his gently. So