Just My Job - I

"Boring, boring!" said Molly Leap, sitting at the bar, flipping bar coasters and catching them.

"It might be boring, sis, but it won't be for long. I just need to finish this accounting so I can pay Zachary, then we can go to the park," said Monica Leap.

"You're taking ages. I know; why don't you have a baby? Then I can play with her, and I won't be bored. That's a super idea!"

"I don't want to have a baby," laughed Monica. "Besides, if I did, there would be no guarantee it would be a girl!"

"A nice little leopard cub, I would call her Cutey Cute, and I'd be the best aunt in the world. Go on, have a baby, Monica."

"No. Molly, just be quiet for ten minutes while I count this money, then we can go out."

Molly slid off the barstool and began to skip around the empty bar.

"Boring, boring. Nothing exciting ever happens in Monica's silly old bar," she muttered to herself.

Zachary Montana watched as Monica counted the paper notes, separating the rent and handing it over to him. He poured himself a large beer as she organized the rest of the money into tidy piles: one for staff wages and one to deposit at the bank.

"Boring, boring!" Molly kicked a bottle cap towards the bar's double doors.

Monica rolled her eyes at Zachary in a kids-can-be-so-impatient sort of way.

She dropped the cash she was counting as the front doors swung open at speed and slammed into the wall, making a mighty crash.

Molly jumped back as a woman pushed a stroller into the bar and frantically looked around.

"Look after my baby, please," the lady, a leopard in a yellow headdress, screeched before she shut the bar doors and disappeared.

"A baby!" squealed Molly in delight and approached the stroller, which was still slowly rolling towards the bar.

"No," said Zachary. "It could be a bomb; get back, Molly."

Molly's eyes widened, and she ran to her sister behind the bar.

Zachary pulled out the gun he kept in his waistband in case of emergencies and approached the stroller. The weapon made Monica very uneasy. If it's a bomb, is it wise to shoot it?" she asked herself.

Zachary used the gun's barrel to lift the stroller's hood, and he peered inside.

"Nope, it's a baby. A little leopard cub, and she's fast asleep." Zachary pulled out a box of cigarettes, flicked the bottom, so one flew out, and popped it into his mouth. He fired up his smoke and walked outside to see where the lady had run off to.

Monica and Molly crept forward to look at the sleeping baby.

"So cute!" whispered Molly. "Can we keep her? Please!"

"Of course, we can't keep her. She isn't ours, Molly."

"But the mother didn't seem to want her. She told us to look after the baby!""Molly, we have no idea what just happened. We'll need to work out what to do. This is an extraordinary situation; it happened so fast, I can't think what action we need to take!"

Zachary opened the double doors, blowing out smoke and flicking his butt into the road.

"Did you see her?" asked Monica.

"Yeah, she was being put into some sort of van by some guys who look like police. It had ICE written on the side, but it didn't look like they were selling ice creams," he replied.

"ICE! Immigration and Customs Enforcement," said Monica feeling her knees go weak. "I know where I've seen that lady before. She sometimes works in the small shop up the road that sells imported goods from Skull Island. She's from Skull Island herself. Oh, dear, Zachary. I think they're deporting that poor woman. And we have her child! What should we do?"

Zachary walked over to the stroller and looked at the small leopard. "We could go and give her to the ICE officers. A bar isn't a good place for a baby."

"The little cub is so innocent and small. We mustn't let them put her in a deportation cell. Besides, in the Central Newspaper, I read that if a child is born in Nation-X, it can remain here. They may be planning on deporting the mother and putting the cub up for adoption."

"So, we can keep her!" smiled Molly.

"That's quite horrifying," said Zachary. "Separating a mother from her baby. What sort of a place do we live in?"

"Hundreds of thousands of children have witnessed the deportation of at least one parent. It's obscene; these kids end up with severe psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. It feels hopeless; we can't get her mother back."

Zachary went to the front door and stuck his head out. "The van is still there. I vote to give the baby to the immigration people."

"But the mother doesn't want us to," said Monica. "It must be a terribly disturbing thing to have to do, to leave your baby. Maybe she knows it's better for the baby here, and perhaps she has planned for someone to come back for the child."

"I think trouble lies ahead," said Zachary, pulling out his cigarettes again.

Molly was staring at the cub while Monica and Zachary looked at each other, their brains mulling over their options.

"I'm just going next door to buy some more cigs. Do you need anything?" said Zachary.

"No, I'm fine," said Monica.

"She's waking up!" said Molly.

The baby opened her little eyes and stared up at Molly. She smiled for a few seconds before opening her mouth and letting out the loudest cry the sisters had ever heard.

"What do we do?" gasped Molly.

Monica picked up the cub and awkwardly held her, bumping her up and down on her hip.

"Poo!" said Molly, waving her hand in front of her nose. "That baby stinks, and I think you need to change her diaper."

"Me? You wanted a baby, Molly. Look under the stroller and see if there are any clean diapers there. She really is smelly… and loud!"

The bar's doors flew open for the second time that morning and rattled the room when they ricocheted off the wall.

Two tall, muscular boars stalked into the bar wearing uniforms with ICE printed on their white shirts. They took off their sunglasses and stared at Monica, Molly, and the baby. The first ICE officer unclipped his radio and spoke into it.

"Captain, we have located the other immigrants," he said. "We are in Monica's Bar; backup needed."

Molly's eyes screamed terror. "Did he say immigrants? Plural?"

Monica handed the stinky baby to her sister and stepped forward. "What is going on? Why are you in my bar?" she demanded, folding her arms and giving the two boars a death stare.

The boar with the radio stepped forward and spoke to Monica without looking at her. "We are just doing our job, madam. Please remain calm."

"No! You are in my bar. Either you show me a warrant allowing you to be here, or you can get out!" She looked at the front door, urging Zachary to appear. She was not confident that he would know what to do, but some adult support would be valuable.

The door did swing open, but it wasn't Zachary. Two more boars entered, wearing the same ICE uniforms. "Yeah, this looks like the three leopards we have been searching for this morning. Throw them in the van."

"Excuse me!" said Monica in a voice that sounded much more assertive than she felt. "We are citizens of Nation-X. You have your facts wrong, and I demand you go and rectify this. Whoever you really want, it is not us."

"We are just doing our job," repeated the boar, stepping toward Monica and pulling out handcuffs.

"Is that your catchphrase? Maybe you should question your job if it involves separating children from their parents. Saying 'I'm just doing my job' might make you feel better, but you are still complicit in this evil."

Monica stepped back toward the bar, and Molly scurried behind her, clutching the crying baby, and crouched behind a barstool.

"Please leave," said Monica; the authoritative tone was long gone from her voice.

"We are just doing our job," said another boar, stepping up to support the handcuff wielding one.

"Is that all you brainwashed goons can say?" asked Monica, using her body to shield the younger ones.

"We are looking for three leopards. You are three leopards, hiding in a bar with all the lights off, so I think we have the right people. Let's go."

The other two ICE officers stepped forward and grabbed Monica.

Molly screamed, causing the baby to wail at the top of her lungs.

"Get off me; you brutes, you bullies, you boneheaded boars!" Monica kicked her legs out as two ICE officers held her arms, and a third tried to wrap the cuffs around her wrists.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Molly, standing up with the baby and kicking the men in the shins as tears erupted from her eyes.

The fourth boar grabbed Molly, pulled the crying baby away, and put her in the stroller. He turned, and his dry eyes met Molly's terrified ones, their eyes locked for a split second before Molly ran.

She sprinted to the back door; Monica's shouting and the baby's wailing made the dark bar feel like the set of a horror film.

The boar took three enormous strides and caught up with Molly, grabbing her by the shoulders and lifting her off the ground.

"Get off! Get off me now!" she shouted, her feet running in thin air. "Leave her alone," shouted Monica. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you!"

"We are just doing our job, ma'am," said one of the boars.

Having forced the handcuffs on Monica, two officers rammed their hands under her armpits and picked her up. One officer went to open the front door while the other three carried the two restrained sisters outside.

Three ICE vans sat outside; two more boars were leaning against one,

eating peanuts. They looked up; their expressions didn't change when they saw their colleagues carting out two kicking leopards, the officers were desensitized to their struggle.

Monica and Molly were taken to separate vans.

"No way. You aren't separating us," yelled Monica, trying to wriggle free.

"That's my sister. I'll sue each and every one of you rotten hogs if we aren't

together."

"Throw her in," said the boar holding Monica's left arm.

They marched her to the van and flung her in like a butcher throwing away the off cuts.

"Monica!" screamed Molly. "Monica!"

"What the heck is going on?" shouted Zachary, running up the road, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"We found some illegals in your bar, sir," said one of the officers, recognizing Zachary.

"They aren't illegal; they're residents! Let them go!"

"Help me, Zachary," screamed Molly through floods of tears.

"It isn't even my bar," roared Zachary, flicking away his cigarette. "It's Monica's, who you just put in the van!"

"We are just trying to do our job, sir," said the boar before throwing Molly into the van like a sack of potatoes.

"I'll get the police," shouted Zachary, hoping the leopard sisters could hear him. "Don't worry. I'll think of something."

One of the boars had reentered the bar and was pushing out the stroller.

"Hey, I don't want this one in my van; it stinks."

The boar with the radio came over and had a sniff. "We are supposed to separate the families," he said. "But, this little thing does stink. Put her in the van with the smaller leopard. Maybe she'll change its diaper on the way to the detention center.

"Detention center? You swine!" said Zachary.

"We are just doing our—"

"I know!" interrupted Zachary. "But when your job involves separating families, you should question whether your employment is actual work or terrorism. Shame on you."

"We are just trying to make money to feed our families, the same as you, sir," said the boar.

"There are other ways. You enable this disgusting practice," Zachary spat as the ICE men all got in the front seats of their vans.

The first van pulled away. A small window in the back framed little Molly's petrified face. Zachary waved and mouthed, don't worry. The next van had another scared leopard looking out the window. Zachary pulled out his phone, unsure who he should call.