Free Commune of Women by Suzan Still

their superiority. She personally never has experienced this.
    But with the gun in her hand, or the bomb, she begins to feel powerful. It is intoxicating.
    At the same time, she is terrified. When she thinks of their plan, she wants to leap up and make it happen now . That is because she expects to die. If she is going to die, she wants to complete this ordeal immediately. She does not want to live with the fear of it, which makes her vomit. Her chest is so constricted with fear, she begins to pant, as if she cannot draw breath fully.
    But she keeps on because she will not let down the females. If she is going to die, let it be as a martyr. Death is the ultimate way to prove that women can manipulate political power. If she dies for their cause, how then could these men feel superior to her? Dead, she is beyond criticism.
    They write a Manifesto: We are a multi-national and religiously diverse group assembled for the purpose of affirming international brotherhood (they would not include sisterhood , despite her many arguments) and to wage war on the American military-industrial complex, and to protest that unquestioning obedience to multinational corporate interests is not patriotic, but idiotic. In defense of the downtrodden peoples of the world, and of their resources and their labor that ought to belong to them and not be stolen by corporate greed, and in the name of Allah-God, we call for a universal uprising against the forces of oppression, and give our lives willingly as martyrs to this cause.
    They labor over this statement for weeks, nearly warring among themselves.
    One night, she goes to the restroom and when she comes back, the men tell her to leave.
    “After all this time, you are dismissing me?” She is almost too outraged to speak. Her voice is shrill.
    “No, no,” they assure her. “We have someone coming who will only deal with us men. It is secret – and very important. Our mission depends on it. You must trust us.”
    So, reluctantly, she goes. But she does not leave. She hides. She sneaks into the next room, puts her ear to the furnace grate, and listens. She hears a man’s voice. He is offering their group money to aid the fight. He is saying that they must negotiate, using hostages, and make the government fly them to the Middle East. There, they will be safe to continue the struggle.
    She wants very much to go into the meeting room and see this man, but does not dare. His voice goes on and on, promising so many things – guns, training camps, money, access to top leadership. Where have the Brothers found such a powerful man? Why does one with such power interest himself in them? She sits on the floor and feels even sicker and more anxious.
    After that, there is no stopping the Brothers. The rhetoric of violence intensifies. They feel they are indomitable.
    This is her weakest moment. She is nearly overwhelmed with temptation to tell them that she cannot join them. That they are correct. She is the weak link. She is the one who will make an otherwise successful operation come to grief.
    It is a supreme act of will not to falter. She accomplishes this by saying nothing. She sits like a stone and accepts their dictates. She fears that if she speaks, it will come out as a whimper. This, she cannot tolerate in herself. She chews a hole inside her lower lip, but she manages to stay silent.
    And now, here they are. Here she is. They, the Brothers, are elsewhere. But they are all here in the Los Angeles International Airport international terminal.
    To their credit, they have made a tremendous victory. Bodies lie heaped in the corridors. They have vanquished the enemy.
    To their discredit, they have murdered a few hundred unarmed innocents. Bodies lie heaped in the corridors. In what way are they distinguished from the enemy they hope to vanquish?
Pearl
    Well, one good thin bout this here sitchiation is, Pearl ain’t gots ta figger out a place ta sleep. By the looks a thins, ain’t none of em a-goin