Free Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel by Michael Gerard Bauer Page A

her back and biting her bottom lip with the effort. There was no mistaking her intention.
    Jess Hambleton was about to unclip her bikini top.

13.

LOCK IN (A) HELL, YEAH!
    Razz’s nose was almost touching the computer screen when Jess’s image froze. Immediately he began swearing, shaking the computer and frantically checking the connections. He only stopped when he spotted my finger on the
Pause
button.
    â€˜Are you crazy? What are you
doing
, man?’
    â€˜Razz, maybe we need to think about this a bit first.’
    Razza’s eyes drilled into me for a moment and then began to wander around the room.
    â€˜Yeah. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Good one, Ishmael!’ he said before jumping up from his chair, shutting the door to the editing room, drawing the curtains closed on the window beside us and rotating the computer screen so that it couldn’t be seen from the main teaching area. ‘Wouldn’t want to be interrupted, would we? OK, push the button, dude!’
    My finger stayed where it was.
    â€˜What’re you waiting for?’ Razz said, twisting his head around. ‘Did I miss something?’
    â€˜Razz, I don’t think we can watch this.’
    â€˜Sure we can. Look, it’s easy. Give it here, I’ll show you. You just push Play.’
    Razz reached over for the camera but I moved it away.
    â€˜I know we
can
watch it. What I mean is we
shouldn’t.
It’s not right. It’s … wrong.’
    â€˜Wrong? We’ve got Jess Hambleton about to take off her clothes. We’ve got
Pause
,
Rewind
and even
Slow Mo.
Man, this is so right, it’s not funny. It’s like we’ve won first prize in the chick-perving lotto! The only thing wrong, man, is you if you don’t push that button!’
    â€˜So you’d be happy to sit there and gawk at Jess while she gets undressed?’
    â€˜What, is that like a trick question or something, dude? No? OK then. Lock in (a)
Hell, Yeah!
’
    â€˜I don’t believe it. What, are you a peeping Tom or something now?’
    â€˜Peeping Tom? What are you on about? This isn’t like
that.
I’m not creeping around in the dark like some scumbag trying to spy on Jess. I didn’t
plan
this. It’s just a lucky accident, man. The best and luckiest accident ever.’
    â€˜That’s garbage, Razz. It’s just wrong and you know it.’
    â€˜Well, what are you, my conscience? Anyway, what’s so wrong about it? It’s not gonna hurt anyone. Jess’ll never know and it certainly ain’t gonna hurt me. So how about you just push the button.’
    â€˜No. It’s wrong.’
    Razz threw up his hands and slumped down in his chair with his head resting on the back, gazing up at the ceiling.
    â€˜
Why
is it wrong? Why? Tell me that. Go on … educate me. Better yet, you’re a debater. Convince me. Go on. Let’s just say the topic is:
That watching Jess get naked is wrong
and you’re arguing for the Affirmative. Go on, give me the outline of your case.’
    â€˜This is stupid.’
    â€˜What’s the problem, Ishmael? You keep going on about how wrong it is. Haven’t you got anything to back it up?’
    Razz smirked at me and twiddled his fingers on his stomach as he waited.
    â€˜All right. You want my case? Is that it? Well, here it is.
First
of all, watching that video is a gross invasion of privacy, andpersonal privacy is one of the most basic and essential rights human beings have.
Secondly.
Just because it’s accidental and you didn’t plan it doesn’t make it right. That would be like saying if you came across an open bank vault it would be OK to take the money because
you
weren’t the one who unlocked it.
Thirdly.
You reckon it’s OK to watch the video because Jess wouldn’t know about it. Well, if it’s OK for you and me to watch it then I guess you’d have no problem with someone like Danny