The Line by Teri Hall

the corner. When he could no longer see them, he pushed his hat back off his forehead in a thoughtful way, then turned and walked in the opposite direction.

CHAPTER 9
    V IVIAN PULLED OFF onto a side road and found a place hidden by a grove of trees where they could park unobserved. She took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel hard to stop her hands from shaking. When she spoke, her words were ragged and rushed.
    “Rachel, I need you to understand how dangerous it is to attract attention of any kind when we’re in Bensen. We cannot take chances like the one you almost took back there. Those EOs would have been just as happy to haul you away with . . . with that woman. They don’t need a reason; they can do whatever they want. In this society—”
    “I know all that from your school assignments, Mom.” Rachel stared at Vivian. She felt like she was looking at an impostor. Could this possibly be the same person who constantly talked about the injustices the government imposed on people? This person, who had just scuttled out of town like a sheep when she saw it in action? Rachel couldn’t quite believe that they had run away , like cowards , from the scene in Bensen. She didn’t think of herself as a coward. She had never thought of Vivian as one before either.
    Vivian shook her head. “Rachel, you only know what the government wants you to know.”
    “I know what you teach me, Mom. You’re the one who makes the assignments.”
    “And where do you think I get the reading materials I assign?” Vivian said. “I’ve got nothing but official texts to work with. The only thing you’ve read that hasn’t been a sanitized government version of the facts is the Bill of Rights, Rachel. The old one. And the official—”
    “The official story isn’t necessarily the true story.” Rachel rolled her eyes. “I know. You’ve made me write so many essays about how the government is corrupt that I could probably get arrested just for that. I know that the government lies. I know .” Rachel shrugged. “But guess what, Mom? It doesn’t seem like it matters that I know that. Justice . You always talk about it, but we just watched EOs practically beat a woman and we skulked away. How’s that for justice?” Rachel turned her head and looked out the window at the trees.
    Vivian sighed, exasperated. “Do you even know how EOs came to be, Rachel?” Her daughter didn’t look at her. “Well, do you?”
    “The Michaels execution.” Rachel finally looked back at Vivian. She spoke mechanically, reciting the lesson by rote. “After the execution, the police couldn’t control the protesters, so the government formed the Enforcement Department. The EOs were given special training and more power than the police. They had to have more power so they could effectively restore order.”
    “Well, that’s the official version,” said Vivian. She looked down at her hands, still gripping the steering wheel. “Do you know,” she said, without raising her eyes, “why Michaels was executed, Rachel? Why so many people protested that they had to form a special force to control them?”
    “He committed treason.” Rachel looked at her mother, frowning, remembering the details of the history assignment. “He was a news writer, made accusations about government officials in his column, and wouldn’t reveal his sources. He was jailed for refusing to name them. The government claimed the accusations he made were a threat to national security. But some people thought the death penalty wasn’t merited. We studied that—the fact that the government was killing a man for speaking out against them. And about how so many of the people who protested when they executed Michaels were Identified and locked up. So?” Rachel leaned forward to peer at her mother’s face. Vivian was still staring at her hands.
    “Mom?” Rachel waited a moment. “Mom?”
    Vivian finally met Rachel’s gaze. “Michaels was one of the first