Episode 083 Previous Episode	Next Episode
“Art isn’t a hobby or a profession; it’s a disease, an infection. You can’t love it; you have to hate it, but can’t live without it. You’re not an artist if you love to draw; you’re an artist if you can’t bring yourself to not draw.” Leslie Berry “You need to stop.” Marilyn sat at the dinette set with Everett and Ledger; Wizard curled up beneath the table, lying on top of Marilyn’s feet. With her arms crossed, she stared at Everett as if expecting him to say more. Ledger leaned back in his seat, his hands in his urban jacket while Everett leaned forward, his fingers interlaced. “No,” she stated. “Marilyn,” Everett started. “Let’s begin by how you have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do,” she said firmly. “Let’s go one step further that you, far and away, have no room to cast judgment on me about vigilante activities. I’m out there stopping street crime; beating up muggers and lowlifes. You assaulted a major military installation and blew it up.” “It keeps coming back to that, doesn’t it?” Ledger asked rhetorically to Everett. “I wonder if we jumped the shark with that one?” “Ledger,” Everett implored, his eyes closed. “Marilyn, you’re going to get yourself killed.” “I haven’t yet,” she said confidently. “Um, yeah,” Ledger interjected. “You can also play Russian Roulette a few times before you lose, too.” “Maybe,” she said. “Look, I don’t plan on doing this forever. I know I can’t. But I also don’t know how long I plan on doing it. But as long as I am able to make a difference, I’m going to. And this is, without a doubt, the most profound way I can make a difference.” She laughed cynically. “I mean what else am I going to do? Go join Habitat for Humanity? The Peace Corp? Deal with budget cuts and political agendas and international embargoes and stuff?” She laughed again. “No thank you. Here, I cut out the middleman. Here, there’s an immediate need. And an immediate response.” “You will get killed,” Everett repeated, emphasizing each word. “Better to have a short life, making the world a better place, than to live a long life in apathy,” she said firmly. “And if you get arrested?” Ledger asked. “I’ll be martyred,” she said. “Or whatever happens when you don’t die, but are esteemed for your sacrifice.” “You’d rather go to jail than stop being the Crimson Rose?” Everett asked. “In a heartbeat,” she insisted. “I’m. Doing. Good.” She sat back. “Why can’t you see that?” “I can see that you’ve stopped a few muggings and robberies,” he conceded. “But I also see – what? – six arrests of wannabes and imitators? People thinking that what you’re doing is cool and trying to be like you.” “I’m flattered,” she said with a smile. “Yeah, and they’re in jail,” Everett said. “And their jail time is on your hands.” “If they’re serious, then they were prepared for that,” Marilyn insisted, leaning forward, tapping her finger on the tabletop for emphasis. “If they aren’t prepared for that, then they’re just dressing up.” “Their reasons don’t matter, Marilyn,” Everett argued. “What matters is the result. They imitated you and they got arrested. And sooner or later, someone’s going to imitate you and they’re going to get killed.” Everett paused, hesitant to say more. “And then, not only will the arrest of half a dozen people be on your head, but that death will be as well.” “No, Everett, it won’t,” she said, unyielding. “I won’t be the one pulling the trigger that kills them. I won’t be the one perpetrating the crime that they’re trying to stop.” “No, but they’ll be trying to stop it because of you,” Everett said, his voice raising. “Good!” she yelled back. “That means that someone is inspiring people to take direct action in making their world a better place.” Everett sat back, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his head. He breathed slowly, forcing an artificial calm across his mind. At the same time, Marilyn looked away, her arms still crossed across her chest. Sitting between the two, Ledger watched their mutual attempts to calm down with mild amusement. “Vigilantism is going to get peopled killed,” Everett said, staring up at the ceiling. “As the source of said vigilantism, their deaths will be on your head.” “Why?” she asked. “Why would it be my fault versus, say, oh I don’t know, the people who actually kill them?” “Because they won’t do it if there isn’t a precedent,” Everett said. “People, by and large, follow social convention. They’ll usually only step outside conventions if there is a voice of dissent.” “How is it my fault if they get killed?” Marilyn argued. “It’s like a doctor advising people to take this drug for their problems,” Everett said, “and then that drug kills them.” “Flag on the play,” Ledger spoke up quickly, holding his hand between the two. Everett and Marilyn were both shocked out of their stare by Ledger’s sudden involvement. “Marilyn’s not actively advising anyone to follow her, nor claiming to be any type of expert. The people’s inclination to imitate her is done without any encouragement. Five yard penalty.” Everett stared. “When did this become a football game?” “When I got bored,” Ledger returned. Everett looked at Marilyn, but she smiled at him with a smug look. He sighed. “Okay. The doctor comparison is a bad idea. How about a rapper who raps about violent acts, glorifying them?” “I’m not selling anything,” Marilyn disputed. “All I’m doing is what I think needs to be done. If people want to follow me, great. If not, that’s cool too.” “But if they follow you, then you have an obligation to their safety.” “Why?” she exclaimed. “I mean, please don’t think I’m flippant about people getting hurt. But I am not the one responsible if someone gets killed. It’s the guy who kills that person.” “You are violating due process,” Everett stated in a low tone. “Once you do that, you set a precedent for violating due process. And the person who sets the precedent is the one at fault.” “Due process has become ineffective,” Marilyn argued. “The law doesn’t do what it’s supposed to.” “You don’t go about changing something by ignoring it,” Everett argued. “You deal with the problem directly. You have a problem with the law; you change the law.” “I can’t!” she yelled. “But I can do this. I can show the outrage and indignation of the community over…” “What community?” Everett interrupted. Marilyn paused, taken by surprise. “Who?” “Anybody who…” she started. “Names, Marilyn,” he asked. “Who are you acting on behalf of? Do you have a membership list? Do you have a survey? A…I don’t know, a petition? Do you have one piece of evidence to support your claim that there is a single person who wants you to be doing this besides yourself?” She retreated slightly into her chair, anger and humiliation covering her eyes. “Due process goes both ways,” he said. “It’s how things get done, but it’s also how people know to get things done.” “I’m trying to wake people up,” she insisted, leaning towards him. “Wait, a second ago, you were acting on behalf of people,” he charged. “Which is it? Are they awake or are they…” “God!” she exclaimed, standing up from the table. She walked away, Wizard coming over to her side. Turned away from Everett, she rubbed her eyes as tears threatened to come out. Everett looked at Ledger, but he seemed uncomfortable with the new direction of the conversation. “Why are you doing this?” Marilyn asked without turning around. “Why are you attacking me like this?” She turned to Everett. “Do you have any idea how much of a hypocrite you are?” “Just because I’m a hypocrite doesn’t give you the right to do this,” he said. “You’re risking your life, and the lives of others, with this?” “It’s got to be done,” she implored. “Somebody has to do something.”
Previous Episode	Next Episode