Travails of a Trailing Spouse

by Stephanie Suga Chen

Sarah motioned for everyone to be quiet until they left the building. The officers at the desk were watching them and she didn’t want any more trouble. Carys roused Ian, who woke with a start, surprised to see Jason and Chad standing before him.

  “Hey!” he said, brightly, standing up to shake their hands. The men patted each other on the backs, like soldiers who had come back from battle.

  The group walked down the stairs and out through the tall gate to the pavement outside the building. They crossed the street, Sarah wanting to get as far away from the building as possible before they started talking.

  “All right now, out with it,” Ian asked, eager to hear what had happened to them.

  Chad started first, “Well, it was unfortunate that neither of us had ID on us.”

  “What?!” Sarah said, then remembered that she had taken Jason’s wallet at the club to pay for a bottle of water; she had brought only a clutch bag, with only a credit card, and had not wanted to charge such a small amount. After paying for the water, she had shoved his wallet into her tiny purse, even though it couldn’t zip completely shut, using his cash again to pay for her cab home earlier that morning; then, when she got home, had tossed the purse on the side bench by their front door that the kids sometimes sat on while they were putting on their shoes.

  “Yeah, and I never carry a wallet when I’m out – old Kiwi trick,” he said, remorsefully. “I always thought they couldn’t charge you if they don’t know your name.”

  Ashley rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, Chad, seriously?” she said.

  “OK, well, that’s completely false, but really, you never carry an ID when you go out?” Sarah asked.

  “Nope,” Chad answered, shaking his head. “Just cards and cash, usually. It’s served me well until now.”

  “Did they give you a Breathalyzer test?” Sarah asked, but even as the question came out, she could still smell the alcohol on her husband, and she knew that, at least in the US, a blood alcohol content test was not required to prove public drunkenness. “What happened after you left the club, exactly?” she asked, this time addressing her husband directly.

  “No Breathalyzer. But honestly, I don’t remember much,” Jason said, slowly. “I remember leaving the club, getting to the street. I remember going one way and hearing Carys say to go the other way.”

  “Yeah, then some bloke just jumped on me for no eff-in’ reason!” Chad cut in.

  “Then I fell, too,” Jason said. “The next thing I knew, Chad and I were sitting in the back of a police car, being taken away.”

  “Did you say anything in the car, like call them any names?” Sarah asked, worried.

  “We kept telling them it was a mistake, that we didn’t do anything,” Jason answered. “But the officers told us to be quiet; they would question us when we got to the station. We arrived, along with everyone else who was in the fight. We went up some stairs – ”

  “ – with really low ceilings!” Chad cut in again.

  “Yeah, Chad had to duck a little. Then they asked us to sit down on some chairs and wait. A little while later, another guy came out and asked for our IDs,” Jason said.

  “Did they bring you in together or separately for questioning?” Sarah asked.

  “We never even left the waiting area,” Chad said. “When we told him we didn’t have any ID on us, the cop looked at us, sighed, looked really annoyed, and brought the guys next to us back first.”

  He looked at Jason. “Mate, I was surprised when you said you didn’t have your wallet on you! I thought you were trying to pull a fast one on him.”

  “No way, I was so out of it,” Jason said. “And we were both cuffed so I’m not even sure how he expected us to give him our IDs. I was actually trying to reach for my wallet when I remembered I didn’t have it. Damn, those plastic things hurt,” he said, rubbing his wrists again.

  “And then what happened?” Ian asked.

  “After, like, hours it seemed, he came back to us with a clipboard, and asked us what had happened,” Jason said. “So we told him that we weren’t part of the fight at all. He wrote everything down, then left us there while he went to type it up, then brought it back, cut the ties, and told us to sign it.”

  “Did you read it carefully? Did he give you a copy of the report?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes, I read it carefully,” Jason said. “And it pretty much said what we said, which was basically nothing. We didn’t know what happened, we were pulled into the fight by accident. We didn’t punch anyone. Then he said we were being arrested for public drunkenness and that an IO would be in touch for further questioning. Also that the arrest report could be requested in three business days. Then he said he could make a call for us, but I guess you guys had already made the bail payment.

  “Thanks for that,” he added, awkwardly.

  “Well, at least you didn’t have to spend the weekend in jail!” Ian said, slapping Jason’s back. He was enjoying it all a little too much.

  “Honestly, I don’t even know what happened,” Jason said again, rubbing his eyes. “What should we do now?” he asked Sarah, at least showing some concern about his predicament.

  Sarah told them that she had spoken to a lawyer and had a meeting set up with him on Monday for all of them to discuss the case. She then remembered what Carys had said about the cause of the fight and asked if Chad or Jason had seen a woman in the station with them.

  Chad shook his head, saying, “Nah, it was all blokes from what I could see, maybe five or six others. No one looked particularly beat up.”

  “I don’t remember seeing any women,” Jason agreed, shaking his head. “Although maybe she was taken somewhere else?”

  “Did you see the guy that was having the original argument with the woman?” Sarah asked.

  “What did he look like?” Chad asked. Sarah looked at Carys, who only responded with a shrug. “Sorry, I didn’t really get a good look at him,” she said, averting her eyes.

  “What was it like in there? Scary?” Sarah asked her husband, softening a little.

  “No, it was all very organised, very quiet, actually. A bunch of white guys in handcuffs waiting for the Asian overlords to release them. If I wasn’t tied up myself, I might have enjoyed it more,” Jason said.

  Sarah flagged down a cab, sending the other four home first; they exchanged handshakes, and gave a few last-minute “Happy Birthday” greetings to Chad, who answered, “Oh yeah, it is my birthday, isn’t it?” as he pulled the door shut.

  Sarah looked at Jason as they gazed down the road for another available cab, saying, “Well, I’m glad you’re all right, at least. But you should’ve come home with me when I said so.”

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry,” Jason responded. “I had stopped drinking after you took my wallet; I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  “Yeah, you never know what you’re thinking when you’re drunk,” Sarah snapped.

  Jason, knowing enough to keep his mouth shut, took her hand as an open cab pulled up to the kerb. They got in, fastened their seatbelts, and told the driver their destination.

  Sarah relayed the conversation she had had with the lawyer, saying, “I guess it could be worse than public drunkenness. I had already pictured our life on the run, living on a remote beach in Thailand.”

  Jason replied, “Actually that doesn’t sound half-bad…”

  Sarah leaned back in the seat and sighed.

  “Quite an adventure,” Jason said, repeating the family catch phrase he had started the first week they had arrived in Singapore, when he described the multiple-transfer bus ride he and Eric had taken downtown from their temporary housing to pick up their ID cards. Eric had said it repeatedly the rest of the day in his little high-pitched voice, in perfect imitation of Jason, in both intonation and rhythm: “Quite an adventure, quite an adventure.”

  But Sarah wasn’t amused, barking back, “You think this is funny?”

  “No, no. Sorry,” Jason said. “Actually, after you left, Chad did almost
get in a fight, an actual fight, with a guy in the club,” he added, the memory coming back to him.

  “Of course he did,” Sarah said, not the least bit surprised.

  Apparently, Chad had gone to the bar and ordered four drinks, even though no one else had really wanted to drink any more. Jason had gone with him to get a bottle of water – this he insisted was true. The bartender poured the drinks and Chad grabbed the glasses between his hands and turned around to bring them back to where Carys and Ian were standing, but as he was turning, he bumped into a man who claimed that the drinks Chad was carrying were his.

  Jason said Chad argued for a minute, but realised the man was right as Chad hadn’t even taken out his credit card to pay for the drinks. He tried to pass the glasses over to the man; however, he was unable to maintain his grip, and ended up spilling nearly all the drinks onto the front of the man’s shirt and pants. Words were exchanged; Chad was in no state to start a fight, so he ended up paying for not only the spilled drinks but another round for the man, coming back to the group empty-handed. It had been their sign to call it a night.

  “Ah, CS,” Jason finished, shaking his head.

  “Um, hmm,” Sarah said, not amused.

  She entered The Manchester for the second time that morning, hurrying to explain to the kids why Mommy and Daddy hadn’t been there all morning, although she left out the part about Daddy getting arrested. She left Jason without a word and rushed back out the door; if she ran, she could make it for the tail-end of Ruby’s school presentation.

  chapter 12

  WORKING GIRL

  AFTER SARAH GOT back from Ruby’s school, she went straight to the other Sara’s, primarily to debrief her on what had happened, but also because she didn’t feel much like being around her husband yet. Sara, standing at the counter drinking a glass of orange juice, shook her head and said, “Man, I can’t believe John and I missed all this! Why don’t interesting things ever happen to me?”

  Sarah responded, lightly, “Uh, interesting things do happen to you…”

  “Oh, OK, I guess you’re right, ha!” Sara said.

  They hadn’t talked about the whole prostitute thing since Sara had first brought it up, but Sarah was glad she could laugh about it, at least. You really never knew what went on in a marriage, Sarah thought again to herself.

  The following Monday, Sarah arranged for Chew Soon Lee, the defence lawyer, to sit down with the Lees and the Sanderses to review the case. They met in a conference room of his law offices, a non-descript rectangular room overlooking Boat Quay. He wore wire-rimmed glasses, had a full head of very black hair and wore a well-tailored, dark suit. Chad started to make a joke about something as they sat down, which elicited a slap on the arm and a stern look from his wife.

  Soon Lee started by asking Jason and Chad to tell him exactly what had happened, which they did, the lawyer taking sporadic notes.

  He then said that he had put a call in to his contacts on the police force and had received confirmation that the only arrests made with respect to the brawl Jason and Chad had been involved in were the same as theirs: Misconduct in Public by a Drunken Person, and there were no reports of any injuries, so far.

  “Those are all good facts,” the lawyer said.

  It seemed, he said, that the police that night had been called in on an unrelated incident, an alleged assault against a masseuse at Orchard Towers, coincidentally arriving on the scene just when the brawl broke out. No videos of the fight had surfaced on the Internet, either, which Soon Lee also took as a good sign.

  “However, the crime that you have been arrested for carries a possible prison sentence of six months and a fine of up to $1,000,” Soon Lee said.

  Ashley covered her mouth. “Six months?” she said.

  Sarah, having already looked this up, asked, “Is this a crime that is often prosecuted?” She knew that in some states in the US, public drunkenness was not even considered a crime, and in other states it was a simple misdemeanour, punishable by a fine only.

  “Generally, it is usually added onto a more serious crime, such as rioting or VCH - voluntarily causing hurt, or assault, as you would call it. It is rare that the AGC – the Attorney-General’s Chambers, that is, the public prosecutor – would take on the case for this offence alone,” he answered.

  “Well, we definitely didn’t assault anyone,” Jason said emphatically.

  “Yes, based on what you have told me, I presume the police will investigate to see if any, more serious, crimes were committed. The IO has the power to drop the case before it even goes to the AGC. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do right now but wait.”

  “How long?” Ashley asked.

  “Unfortunately, as I told Ms Lee on the phone the other day, these investigations could sometimes take months,” he responded. “You can, however, submit a formal request for permission to leave the country,” he said. “Typically, most requests would be granted, with an increased bail amount, and provided you show return tickets, of course.”

  “So what’s the best case scenario, boss?” Chad asked.

  Soon Lee paused, then said, “Well, assuming there are no injuries, if no one else comes forward with any unexpected information, it is possible that the IO will simply drop the case and your bail will be released.”

  “So as of right now, our records are clean?” Jason asked.

  “Yes and no. Your names have not been entered in the Register of Criminals; that would only occur after a conviction. The arrest would not be searchable for any public purpose, but it is considered ‘in the system’, and if either of you were to be taken in again on another issue, it could be used by the IO when deciding whether or not to recommend a charge.

  “In other words, you need to stay out of trouble,” he finished.

  The women looked at their husbands. Sarah thought about the stolen beer towers.

  “Do they have to inform their employers?” Ashley asked.

  “Not as of right now. I reviewed the employment contracts you sent over and while they do have morality clauses, given there hasn’t been a charge yet, there should be no need to notify anyone,” Soon Lee answered.

  “I already told Ronnie,” Chad said, referring to his colleague who had DJ-ed the party earlier that night.

  “Well, tell him to keep his mouth shut,” Ashley shot back.

  Sarah had checked Jason’s contract before sending it to the lawyer; there was indeed a clause that stated that if he were to be charged with any offence, the university had the right to terminate his employment without notice. The contract also contained another, much broader, clause, that stated that if Jason was deemed by the university to have conducted himself in a way that would adversely affect the public image of the university, he could also be immediately terminated. She imagined Jason having to report the incident to Matt Stone, the chair of his department, a jolly Santa Claus-like man who had hired Jason, and who thought the world of him, singing his praises whenever the man had the pleasure of introducing Jason to others.

  “Are there any more questions?” Soon Lee asked.

  Sarah had a list of them written on her legal pad, and she rattled them off, rapid-fire.

  Was he aware of any cases like theirs that had led to a charge and conviction, after the fact? Yes, he answered, but only in the case that new information surfaced that showed that the suspect had not been telling the truth.

  Was there a time limit after which they could not be charged, i.e., a statute of limitations? No, he said, in Singapore there was no statute of limitations for criminal cases.

  What should they do if the police called them in for questioning? They should call him immediately and he would accompany them. However, based on their accounts, there should be no reason for them to worry.

  Was there a “right to remain silent”, like in the US? No, there was a right against self-incrimination, but, he said, it was always best to the tell the truth, everything you can remember, right away. If you tried to offer inform
ation later at trial, information that had been withheld during earlier questioning, it would be looked upon unfavourably.

  “The truth will come out,” he said. “It always does.” Sarah admired his faith in the justice system, and looked sideways at Jason and Chad; they hadn’t withheld anything, had they?

  The other three sat quietly as Sarah ran through the rest of her questions briskly, taking quick notes in slanted handwriting on her notepad, asking clarification when she needed it.

  Last question, she said. If the IO found new information through his investigation, what, in the lawyer’s opinion, could be the most serious crime and maximum penalty that could be levied on them?

  After considering for a moment, Soon Lee answered, “Rioting is probably the most egregious crime you could be charged with, based on the facts. That carries a punishment of imprisonment of up to seven years and possible caning.”

  “OK, that’s all I have for now,” Sarah said, closing her pen cap with a click. The rest of the group continued to sit in silence, stunned.

  “Damn!” Chad finally said. “I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of that!”

  “You’re telling me,” Jason responded.

  As they were getting up to leave, Soon Lee nodded approvingly to Sarah, saying, “My brother told me you were a lawyer. What area?”

  “Corporate restructuring,” she said. “Pretty boring, compared to what you do, I’m sure.”

  “Well, it has its ups and downs,” the lawyer responded.

  They shook hands, with Sarah genuinely hoping they would not have to meet again.

  On the way home, Jason asked Sarah, “Do you regret not going into criminal law?” It was something she had briefly considered in law school, but not very seriously. It was a track that would have required her to start as a prosecutor or a public defender, at a very modest salary.

  “I’m just doing this for you,” she said, exasperated. “I am done being a lawyer!”

  Sara-without-an-H had, as suggested by John, started looking for a job in earnest. Sarah was supportive, of course, but she had to admit that when she met working mothers, she made it a point to tell them she used to be a partner at a large law firm; she knew it came out pompous and self-serving, but she didn’t know how else to define herself other than as an ex-attorney.