Legal Aliens
Originally published in Semaphore SF in 2009, and reprinted in the Semaphore SF anthology for 2009
The bell goes ding-dong over the murmur of the waiting room and a red number A54 flicks up on the wall display. A woman rises amidst the poor, the desperate and the hopeful. Whole families sit here for days, clutching forms most cannot read.
Behind his desk, Peter yawns. Glances out the back window into the smoggy Jakarta air. He's tired and he doesn't know why. This day at the office seems to last forever.
He stares at the woman now approaching his cubicle. She's tall like a basketball player, she's bronzed like a Swedish tourist, and has golden tresses like a fairytale princess. Definitely not a local.
'Uhm,' he says and clears his throat, and then again, 'Uhm--how can I h
