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Upon Encountering a Certain Young Lady (no. 1)

  MVT sits in the front seat of a green metallic 1970 Dodge Dart Swinger in a church parking lot in downtown DC. A light rain falls outside. He trains a steady gaze on the back door of the church. Several men and women amble out into the parking lot, laughing and chatting. As they slowly walk to their cars, MVT hunches down in the seat and pretends to pick up something he dropped on the floor of the passenger side to avoid being seen. He wears an arm cast supported by a sling, so this movement is quite awkward. When everyone is gone, he resumes staring at the backdoor. It opens, and an older woman wearing a colorful headscarf and long skirt accompanied by a younger woman in jeans and an embroidered peasant blouse emerge. The sounds of their conversation are barely audible. After a brief exchange, they embrace. The older woman re-enters the church and closes the door behind her, and the younger woman walks toward the sidewalk to leave on foot. MVT quickly slides out of the car and l...
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TOWNLEY'S TRIP, PART ONE

1975, on a LAN Air red-eye flight from Santiago de Chile to Washington, D.C. MICHAEL VERNON TOWNLEY, a Chilean-US dual citizen, is seated in first class. The cabin is dimly lit following dinner service. A muted bell tone rings to indicate the beverage cart will make one last round before the scheduled movie. MVT is reading a book under the light over his seat. A stewardess approaches slowly pushing the cart. She wears a snug-fitting two-piece dark navy uniform with bright red piping and oversized brass buttons. The skirt's hem hits mid-thigh. Her dark brown hair is tightly pulled back in a high bun. She stops and kneels beside his seat. He briefly looks up. Their conversation is solely in Spanish. S (stewardess): Sir, can I interest you in something to drink? Coffee or tea? Perhaps a refreshing cocktail? MVT: Tonic on the rocks, please. S: Tonic water? MVT: Yes, on ice. S: Only tonic water? [puzzled] MVT: Yes. S: Can I add lime juice? Maybe gin, or vodka? MVT: I don’t drink alcohol...
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DO YOU KNOW MICHAEL VERNON TOWNLEY?

Michael Vernon Townley (born December 5, 1942, in Waterloo, Iowa) is an American-born former agent of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA), the secret police of Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. In 1957, Townley moved to Chile with his father, Vernon Townley, who became head of the Ford Motor Company in Chile. He married Mariana Ines Callejas Honores in 1961 at age 19 (she was 27) after meeting her at a party two years earlier. In 1967, he moved to Miami with his family and worked as a mechanic in Miami's Little Havana, where he befriended Cuban anti-Castro exiles. In 1970, Townley moved back to Chile with his family. He later testified that, before leaving the US, he contacted the CIA to offer his services in Chile; however, Townley later claimed he never worked for the CIA, His father, however, allegedly had ties to the agency. Back in Chile, he ran a clandestine anti-Allende radio station and worked with violent opposition groups. He fled Chile...
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NONCOMPLIANCE

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The man had acquired a one-room cabin in upstate New York. Around the same time, he also purchased an unprofitable strawberry farm, but it didn’t matter. He was always looking forward, whereas she ran into walls and then wondered why her head hurt. The cabin bordered a vineyard and was partially surrounded by trees. It overlooked a large, distant lake. They stayed there together several times the summer before the girl got sick. At first, it was his cabin, but after two months, it became the cabin–a shared space.  The man and the woman made love in the afternoon and lay on sweaty sheets while they envisioned a future together. Late at night, the man tended a fire in front of the cabin, and the woman sat on the porch drinking a canned margarita. They then stood side by side to watch the moon rise steadily into the sky. She tentatively placed her hand on his hard shoulder.  “I see a face…on the moon. Do you see it?” He asked hopefully. She did. Neither one of them said anything ...
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