Different Circles

My brother-in-law, Jose, is a ramp worker who works for the FBO at Sandpoint airport in northern Idaho. His family is originally from Mexico and, though Jose is an American citizen, he speaks fluent Spanish. Recently, singer Jake Kingsley and his wife Laura flew in to the Sandpoint airport in their multi-million-dollar airplane for a week of skiing at the world-famous Schweitzer ski resort. Jose, who had been assigned to take care of the Kingsleys’ plane, saw they were traveling with a young Hispanic woman who seemed to be frightened and intimidated by the couple, and for good reason. They spoke to her harshly, making her carry their bags for them, and barking at her frequently in rudimentary Spanish.

While the Kingsleys were arranging for their transportation needs to Schweitzer, Jose approached the young woman and spoke to her just so he could be sure she was all right. It turns out that she is very far from all right. In the first place, the young woman, who says her name is Maria, is not actually a woman at all, but a transgender male who has the original name of Martin. Maria became acquainted with the Kingsleys during a recent visit the couple made to Barquisimeto, Venezuela, with singer Celia Valdez. Maria is only seventeen years old and was basically sold to the Kingsleys by her family, who do not support her life choice to identify as a female. Maria says the Kingsleys paid ten thousand American dollars for her and she has been living and traveling with them as a virtual slave ever since. In addition to being forced to be a live-in maid, Maria says that both of the Kingsleys regularly sexually abuse her, sometimes individually, sometimes at the same time. She cannot escape from their control as she does not speak English, has no friends or family in the United States, and has no access to money as she is not paid for the work she does.

Shocked by this story, Jose called the Idaho State Police and they sent a trooper to interview Maria. Maria, however, refused to talk to the officer and, when he tried to at least identify her and determine her age and if she was in the country legally, the Kingsleys quickly lawyered up and snuffed the attempt.

While all of this was going on, Jose did manage to get a picture of the Kingsleys and Maria standing next to the plane. This is the shot he took. Please circulate this email and the attached photograph far and wide so that, hopefully, someone will come forward to identify Maria and help extricate her from the hell she is in.

“What the fuck?” Jake asked when he finished. “Who the hell wrote this?”

“There is no name on the email,” Pauline said. “The original came from a Hotmail account with the address “none of your business”, spelled B-I-Z on business. Since then, it has been forwarded nearly a hundred thousand times and has been appearing in inboxes everywhere in the world where email currently exists. It is also appearing on thousands of bulletin boards and hundreds of websites that deal with celebrity stalking.”

“And people are actually taking this seriously?” Jake asked.

“Not everyone,” she said, “but a lot are. Remember the rule we humans like to live by: if it’s written down, in must be true.”

“But this is the most ridiculous story I’ve ever heard,” Jake said. “The alleged tranny tells his entire story to a ramper but not to the cops when they show up? And Laura and I hang around long enough for the cops to show up in the first place while we’re keeping a foreign citizen captive? And then we pose and smile for the camera with our alleged underage tranny sex slave standing between us while we’re waiting for our lawyers to spring us?”

“Or,” Pauline added, “that the cops would actually listen to your lawyer if they thought you were really keeping a seventeen-year-old Venezuelan captive? Yeah, anyone who believes in this crap is a moron, but there are a lot of morons in the world.”

“That is true,” Jake agreed. “What did you tell the reporters who called?”

“Just what I knew at the time. Number one, you are most definitely not keeping anyone captive, for housekeeping or sex slave or any other purpose. Two, you already have a housekeeper who has been in your employ ten years now and she is well-compensated for her position, not from Venezuela, not a teenager, and is there quite voluntarily. Three, please make note that there is no name on the email, it comes from an anonymous address, none of the people mentioned in the email have last names except you and Laura, and it would not be the Idaho State Police who would have investigated such a thing, but the Sandpoint Police Department and/or the Bonner County Sheriff’s department.”

“Very good points,” Jake said. “What did they have to say?”

“They said they will be looking into the details of the accusation and will call back for further clarification. They all asked for a quote from you.”

“I should give them one, right?” Jake asked.