We find our hero handing out pamphlets in the central square. The next day, two men in military uniforms slide under her door a picture of her handing out pamphlets in the square with a simple note written across it in red ink, “second warning.”
She’s continued to meet with those organized against the regime, despite the wishes of her mom, who begged her to stop. She does not know what to do and needs to talk to her mom, but she knows they’re listening in on her phone.
She decides to go on a walk by the river, along a busy street in the heart of the city. The day is clear, sunny, and frigid. A quiet man in a long jacket approaches her and asks if she knows the way to the underground. She looks at him quizzically. There is no underground in this city. He bends over, picks up a packet of matches off the ground, and hands them to her as he says, “I think you dropped these.” He turns and walks away.
Taking off her gloves, she removes a cigarette from her pack. The matchbook has an address written inside, which she memorizes as she lights her cigarette and burns it.
As she approaches the ornate house in a neighborhood once known for its extreme wealth, the door opens and a man just home from work, his tie loosened and the top buttons of his dress shirt undone, steps out and heartily greets her. “Welcome, I’m so glad you could make it. I made a great stew,” he says as he ushers her in the door. He offers her a drink.
He turns on symphonic music and explains under his breath that she is in danger, and that they are a group funded by anti-fascists from around the world organized to help smuggle political dissidents out of the country. They have spies inside of her dissident group and also within the security agency of the government, and know that she is about to be arrested.
They have to act fast. He instructs her to go home, shave her head, and wear baggy, masculine clothes. She may not bring any of her personal items, including her phone or passport, when she leaves her apartment for the final time this evening when she comes to meet him.
As she climbs into the car, it reminds her of one her friend used to drive in high school many years ago. Someone in the front hands her a passport, and they drive all night. The front passenger hands her a cell phone and schools her on her name, address, and identification number. She is now a young man traveling with his parents to visit his sick aunt in the neighboring country. He has a whole backstory she has to memorize quickly.
They approach the border crossing in the wee hours of the morning.
This entire music session has a weight, tension, and internality that evoked this entire story. The sense of the unknown is reflected in the cover art, as well, images of hell, devils, and things that might be scary to face.
Part of improvisation is sticking with art through these scary moments. When I start a set, I don’t know where it will go, but evoking these emotions in this way can be a way to face them and help neutralize fears.