Are women who are drug mules ever not victims?

Sure, “ever”. But not often would be my guess. That is to say, they’re probably all victims most of the time. In the case of “High Fever,” one such woman just has to walk a few miles, across a well-guarded boarder, feverish, drugged, extra stuff inserted into her abdominal cavity. She doesn’t know where her son is. She doesn’t know if she’ll make it. She has to make it.

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Maybe it’s funny or unprofessional to say, but I was surprised when this story was accepted for publication. I wasn’t particularly sure I was even “allowed” to write a story like that, which is always a good reason to write a “story like that”. At any rate, reading it now, I think it has more promise than I remember thinking it did that day in 2014 when I received an acceptance letter for “High Fever” from Shotgun Honey.

Mostly, I’ve always thought the story’s plot was a little farfetched–as in, why would a cartel or whomever go to the trouble of abducting a woman and surgically implanting drugs in her body cavity? Then again, here are some…

Related “Actual” Headlines:

Vet Sentenced for Implanting Heroin in Puppies as Drug Mules Read More »

Woman Carrying Cocaine in Breast Implants Arrested at Colombia Airport Read More »

Here’s What It Feels Like to Smuggle 700 Grams of Cocaine in Your Stomach Read More »

 

And on that note, Please enjoy this excerpt from “High Fever” by Carl Robinette:

She could feel the thing there in her abdomen, bulging, painful. She wanted to scratch where the stitches sealed it in but knew better. A church bell sang the hour. A church somewhere far off in the heart of the city where people moved busy and impatient from work to home to school to market to cantina.

“They will pass you through. No problem. You will see.”

“No problem. No problem for who? Me?”

“You are not from here, Valley Girl. Anyone can see that. Your parents are, obviously. But not you, also obviously.  They will pass you through. You have your passport? Driver’s license? Alright?”

“Nothing’ll be alright.”

“Ok. You are ready. Time to go, Valley Girl. Time to get fixed up by the guero doctor. Get that thing out of you.”

She stood unsteady…

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