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then made arrangements with Sofia’s parents for her to stay with Jana overnight without telling either of their mothers what had happened.
    The next day Jana confided in her father. Her father was the only one she trusted enough to ask for advice. He listened carefully until she was finished.
    “You acted bravely,” he told her. “She was foolish.”
    “What should I do, Father?”
    “Sofia hasn’t told anybody?”
    “She doesn’t want people to know. It would be horrible for her.”
    The judge thought about it. “The man in the Zil had to be a high government official.” He sat quietly for another long moment. “You must do what you think you should. But I believe she’s right to want this to be kept silent.” He leaned closer to Jana trying to convey his thoughts without imposing his will on his daughter and, by influencing Jana, imposing his will on Sofia. “If, in the future, this man were identified, I don’t think it would make any difference. Not under these circumstances. They’d do nothing. The police, the government, would remain deaf. Or worse. And Sofia? Well, I think Sofia wouldn’t fare very well. They’d call her names. They’d make her out to be something terrible, a person of no morals, even a prostitute who deserved what she got. They would heap scorn on her, and on her family. I’ve seen it done before when one of them is involved. It’s always the person’s fault, not the official’s.”
    Jana considered what her father had tried to convey. Even at the age of twelve, she could comprehend the possible future that her father had outlined. She projected the results of bringing the government into Sofia’s life. Sofia would suffer more. It was a terrible truth, but still the truth.
    Jana conceded. “The neighbors, her family, they would all blame her.”
    “All of them,” her father agreed.
    “But this isn’t justice,” Jana finally got out.
    “Sometimes justice has to wait.” Her father pursed his lips. “Sometimes there is no justice.”
    “I don’t like that.” Jana was furious at the thought of Sofia’s brutalizer walking around free after what he had done. “And I don’t accept it. Perhaps justice will have to wait, but just for a few days.”
    Her father kissed her on the cheek. “Maybe more than a few days,” he offered. He saw the anger and disappointment on his daughter’s face. He tried to reassure her. “Things eventually work out,” he said. “He’ll be punished.”
    “Of course, Father. But by whom?”
    He shrugged, not knowing what to say.
    “There must be someone,” Jana suggested.
    She listened to her own words: there had to be someone.
    That same day Jana began to search, first for the Zil.
    The window will need repair, she thought, which meant it would be brought to the government auto repair area, the large facility where all of the ministries’ autos are brought for servicing. No one stopped Jana as she walked quickly and surely onto the lot, looking as if she had business there. Almost immediately she found the car; the workmen were just finishing the replacement of the rear window.
    “A lovely car,” Jana admiringly told one of them. “I want to be a high government person when I grow up so I can have one of these. Who does it belong to?” Jana smiled sweetly.
    “Kamin, the minister of the interior,” the man told her.
    He’s in charge of the police, thought Jana. Her father had been right. Sofia would not have gotten justice. She smiled again at the workers, left the lot, and the next day, immediately after breakfast, went to the building housing the Ministry of the Interior. By this time, the car had to have been repaired and returned to the minister. A few minutes later, she saw the limousine drive up and the man get out of the car. There was no mistaking the same ugly mouth, the eyes. It was him! Kamin. And he had a bandage over his left eyebrow.
    Sofia had hit him with the broken door handle, and hit him hard enough to require