The Power

For more than four years, military forces, largely male and funded by the Saudis, have converged around Bessapara. Tatiana invites an international contingent of powerful women to Bessapara to consult on how best to handle what everyone assumes is a fast-approaching literal war between the sexes. In skirmishes thus far, the women have been bested—their electric shocks are little match for the men’s artiller. Tatiana grows more paranoid, anxious, and unstable. Margot Cleary, now a powerful U.S. Senator on the international relations committee, agrees to provide Bessapara the best platoons from NorthStar to invade Saudi Arabia and topple the government. Empowered by the military support, Tatiana moves forward with increasingly stricter laws concerning the ever-dwindling rights of men in her nation. “All we want,” she tells the Senator, “is the American dream, right here in Bessapara. We are a new nation, a plucky little state bordered by a terrible enemy. We want to live freely to pursue our own way of life” (248). Toward the end of the evening on the first day of the summit, a hapless waiter inadvertently interrupts Tatiana when she is bloviating. Incensed, she smashes a crystal wine glass to the floor and compels the waiter to lick up the wine, glass splinters and all.