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Back to Chapter 2
Chapter 3 � Kim's new life
Kim
sullenly accompanied her Spokesman and his secretary across the plaza
back to his office at the Central Police Station. Her body still was in
considerable pain, not only from the searing welts, but also from her
cramped muscles. The American walked stiffly and slowly, with Dukov and
Tatiana slowing their own pace to allow her to keep up with them. The
plaza was crowded with commuters and people relaxing in the afternoon
sun. Kim, with her bare body, Asian features, metal collar, and marked
backside, drew a lot of attention from the public as she walked by.
They've turned me into a freak, she thought bitterly. And for two years
I have to stay like this.
On the steps of the police station Dukov gave several short interviews
to local television reporters, with Kim and the secretary standing
behind him. His client felt deep bitterness at that moment, being forced
to stand on the steps while the Spokesman cheerfully spoke to the
cameras. The Danubian official was in very high spirits, having reduced
his client's threatened 20-year sentence to just 2-years. Kim still did
not fully appreciate how difficult an accomplishment this had been. She
did not yet realize the reduction of her sentence by 90% in this very
high-profile case had been one of the most significant victories of
Dukov's career.
As the young criminal painfully followed her mentor up the steps, the
cameras focused on her backside, filming the dark welts on her bottom
and shoulders.
Finally the three were back in the Spokesman's office. The secretary who
had stayed behind at the office had a recovery table set up; a massage
table with lotion and disinfectant. Kim's body was stiffer than ever,
and she was grateful for the opportunity to simply lie down. The
secretary at the recovery table examined her to make sure her skin had
not been broken anywhere, then she gently spread lotion on the welts to
soften them. It was standard procedure following a judicial punishment.
Six months from now Kim once again would be lying in this office
following her second punishment.
Kim had no desire to move once she was on the table. Even the slightest
movement hurt. The pain and stiffness were so overwhelming that she
could barely imagine a time that she didn't feel such agony. She started
to cry again, not only from the physical torment she was enduring, but
also from the emotional suffering she had undergone that day and the
overwhelming feeling that her life was ruined. She couldn't imagine that
there could be any future for her after what she had endured. However,
physical exhaustion finally overtook her and she fell asleep.
Kim did have a future in Upper Danubia, which Dukov spent the rest of
the afternoon arranging. His first concern was making sure his client
had a job. The court was dead serious about her needing to be gainfully
employed within 48 hours. Kim would most definitely present a problem,
given that she spoke no Danubian. Over time she would learn, but that
did not resolve the issue of the moment.
Dukov decided that the best temporary position his new client could take
would be to work as a courier. In a country where fax machines were
still very rare, couriers were an important feature of Danubian business
communications. Working as a courier would put Kim outdoors most of the
time and keep her moving. Dukov suspected that the young criminal was a
restless girl and needed movement to stay focused. At the end of
September, when the weather started to get cold, she would have to
change jobs and do something indoors, but that problem was still three
months away.
Kim needed a place to live as well. A convicted criminal in Upper
Danubia usually simply returned to live with his or her family. Kim, of
course, had no relatives in Danube City, nor anyone else with whom she
could stay. Dukov had to get her a room, but that presented him with
another problem. He knew from his professional experience that his
client would be extremely depressed over the next few days, until she
got used to her new life as a convicted criminal. That transition was
difficult for anyone; with Kim it would be even more so because she had
to get used to living in Danube City as well as get used to her new
legal status. She had to live with someone who could watch over her, and
yet leave her alone when necessary.
Finally, there was the issue of Kim's forfeited life in the US. Dukov
needed to contact the US Embassy and arrange an interview with her. She
needed to contact her parents and let them know that she would not be
coming home for two years. Whatever college plans she had would have to
wait. Dukov wondered if the hardest part of Kim's punishment was yet to
come, having to explain to everyone in the US what happened.
Dukov spent the afternoon on the phone, first calling the US Embassy.
The Spokesman had an unpleasant conversation with a consular official,
who ripped into him about the barbarity of Upper Danubia's justice
system. Dukov was a bit taken aback, given that he was the equivalent of
a public defense attorney in the US and by Danubian standards he had
successfully defended Kim in court. Finally his temper snapped.
"You will listen to me now. I have been to your country. I have seen
your jails. You choose to keep your criminals in useless confinement and
your useless system does not work. Its failure is evident for all of us
to see plainly. We conduct very speedy trials and return our criminals
to society right away. They work, they contribute, they lead productive
lives, they learn respect, and they do not re-offend. What is your
preference, that Kimberly spend two years in a prison cell, or that she
spend two years working?"
Dukov then called his brother Victor Dukov, who ran a courier service.
Kim had to be trained and learn her way about the 10-kilometer circle in
which she would be delivering messages. Dukov spent over an hour
discussing the details with his brother.
Finally there was the issue of where Kim would live. Until she learned
how to speak Danubian, the only workable solution would be for her to
stay with Dukov and his family. Anyhow, it was getting late and Dukov
needed to go home, and take his client with him. He woke her up.
"Kimberly, you will come with me. Tonight you will dine with my family
and sleep at my house."
Once again Kim sadly accompanied her Spokesman out onto the street. Once
again she had to contend with the constant barrage of curious glances.
The sight of a naked young woman with welts on her backside and a collar
on her neck normally was not something that drew an extraordinary amount
of attention from passers-by. However, the site of a naked young Asian
woman with welts on her backside and a collar on her neck was something
completely new. Along the street, at the trolley stop, and on the
trolley itself local residents shifted around and strained their necks
to get a better view of Kim�s badly marked body.
At first Kim looked at the ground to avoid the sight of all her
on-lookers. However, when Dukov noticed what she was doing he admonished
her. "Kimberly, you must keep your head up. You must show your face to
the world. A convicted criminal in this country is not allowed to hide
her face."
Sadly Kim complied and lifted her head. She had to ride to Dukov's place
standing up, even though there were several empty seats on the trolley.
Criminals could use public transportation for free, but they were not
allowed to occupy a seat. Dukov, realizing how difficult all this was
for his client, chose to stand next to her.
The commute took the Spokesman and his client to the outer edge of the
Danube City collar-zone and almost into the countryside. Dukov's house
was about the size of an average US tract home, but it was solidly made
from cinderblocks and polished wooden paneling. It overlooked a
beautiful valley of mixed forests and pastures, one of the places Kim
and her friends had hoped to visit. However, a yellow sign, visible
along the street only a block past Dukov's house, reminded her that
valley was now off limits.
Dukov and Kim entered his house. She went to the kitchen and looked out
the window, curious to see the back yard. The yard was small and
enclosed with a wall, as were most back yards of Danubian houses.
Danubians valued their privacy and no proper house lacked an enclosed
back yard. Two teenaged girls were sunbathing nude and giggling together
over a pop-music magazine. Dukov called out to one the girls, asking her
a question. The girl heaved a deep sigh and answered "Negat, Papa.".
With that both girls got up, put on sun dresses, and began packing up
the things scattered in the yard.
"My daughter, Anyia. You see, she needed to start preparing our meal,
and she neglected to do so. Teenagers are the same everywhere, is that
not so?"
The girl's carefree behavior struck at Kim's soul. Just a short while
ago she had been in high school, doing roughly the same thing with
Tiffany and Susan.
As Anyia began cleaning and cutting vegetables in the kitchen, Dukov
instructed Kim to go into the main bathroom and get cleaned up. She
sadly sat in the bathtub as the rest of Dukov's family returned home and
he explained the situation of his new house-guest.
An hour later the young criminal was eating dinner with her Spokesman
and his family. Dukov's family was about as typical as a Danubian family
could be. Besides the teenaged daughter, he had an older son called
Vladik who had just graduated from the National Police Academy. Dukov's
wife, a sharply-dressed professional woman who introduced herself as
Maritza, also was present, as was Vladik�s fianc�. Throughout the dinner
Anyia and the fianc� constantly glanced at Kim, not being able to hide
their curiosity about the first Asian woman and the first person from
the US to ever eat at their table.
As the women cleaned up and his son attended to his revolver and police
uniform, Dukov called Kim to accompany him to his home library. The
library was full of books in various languages and had two large very
comfortable chairs. There were various pictures of Dukov and his family
around the room, but one in particular struck Kim. That picture was the
reason Dukov had brought her into the library.
It was a medium sized picture of the Spokesman, much younger than he was
now, standing arm-in-arm with his future wife. Both Dukov and his fianc�
were naked, and both were wearing collars. Beneath the picture two open
collars hung on the wall.
Kim gasped. "Mr. Dukov�you�?"
"Yes, Kimberly. I wore the collar for five years, as did my wife Maritza.
We keep this picture to remind ourselves, and our children, of who we
are and where we came from. I brought you here so that you can
understand something very important. Your life has not ended. Nor has it
been suspended for two years. On this date, two years from now, you will
be a free woman, but you cannot think about that too much; you cannot
live in the future. Between now and then you must live from day to day
and enjoy life's momentary small pleasures. That was how Maritza and I
endured our sentences, and how we found love in each other."
Kim wondered what Dukov and his wife had done to be convicted as
criminals, but she decided not to ask. Dukov had not volunteered that
information. Out of respect for her Spokesman she decided not to pursue
the question.
Kim slept deeply that night. She did not wake up until 10:00 the
following morning. Her body was unbelievably stiff and the pain from her
welts was still very much present. She would have a very hard time
sitting normally for at least another day. Kim looked at herself in the
guest bedroom mirror. The welts had darkened and looked ugly.
The
house was completely silent. Apparently everyone had left for work. Kim
looked around and finally went to the kitchen, where she peeked out the
window and saw Anyia asleep nude on a towel in the back yard. As much as
she hated doing it, she forced herself to wake up the girl and ask her
where her father was. As Kim had feared, Anyia was none too pleasant
about having been woken up. She gave a disgusted sigh, walked into the
kitchen to retrieve a note and a Danubian-English dictionary, passed
both items to Kim, and then plopped back down on her towel.
Kim couldn't say anything; a couple of years before she had been just as
rude.
Dukov's note told Kim to ask Anyia to prepare breakfast for her and then
gave instructions for taking a trolley downtown. She got her own
breakfast, having no desire to bother the sullen girl on the towel a
second time. Then she stepped outside to face the world alone as a
Danubian convicted criminal. She carried the dictionary with her and
walked up the hill to the trolley stop.
Yet again Kim had to endure all those stares as she rode the trolley
into town. She wished she could sit down and cover her welts from her
audience, but of course that was impossible due to the rule against
criminals taking any seats on public transportation. She arrived at the
Central Police Station and again endured the barrage of stares as she
went up to Dukov's office. By now it was after 11:00. Dukov's two
secretaries were in the front room. Upon seeing Kim enter, one of them
immediately ushered her back to Dukov's main office. Dukov got right to
the point. There were three problems she needed to resolve that day:
find work, call her parents, and figure out where she was going to live.
The work issue was the most pressing, given that by the end of the next
day Kim had to be employed. Dukov suggested the courier job with his
brother. She agreed, really having no choice. Upon getting Kim's
agreement Dukov took her to an old office building three kilometers away
to meet Victor Dukov.
Victor Dukov spoke much less English then did his brother Vladim, but he
still could make himself understood to Kim. She learned what her working
life would be like over the next several months. She would be working
with four other couriers, all of whom were recent high school graduates.
One was close to completing a year-long sentence of wearing a collar for
fighting at his school, but the other three were just average graduates.
Victor issued his newest employee a cheap Danubian-made bicycle and
handed her three terry-cloth bicycle seat covers designed especially for
naked riders. He emphasized that she had to change her seat cover every
day as a health precaution. Another item Kim was issued was a pair of
bright orange courier shoes to protect her feet. Criminals who worked as
couriers were expected to wear standard courier shoes while riding their
bicycles, but had to take them off when not riding. Once she was
outfitted with her seat covers and shoes, the two brothers filled out
some papers and then Victor gave Kim her first assignment as a courier:
"You take this document of work to judge who sentenced you yesterday.
You retrieve his signature. You take this paper with signature to office
of my brother. You leave paper there with him. Then you return here with
bicycle and receipt from my brother. And remember, you are criminal in
court. You act like criminal. You show respect to judge."
Kim sighed. Her new boss did not seem all that friendly, and certainly
had no qualms about putting her in her place.
Kim set out on her bicycle on her first assignment as a courier. As she
eased herself on her bicycle seat her body protested in pain. However,
she gritted her teeth and began peddling, merging into a cluster of
other bicyclists headed in the direction of the city's main plaza.
As she cruised among the other commuters on her cheap bicycle, with her
welts throbbing against the seat and the collar's feel on her neck as a
constant reminder that she was no longer a free woman, Kim had a chance
to reflect on her life. It was the first time in a while she had thought
about anything other than partying and where Tiffany could score the
best pot. All that was now behind her now. Tiffany was no longer her
friend, there was no pot to be had in Danube City, and Kim doubted there
would be any partying in her life for two years. She couldn't imagine
this quiet city having much of a nightlife, and certainly not for
someone like her.
Kim's first regret was simple and rather strange, considering all the
other problems she faced. She wished that she could have her mountain
bike from the US with her. The mountain bike had been a gift for her
16th birthday, but she probably had not ridden it more than 10 times
altogether. Now that she would be spending her days on a bicycle, she
wished fervently it could have been her own, the gift from her parents
she never appreciated.
Kim's thoughts drifted to more urgent topics. She still needed to tell
her parents and her sister what happened. She realized that she had so
much to tell them. She had no idea where to begin. First, they had not
been aware that Kim was using marijuana. That information alone would be
a terrible shock to them. Once they knew she was in Danube City they
would want to see her, but how could they? Kim's family was very
conservative and no member of Lee family had ever seen any other member
undressed. If her family were to visit they would have a horrible shock,
seeing her naked in public with a metal collar on her neck. And yet, at
the very least her sister would come to Danube City, and would see her.
The full shame of Kim's situation would descend on the entire family,
which, of course, was exactly the reason why she was being punished in
this manner by the Danubian government.
Kim now regretted not having respected her family more in high school,
and not having listened more to her parents. She had done all kinds of
things behind their backs; lied, stolen, cheated on her classwork in her
private school, played her sister and her parents against each other,
and sacrificed everything at home to spend more time with Tiffany and
Susan. She had always told herself that she had to treat her family
badly, because Tiffany and Susan were the only people in the world who
understood her. And yet�and yet, when she needed her friends to stand up
for her, they instead betrayed her. What a waste�what a total waste!
Kim's bitterness towards Tiffany was only now starting to build. The
shock from Tiffany's betrayal was giving way to an intense hatred.
Because of Tiffany and Susan, Kim had been facing a 20-year sentence
with monthly whippings for drug trafficking. She had only avoided the
maximum charges thanks to the dedication of a complete stranger, not
thanks to two people she had known for over five years. She now
understood and could appreciate what Spokesman Vladim Dukov had done for
her. Thanks to Tiffany, Kim faced losing 20 years of her life. Thanks to
Dukov, 18 of those years had been given back to her.
It was true that Tiffany had panicked, but Kim was convinced had the
situation been reversed she would not have turned on Tiffany, and also
was convinced that Susan would not have turned on her had it not been
for Tiffany's insistence. It was only natural that she should now hate
Tiffany and disrespect Susan, but she also realized that she had to keep
those feelings under control or they would consume her soul and force
her to do something stupid upon being released and returning to the
United States.
Kim looked around her. People were still staring at her, although now
that she was on a bicycle with a courier's package and wearing courier's
shoes, a lot of the mystery about this young Asian was resolved. People
now saw her as simply another criminal who had been punished and was
serving a sentence. The punishment of foreigners in Upper Danubia was
not very common, but it happened occasionally. The only thing that
really made Criminal # 98945 stand out from the others was that she was
not European.
Kim parked her bicycle in the couriers' area of the courthouse. She
winced as she dismounted. As instructed by Dukov's brother, she took off
her courier's shoes and hung them on the handlebars before going in. She
went upstairs to the judge's office and knelt at the secretary's desk,
holding the papers out in front of her. With a very heavy English accent
she repeated the phrase she had memorized: "Tutik ya mauk listok
derjavnik na htre," which was Danubian for "I have an official document
for the judge."
The secretary called the judge to come out. Kim handed him the paperwork
and put her head to the carpet. The judge looked over the paperwork.
Ordinarily he would have asked the criminal a couple of questions about
her employment, but in this case he had no means of communicating with
her. He simply signed and replied "Doc-doc." With that Kim got up, left
the courthouse, and returned to her bicycle, having completed the first
portion of her first assignment.
Kim returned to the Central Police Station and climbed the two flights
of stairs to get to Dukov's office. She needed to deliver the judge's
signature to her Spokesman, but she also needed to talk to someone.
Fortunately Dukov was working on case files, so he had some time to talk
to his client about her new life and her feelings. She started by
talking at length about her building hatred of Tiffany and her concern
over what that could lead to after her release.
"Kimberly, for someone who is only 18, I think you understand the issues
of your life quite clearly. You are aware of the dangers that await you,
and I do not blame you for hating your friend. She betrayed you. Who
would not hate under such circumstances? But the question you must ask
yourself is how you plan to live from today. You can obsess yourself
with what you cannot change, or you can place your thoughts on becoming
a better person. This is your chance to change your life�today�this
moment. Is it not?"
"I want to change, Mr�uh� Spokesman Dukov, I want to do things right
from now on�not like before."
"Only you can make such a decision, Kimberly. Only you can make that
change."
Kim paused, and thought about her next words. She realized she had
overlooked something important. "And�Spokesman Dukov�I�I need to thank
you for what you did for me yesterday�in court�I mean�really thank you.
20 years�It was gonna be 20 years�and you got me two�"
"That
was nothing, Kimberly. It was my responsibility to you as your
Spokesman, nothing more."
Kim nodded and choked back some tears. After a few minutes Dukov spoke
again.
"Kimberly, it is time you call your family and explain to them what
happened. That is your chance to redeem your relationship with them. You
wish to thank me�you can do so by making things right with your family.
That is the first request I make of everyone who comes through my
office. Now I make that request of you."
Dukov dialed Kim's home in the US and passed the phone to her. Her older
sister picked up the phone at the other end, which made beginning her
task slightly easier, but not by much. As Kim expected, her family
members were devastated once she laid out her situation. However, she
was determined to come clean with other things in her life that she had
done wrong, and made several very difficult confessions. They talked for
well over an hour, in the most truthful conversation Kim ever had with
her family. Everyone was in tears when she hung up, but now it was over.
The thing she had most dreaded, having to tell her family about her drug
use and her conviction, now was past her. As soon as she managed to wipe
away the tears, Dukov spoke to her.
"You still have an obligation to my brother before you leave work today.
Return my confirmation ticket and your bicycle to his office. Then
return to my office and I will take you back to my home. I will wait for
you to return."
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The following Sunday night Kim watched her own trial and punishment on
television.
Danube City averaged about 18 trials per week that resulted in corporal
punishments. The average ratio of male offenders to female offenders was
about 2 to 1. Crimes that required corporal punishments included
stealing, fraud, public drunkenness, public drug use, drug possession,
being at fault in any type of accident that resulted in an injury,
vandalism, deliberately inflicting injury on another person, and
"insurrection", a crime that covered any act of defiance against the
police or public officials. Other crimes in which corporal punishment
could be inflicted included "crimes of disrespect", an example being the
accusation against Kim of disrespecting the land behind the Temple of
the Ancients. (Upper Danubia also had a system of capital punishment for
murder, rape, child molestation, organized crime, arson, and in times of
military conflict, treason. However the capital court system was
completely separate from the corporal court system and operated under
totally different rules.)
Upper Danubia's unique justice system had one strange side effect on the
country's society. Every Sunday night, the government television station
broadcast several hours of highlights from the week's trials and
judicial corporal punishments, complete with commentary. Almost everyone
in the country watched the broadcasts, which were a holdover from times
when criminals were publicly switched in Danube City's main plaza. As
the city's population expanded after World War II, public viewing of the
switchings in the plaza became impractical due to the large crowds. The
solution was to televise the punishments instead.
Danubians loved to watch the punishments and debate among themselves the
merits of the cases and the charges brought against the offenders. They
also were curious to see how brave each offender was, how quickly he or
she started to scream or cry during a switching. How much air-time the
network gave any particular case depended on how many cases there were
that week, how interesting a particular case was, whether the defendant
was likeable, and the seriousness of the offense. Since most of the
administrators at the television station were men, female criminals
could expect to have their punishments, and sometimes even their trials,
broadcast in their entirely. Besides, most of the public agreed that
crimes committed by women were more interesting than crimes committed by
men.
The case of Criminal # 98945 received prominent feature the Sunday night
following her punishment. That was not a surprise to anyone, given that
Kim was a foreigner, she was the first Asian woman ever punished in
Upper Danubia, and because of the circumstances that led to the most
serious charges being dropped. Spokesman Dukov's rebuttal of the
prosecutor was aired in its entirety prior to the broadcast of Kim's
sentencing and her punishment.
The guest room in Dukov's house where Kim was sleeping had its own TV,
and that night she excused herself to watch herself be punished. She
expected to be mortified and horribly embarrassed by the broadcast, but
she was not. She found it fascinating to see herself filmed on the
criminal's stand, legs and arms spread under the bright lights. She
began lightly touching her breasts and stomach when she saw herself
strapped to the table.
By the time the switching began on TV, Kim was sitting in her easy chair
with her legs spread wide open, teasing her clitoris. Seeing herself
spread, her bottom and vagina completely exposed to the camera, and
seeing the cops' hands rub her welt-covered bottom-cheeks, excited her
in a way that she could never have previously imagined. It made no
sense. During the punishment itself sexual desire was the farthest thing
from Kim's mind, and yet, seeing herself suffer on TV aroused her almost
uncontrollably. She was totally wet and experienced orgasm after orgasm
as she moved one hand, and then both, over and over her soaked vagina.
She threw her head back and closed her eyes, as she listened to herself
scream on TV. Her breath came in irregular gasps and she started
moaning, biting her lip and rocking back and forth. Suddenly she was
filled with an overwhelming desire to be once again strapped to that
table. She wanted to have those two cops fondle and caress her. She
wanted to be helpless, to be fully exposed, and waiting for the pain.
She wanted her suffering and her pleasure to be prominently featured in
front of Upper Danubia, in front of all Europe, in front of the entire
world.
Kim went to her hands and knees on the floor. She spread her legs wide
and thrust her bottom up, enjoying the feel of the room's cool air
between her legs. She went down on her knees and chest, freeing her
hands to fondle herself, to explore her vagina and her exposed
bottom-hole. The fantasy came back stronger than ever�she badly wanted
those two cops to explore, to probe, to caress, to fondle her�there. She
came yet again.
Kim was gasping for breath as she lay on the floor and watched herself
on TV standing behind Dukov on the National Police Station's steps. On
the screen the Spokesman was cheerfully explaining his strategy for
forcing the reduction of Criminal # 98945's sentence in a
post-punishment interview.
Slowly the spell lifted and Kim returned to her senses. The room reeked
of orgasm. She opened the window as wide as possible to air out the room
and then dashed to the adjacent bathroom to clean off before anyone
could smell her.
She sat in the bathtub, wondering what on earth had just happened. She
had enjoyed the best series of orgasms of her life, as she watched
herself being publicly humiliated and horribly switched on television.
She felt ashamed that something like that could possibly have excited
her. She had learned something about herself a few minutes ago,
something that she really had not wanted to know. She was terrified of
the dark secret in her soul, a secret that had just forced itself to the
surface.
Maragana Girl -
Chapter 4
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