Chapter 14 (The maples scream 'Oppression!' and the oaks just shake their heads)
Rebecca Forester knocked on the door to Jay Margon's psychology class. Officer John Fell stood nearby jotting something in his notebook. Janie Martin stood behind the officer.
"Hello, Mrs. Forester," Jay said, opening the classroom door. Jay, or Coach, as he insists everyone call him, was 6'3", 250 lbs with a ex- football player's body. He did in fact play some pro ball but was now the coach of the Hartline High Bulldogs as well as a part-time college psych professor. He eyed the city police officer.
"Is there a problem?"
"Hello, Coach. I..we would like to see two of your students, Leah Webb and Kallie Andrews," Rebecca said, indicating the police officer was with her.
"Leah, Kallie! Front and center," Jay commanded the two students. Rebecca was impressed with the way they responded immediately to his voice. No discipline problems here, she thought. "Mrs. Forester and the officer would like to have a word with you," he said more quietly when they stood next to him. "We still have 35 minutes of class left so come back as soon as you're done. I don't want you two roaming the halls between classes."
Again, Rebecca was surprised. Most instructors at HU could care less whether their students came or left early as long as they passed their tests. College students were supposed to be mature enough to make their own decisions regarding how they spent their time. Well, it was none of her business. She had more immediate concerns with the two smirking sophomores.
"Hello, Mrs. F.," Kallie said sweetly. "Is it cold in here?" Rebecca almost missed the reference as the girls shuffled past her but then looked down at herself. Her nipples stood out in bold relief against her dress. An observant man might even have been able to distinguish her areolas. Jay Margon was such a man. "Good day, Mrs. Forester. I trust you'll have my students back in a timely manner."
"Yes, of course," Rebecca said, lifting her head sharply to meet his eyes. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she turned away from him. She didn't know what was worse: the fact that she came to work without a brassiere or that Coach had caught her looking at herself. He had to have heard Kallie's comment too. In fact it was quite cool in the hallway. It was early March and the doors were kept open letting in a breeze. Not my fault, she thought. Just nature taking its course. Nevertheless, Rebecca folded her arms over her chest and followed the girls and the policeman into an empty classroom.
"Girls, have a seat. I am Officer John Fell with the Hartline Police Department. I'll give it to you real straight," John said, leaning against the teacher's desk. "Mrs. Forester has signed a complaint against you two and your fellow student Janie Martin has co- signed it."
At the mention of her name, Janie eeked and hid behind Rebecca, who stood with her arms still folded.
"Mind telling us what this is about?" Kallie asked, crossing one long leg over the other.
"Mrs. Forester claims you gave her a drugged drink yesterday. Is this true?" Officer Fell asked. He knew he didn't have to give the girls a chance to explain but he enjoyed harrassing young women and he could get away with more here than at the station.
"Of course not!" Kallie fumed. "We would never do that!" "I think there are very few things you sluts would never do," Officer Fell snorted.
Rebecca's jaw dropped. "Officer Fell! I did not ask you here to insult them. They may be criminals but they still have their civil rights."
"I don't have to take this," Kallie stated and stood to leave. Officer Fell sprung forward and pushed Kallie roughly back into her chair.
"I'll tell you when we're done, bitch," he said, pulling out his nightstick.
"Officer Fell! There will be no need for that," Rebecca shouted. "Are you always this unprofessional? I called you because Dennis said you were a good man. Now, please don't disappoint me further."
John stared at the middle-aged woman for a few moments trying to decide how far he could push her. Finally he turned to the two frightened and angry students, "All right. Playtime's over. Get on your knees and put your hands behind your back. We'll take this downtown." When the girls shrunk back into the chairs, John grabbed Leah's shoulder-length blonde hair and dragged her to the floor.
While the officer was preoccupied with cuffing Leah, Kallie snuck a hand into her purse. She withdrew a tube of lipstick and uncapped it. Watching for the right moment when his back was turned, Kallie reached around the officer's head and smeared cherry lipstick on the officer's mouth.
"What the fuck?" John yelled and backhanded the backpedaling girl. Kallie fell over a desk and landed with her legs flying up and over her body. Leah grabbed the nightstick he had dropped and pounded him over the head with it. John fell to his knees, one hand still wiping away at the lipstick and the other reaching for his gun.
"No you don't," Leah said and whacked his right arm. John fell on his side and clutched his aching forearm.
"You fucking cunts!" John cried, kicking out at Leah who easily dodged away. He managed to unholster his gun while kicking at Leah and pointed it at the suddenly very frightened student.
"Officer Fell. You don't want to shoot that gun, do you?" Kallie said from behind him.
John twisted around from his position on the floor and pointed his weapon at Kallie. "Y..Yes, I do, if you don't freeze," he stammered.
"No you don't. You don't even know how. You don't know how to shoot a gun. It's useless in your hands. You're useless. You're not a real cop. You're a male stripper dressed as a cop. Yeah, that's right," Kallie cooed. "That's even a fake badge you have on."
Officer Fell shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. He put the gun down to check out his badge and Kallie quickly grabbed the weapon. Up until this point Rebecca had stood in silent shock but something about Kallie with a gun got her legs moving.
"Janie, grab her," Kallie shouted.
Janie reached out her leg and tripped her teacher without even thinking. Leah caught up with her quickly and the two students held the struggling woman in place.
"Glad to see you're still with us," Leah smiled at Janie. Janie half-smiled and looked at Leah with confused eyes.
"Kallie, the lipstick," Leah shouted to her friend. Kallie tossed the tube to Leah who suggested to Janie that her lipstick was smeared and needed reapplying.
"Do you like being a stripper, 'Officer Fell'?" Kallie asked the bewildered policeman.
"Yeah, I guess so," he replied.
"Good, because we have a gig for you. You're at a party now. A bachelorette party. For Mrs. Forester. You know Mrs. Forester, don't you?"
"Yes! She told me to arrest you for..."
"No, silly. She doesn't even know about it. It's a surprise. You're her surprise. For her bachelorette party."
"Oh yeah," he said, looking over at the three struggling females. Leah had her hand over Rebecca's mouth. "But isn't she already a Mrs.?" "I want to tell you another secret, John," Kallie said, ignoring his question and whispering into his ear. "Mrs. F always wanted to be a stripper too. I bet if we asked her nice she would play along. What do you think?"
"OK," John said, standing up and walking over to the door. "Mrs. F., I want you to listen and listen closely. You have two choices here. One will get you dead. We're going to have some fun. You play along or you get this," Kallie said, waving the gun under her nose.
"Leah, let her talk."
Leah removed her hand and Rebecca took a few seconds to gather her thoughts. "First of all, your amateur hypnosis tactics won't work on me. I don't know what you did to John but I won't be caught off guard. Secondly, if you fire that gun, Coach will hear it and your ass will be grass. Now I strongly suggest you let me go before you dig yourself any deeper."
"You let me worry about Big John here, Mrs. F. As for the gun, you're probably right. But Officer Fell just might testify he shot you on accident. He might lose his badge over the incident but you'd be long past caring about such earthly matters, wouldn't you, honey?
Hmmm?" Kallie said, running her fingers through Rebecca's hair. Rebecca knew they were right. They had taken matters into their own hands and now controlled the situation. What she didn't know was how far they intended to take it.
"Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?" Rebecca stalled, looking at the clock. Only five minutes had passed since they entered the room. How quickly and easily these two students had outsmarted their professor. Rebecca felt ashamed of herself and her stupidity. Why did she have to come along to the arrest? Why did she just stand there while the officer was struggling instead of helping? Her father had been right when he said she was better off staying at home and raising children. Her father had never had much confidence in her. Rebecca overheard him telling her mom once that her journalistic success was probably due more to her looks than her talent. That had hurt her deeply but she suppressed it along with a lot of other things he had said to and about her. Funny how these things come to you at the oddest moments, she thought as Kallie waved her to her feet with the gun.
"Before we start," Kallie said ominously, "does anyone have a camera?"
"Oh! I do," Janie shouted and dug a small disposable camera out of her purse. "I was going to take some pictures of the art displays for the..."
"Janie," Kallie said.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Janie's smile disappeared and she handed her camera to Leah's outstreched hand.
"Let's start with something simple," Kallie said, having a seat in the front row. Leah and Janie sat on either side of her.
"John, would you like to start your show now? How about getting up on the teacher's desk so everyone can see you. Can you hear all the women screaming? They want to see you dance."
Officer Fell climbed up on the desk with surprising agility. He began to dance to music only he could hear.
"C'mon, Rebecca. This is your last chance to be crazy before you get married. Get up there and dance with him," Leah shouted and clapped her hands.
Rebecca stared dolefully at the three clapping, laughing young women and the gun that sat on the desk in front of Kallie. Maybe I can make it to the door before... No, I'm too old and slow. I'd never make it. With a deep breath for courage, Rebecca climbed up on the desk with considerable more difficulty. John gave her a hand and soon she was looking down at her three students.
"Dance, Mrs. Forester, dance!" Janie hooted.
Rebecca hadn't danced in over 10 years. Even at home by herself she felt self-conscious about swaying her hips to the music on the radio. So much about dancing was overtly sexual. It was basically sex with your clothes on, she had told her daughters. She wasn't so prudish as to say they couldn't dance but she warned them to be careful about any messages they may be sending to their dates. She wondered what her daughters would say if they could see their mother now, standing on a desk in a public university shaking her hips awkwardly to no music at all. John had no such inhibitions as he gyrated against her on the limited desk space and removed his shirt.
"Yeah," Leah shouted. "Now we're talking! Mrs. F, why don't you join him?"
Join him? Wasn't she already up here on the desk with him?
"Take off your dress, Becky," Kallie said calmly. Rebecca almost fell off the desk as she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She had not heard those words for 30 years. Images of her father crowded her mind as she fought for balance. No! That part of my life is over. It wasn't my fault, she said to herself, repeating the mantra her therapist had taught her. These are teenagers, not my father. I don't have to do what they say!
But she did. Undoing the belt and handing it to Leah at her request, Rebecca unzipped the back of her dress.
"Dance while you do it, Becky. Make it sexy," Kallie said. "Yes, daddy." Rebecca shut her eyes and a visual image of herself at 13 stripping for her father while dancing on her bed filled her mind. Leah cracked the belt on the desk and Rebecca whimpered and danced faster.
"Wow, did you hear that? She's really getting into it," Leah whispered to Kallie.
"Yeah, she is," Kallie said, her mind working furiously now. "Gimme the belt a second."
Kallie approached the desk.
"Becky?"
"Yes, daddy?"
"I like your pretty underwear."
"Thank you, daddy."
"Will you take them off for me?"
"N...no, daddy. I don't want to."
"Dance for me," Kallie said and returned to Leah. "It's weird. It's like she's in some kind of trance. Get a picture of this." Leah snapped a photo. "I don't know but I think something weird happened in her family."
"Yeah, I think your right," Kallie said in wonder. "Let's see what happens."
Kallie stood on a chair near the desk and whispered into John's ear. A change came over him and he suddenly became very serious. He took the belt from Kallie and stood in front of Rebecca.
"Becky!"
Rebecca snapped her eyes open at the loud male voice. She saw a large shirtless policeman holding a belt. Dennis? No, it wasn't Dennis. Daddy? Why was he dressed like that?
"Becky!" John shouted at her again and she fell to her knees in front of him, cowering behind her arms. She covered her face as opposed to her breasts, Kallie observed with interest.
"Becky, your mother said you've been misbehaving all day while I was at work. Is this true?"
Rebecca could only cower and shake at the voice. "No, daddy," came her small voice eventually.
"Becky, what did I tell you I hated more than anything else in this whole world?"
Rebecca started crying now. "Liars?"
"That's right, Becky. Liars. Now, I'm going to ask you again. Were you bad today?"
"Yes, daddy," the 43-year-old woman bawled. "I was bad. I'm sorry!" "Shit, I wish I had a video camera," Leah said, taking another picture.
"What do bad girls get, Becky?"
"They get spanked!" The professor was nearly hysterical now and Kallie worried that someone might hear them.
"Okay, John. I think she's scared enough. Go on down to dinner and I'll have a talk with her," Kallie said.
"Okay, honey," John said and gave Kallie a kiss on the cheek as he climbed down from the desk.
Kallie produced the small tube of lipstick and coaxed Rebecca's arms down. She applied a coat to the teacher's lips and waited a few minutes as their professor sat on the desk in her underwear crying and wiping her nose with her forearm.
"Becky, your father is upset with you. If I were you, I'd try to stay on his good side. As a a matter of fact, I think you'd better stay on the good side of any male you meet just in case it's your daddy in disguise. You should please your father in any way he says or you think he might like. You know what he likes don't you, Becky?"
Rebecca nodded her head.
"That's a good girl. Daddy also likes his little girl in lots of makeup," Kallie said, handing her the lipstick. "Make sure you use this every day and lots of other makeup. Do you remember the things you bought at the store yesterday? Good. I think daddy might like those, too. There he is now. Why don't you show him how good you can be." Rebecca jumped off the desk and ran over to Officer Fell.
She tugged at his pants and he unzipped them.
"Do you think this'll work? What do we do with the cop?" Leah asked.
"I think he might see things our way when we show him these pictures. He probably won't remember a thing that happened anyway but just in case get some more pictures," Kallie answered. "We might need him later. Meanwhile, I have a phone call to make. When they're done, give him back his gun and tell him to go to a Dunkin' Donuts until the effects wear off. Tell him he likes scalding hot coffee and he should keep putting his cup in the microwave until he burns his mouth with every sip. That's for pulling your hair, sweetie," Kallie said, "and for kissing me."
"What about Mrs. F.?"
"Call her Becky from now on. It'll help remind her of her new role. Tell her to get dressed and go back to work but to remember to be good or she'll get spanked. And remind her not to tell any more lies to men. You can do what you want with the other slut," Kallie said, indicating the stupidly smiling Janie.
"Anything?" Leah smiled wickedly.
"Anything. No teeth, Becky," Kallie reprimanded her professor. Rebecca couldn't hear her with John's hands gripping her ears but she wouldn't have dreamed of causing her father any discomfort anyway.
End chapter 14