 |
|||
|
|
An Unexpected Visit
A hellish device, a machine of misery, that's what the stocks became for Cathy. Her impression of stocks had come from movies and grade school history lessons about the Puritans. She had thought they were solely for public humiliation, the petty thief forced to stand in the village square while his neighbors laughed at him. First hand experience now taught her the reality. Whoever had built this particular version knew exactly how wide to limit her stance and how far apart her hands should be. It couldn't have been more than an hour before every muscle in her body began to protest. The worst part was how she was forced to stand without moving. She tried to shift her weight from one leg to the other but they were too far apart for it to be effective. The height and spacing between top and bottom was just enough to make her lean forward, straining her back and shoulders. The pressure of the gag only added to the discomfort.
Her neck and wrists were imprisoned between two thick heavy pieces of stout wood. The cutouts were padded but too small for her to slip through them. The boards were both wide and tall enough to cut off any view behind her, including the door and most of the hallway. Beams on either side held the lower board firmly in place, while grooves let the top board slide up and down on the same beams. She had seen the latches that secured the top piece, cleverly mounted on the other side so she couldn't reach them. Looking down she could see how the base was firmly bolted to the cold concrete floor. A similar design laid out horizontally at the base held her ankles. She could even see the latches holding it shut. All she had to do was reach down and open it, providing she had a key. Undoubtedly the inventor had put them in plain view deliberately, a tantalizing freedom just out of reach.
Cathy closed her eyes, tired of looking at the wall in front of her. How long will they make me stand here? If her legs collapsed she would choke. And with the gag in place she couldn't even call out for help. That scared her; trapped in the stocks with no one around was a real danger. She tried to yell through the gag, but all that came out was a muffled " oomph ".
Time slowed to a crawl. There had been times Robert ordered her to stand in a corner, for an hour or more, and once he had made her hold a quarter against the wall with her nose, but those time outs weren't even comparable to the stocks. Every minute that went by seemed to be worse than the last. She tried to bend her knees, lean forward and down, but it didn't help. Any imagined relief quickly vanished as the strain moved to a different set of muscles.
Desperate, she struggled to free herself, trying to slip through the holes, pushing up with all her strength to try to open the boards. Her eyes were squeezed shut with the futile effort. Somehow she had to escape; she couldn't survive another minute imprisoned like this.
"That won't do you any good." Cathy's eyes flew open at the sound of the familiar voice. It was Robert, standing in front of her, arms folded, staring at her. Hopes of rescue crashed to the ground when she saw the expression on his face.
Master , she wanted to say, but it came out " mffph ." It was the gag, she couldn't speak. " Mfff " she tried again, slowly drawing it out. Hopeless, the warden had shut her up quite effectively. Cathy looked at him, pleading with her eyes for him to help her.
"Look at you. They told me all about this morning. I was not pleased to hear what you did. So I let you sleep in whenever you want? What else? Do I let you run wild, do anything you want while I stand by with a sheepish grin? You seem to have forgotten why you were sent here. No more." He reached out and lifted up her chin, making her look straight at him. "Listen to me Cathy. This isn't some kind of vacation. I expected when I arrived we would spend some time together, maybe even take you home if the time was right. But instead I find you being punished and a sizeable negative report on your activities. Inexcusable behavior. Whatever possessed you to talk back like that?"
Cathy balled her hands into fist, frustrated at not being able to tell him what really happened. She tried to shake her head, to tell him somehow that's not what happened. She wanted to yell "no" through the gag, but it came out as an incoherent mumble.
Robert turned to go, then stopped and spoke to her one last time. "One more incident like this and you are here for an extended stay, understand me? No excuses. Just one more report, and you go into the remedial discipline program. From this moment on the only reports I want to read are the ones describing your outstanding example to everyone else." He pointed at the bare gray wall in front of her. "Anything else, and that will be your view of the world for so long you won't even remember what color the sky is." He walked away, past the edge of her limited vision. The cell door clanging shut was unnaturally loud, as though her future was closed as well.
If only he had loosened the gag long enough for her to say something. Cathy could feel the tears running down her face. How could it have gone so wrong? It was only supposed to be a minor temper tantrum, to convince everyone I had a reason to be here . She ran through the morning once again, in her head. Now I'm in here for real, instead of acting .
More sounds from the hallway. Her heart leaped at the faint hope Robert was coming back, but what she saw was a warden leading Laura and the other two women who had been in the cell with Cathy that morning.
|
|
|