Chapter 2: Sitting Judgement
Dan stood hurriedly, then paused. "That will be your mom, but I want you to stay where you are. I need to talk to her before she comes in to see you. Then she and I will decide just what to do with you."
"I know." Lisa whispered. "I won't move."
Dan hurried across his livingroom to his front door and paused, his hand on the doorknob for a second. He remembered seeing Dora Franklin and knew she was an extremely attractive woman. If anything, he knew he felt more attraction toward someone like her than he felt toward her daughter. Before he opened the door, he made sure that if he developed an erection, it wasn't going to be as obvious or as painful as the previous one had been.
As he pulled the door open, she was facing him, her right arm outstretched and a mild look of surprise on her face. Smiling, he took her hand in his.
"Hi, I'm Dan Walker, sorry about the circumstance."
"Hello." Her voice was soft and low, but it was her eyes that captured his attention.
For a few seconds, Dan seemed lost, but Dora didn't seem to mind, it was as if the touch of the others hand and the gaze of the others eyes had captured all of their attention. Suddenly Dan jerked as if awakening from a dream.
"Sorry. My mind seemed to drift off." Dan apologised. "Could I speak to you out here for a moment before we go inside to see your daughter?"
"Oh. Yes, surely. Is there something . . .?" If anything her wide eyes seemed to open wider and engulf him even further.
"Well, your daughter, is in the kitchen and . . . She was all wet, like I told you before and I gave her a blanket . . . Unh, she wanted to use a towel, so I went to get it and . . ." He sighed and finally found he could let go of her hand. "I couldn't stop her . . . I mean when I got back she was already . . ." He paused and shook his head. "She stripped . . . right there, in front of me."
"Oh, and . . . what happened?" Dora said quietly.
"Well . . . nothing else, really. I mean, she's nude, except for the blanket and . . ." He drew in another deep breath. "As soon as she was wrapped in the blanket, I gave her a cup of tea and then a few minutes later, you were here."
"Did you help wrap her in the blanket?"
"No, I haven't touched her." Dan looked at her as if she'd accused him of rape.
"So, you're telling me this for a reason aren't you?" She was smiling broadly now.
"Yes, I wanted you to know that I haven't hurt her."
"Oh, I'd already reached that conclusion. May I see her?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sure, come on in." He pulled the door wide open and stepped to one side. "She's in the kitchen."
She waited as he closed the door, then she unbuttoned her short coat and handed it to him. Under the coat she was still wearing her nurse's whites and he drew a deep breath as he saw her shape, then he turned and hung her coat on the hall tree near the door. She appeared to be waiting for him, so he gestured in the direction of the kitchen, but she didn't move.
"Did you want to speak to her alone?" He finally asked.
"No, you should be there as well." She finally turned and sashayed toward the kitchen door.
Somehow, nothing that had happened since he opened the door had seemed real to Dan. He seemed to be walking in a fog as he followed her into the kitchen and as he looked at her figure leading the way, his erection returned with a vengeance. The young girl hadn't moved. She was still sitting in the same place, still huddled tightly under the blanket, her body still shivering. Dan stopped just inside the kitchen door and watched as the woman in white walked slowly forward, then turned to face the youth in the chair.
"This is quite a surprise." Her voice was quiet, almost menacing.
"Oh, Mom. I am sorry. I screwed up." A small quavering voice answered her.
"I expect you are, but then I imagine you felt you had a good reason at the time." Dora's face looked as though she was clenching her teeth. "Would you care to explain why Mr. Walker's cactus were so important to you that you had to steal them?"
"Stealing them was silly." Lisa whimpered.
"Theft is more that silly, it's breaking the law, but I want to hear your reasons."
Lisa's head whipped around and she glanced over her shoulder at Dan, then back toward her mother.
"Do I have to tell you now? He can hear me."
"Don't you think he deserves an explanation?"
"Couldn't I tell you when he isn't able to hear and then you could tell him?" Lisa whispered so quietly that Dan could hardly hear her.
Dora's eyes glanced at him and an eyebrow lifted. Dan simply shrugged his shoulders, then turned and walked into the living room. He turned on the television and adjusted the sound until it was just loud enough that the voices from the kitchen were a muted murmur in the background.
He tried to concentrate on the movie that was being shown, but it was simply a blur. Instead his mind was replaying the vision of the little Lolita doing a strip tease in front of him. Then somehow her body morphed into an older woman. It was as if now in his mind he was looking at Dora's body and she wasn't just stripping; she seemed to be teasing him now, but with the unspoken promise that she'd please him later. In only a few moments he was again so hard that he hurt and once more he had to adjust his jeans to get a tiny bit of relief.
When Dora had been called to the telephone at work and found that the call was about her daughter, it had felt like her heart had stopped for a moment. As she rushed down the hallway to the reception desk, her mind asked a hundred questions 'Had her exhusband somehow come to haunt them? Was Lisa in danger or just in trouble? Why was Lisa in trouble at four in the morning? Why wasn't she at home and in bed? Had she done something stupid?'
The questions simply piled up in her mind, one after the other. She simply had to know what was wrong, but still, she did her best to try to remain calm.
When she picked up the phone, she found herself talking to a voice that seemed to be strong and determined, but kind and courteous at the same time. That voice was so strong, so caring, that she found herself being calmed. Then just when she began to feel herself becoming at ease with the situation, his voice changed slightly as he said something else and suddenly she was annoyed. She wasn't annoyed with the owner of the voice; she was annoyed with her daughter and yes, even with herself.
A few more words and the annoyance turned into resolve. She knew what she had to do. Perhaps she could salvage the situation.
After finishing the conversation about her daughter's stupid stunt and hanging up the phone, she paused, something he'd said seemed to make her think back. He'd said they had met here at the hospital, but she couldn't remember that. She shook her head, that couldn't be true; if she had met the owner of that voice, she would have remembered it. She'd heard a voice that had affected her like that before; her father's voice had sounded much like that when he had been preaching from the pulpit.
Suddenly she realised that she had been standing there, staring off into nothing, simply daydreaming. That wasn't like her. May, the woman on duty at the reception desk, was looking at her strangely.
"I'm sorry, May. I'll get out of your way." She found herself saying.
"Is your daughter okay? The guy on the phone sounded so gruff and hostile."
"Lisa is in trouble, but she isn't hurt. Do you know where my supervisor is? I'm going to have to book off. I have to go to Lisa."
"You just go." May said flatly. "I'll handle Marjory. I'll tell her it was a family emergency."
"Well it is in a way, even if Lisa isn't hurt or anything." Dora said, already turning and hurrying to get her coat.
The trip to the address the voice on the phone had given her was a blur. In fact when she got out of her car, she found she was carrying a bag in one hand with a change of clothes for Lisa, but she didn't even remember having been home. Her hand shook slightly as she reached out to ring the doorbell, then she waited. She was lifting her hand to ring it again when the door opened.
Then he was holding her hand, saying hello, and she simply stood there, unable to talk, unable to think. His eyes and his touch seemed to captivate her. Her mind was a buzz of conflicting emotions. He was speaking again, trying to explain.
"Ohmigod, Lisa did a strip tease in front of this man? Well, I can't blame her for that, can I? I'd do a lot more than strip if he wanted me to" She thought, as she realised that he was worried that she might think he'd hurt Lisa. "As if this big bear would hurt anyone intentionally." She found herself wanting to smile at the thought.
Just in the few moments that they talked, Dora realised that although she might have seen Dan at a distance, she certainly hadn't allowed his presence to actually register. Any previous meeting with him must have been extremely brief or she was certain that she would have remembered it. She certainly was going to remember this meeting. Perhaps, if she was careful in the way she handled it, Lisa's stupidity could become something positive.
Her gaze wandered for an instant as she was invited inside, taking in the features of the room that gave away the fact that he was single. She smiled to herself as she paused while removing her jacket, making sure she was standing straight with her shoulders back and her chest thrown out when she handed it to Dan. She felt a flush pass through her as his eyes scanned her body before he turned and hung up her jacket. When he gestured toward the kitchen, she felt her hips swing just a touch more than they normally would have as she walked ahead of him.
In the kitchen, it only took her a moment before she realised that Lisa was either completely intimidated by Dan or completely infatuated with him. It seemed she didn't even want to speak while Dan was in the room. But when she silently asked if she and Lisa could be alone, he was a complete gentleman. With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he moved into the living room where he turned on the television. There was no way he could hear her conversation with Lisa.
Dora moved a chair over and sat facing her daughter.
"I think you had best start at the beginning and tell me the whole story." She frowned, her voice low. "I know that you aren't that homesick for the desert, so there has to be a lot more to this than just a couple of cactus plants."
Dan was staring at the television, seemingly engrossed in whatever was playing when Dora walked into the living room a few minutes later. It wasn't until she touched him on the shoulder and he jerked away in surprise that she realised that his mind was totally occupied with some other reality.
"I'm sorry I surprised you." She apologised. "Lisa is still very cold and since I have a rather long explanation that you need to hear, I was wondering if she could take a hot bath while I explain?"
"Um, uh, I guess so." He looked up at her in surprise. "I don't mind."
"Well, you told her to stay there and she's obedient, she won't budge until you tell her it's okay to move."
"What? But why?" He stood and turned off the tv. "Is she that afraid of me?"
"No. It's not fear." Dora said quietly. "There's much more to it than that. I need to explain everything to you, but she doesn't really want to be there when I do."
Dan simply frowned, but followed her again as they walked into the kitchen. Lisa was still sitting in the same position and still seemed to be staring out into Dan's back yard.
"Lisa, your mother thinks you might like to take a bath to get warmed up while she talks to me." Dan said quietly.
"Yes sir, but you told me to stay here." She whispered.
"Could you look at me when you talk, please?" He shook his head. "I find it rather hard to believe that you're afraid of me."
"It's not that I'm afraid of you. I'm more afraid of me and what I might do." She slowly lifted her head and turned to look at him. "It would be better if Mom explained everything. I really don't trust myself."
Dan frowned as he looked at Dora who shrugged her shoulders slightly and sighed. He waited for a moment, but neither of them moved nor spoke. It wasn't long before he found that he was growing annoyed with their silence.
"Look. I need to know what's going on. Would one of you say something before I lose my cool?"
"We're waiting for you to tell us what you want us to do." Lisa whispered.
"That's simple, I want to find out just what's going on, so I want someone to tell me something." Dan was doing his best to remain calm.
Dora cleared her throat. "Dan, Lisa doesn't want me to tell you while she can hear and you told her to stay where she is, so . . ."
"Oh, for crying in the sink, I told her you wanted her to go take a bath. What more do I need to say?"
"I need to know what you want." Lisa's voice was a whimper.
"I'm not your boss." Dan growled.
"But you are." Dora said quietly. "I'm sorry Lisa, but Dan needs to understand what we believe."
"Just how am I your boss?" Dan couldn't understand and he was growing more annoyed by the second even though he was managing to force himself to be relatively calm.
"We were raised to believe that if we are in debt to anyone, that person has the right to some control of our actions until that debt is paid." Dora whispered. "Lisa intentionally placed herself in your debt by stealing your plants in the hope that you would catch her as you did. Because we also must uphold the laws of the land, and because I am legally responsible for her actions until she becomes eighteen, I am also in your debt. Since we are in your home, that gives you even more control of what we can do. You are now literally our master until our debt to you is paid. We must do what you want, so we're awaiting our chance to fulfill your desires."
"What?" Dan stared at her in disbelief. "That's BS. No church promotes slavery."
"No, it isn't BS and it isn't slavery, it's only a variation of a standard Christian ethic - 'Render therefore onto Caesar the things which are Caesar's.' It's one of the basic doctrines of the 'Church of Ethical Redemption' and since we are both members, we are waiting to be told what you wish us to do."
He just stared at her in astonishment, then slowly moved to a kitchen chair and sat down. His gaze moved from one to the other and he shook his head slowly. "You really believe in that sort of thing?"
"Yes." They both answered quickly.
"And you wanted me to catch you?" He asked Lisa directly.
"Oh yes, very much, but I didn't want you to catch me until next week."
"Why not until next week?" He frowned.
"My birthday is Monday. Then I'll be eighteen and fully responsible for my actions. Since you caught me before my birthday, Mom is in your debt too. I didn't mean to have that happen, but I got impatient and made a silly mistake tonight."
"It's alright, Lisa. I don't mind being in debt to Dan." Dora smiled at her.
"What do you mean?" Dan looked at her in astonishment. "You want someone to be your boss and order you to do things?"
"Not just someone, we want you to do it." Lisa actually looked at him directly and blushed a bright red.
Dan stared at her, then his gaze shifted to Dora and he saw that her face was flushed as well.
"I still don't understand." He shook his head. "Why did you pick me?"
"Because you're what I want." Lisa's blush was fading, then it flared again. "I know you want me too; I saw what happened when I took my clothes off."
It was Dan's turn to blush slightly and he felt his erection begin to betray him again.
"See. You do want me." Lisa crowed, then she sighed. "But, you and I can't do anything about it until Monday."
"Her belief in the teachings of The Church will not allow her to break the law of the land with impunity, especially since she is already feeling the pressure of having committed theft. Since she won't be regarded as an adult until Monday, she can't bring herself to ask you to have your way with her until then."Then Dora blushed. "However, until Monday, I am responsible for her debts."
"Holy shit!" Dan suddenly realised what they were saying. "Both of you are willing to . . ."
"Yes." Lisa giggled. "We're willing and I hope that's one of the things you want, but as I told you, I really have to wait until Monday. Mom will have to take my place until then."
"Actually, Lisa, since I am responsible for your actions, I am equally accountable for the debt." Dora said quietly. "But, even if he agrees to accept my offer to serve him until we pay back the debt, it won't discount your debt of service to him. By Monday, you will not only owe him that, but you'll also owe him any additional interest he wishes to place against that service. It simply means that we must both serve him."
"Wait a bloody minute." Dan said shortly. "I'm not a member of your church, which means I'm not bound by your rules."
"That doesn't discount the fact that we are bound by our faith to serve you until we repay you."
"What if I simply tell you to return the cactus and that all this service stuff is cancelled?"
"Oh, please don't do that. That would mean we would fall into disfavour with our church and we would have to serve one or more of the church officers." Dora actually shuddered. "Some of the local ones are not to our taste at all."
"Wait a minute. You're driving me crazy. Do you want me to boss you around or to have sex with you?"
"Both." Lisa answered and Dora nodded.
"But, that's crazy." He shook his head. "I'd feel like a bloody bigamist. I can't be with two women."
"Oh, you could not be a bigamist because we cannot marry. Neither of us is a virgin and in our church, only virgins may marry." Dora shook her head energetically. "I was married previously, but had to seek a divorce because my exhusband broke the tenets of The Church by having sex with an underaged child."
Something about what she said alerted Dan to Lisa's discomfort at being involved in this discussion. He felt that it was possible she had been the child that Dora had mentioned. While he wanted to know for sure, he didn't want Lisa to be more uncomfortable than she already was.
"Lisa, would you prefer to have a bath, rather than be here with us while we talk?" He asked.
"Yes. Please, if I may."
"If you want to, you may." He smiled.
"Oh. Thank you." She threw back the blanket and quickly stood, before turning to face him.
Then, nude as the day she was born, she bounced across the floor and onto his lap. Suddenly he was holding a wriggling squirming female who hugged him tightly and ground her body against his. He could feel her stiff nipples poking his chest through the thin T-shirt he wore. It didn't help that straddling him as she was, the softness of her sex was pressed tight against the swelling in his jeans.
For some reason, his eyes lifted to Dora's face and he was astounded, because she winked. His mouth opened in surprise, then suddenly Lisa's lips found his and her tongue snaked deep into his mouth. The kiss lasted only for a few seconds before her head pulled back and with a giggle, she peeled herself away from him and danced into the bathroom. Dan was left breathless in the wake of her passage. He found himself looking up at Dora who was regarding him with a very calm gaze.
"Your words to Lisa were very carefully chosen."
"Yes, they were." He admitted. "Now, since I hear water thundering into the tub and I don't think Lisa can hear us, I have to ask, was she the underage minor that your exhusband accosted?"
Dora drew a deep breath and slowly let it out before she looked at the floor. "I cannot say because of my beliefs."
"I don't understand." He suddenly realised that somehow her white dress now had several buttons undone and she was showing a lot of cleavage.
"My exhusband is now serving a sentence for statutory rape, so he is paying his debt to society. Then too, since he has been divorced he may never remarry, at least not as long as he remains in The Church. Since he is paying his debt, I cannot speak badly of him. Other than the facts which are open to the world in the court documents, there is nothing I can say."
"Ah, I see, since he had sex with an underaged child, that child's name wouldn't have been mentioned openly outside of court. But, who pays the debt to you or to the child? Since you say that according to your beliefs, neither of you can marry now, someone should be held accountable for that, shouldn't they?"
"Life is not always fair." She sighed, then her face lifted and she smiled shyly. "My exhusband broke the law by having sex with a minor child and there is no way to repay a debt of that sort to those who were offended. However, there are compensations."
"Like what?" He snapped.
"Since Lisa and I are no longer virginal, we have both joined The Church's 'Sisterhood of Succour' and have taken a vow to find and please a deserving man who has been divorced." She smiled her Mona Lisa smile. "If I or Lisa were able to marry, we couldn't very well do what we wish to do to repay you, could we? That would be bigamy and against the law. Neither of us can marry you, but there is nothing in the law which says that as single women we cannot both have sex with you. In fact, if you wish it, both of us could bear your children."
He just shook his head. "I think I need to hear more about this church that you keep mentioning. Why don't you sit down and tell me about that before anything else?"
"Here? In the kitchen?"
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter where we are. Where do you want to be?"
"I think you might protest at my choice of where I would like us to be when I explain." She smiled and shifted to draw attention to her cleavage. "I want to begin to settle my debt to you as soon as I may."
"Not so fast." He shook his head. "You're a very attractive woman, but before I get involved in any way, I want to know a lot more about you and about these beliefs of yours."
She sighed softly, then she nodded."Perhaps if I sit across the table from you?"
"Sounds good to me."
As she moved a chair and sat down, Dan looked at her closely. Blonde and blue eyed, she looked close to his own age and certainly not old enough to have an eighteen-year-old daughter. He decided to let her talk, but he planned to ask questions during her explanation if there was something that she mentioned which he found wasn't clear to him.
"First, I think I should explain about our church." She sighed again, then she placed both hands flat on the table and he found she was looking directly into his eyes. "The Church was formed in Northern California by a group of people who liked neither the actions of the regular churches, nor the actions of the hippies who lived nearby. The original group consisted of three men and two women; there was one married couple, one divorced man, one defrocked priest, and one divorced woman, plus several children. Late in the first year, that group was joined by an older couple who were actually retired University professors; one had taught ethics, while the other had taught comparative religion. During the latter part of that first year together, the whole group managed to hash out a distinct philosophy and a basis for a way of life that they all could agree on.
"Over the first few years, they tried to fit their beliefs into a cohesive whole, yet still stay within the bounds of a standard religion, but they found there were too many conflicts with their basic philosophy. They believed deeply that the people of church should obey the government's laws first and then those that they found in the Bible, especially those which were ethical and did not belittle the common man. Since they couldn't seem to cram their beliefs into a standard religion, in 1963 they formed 'The Church of Ethical Redemption' to match their philosophy and they managed to have it recognised as a legal church. That year, they even tried to adapt the King James' version of the Bible to their beliefs, but in the end, they wrote a separate book which illustrates the tenets of our faith. It draws from the legal system, from the Bible, from the Koran and from several other sources. Its full title is 'The Book of Ethical Redemption', but we simply call it 'The Book' and it's our guide to the way we live."
"Aren't there times when the Bible and the law are at odds with each other?" Dan asked.
"Not for us, we've always felt that our first responsibility was to live within the law of the land since we are living in a democracy and that means we are obeying the wishes of the majority of our neighbours. The Book remains our guide for those things which the law or the Bible does not cover."
"Well, I don't think there's any rule in the Bible about needing to be a virgin to marry is there? I know there certainly isn't a law about it."
"Perhaps it isn't in the Bible as a hard and fast rule, but it is often mentioned as a very strong suggestion. In fact, for all I know, that rule may have come from the Koran or some other source." She smiled. "We also believe that the sexes are equal, but different. To a certain extent, we follow Biblical doctrine in the instance of the duties of the sexes. We feel that because of the differences in the psychological makeup of men and women, the man must normally be the dominant partner in any relationship. After all in most cases he is the primary bread winner and the protector of the family. Since he is responsible for that, he should have the dominant role."
"Oh boy, that would eliminate any woman's lib. factions from your church, wouldn't it?"
"Actually we have a few women who decry that doctrine, yet at the same time are strong members of The Church." She chuckled. "I think they feel that our ethics and general policy of fairness outweighs the fact that we are somewhat chauvinistic.
"To put it simply, the best way to describe the majority of our beliefs is to quote the 'Golden Rule' which says to 'Treat others as you would wish to be treated.' As far as anything else, you could say that we try to be fair in everything we do." She smiled. "We take the word 'ethical' in the name of our church very seriously."
"You couldn't prove that by me." Dan snorted. "I don't think it was very ethical for Lisa to steal my plants."
"Ah, There is that and I agree that it wasn't ethical." Dora sighed softly. "However, she did that with the intention of being caught and by being caught she felt she would owe you a debt that would allow her to seduce you. Contrary to the appearance of Lisa's actions toward you, we are very chary about debt and we always repay what we owe."
"I find the whole idea very strange."
"Why? We are each settling a debt to you." She smiled.
"I'm just not understanding your motivation I guess. You don't even know me."
"Well, Lisa has done a lot of research and she really liked what she found."
"Research, about me?"
"Yes." She laughed. "I think she first read about you in the paper when you were touted as a hero at a fire. When she saw your picture, she liked your face. To be honest, she thinks you look like her father, but then I suppose I thought her father looked like my father or I might not have married him. By the way, I think that right now, you look my father did when he was younger."
"That's it? She liked the way I looked, so she stole my cactuses to get my attention?"
"Oh no. She found out what fire station you worked at, then she snooped out anything she could find out about you by checking back on records for the fire hall. From that, she found out where you went to school, where you were raised, all sorts of things. Finally, she found out where you lived and that you lived alone since you'd been divorce by your wife. She told me that it was after she found out about the divorce that she came up with this scheme to put herself into your debt. By doing that she felt she'd have an excuse to be near you long enough to seduce you."
Dan stared at her for a minute, unsure whether to be upset or to laugh. Finally he just shook his head slowly from side to side as if he didn't believe what he was hearing.
"You don't seem very annoyed." Dora smiled. "I thought you might be angry."
"I'm trying my best not to be annoyed at either of you." He admitted. "And I admit that it's been almost a year since I broke up with my last girlfriend, so I'd love to make love with either one of you. Unfortunately the overall idea of suddenly having two women throwing themselves at me is simply too much for me to handle."
"For goodness sake, why?" She chuckled. "Surely you realise that you're an extremely attractive man?"
"Hmmph." He grunted and held up both of his hands, palms toward her, as if he wanted her to stop. "I need to think about this."
"Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?" She asked quietly, suddenly acting quite submissive.
"Hmm? Oh, no thanks, but if you want one, go ahead." He mumbled, his face twisting into a light frown.
Dora had time to make a cup of tea and to drink part of it before they were both disturbed by Lisa coming out of the bathroom. She had a towel wrapped around her wet hair, but was wearing nothing else.
"Sir, do you have anything that I can wear?" She asked Dan quietly, trying her best to look as provoking as she could.
"Oh, I think your mother brought you something, didn't you, Dora?" He asked, glancing first at Lisa, then at Dora.
When she nodded, his gaze again took on that unfocussed look of deep concentration. Both women looked at him strangely since he didn't seem to react to Lisa's nudity like he had before. His face was once more creased by a slight frown and his eyes seemed to be looking right through them. Neither of them spoke as Dora handed Lisa the bag of clothing she had brought. Then as Lisa slowly put on her clothing and Dora sipped the last of her cup of tea, they both watched with almost total fascination as Dan stared off into blank nothingness.
Slowly his face began to change. His face totally lost its frown, but it still had a serious expression. Dan turned and looked at Lisa, who was now dressed in a peasant blouse and a pair of jeans, then he turned back to look at Dora, after a second his gaze returned to Lisa.
"So you're a member of 'The Church of Ethical Redemption' are you?" He asked quietly.
"Yes, Sir."
"And amongst its doctrines, do you happen to follow the ten commandments?"
"Well, yes, Sir, in a way. After all most of them have been turned into laws by the government. They've just been reworded."
"So you broke one of those doctrines, by stealing my cactus plants."
"Yes, Sir, but you knew that. I'm quite willing to pay you back though."
"Ah, yes. That's the point that I was causing me a bit of a stumbling block, but I think I've resolved the problem." He paused and glanced at Dora. "Your mother was telling me that you think I look something like your father, is that right?"
"A bit, Sir, but he was never as buff as you are. Of course he wasn't a fireman, so he didn't have to be in as good shape as you are."
"I see. So you look on me as a new improved version of what he was like?"
"Maybe a bit, but not really. I mean, you're . . . well, you're sexy . . . Sir."
"That's more or less what I thought you'd say. Oh, thanks for the compliment. I appreciate the fact that you think I'm sexy. It's good for my ego."
"Mom thinks so too, Sir." Lisa smiled.
"I had surmised that." He sighed. "Which makes what I have to do all that much harder. You've heard the saying 'This is going to hurt me, more than it hurts you.' haven't you?"
"Yes, Sir." Lisa's face had lost its smile.
"Well, if I went along with your idea, or your mother's idea, or whose ever idea it was, I'd be doing what you wanted in the first place. That would be rewarding you for stealing, instead of punishing you, wouldn't it?"
"Ooh." She almost whimpered. "I guess so, Sir."
"Come on, you know the answer. Either 'yes' or 'no,' but no guesses."
"Yes, Sir."
"Do you agree that I'm right, Dora?"
"Yes, Dan. I have to agree." Dora sighed.
"Right." He sighed as well, then turned back to Lisa. "I'm off work until Sunday evening and since it's Wednesday now, that gives us four days. Luckily, you stole four cactus plants. I want you to carry them down the street in broad daylight and bring them to my door, one at a time or one a day, whichever way you want to look at it. You will bring the plant to the front door, ring the bell and wait for me to come answer it. When I do, you'll give me the cactus and return home. On Sunday, the plant must be here before four in the afternoon, because I have to be at work at six."
"That's it?" Lisa asked.
"For the next while, yes." He nodded at her. "Since I want you to be somewhat anxious about your punishment, I don't want to rush things. Of course, since I'm working four twelve-hour night shifts at the end of that time and since I have trouble sleeping during the day, I won't want to be disturbed in any way during that time. In fact other than bringing the cactus back to me, I don't want to be disturbed until I phone you."
"Oh wow. Do you mean it?"
"Yes, I do, and I think it's time for both you and your mom to go now."
"But . . ." Dora started to protest.
"No buts, and no protests." Dan said firmly. "You said you wanted me to tell you what to do and I am doing just that."
Dan watched the two of them pick up Lisa's wet clothes, then he escorted them to the door when they left. After that, he took a few minutes to try to calm down before he went back to bed.
He had a hard time falling asleep, and when he finally did, he slept fitfully. His sleep was disturbed by dreams of blonde women who stripped, then danced and tantalised him, yet no matter what happened, it seemed that he was unable to touch them. Whenever it seemed as if he was coming anywhere close to them, a formless figure, wearing a dangling cross around what could have been its neck, came out of nowhere and blocked his way. More than once he awoke to find his hands tearing at his blankets in frustration.