Karen Tanner and her friend Linda had been on a shopping trip to the bazaar in the small town near where they worked. They were both nurses working on a one year contract in a small west African country. Both women were very experienced and had been offered nearly double their pay at home to spend a year working with sick and extremely poor people.
Both women were married although Karen and her husband were separated months before she left for this job. Karen had found this position, applied and been accepted long before Linda even knew about it. Karen felt it would be a good way to have time to think her life over and decide if she wanted to even try and preserve her marriage. Her husband had taken to working 12 hour days and was rude and crabby all the time.
At 48, Karen was in great shape physically and mentally and wanted to travel and have fun. She also wanted a good sex life because entering menopause had left her perpetually horny, the opposite of what she had expected. Karen jogged and exercised and her only real weaknesses were chocolates and cigarettes. She had started smoking, a habit she had quit in her 20's, but had started again when her husband had become so remote and cruel.
Linda was in many ways the opposite of Karen. Karen was strong willed and independent while Linda was very meek and followed the crowd. Karen often spent hours solving problems and taking on serious issues while Linda was content to sit back and let someone else do the thinking. Linda was completely subservient to her husband but Karen believed in being completely equal in all respects. Both women had dark brown hair and brown eyes and had often been mistaken for sisters. They had worked together for fifteen years in a large hospital and were actually closer than most sisters. When Karen started smoking again Linda had lectured her about it but wound up smoking with her during their breaks.
Linda had also quit smoking years ago but had done so at the insistence of her husband and not because she wanted to. Linda loved smoking and the smell of smoke made her crave a cigarette. When she heard that Karen was accepted into the traveling nurses program she had talked to her husband about applying. When he heard that her pay would be double for the year and all of her living expenses would be paid he surprised her by endorsing her application.
The two women had been working for two months nearly non stop. Their little holiday to shop was a great relief to both of them and they were shopping for jewelry and gifts to send to family and friends at home. They were in a small shop looking at gold chains and charms made in the shop by the owner. Linda was so taken with one that looked like antique gold that Karen helped her to fasten it around her neck.
As Linda stood admiring it in the mirror a loud explosion shook the building and the front window shattered. The shop was filled with dust and smoke and the two women ran through the door and down the street away from the smoke. They excitedly discussed terrorists but found out much later that it had been a ruptured gas line and fortunately no one had been killed.
Back at their hotel they sat in the cafe and ordered hot tea. As they sat sipping it they saw two policemen enter the lobby followed by the jewelry store owner. Linda suddenly realized she still had the necklace on. It had slipped inside her open necked blouse and in the excitement it had slipped her mind.
The two women were arrested. They tried to explain but the owner left with his necklace and they were taken to the local jail. They were pushed into a small dirty cell and left there, the only occupants in the jail. The policeman explained in broken English that they would be tried the next morning. Karen was angry and Linda was inconsolable. She kept blaming herself and crying. The cell was cool and they huddled together for warmth. After a while the two friends wound up spending the night in each other's arms. True to their personalities Karen planned her actions and their defense and Linda cried herself to sleep.
The next morning they were awakened and pulled from their cell. In handcuffs like common criminals they were led into an adjoining room. There behind a desk sat a well dressed man who spoke English. He introduced himself as the local magistrate.
Karen tried to explain but he shouted at her to be silent. The women were forced to sit on a hard bench. The room was half full of people who seemed to be there just to watch. The shop owner was there and he testified that the women had used the distraction of the explosion to steal the most expensive piece of jewelry in his shop.
When the time came for the women to testify Linda was so upset and terrified all she could do was agree with the magistrate that she had fled with the necklace when she heard the explosion. Karen tried to explain that it was a mistake but the magistrate said too many foreigners were taking advantage of the local shop owners.
He said he wanted to be fair and told Karen she was excused and free since she had not taken the necklace. He then asked Linda to stand. He told her that theft in his country was a serious crime since it often took food from the mouths of the victims. He then shocked Karen to silence and Linda to tears when he said, "You are sentenced to be whipped in public. You will be stripped to the waist and will receive 200 lashes on your bare back. Since you are not of this country, we will be lenient and not do the whole punishment at once. You will receive 25 lashes every two weeks for the next four months. If after the first session you decide to leave your post at the hospital and go home, we will not stop you. If you stay, you must face the entire sentence."
The two women were told that the first whipping would occur in one hour and they could wait in the magistrate's office. Inside, Linda clung to Karen weeping uncontrollably. Finally Karen helped herself to a bottle of brandy behind his desk and made her friend drink a large glass of it. She then sat thinking.
She knew that Linda had a very low tolerance for pain. The thought of her friend being whipped made her feel physically ill. At the same time Karen had a high tolerance for pain and as a teen had found some pain to be sexually stimulating.
