First Posting

A welcoming committee of one watched as I parked my unremarkable car in the Police Station car park. Hand outstretched he descended on me as I opened the door and got out. "I am George Brookman." That was it, no welcome prologue, no idle banter.

"I'm Sergeant Scott Reynolds, but then you already know that." My uniform with the newly applied Sergeant stripes, was a dead giveaway. I took the hand and shook it.

"Come in why don't you." I couldn't see why I shouldn't, so I followed him inside. "Take a seat." He indicated a chair in front of the desk that I assumed I would be seated behind in future. "Tea or coffee?"

"Coffee, white, no sugar."

He busied himself pouring water over what appeared to be cheap coffee powder. It was, that'll have to change. "I understand that this is your first posting as a Sergeant."

"Yes Sir." I decided that he was used to being treated deferentially, so I obliged. I didn't want to get offside with the most powerful man in this district, at least not yet.

"Country policing differs from what you must be used to in the city."

I chose to conveniently omit to inform him that I have had experience with country living, having been born and raised in this very town. Because I didn't move in his rarefied circles, I doubted that our paths had crossed before I left to join the police force.

"Let me fill you in on what is expected of you. There will be times when the full force of the law is to be applied, and times when leniency is more appropriate."

"The full force applies to the 'townies' while leniency will apply to the families of the larger landholders."

"While I can't order you to adhere to these rules, you get my drift."

"I guess that, as the Mayor of this town, you have some say in what happens around here." He hadn't introduced himself as the Mayor, but then I had done my research before coming here.

Brookman was a medium sized town that developed from the large Brookman farm that grew up over a period of years. It had an interesting history. Before it became known as Brookman its name was officially gazetted as Canning Hill. A small village grew up to service the surrounding district. Somewhere around a hundred and fifty years ago, one Alexander Brookman began buying up land quite literally around the village. While still officially designated as Canning Hill, the village became colloquially known as Brookman. The postal service agreed to recognise the Brookman name. Since becoming a town, a Brookman always assumed the role of Mayor, sort of a rite of passage for each generation. My minor admonition at his lack of courtesy whizzed straight over his head, as I expected it would.

"I'll leave you with it." He stood and, giving me a brief nod, left me to get my gear from my car and move into the sparse police residence tacked onto the rear of the police station. The Brookman Police district was controlled by a Sergeant, it was my turn, and no one else. Its performance indicators meant that it didn't warrant any additional staffing, so it was just me to keep everything under control.

My predecessor had died on the job so to speak. He had viewed this posting as a lifetime position, and, according to his situational reports, there was little policing to do. Brookman was a law-abiding town, almost entirely bereft of crime. I was led to believe that it was an easy posting.

Having filed my belongings away in the appropriate cupboards, wardrobes etc., I headed for the main drag of this thriving metropolis. Okay that's a slight exaggeration both in size and activity. My uniform attracted the attention of the curious, but my status in Brookman was a work in progress.

I recognised the face that looked at me in the mirror behind the counter of the Paragon Café. "Fuck, look what the cat's just dragged in. Scott Reynolds, how the fuck are you? So you're the new copper in town."

"I'll have none of that swearing from you Judy." There was a smile in her reflected eyes. "How the fuck are you?"

"Fine now that you're back in town, now I won't have to keep beating the young bucks off with a stick."

"If memory serves, you weren't all that enthusiastic with that stick."

"Not with you I wasn't, but the others, well none of them managed to take your place."

"I find that hard to believe, back in the day you were something of a prick tease."

"It was all look but don't touch. I have been saving myself for your return."

"So George Junior never had his evil way with you. I find that also hard to believe."

"You can ask his balls how successful he was. You have to give me credit for some sense. Did you know he's on his second wife, who has recently found out that he has just proposed to his mistress? She, it seems had just told him that he'd knocked her up?"

"He hasn't changed then, always was a randy bastard."

"He has always believed that he has a divine right to fuck anyone."

"You must have pissed him off then."

"A less than subtle grip on his balls did the trick."

"Remind me never to try and force myself on you."

"With you, force will be un-necessary."

"Judy," My stern words caused her to look sharply at me, "before you drag me into the back room and have your wicked way with me, you had better make me what I came in here for in the first place."

"Okay, what will it be, Sir?"

"A large flat white, and did you make that cheese cake?"

"Nothing but home-made here."

"Okay, a slice of that as well." I sat at one of the tables and she brought over a cup of proper coffee and a large slice of the best cheesecake that I had ever tasted. A bloke could get fat here if he didn't watch out.

Judy took my plate and cup from the table and, before I had a chance to dodge her, kissed me on the lips, with a bit of tongue thrown in. "You need a haircut, but don't get any ideas about going in to Trudy's salon. You remember her, don't you? The blonde with the outstanding features." She held her cupped hands out several inches from her chest.

"I'll try to stay out of there." I strolled along the street and it wasn't long before word had got around that Scott Reynolds, the famous local larrikin of ten years ago, who got out of town before he got into serious trouble, was back in town as the new cop. By the time I reached the end of the street, a welcome home party had been arranged at the pub.

I was at my desk coming to terms with the welcome when Judy came in. "I heard about the party tonight, how do you feel about that?"

"I guess that I'd better be there, but you can understand why I don't really want to go, not after what this town did to my parents, or didn't do. After years of giving without having to be asked, I would have thought that some reciprocity would have been forthcoming."

"Some of us tried, but we were told in no uncertain manner not to. Don't blame us for that, it was the Brookmans that were to blame. Your parents giving food away cut into Brookman's General Store's profits."

"I'm getting a revenge of sorts, my salary goes straight into my bank account with the Police Credit Union, and I pay everything on-line or with a debit card. I have no reason to patronise that bank."

My parents had a modest land holding that had provided them with enough income to meet their modest needs. All of that changed following a couple of bad years of diminished production and low prices for their produce. Brookman Bank, on the promise that they always looked after their customers, loaned them money to survive, and when the loan fell due and they didn't have enough money to repay it, the bank foreclosed. It wasn't until after Dad's anger gnawed away at him leading to frustration and depression, that the real story came out, all too late for them. The official verdict was a motor vehicle accident. But Dad had driven that road just about every day for the past thirty years, and knew every tree on the side of the road. His car left the road and crashed at high speed into the biggest, strongest gum tree on that section of road. There were no skid marks, or any sign that he had tried to avoid it, just the charred remains of his car with his mangled body trapped inside. The investigation stated that it appeared that he was not wearing his seat belt, something unheard of. In the final seconds of his life, his tortured mind would have rationalised that he had no chance that his body would survive. Mum didn't last much longer. She hadn't told him that she had cancer, not wanting to add to his worries.

Their insurance policies left me with enough money to buy my unremarkable car and the rest I invested in a low risk, low yield share portfolio, that has been growing slowly with the addition of the bulk of my disposable income. I'll never be rich, but then I'll probably never go broke.

The fact was that Brookman had put it about that he wanted Dad's land, and he bought it from the bank, his bank, for a price that was way below market value. That meant that Mum and Dad had absolutely no money to live on. But this didn't come to the surface until much later.

Like everything else about this place, the Brookman Bank had an interesting history. When the town had reached a commercially acceptable size, one of the major banks sought to establish a bank in competition to Brookman's small banking business attached to his General Store. Alexander's son Henry saw the need to prevent this, or to at least allow it to operate on his terms. They were that, he would allow them to place their name on the building, but the bank would be run by him and his successors on a joint profit sharing basis. The bank thought about it before agreeing to his terms, the thinking being that they would have a physical presence in town at little cost to themselves. Brookman would contribute to the cost of corporate advertising that would further raise the bank's profile in the town.

I was not the life and soul of the party, that role went to everyone else. "You're not having fun, are you?" Judy asked. She had volunteered to be my date for this party, and had tried to cheer me up, with only moderate success.

"I can think of better places to be."

"So can I. Let's get out of here and I'll take you home, to my home, there's no way that I'm leaving you alone tonight."

"I don't think that's wise. The whole world will know about it by morning. Anyway, I will not be good company."

"Your lousy company is better for me than no company, and that seems to be what I've been stuck with for the past several years."

"I find that hard to believe, everyone knows you and obviously likes you."

"Not so. Come on, we're out of here."

We hoped that no one saw us sneak out through the kitchen. We were soon seated at her kitchen table drinking coffee and munching on more of that cheese cake of hers.

Judy cleared the table and came and sat on my lap, her face almost touching mine. "Let me tell you something, it is my job that makes me seem popular, I have to be, or else I'd scare the customers away, something I can't afford to do. You know that Brookman's bank owns the building, and the lease on my shop. I barely make enough to cover my overheads, so to lose even one customer would make life just about impossible financially."

"It seems as if they've got everyone by the short and curlies."

"You'd better believe it. But enough of this, I have decided to lower my guard and allow this tall dark and handsome cop to ravish me to within an inch of my life."

"Don't get your hopes up, I'm dead beat after that six hour drive to get here. I had to leave the city at four this morning, the noise of all those sparrows farting was deafening."

"I can wait until the morning, you will be here in the morning, won't you?" To reinforce her proposal, she had my balls in her hand and was applying gentle pressure. There was a painful threat in that gentle pressure.

I was just about to climb into her bed in my jocks and tee shirt when she stopped me. "Oh no you don't, I sleep naked and I'll not have you wearing anything in my bed."

"That's tempting fate isn't it?" I had stepped out of my jocks and shed my shirt and climbed in, to be met by her delightfully naked body and her soft lips. I took her face in my hands and eased her away from me. "Later, please." I rolled away from her, but she followed me, her arms around me and her hand heading for my cock. "No." I removed her hand. Knackered as I was, I knew that he would at least make an attempt at an erection if I allowed her to continue.

"Okay, but don't you dare try to stop me in the morning."

What with the sparrows farting and roosters crowing about something in the distance, I had no option but to wake up from my recurring dream. I was lying in a soft, cosy bed, and something warm and wet was encompassing my, what is the term that they use in porn films, morning wood. I tried to stroke it with my hand as usual, but that something was in the way. It was Judy's face, her mouth enveloping my cock. "Finally, he stirs. You my friend, are going to resume where you left off all those years ago."

"And where was that?"

"I knew you'd forget. Let me remind you, you had your hands on my tits and your tongue down my throat."

"I don't seem to remember you trying to stop me. How come we didn't get any further?"

"Your parents arrived home at an inopportune time. We didn't get another chance because you were off to the big smoke the next day."

I resumed where we left off, and it was all over bar the shouting in just under an hour. It was about then that I looked at my watch. "Fuck!"

"What, again?"

"Look at the time, I've got to get to work. It wouldn't surprise me if his highness will be checking up on me this morning." A mad scramble into my clothes that left no time for breakfast, I kissed her good-bye and left with her promise of a personally delivered lunch lifting my spirits.

Showered and freshly shaved and dressed, I opened for business just in time to see Brookman striding over the road from his bank. He invited himself in and the use of my chair. "I've come to see if you need to avail yourself of our banking services. We can offer you fee free transactions, and should you require it, low interest finance on any property that you wish to purchase."

"There's no need for me to use your bank. My salary goes directly into my Credit Union account, and the bills that I can't pay on-line, I pay with my debit card. The police residence seems comfortable enough for now, so I will have no need for home financing. Thank you for the offer all the same."

"Hurrumph. I would rethink that situation if I were you. In small communities like ours, we all have to work together."

"I'm aware of that, but I have my reasons for doing it this way. That's not to say that, should the situations change, I won't change my mind. When that happens I will consult you."

"My offer will stand, no matter how long it takes you to change your mind." With that he left me to my devices.

I cranked up the patrol car and began my first tour of the district since I had left. All seemed pretty quiet until this high-powered sports car came past me at high speed. Hitting the red and blues and the siren I gave chase. He pulled over and waited for me. "Going a little fast weren't we driver? Are you on a promise or something?"

"Do you know who I am?"

"No, but if you give me your licence I'll soon find out." It was all that I could do not to tell him that I knew that he was the jumped up little prick whose daddy owned the town. I held out my hand and he gave me his licence. "Wait here a moment while I run a check on you to see if there are any outstanding warrants."

"You don't have to do that."

"Police procedures Sir." I sat in the patrol car and ran his details through the computer. My predecessor must have been very lenient, because his record was surprisingly clean. I wrote out a citation and, after keeping him waiting for another five minutes, took it back to him.

"What's this? He asked as I gave it to him.

"That Sir, is an official caution. If in the future I see you driving at the speed that you were going today I will not only arrest you, but under the provisions of the Road Traffic Act, I will impound this vehicle. Any faster than today, the vehicle will either be, not only impounded, but crushed or sold at auction. Now be on your way, and remember, I will not take any bullshit from you, no matter how important you think you, or your family, are in this town. The laws apply equally to the rich as they do to the poor." I walked back to my patrol car and watched him gun his car for a second or two before thinking better of it and slowing down.

The rest of the tour went without drama, and I was seated at my desk going through the records left by my predecessor, when Brookman Senior stormed through the door waving his son's caution paper. "What do you mean pulling my son over?"

"Your son was speeding. I showed him the requested leniency by only issuing him with an official caution. Any future incidents of this nature will prove to be extremely costly for him. He has to realise, that by driving in that manner, he is increasing his chance of being involved in an accident, and at the speed that he was driving, the likelihood of it resulting in his death, or the death of some innocent party. I do not want that to happen, if only that I would never be able to forgive myself, knowing that I might have prevented it from happening."

He hurrumphed again, and was just going to storm out, when Judy arrived with a large brown paper bag and a take away coffee. "Your lunch order Sergeant, ham and salad on wholemeal, a slice of my fabulous cheesecake and a flat white coffee, just as you ordered. Oh hi, Mister Brookman, I didn't see you there, forgive me. Oh Sergeant, that came to fifteen dollars, no discount for you, you can pay me now, or drop in later and fix me up." Seeing that Brookman had left, she kissed me and whispered, "Payment in kind works for me." Her hand on my prick told me what kind of payment she was looking for. "His highness didn't look very happy, you haven't upset him, have you?"

"Not him, but Junior was speeding, so I pulled him over and issued him with an official warning, just to set the ground rules so to speak."

"I hope that you're up for it when push comes to shove."

"I'm not about to push or shove, just a gentle nudge when necessary, just to let them know that I'm not interested in who they think they are. Just because you're filthy rich doesn't make you any more respectable."

"An interesting attitude, where did this spring from?"

"Mum and Dad were the salt of the earth types and he destroyed everything that they had worked so hard for. I lost all respect for them when that happened."

"Be very careful, I don't want to lose you just when you've come back into my life."

"Am I back in your life?"

"If truth be known, you never really left it."

"Can I let you in on a secret?"

"No-one better than me to tell."

"I didn't apply for this posting. The powers that be got the idea that something wasn't kosher in this town. Junior's car kept on getting snapped by fixed speed cameras, but every time he was pinged, Daddy provided a Stat. Dec. that stated that Junior could not possibly have been driving at the time because he was beavering away in the family business, and must have lent his car to someone else. Junior of course couldn't remember who he'd lent it to. Strangely, for someone who was caught regularly by cameras, Junior never seemed to get booked by my predecessor, something that rang bells in the halls of power."

"That'd be right. The Brookmans are a law unto themselves. So what are you going to do about this?"

"Give the boat a little nudge to see how far I can rock it before I get a reaction. This morning's effort is just the start."

"Be very careful."