Assignment
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"Can we break for 10 minutes? I need to discuss a couple of things with Tom. Is that alright with you Jackie?"
"I suppose so Kylie. You've got plenty of time."
"Great. Michelle? - Sorry, Mish. Ok with you?"
"Whatever."
"Lovely. Turn everything off Tom and then, can I have a word out in the corridor?"
"Sure. Just a second."
Kylie tried not to show her frustration as she gathered up her bag and headed for the door with Tom a few paces behind, but this was important and things were not running smoothly at all.
They were shooting a segment at a women's open prison just South of London. It was due to air on both the 6 and 9 o'clock bulletins the next day and Kylie knew it was something that a more experienced reporter would normally cover. It was exactly 5 weeks since the interview, she'd only been working in London for a month and she felt the influence of her 'mentors' in being assigned to the story.
The report was centred on a face to face interview with Michelle/Mish. That was the plan anyway. At that moment, after 40 minutes, all she and Tom had succeeded in recording were a few grunted answers and lots of swearing from the young woman.
According to researchers Mish was the ideal candidate for the piece -- loving parents, excellent education and a well paid job in the city where she'd been caught insider trading. A classic 'good girl gone bad' story. Clearly, they hadn't actually spoken to her - 6 months in prison had left the young woman with a severe attitude problem. There also seemed to be tension between Mish and Jackie, the prison officer assigned to oversee the shoot, which definitely wasn't helping matters.
Kylie took a deep breath of musty corridor air and closed her eyes to think.
It had been a crazy 5 weeks. Her notice period in Nottingham should have been a month, but according to her boss, 'high level intervention' had cut that to a week. That had triggered a panic about somewhere to live in the capital which lasted all of 45 minutes - at which point a London estate agent called, saying that he'd been asked by 'friends in the media' to arrange some viewings at her convenience. Poor Robert barely had time to register that Kylie was going, before she was gone.
She'd not seen much of the three newsreaders over her first few weeks in the capital - just a quick hello in the newsroom or a smile as she passed one of them in the corridor, but she'd met Sian for coffee a few days previously. They'd talked about how Kylie was settling in, spent a lot of time re-living the interview in all its wonderfully filthy detail and there was talk of a 'Welcome to London' party in her honour At some point during the conversation, Sian had said something that now came floating back into her head - "It's amazing the things women will do if you just ask nicely and show them that you're willing to do the same."
Although Kylie's life was moving so fast that she barely had time to blink, let alone think, she'd spent a lot of time contemplating the interview. It hadn't been a first-time lesbian experience, just the first time she couldn't hold alcohol responsible and the first time with women not woman. There'd been 4 or 5 occasions over the years where she'd woken up staring bleary-eyed at the nape of a female neck -- a random club-conquest from the night before. It was always the same -- she wouldn't remember much, but the memories that did surface were pleasurable. Then she'd file the 'wild moment' away in the section of her brain labelled 'Enjoyable -- unlikely to happen again' and go back to the reality of whichever man was trying to keep her entertained at the time.
This time it was different. Nothing had been filed away -- the interview was playing on a near-permanent loop in her head. She'd fucked Robert goodbye and enjoyed it, as always, but she was eager to have sex with the 3 newsreaders again, or one of them, or Megan, or all four of them. In fact, she realised, any woman she found attractive would do and really 'eager' was 'desperate'. This time, she wanted more.
"Strange - I'd have thought a women's prison would smell better. What's up Kylie?"
Kylie's eyes snapped open. She smiled weakly at Tom's quip and question.
"Is this going as badly as I think, or is it actually, by some miracle, ok?"
"No, it's pretty bad. I don't think we've got anything useable yet."
"Fuck!"
Kylie turned and leant her head against the nearby wall for a full minute, foot tapping against the floor. When she turned back to Tom the smile on her face was almost its normal cheeky self again. This seemed as good a time as any to put Sian's words to the test.
"Ok. I want you to make yourself scarce for a while. There was a staff refectory they said we could use -- go and get a coffee, read the paper - whatever. I'm going to have a chat with Mish and see if I can convince her to play ball. I'll give you a call when I need you back. Ok?"
"Sure -- I guess. I think she's a lost cause though."
"We'll see."
Tom ambled off towards the refectory, Kylie in the opposite direction heading towards the toilets at the end of the corridor.
10 minutes later she opened the break room door in time to see Jackie quickly retreat from a crouched position in front of Mish's chair and resume a more formal 'on-guard' stance to one side of her. They'd obviously been deep in conversation - neither seemed unduly upset, just slightly frustrated.
Kylie didn't know any female prison officers, but she had a mental image of what they typically looked like and Jackie wasn't it. She was probably 40ish, about Kylie's height, dark bobbed hair, very pretty, high cheek bones, a bit Diane Keatonish. Oh, and a fantastic arse -- she and Tom had followed it down the corridor and even in shapeless, standard issue polyester work trousers it moved provocatively.
Jackie was attractive, Mish was absolutely stunning. She reminded Kylie of an actress as well -- what was her name - the woman who played the perfect new best friend and pissed Kirsten Wiig off in Bridesmaids. Rose...something or other. Mish had an aquiline nose, long brunette hair piled on top of her head in the current fashion and the body of an Olympic swimmer. Even in sweats and a t-shirt that had seen better days, she looked great.
Kylie sat back down with Mish eyeing her suspiciously from the chair opposite. "I've sent Tom off to get a coffee. I thought perhaps we could forget the interview for a while and just chat." She heard a whispered "fucking hell" from the other chair. "Is that ok Jackie?"
"We're booked to you until 1 and I certainly don't mind avoiding whatever jobs are waiting for me elsewhere. Go ahead."
Kylie realised that a round-about route to her destination was pointless -- it would just prompt more attitude and swearing from Mish. So she brought the chat straight to the point - "I'm curious about a topic that came up in the research for this piece Mish -- something a former inmate said about boredom and relieving it by watching films of other inmates masturbating. Is that something you've come across?"
"Masssturrrbating?" Mish adopted a mocking posh voice, probably not unlike her actual pre-prison accent, Kylie thought.
"What would you prefer then -- Playing? Diddling? Wanking?"
"Wanking will do." There was just a hint of interest in Mish's voice as she delivered her longest sentence of the day so far.
"Ok. So, inmates filming themselves wanking, and then sharing the movies. Discuss. Does it happen?"
Jackie had been fidgeting in the background since masturbation had first been mentioned -- "I'm sorry Kylie, but I really don't think this is an appropriate topic of conversation."
"Jackie, nobody's listening, the camera's turned off and we're all grown-ups. I promise you it's not a 'stealth' story. I'm just curious about something I've heard, that's all."
Mish was more attentive now and didn't give Jackie a chance to press her case -- "Sure, it happens. Loads of people do it - even more watch them."
"With what though? Inmates aren't allowed 'phones."