Karma Levitates a Train
Continuation of Slow Velocity Karma, prequel to High Velocity PSA. If you hated the other stories in this series, you won't enjoy this one either.
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March 28
I don't like roller coasters. I don't like the sudden drops. I loathe the slow ascents to what feels like an impending doom. Yet here I was, standing in line for the Rocky Mountain Roller Coaster with my children Elsie and Robert. Ethan was supposed to be here, but he had to run off to pee. This was maybe the third time since we arrived at the Tempest Amusement Park. I was alternating between annoyance, worry and abject terror. The annoyance was waiting in line, praying for him to take my place before we went through the turnstile. The worry was that some ailment was causing his frequent trips to the toilet. The terror was that I would actually have to accompany my kids on the roller coaster.
He returned just as we got to the turnstile. A couple of people behind us whined that he was pushing in line, but when I quickly removed myself from the queue they dropped their objections. My kids took over in the complaints department. "Mom, we're supposed to ride this as a family. Come back here!" I smiled and took a place against the fence several yards from the turnstile.
"I'll watch you from here. Have fun!"
The daytime was for the kids' fun. The evening was for Ethan's and mine. Well, mainly for Ethan. He had wrangled a couple of tickets to Hamlet; not the tame version he had taken the children to recently. We were in the best seats in the house, about ten rows back from the stage, in the center. By the time Hamlet slashed Laertes with the poisoned sword, Ethan was shifting around in his seat, leaning to the right, leaning to the left, slouching, sitting straight. "Go pee," I told him, but he couldn't interrupt the last scene to squeeze his way past maybe a dozen other people. When Hamlet's body was carried away, Ethan ran like greased lightning.
I met him in the lobby. "You have to get that checked out."
"What checked out?"
"You've been racing desperately for the toilet all day long."
"Peeing isn't an illness."
"Peeing isn't an illness, but it might be a symptom of one. It could be many things, like an enlarged prostate. or even prostate cancer. Cancer runs in your family."
Ethan, ever the gentleman, opened the car door for me. "My mother had breast cancer. My tits are fine."
He was usually smarter than this. "Would it hurt you to get your prostate checked?"
"You tell me if it would hurt: how do they check it?"
"Digital rectal exam. The doctor puts his finger in your rectum and feels around to see if it's enlarged, obstructing the urethra. A blood tests checks for signs of cancer."
"Ouch! No way in hell I'm letting a doctor stick his finger up my ass."
"Ethan, stop being so stubborn." We drove on in silence. We were almost home when he turned to me with a lopsided grin on his face.
"You're a health care professional. Why don't you check my prostate?"
"What?"
"We could have a lot of fun. You stick your finger up my ass, then I'll stick my sausage up yours. Very sexy."
I pulled a tissue from my purse and wiped my eyes. "Ethan, that's disgusting. You should take this seriously."
"You've never given me your ass. This would be the perfect way to try something new."
"Gross. Never going to happen."
"I guess you're not really that concerned about my prostate."
March 29
Marla, one of the better Nursing Assistants came up to me. "There's a policeman here. He wants to talk to you."
It was Zarim, the well-hung officer from Daniel's party at Guy's. What was he doing here? This couldn't be good.
"Is there a place where we can speak privately?"
I motioned him into the nursing office and closed the door. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Please put your hands behind your back. Barbara Abbot, I'm arresting you for prostitution. Your performance at the Club was obscene, illegal, and most of all disrespectful to the police."
This couldn't be happening. "Disrespectful?"
"It was humiliating when you stuck your finger into me. I was a policeman for ten years before I came to America. People respected us, they feared us. When we asked a woman for consideration, she always gave it, because she knew she would be punished otherwise. In America the police are treated like dirt. I won't accept that."
I was stunned.
"I told you to put your hands behind your back."
"I remember you. I told you to go see a doctor, because your prostate is enlarged. Did you make an appointment?"
"Yes, I went to a clinic and they confirmed there is a problem that needs to be investigated."
"I probably saved your life with that examination and you're arresting me for it?"
He locked his eyes on mine. "Come stand in front of me, now."
I approached him while he clipped the handcuffs back onto his utility belt.
"Put your hands on my hips, and don't move them."
I obeyed. He reached around me, slipped his hand inside the back of my pants, and penetrated my ass with a finger. It hurt like hell, and I gasped. He grabbed a breast with his other hand. "Since you may have saved my life, I will give you a chance to save yours. You will come to my apartment after work and give me your body."
"I can't... My husband is expecting me tonight at the regular time."
He pulled his finger from my rectum and grabbed my chin. "I am giving you four days to show up at my apartment after work. You will be jailed if you don't." He handed me a paper with his address, not far from the hospital. "Four days," he said, releasing my breast and walking out.
He had pulled his finger from my ass and then touched my face. I walked to the sink, turned the water on hard, and washed my hands, my face. I still felt the contamination. I made the water hotter and repeated the process. It still felt dirty. I kept on washing, using lots of soap and water. I don't know how long I was at it before Marla came into the office, turned off the water and sat me in a chair.
I stared with vacant eyes. Marla was speaking to me, asking questions, but I couldn't make out what she was saying. My mind was spinning too fast to be able to cope with any extraneous tasks such as responding to what was going on around me. An elephant could have been dancing the Polka in the room, and I wouldn't have noticed.
How could I sleep with Zarim without Ethan finding out? How could I avoid sleeping with Zarim without Ethan finding out what I had done? Should I just come clean and admit my failures to Ethan? What would that solve? With a divorce, with time in jail for prostitution I would have no job, no family no future. I'd actually have to become a whore. Maybe I could work full time for Guy. He seemed to like me, but after a prostitution conviction, he probably wouldn't want to associate with me any more. He ran a high-end gentlemen's club, not a tawdry sex bar featuring cheap hookers.
Except when I was performing.
I was numb, but the voices around me were starting to penetrate my fog. They were discussing sending me down to Emergency. If they did that, everything would come out in the open. I got control of my breathing and forced my eyes to focus. "No, it's not necessary. I... I'm okay."
"What's going on Barbara? What happened?" Marla was kneeling in front of me, holding my hands.
I sighed. "He had some shocking information for me."
"What was it? Did someone in your family get hurt?"
I turned my head to the side. "It's kind of personal, the kind of thing I have to keep to myself." I stood up. "I should get back to work."
"No, go home." It was the Responsibility Nurse for the evening shift. She had the authority to say that. "Whatever it is, you're too distracted to focus on your work."
I gathered my things and headed down to the parking lot. I couldn't see a way out of this. Playing at being a stripper had been exciting at the moment, but there was a price. If I had kept it to being a stripper, maybe it wouldn't have ended up such a high price, but I had done much more than that. Zarim was right. I had sold my pussy for money. I was a prostitute. Not a mother, wife or nurse. It was the former, not the latter that was going to shape my life.
I started the motor, clicked on my seatbelt and froze. I couldn't go home two hours early. What would I say to Ethan? Tell him that I was upset because a cop came to arrest me? I could go to the red-light district and practice my new trade, but I wasn't dressed for it. Besides which, I didn't have a pimp to protect me.
And despite some insane behavior, I really did not want to be a prostitute, or even a stripper. I wanted to be a loving wife to my loving husband. It was like there were two people inside me, fighting for control. I pulled out of the parking lot, but didn't turn towards home. All these problems had started with one man and one place. I headed towards Guy's Gentlemen's Club.
Allison was off that evening, and the greeter didn't want to let me in. The baggy nurse's uniform finally convinced her that I wasn't a hooker coming to ply my trade. When I asked her to tell Guy that I needed to see him right away she had a flash of insight. "Oh, you're the one... Wow." It sounded like she was in awe. She buzzed Guy, then told me to go straight to his office.
Guy welcomed me with a huge smile, which faded as soon as he saw the tears on my cheeks. He opened his arms and I fell into them, crying. He rubbed my back, stroked my hair as I wept. I finally composed myself enough to tell him about Zarim's threat, and how my life faced destruction.
"No, no, your life is not destroyed, my love. Nobody messes with a woman of mine." He wiped my tears away with his thumbs. "Whenever you have a problem that no one else can help you with, you come to me. I will take care of you."
"But Zarim's right, I am a prostitute, a cheap whore. I hope my behavior doesn't harm your club. He's a policeman, and can make a lot of trouble."
"Barbara, Barbara... He's one policeman, not particularly high ranked and not particularly respected among his fellow officers. Did you see how many policemen were here when you performed? They all loved it. Calm yourself, darling. Zarim isn't going to hurt you, your family or reputation. I will make sure of it. Right, Bill?"