Chapter Two – Penny Surrenders Her Body
Penny awoke to her alarm at five thirty. She puzzled for a moment, trying to remember when she had set it and why she had set that particular time. Finally, she gave up and simply accepted it, and she rose and stretched languorously, looking out the window toward the sun peeking at her from between the houses on the opposite side of the street.
There was no other movement in the house, so she felt that she had time to spend in the bathroom at the end of the hall (one of two on this floor). She took her makeup case with her, and started running a bath. Usually, she did not spend long in the mornings to improve her appearance, but now she put her razor to work, until her legs and underarms were smooth. For the first time, not really understanding why, she spent time "down there," trimming and shaving, until her pubic patch was almost nonexistent. She soaked in the tub, thinking (oddly) of nothing at all, until her skin began to wrinkle; then she used the last of the body lotion she owned, loving the feel of it on her skin. Back in her room, she spent more long minutes in front of a mirror, feeling strangely feminine and actually pretty. She would have to wear the same dress, but it was still relatively fresh. Thanks to the free night in the hotel, she thought that she might be able to spend enough at the second-hand store to buy a skirt and a couple blouses that would satisfy her strict boss' sense of propriety.
When she got to the office, the only one there was the night dispatcher, who seemed surprised to see anyone before eight o'clock. She busied herself with chores, filing more of the moving-violation warrants (her first in-office duty from the previous day). At seven-thirty, she dumped the old pot of coffee and started a new one, and ... guessing that the sheriff was as punctual as he was bureaucratic, she had his cup cleaned, filled and ready as he walked in the door.
He was clearly taken aback and for once, he was seemingly speechless. She pretended not to notice his lingering leer (if those years of waitressing had taught her anything, it was how to do that). She found herself blushing ... but not so much at how he stared at her, as the fact that HE blushed when he realized he was doing it. She found that his discomfort somehow removed him from the category "pervert," and placed him into the category "kind of cute," instead.
"Holy Christ, Penny," he exclaimed after taking a sip. "This is the first time I've ever had FRESH coffee in the morning! Did you make this? I didn't think you knew how to fix coffee."
"If it's at the Mid-City Diner in Fort Worth," she answered, "I know how to fix it. I know how to fix coffee, and I know how to fix chicken-fried steak with cream gravy, and I know how to fix a Wurlitzer juke box when the dollar bills get all wadded up behind the coin return gizmo." She smiled at his expression and turned to leave.
"Wait!" he ordered firmly. "Did you go to see Madam Dormir yesterday? I expect a report!"
She smiled and returned to sit in the chair at one side of his desk. Instinctively, she sat upright, her knees together with her hands resting on them. She found that for some reason, she kept her eyes lowered, except when she needed to use them for emphasis, and couldn't help but think, in the back of her mind, that this gave him the opportunity to look at her breasts ... at her figure. The idea made her face feel warm. "What do you want to know?" she asked quietly.
He cleared his throat. "What did you see? What did you do? What did SHE do?"
"She hypnotized me," Penny answered simply, giving a little shrug without looking up.
She heard him swallow. He coughed again. "She did what?" When she didn't answer immediately, he asked: "Why did you let her DO that?"
She sighed. "I didn't really have much of a choice. Before I knew what was happening, she was doing it ... and I was falling asleep. I ... I've never felt like that before. I've never slept so deeply ... so totally and completely. I'm not sure, but I think that if she walked into this room right now and told me to go to sleep, I'd do it. I don't think I'd be able to resist."
He wiped the palms of his hands on the sides of his trouser legs. "Do you think she's ... um ... controlling you in some way?"
She thought for a moment. "I don't know. I think maybe she is."
He was silent for a long moment. "Do you ... do you trust her?"
That made her look up into his eyes. "Oh, yes!" She thought that she was being too emphatic, but she felt that he needed to understand this. "Sir, she said some really strange things, but ... but she's a GOOD woman ... a good PERSON! I don't think she could ever ... um ... ever ...." She was suddenly confused. "What is it that you think she's done that's against the law? What is she informing you about? Why do you want to see her this morning?"
He ignored her. "What 'strange things' did she say?"
Once again, Penny found that she couldn't meet his eyes. "She ... she seemed to know all about me. ALL about me. She knew about my grades in the academy. She knew how I felt ... how I feel ... what I want ... the type of person I am. Everything! She knew everything about me! She told me that SHE was responsible for me being here! That SHE was the person who brought me here from Fort Worth!"
"Aw, Penny, don't be ridiculous! She had nothing at all to do with you being hired. I needed another deputy, and I hired you. Period."
"But why did you pick ME? I mean, if you'd checked my record, I can't see how you could possibly choose me over all the applicants from all the police schools in the state!"
Now, HE was the one who couldn't seem to make eye contact. "Well ...." He cleared his throat again. She was beginning to find that she could interpret the meanings of his various coughs: discomfort, insecurity, stall tactic, guilt. "To tell you the truth, the county board of directors suggested that I hire a woman for the job. It didn't matter to me, really. But ... well ... there are two women on the board, and somehow, they came up with your name. I just needed a deputy, and they hold the purse strings. But THEY came up with your name ... not Madam Dormir."
Penny nodded. It was true. Madam was telling the truth. Madam never lied.
He frowned, seeing that she didn't believe him. "And just why did she say she wanted you to come here to Rising Rapids? Why would SHE pick you?"
She gave him a little shrug. "You're not going to believe it, but she claimed that I was somehow going to save the world or something. Or save Rising Rapids, anyway. She made me sound like Wonder Woman. But ... but, at the same time, she told me that it was in my nature to be submissive and meek and dependent on others." Penny sighed. "I know it all sounds like she's some crazy woman ... but I BELIEVE her, Sheriff. I TRUST her. She's just a really nice lady. I don't think she would ever do ANYTHING wrong!"
She stole a peek at him, and she was shocked at his expression. That look he was giving her told her that he cared about her ... that he was concerned about her ... that he was worried about her. He sighed. "Penny, Madam Dormir sells dope."
The statement seemed to knock the breath out of her. She blinked at him, uncomprehending for a moment. "I ... I don't believe it."
He kept giving her that concerned look. "What time did you leave her yesterday?"
She frowned, feeling she wasn't keeping up with the conversation. "Um ... I got back about eight o'clock."
He nodded. "So you were with her for four hours?" He waited until she was forced to nod. "And for four hours work, you paid her twenty dollars?"
Her eyes widened. "Oh! I forgot to give her the twenty dollars!"
"How do you think she makes her living, Penny? She doesn't charge anything when you go to visit her. She sells drugs. THAT's how she makes her money. It's no secret ... everybody in town knows it." He handed her a handkerchief. It was the first that she'd noticed she was crying.
She dabbed at her eyes. "Why .... I mean, if you know about it ...?"
He shrugged. "She never sells anything except marijuana, and even then, only in very small quantities. She has all these little rules for her customers ... don't drive if you smoke one ... that sort of thing. And she refuses to sell to the type of guy that gets nasty when he's high. In fact, like I said yesterday, most of her clients are women." He shrugged again. "Hell, she sold me MY first joint when I graduated from high school. But she's been here forever. She's just part of the town ... part of its people."
"I ... I want to talk to her. I want to hear her side of it."
"No," he said firmly. "I don't want you to see her again ... at least, not until after I've had a chance to talk to her about this other thing."
"What thing?" she implored.
"I'll tell you about it later. But not now ... not today. I have to keep it secret ... sorry." He thought in silence for a long minute. "I need to ask her about all this 'save the world' stuff, too. That's ... that's just plumb loco. She's never struck me as the crazy type."
"Can I be here when you talk to her?"
"Definitely not. Like I said, I need to keep this absolutely hush-hush. I'll brief you in a couple days. In the meantime, I don't want you mentioning anything about her to anyone. Period. Got it?"
Penny nodded, rose from her chair and handed the moist handkerchief back to him. "Yes, sir. I understand." Without another word, she turned and left his office.
She worried over the problem of Madam Dormir for the next hour while she was filing the warrants for the moving violations. It was slow work ... tedious work, but she didn't mind. It was work, after all. Every few minutes, she found herself checking the clock on the wall, which should have been odd. She'd never been a clock-watcher. She'd always worked at a task until it was done, never really caring about break time or quitting time ... or time in general. For no particular reason, she rose from her desk at precisely nine-fifteen and went back to his office, knocking gently as she walked in.
"Get you a cup of coffee, Chief?" she asked innocently.
He smiled, nodded and handed her his cup, though he let his eyes slide over her body as he did so. She smiled, too, and blushed a little, but didn't object. She poured the coffee from the large pot, then took the full cup to her desk, along with a small plastic container of cream and a packet of sugar. She poured in the cream, then she poured in the sugar, then she fished out a small glass vial from her purse. She uncorked the vial, poured in the clear liquid, replaced the cork, and put the empty glass container back into her purse again. She stopped at the coffee pot long enough to stir the hot brew with a spoon, then she took the cup back to her boss. He tasted it, thanked her, and they both went back to their individual tasks.
She was surprised to suddenly see Madam Dormir standing beside her desk. The clock on the wall showed that it was nine-twenty-eight. "Madam," Penny said, startled. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were supposed to talk to the sheriff." Madam's bright smile was contagious. She was startled, however, when the woman picked up Penny's big cloth purse and began rummaging around in it. "You ... you shouldn't be doing that, Madam. OH! Please be careful of the gun. It's loaded. What are you looking for?"
