Judicial Punishment Lottery

Judicial Punishment Lottery: Aftermath

As promised Joyce was waiting in reception when Shona was escorted from custody and allowed to leave the punishment centre as a free woman. The older nurse was sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs that lined the far wall when the door opened and Shona and a black woman she didn't recognise were shown out. Both women looked more than a little frazzled and Shona was walking a little gingerly, but other than that neither appeared hurt, though they both wore expressions that showed a mixture of relief, distress and shock.

Shona was a young nurse and after a road traffic collision had been sentenced to a period of judicial punishment. She had been beaten at the public pillory before the court building and now that the punishment was over, she was a free woman, her debt to society paid. She had been treated with some leniency but even so her backside still blazed scarlet and stung abominably.

A black man had also been waiting in reception and like Joyce, he came to his feet quickly when the door opened, and the two women emerged. He immediately went to the other lady and wrapped his arms around her. The poor woman gave a great big sob and immediately broke down in tears, leaning her head on his chest as she wept.

Joyce rushed over and put her arms around Shona but before she could lead her away Shona turned to the uniformed woman who had been her escort and grabbed her in a hug. The custody officer seemed a little taken aback but she patted the young nurse on the shoulder and Joyce could hear her speaking gently, "It's okay Shona, it's over, you can go home now."

The young nurse tearfully wiped her nose on her sleeve and grinned, "Thanks for all your help, Karen. I really needed it; I would never have managed that without you. I better see you tomorrow night or I'm not gonna post a good review on TripAdvisor, okay?"

The custody officer smiled, "Well, we can't risk that. If I can make it, I'll be there."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Shona turned to the black woman and wrapped her arms around her shoulders in a huge, tearful hug, "Bye Femi, you look after yourself. Give my best to the kids, especially Abigay, no more speeding okay."

Femi sniffed back more tears as she returned the hug, "I'll do my best Shona, I'll do my best. Thanks for being there for me."

Joyce slid an arm around the young nurse and led her out and back to her car. Shona winced as she got into the vehicle and sat in silence during the journey, staring out the window seemingly lost in thought as Joyce drove her home. The older nurse let Shona be and avoided asking any questions, instead, she burbled on about meaningless things like the weather, not really expecting any response, but still letting the younger woman know that she wasn't alone and had a friend with her.

Once inside her flat Joyce led Shona to the bedroom and that was it. Shona couldn't hold on any longer and she just crumpled onto the bed weeping as all the stress, shame, pain and embarrassment she had just endured simply poured out of her. Joyce cuddled the sobbing woman in her arms as she lay there with her whole body shuddering in an exhausting combination of relief and abject misery.

After long minutes Shona grew quiet, her breathing deepened, and Joyce realised she had fallen into an exhausted sleep. The older nurse eased the young woman back onto the bed. She had half-expected this sort of thing to happen and had laid out a few items at the ready when she picked Shona up that morning. Shucking off her own jacket and rolling up her sleeves she got to work.

Given her years of experience, getting Shona undressed was only moderately awkward as was sliding her into her pyjama top. The nurse slid a pair of light, loose-fitting French knickers as well as her pyjama bottoms over the woman's ankles but only drew them up to her knees.

Shona whimpered softly but didn't wake as Joyce liberally smeared the angry-looking cheeks of her bottom with the cold cream she had laid out earlier. Running a practised eye over the bruising and the welts she recognised that the injuries, while doubtless painful, were fairly minor in nature. They would certainly sting for a while, but she figured they would all fade away completely within a week or thereabouts.

Once done she very gently rolled the knickers and pyjama bottoms up, so they covered the poor girl's bottom. She then tucked the woman up in bed and went to clean up.

It was hours before Shona stirred, she opened her bleary eyes and winced as she shifted position slightly. Looking about she saw the items laid out on her bedside table, a packet of paracetamol, a bottle of water and a note. Reaching across gingerly she picked up the paper and read.

"Dear Shona,

By my reckoning you should still be feeling very tired, a mixture of nervous exhaustion and the like.

I've laid out some paracetamol and water, I recommend you take two tablets now and basically go back to sleep, take another two in the morning. You'll almost certainly feel much more recovered tomorrow.

I've fed the goldfish and made you a cheese and pickle sandwich if you feel hungry. It's in the fridge.

Your tracksuit is in the washing basket.

I know you took tomorrow off but I'm telling Nigel you won't be in for a couple of days at least. The useless bugger can just earn his money for once and arrange cover.

Me and the girls are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow evening. I promise I'll do my best to keep Patricia in check, but you just know she's going to bombard you with questions, her heart's in the right place, it's just a pity her brain sometimes takes a few seconds to catch up. Please don't tell her I said that.

All the very best in the meantime.

If you need anything at all just phone and I'll come round.

Lots of Love

Joyce"

By the time she had read the brief note tears had already begun to blur the page. She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve before taking the advice and knocking back the tablets with a drink of water. After a quick trip to the loo, she carefully and gingerly slid back under the covers and almost within moments she was fast asleep.

When Shona woke in the late morning, she had been sleeping solidly for more than twelve hours straight but she felt significantly better for it. She wandered into her bathroom and for the first time since her punishment, she looked at the state of her bottom in the mirror. It was a mess of angry crimson marks, overlaying the half-dozen weals that the crazy woman had inflicted with her bloody cane! Wincing at the state of her rear she muttered an angry curse at her ex-boyfriend, "

What a complete tosser!"

She risked a shower and hissed as the hot water brought out the heat in the cheeks of her bum, she drew a breath through her teeth, "Oooh, that smarts."

Afterwards Shona felt almost human, and she threw on an oversized t-shirt to wander about the flat, not bothering with underwear for the moment at least,

"Who cares if I feel like a bit of a lazy tart, there's nobody here but me."

Finding the cheese and pickle sandwich in the fridge she realised just how hungry she was and wolfed it down with a glass of milk before rummaging for a box of Jaffa cakes and sticking on the kettle for a coffee, "

Fuck it, I don't care if it's not a healthy breakfast, I need my comfort food."

Making her way back into the bedroom she knocked back another two paracetamol before settling on her front on the couch in the living room to watch TV for a bit. Lounging in comfort she nursed her coffee and munched a few more Jaffa cakes before the mindless talk-show program finally lulled her into dozing off.

A couple of hours later she was rudely awoken by the doorbell.

Blinking sleep from her eyes she wandered to the door wearing just the t-shirt.

"Ha! Maybe I can scare the shit out of a Jehovah's Witness or something."

Thankfully, it was Joyce, "Hey Shona, I just popped round with a bit of lunch for you. I bought you a nice salad from that deli you like."

Seeing the woman standing there tears immediately appeared in Shona's eyes and she lunged forward, throwing her arms around her in an enormous hug, "Joyce you are an absolute lifesaver! I didn't get the chance to thank you yesterday, but you are just the best friend I could ever have. Thanks for absolutely everything, I honest-to-God, have no idea how I would have gotten through the evening without you. I bet I'd still be curled up on the bedroom floor like a gibbering mess or something."

Joyce turned her head away slightly and wiped away a tear with a sniffle before taking in what the younger woman was wearing, "Dear God girl! You look amazing, but seriously, are you trying to put on a show for the postie or something, you're all but naked lassie. Come on let's get you inside before folks start selling tickets. How's your bum?"

Joyce shook her head in amusement, "Never thought I'd start a conversation with a line like that, but c'est la vie I guess."

Shona giggled, "Well, at least I can laugh about it now. Have a seat and I'll stick the kettle on."

"No probs, but first things first, just bend over that chair for a minute," she laughed, "and there's another line I didn't think to be using any time today."

Still giggling Shona did as she was bid as the older nurse headed off and recovered a fresh pair of knickers from the bedroom. "Better wear these or you'll get cream all over your sofa."

Lifting the t-shirt Joyce gave the marks another critical once over before rummaging in her bag. "They don't look quite so bad, still a bit red though. Anyway, I got a tube of arnica cream from the chemist, it's supposed to be good for bruising. Really you should be using an icepack, but I can just imagine how hilarious it would look watching you trying to sit on it. If you like I can go make one up and you can lie on your front with it on your bum for a bit?"

"That's okay Joyce, I'll stick with the cream and painkillers for now. I can maybe entertain you lot with a display of icepack-based antics later on."

"I'm looking forward to it, just make sure you let me know when you plan to sit on the thing so I can get my camera out for the facial expressions. I could probably make a fortune on a caption contest if nothing else."

While she was talking Joyce was carefully and gently smearing both cheeks of Shona's posterior with a liberal application of cream. "I've got no idea if this stuff works, but it shouldn't do any harm at least."

"Thanks, Joyce."

"Okay, that's your bum done, let's eat lunch and you can get me that coffee you promised me."

Shona poured the coffee before turning to the older woman, "Joyce?"

"Wassup?"

"I've invited Karen from the Corrections Facility to come tonight, she said she would but I'm not sure if she'll actually turn up. She really helped me in there. Is that gonna be okay?"

"Can't see why not. We might have to physically gag Patricia, but otherwise I can't see any issue. From what you're saying she sounds decent enough, and it's your shindig anyway, you can invite who you want. Besides, I bet she has some tales to tell."

Shona nibbled a fingernail, "There's something else."

"Figured there might be."

"Yea, she suggested I could maybe apply for a post with them."

Joyce pursed her lips, "Do you fancy that?"

"I honestly don't know. It's not an easy decision, which is why I'm running it by you for an opinion. I love being a nurse and you guys are the best, but you know what it's like, no staff, no beds, no time to do anything, running about like a lunatic just to keep pace, let alone make progress, and it's only getting worse. I don't want to go private, that feels like a betrayal to me, but I fell asleep behind the wheel of my own car because I worked a sixteen-hour shift with basically no breaks."

Joyce sighed, "Yup, that's all true. I wish I could say it's going to get better, but it's not really. Things are just fucked right now. I mean they have been for years, but it's worse now than I've ever seen. The bastards will clap on a fucking doorstep in front of the cameras, but you try getting a pay rise, or even some extra staff and it's basically 'fuck you, bitches'. You know that wee trainee, what's her name, Isla I think it is. She's using a food bank to make ends meet."

"Holy shit, poor kid."

Joyce shook her head, "I don't know if your answer lies in moving across to the Department of Corrections or not, but I sure as hell wouldn't condemn you for it," tears appeared in the woman's eyes, "but I would definitely miss you Shona."

Shona grabbed the woman's hands, "It's okay Joyce, the bastards probably wouldn't want me anyway."

Joyce sniffed back another tear and had to swallow to stop her voice from breaking, "Oh, I think they would."

...

The rest of the day passed lazily with Shona chilling out, reading a book and generally lolling about the flat munching on a family-sized packet of marshmallows while skimming the daytime TV channels. In the fretful days leading up to her appointment at the corrections facility, she had gone completely overboard with preparations for the girl's night and had already laid in an almost industrial quantity of snacks and had multiple bottles of wine, vodka, gin and soft drinks at the ready.

To pass the time she dragged out her phone, looked up cocktail recipes and indulged herself in making up a couple of jugs of mojitos and even tried her hand at concocting a jug of frozen margaritas. Looking at the amount of stuff she had laid out she grinned and began to wonder just exactly how paralyzingly drunk they would end up if they actually drank all this stuff.

She thought about dressing for the night in and dismissed the idea, instead, she went for comfort over style, slipping on a pair of shorts under her oversized t-shirt and didn't bother with a bra.

"I might be showing a bit of boob and a bit of leg, but it's only my mates, it's fine."

Joyce was first to arrive, she had a box of chocolates and a bottle of prosecco. "Hey Shona, thought I'd arrive a wee bit early in case you needed a hand."

The older nurse had her hair up and was wearing a pretty little floral party frock that showed off her figure and Shona gave a wolf-whistle as she looked her over, "Way to go, Joyce, you're looking good."

"Well, I've not tarted myself up since the divorce, so I thought, 'what the hell' you know."

Joyce had always played the part of the den mother for Shona and the girls, but in truth, the curvy thirty-five-year-old brunette was more of a big sister really. She had been a bit withdrawn since the divorce a couple of years back and it was good to see her being a bit more of her old self.

"Well, I think you look awesome, the only problem is if you're gonna go to this effort for a girl's night-in then how in Hell will I be able to compete if we ever go clubbing again?"

Joyce grinned, "Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something, pretty sure the way you wore that t-shirt earlier on could turn a few heads."

Shona laughed, "So, big t-shirt and no knickers, that should be my plan?"

"I bet it would work."

"I just bet. Anyway, things are pretty much in hand; you fancy a drink?"

"Sure, I think I'll try one of those mojitos you've knocked up."

They were both on their second mojitos when Patricia arrived. The pocket-sized redhead was a paramedic and easily one of the more passionate, good-natured, fun-loving, and impetuous people Shona had ever met, well deserving of her long-time nickname of 'Donnie Murdo', which was the Gaelic for 'Danger Mouse'. She wore a short little black number and leggings that set off her fiery red hair and hazel eyes and she was carrying one of those boxes of wine that looked almost as big as she was. Dropping the wine on the table she grabbed Shona in a big hug.

"Hey Shonsie! You said if I could get you drunk enough you might show me your arse, don't think I've forgotten," laughing she pointed, "see! I brought enough wine."

Shona grinned and passed the excitable ginger a mojito, "Here try one of these for starters, I made em myself. Pretty sure if you drink enough of them, you won't remember what I showed you."

"Good enough! Hey Joyce, ooh, nice outfit, you look fantastic."

"Cheers Pat."

Patricia took a swig of the mojito and shuddered, "Jesus! What the hell's in this thing?"

"Alcohol mostly, is it no good?"

"No, tastes great, but holy shit! I drink more than a couple of these, and I'll be completely paralytic."

Shona grinned, "Maybe that's part of my cunning plan, get you shit-faced so I can take advantage of you."

Joyce laughed, "No need for that Shona, she's had the hots for you for years."

"I have not!"

"That's not what you said last time you got shit-faced."

"But I was shit-faced! You can't go around believing me if I'm drunk, that's not fair."

"I dunno Pat, you said Shona was cute, you said she had a pretty smile, in fact, I distinctly remember you saying you'd happily shag her senseless if you got a chance."

Patricia groaned, "Oh god, I didn't did I?"

Joyce laughed, "How in Hell would I know, I was as drunk as you were."

"Oh, you cow! You had me going there."

Shona had to wipe a tear of laughter from her eyes as she passed the redhead another drink, "Here! We can do science. You get plastered and we can see what you say this time."

"Well, that's fair enough I guess."

The doorbell sounded and Shona found Marcia standing there with a case of beer held casually in one hand, "I heard the laughing from outside. You teasing Pat already?"

"Marcia!"

Shona wrapped her arms around her friend and felt herself lifted off her feet in an answering bearhug. Marcia was a big woman, standing an easy six feet tall, with broad shoulders and broad hips. A good description would be "statuesque". She was plain-faced and self-conscious. Shona knew she was a hard-working, genuine, good-natured soul, which was maybe a bit odd given her old man was one of the most notorious hard men in the east side of Glasgow. He was one evil-looking bastard with a feral smile and a face that looked like a roadmap of scars, but Marcia was his wee princess and heaven help the poor bugger who so much as looked at her funny.

Marcia had a hard time in school and barely made it into nursing college. Shona met her one night as she was coming home to the nurse's digs after a night of partying and spotted the girl in the common room sobbing over a textbook.

Curious Shona had gone to see what the matter was and even though she had been a wee bit boozy it didn't take her long to spot the girl's dyslexia. Shona's sister had the same problem and to her it was clear as day. But it still took her endless bloody hours of coaching to help the woman get through her exams. It wasn't that Marcia was thick-headed or anything, quite the contrary, she had a formidable memory, but she just needed a bit more time than most, that was all. In spending all that time helping her she had made a friend for life in Marcia.

And that was how Shona was probably one of the only people the crushingly shy girl had ever invited round to the family home. She had met the notorious Billy McCracken and her four brothers, each bigger and more battle-scarred than the last. Marcia's mum Jessie McCracken had been a thoroughly formidable woman who could strip wallpaper with her acid tongue but had loved her Doulton figurines and when Shona had almost inadvertently commented on how pretty they were she had made another lifelong ally. She still got invited round every Christmas and if she ever wanted her ex-boyfriend battered into an unrecognisable pulp, she needed only mention to the brothers that he was a bit mean to her or something.