Early the next morning, after another disgusting breakfast, Olivia was seated on the cot in her cell waiting to be taken to the town square. Today was the day she was to serve twelve hours in the pillory followed by a flogging. Olivia was so nervous she was shaking. She had no idea how she was going to get through today. Sitting with her knees pulled up toward her chest, she rocked back and forth on her cot.
She heard several sets of footsteps approaching. She was not surprised by the arrival of Officers Amelin and Letov. Nor was she surprised to see Lieutenant Petrov and Mr. Kholod. Lieutenant Petrov was assigned with the duty of administering Olivia's flogging. And Mr. Kholod had promised to be present in order to make sure no one abused or took advantage of Olivia.
What was surprising, however, was the presence of Judge Thorsky. Olivia was not expecting to see him. At least not at the police station just outside of her holding cell. Officer Letov unlocked the cell door and the five men entered.
"Stand up and show the judge some respect," commanded Officer Amelin.
Olivia's eyes widened. She had not been given any clothes to wear since Judge Thorsky had given her that tacky, skimpy, stars and stripes bikini the day before. She had lost the bottom half in the mud pit. And Officer Letov had removed the top half when they had arrived back at the station. Olivia had remained nude ever since. And even though all five men had already seen her in the buff, she simply could not get used to the idea of standing at attention, naked, in front of all these men.
"I said stand!" Officer Amelin barked when Olivia hesitated.
Her lawyer, Mr. Kholod, gave her a warning look. Olivia rose from her cot and covered her breasts and vulva with her hands.
"Arms down at your sides and stand up straight," ordered Officer Letov.
Olivia closed her eyes in embarrassment, but did as she was told. She could feel the eyes of the five men on her body. As she inhaled and exhaled, her breasts rose and fell. The five men seemed to enjoy the view.
"Miss Williams," began the Judge, "Your public defender has brought it to my attention that you are extremely upset with your sentence. Mr. Kholod says that you are terrified of the pillory and of being flogged. Is that right?"
Olivia turned and looked at her lawyer for a brief moment. He had told her that he was not going to try to appeal her sentence. And yet, here they were talking with the judge. Maybe he had actually come through for her after all. Maybe she was going to avoid the worst part of her punishment.
"Y...yes, Your Honor," she said in a shaky voice. "Community service is no problem. But the pillory and being whipped is just inhumane."
"Whether or not something is inhumane is not for you to decide," the judge snapped at her. "It's not as if you Americans have the best track record when it comes to treating others humanely." His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Olivia gulped nervously. Then Judge Thorsky continued, "I realize that for a soft, weak American, maybe getting flogged does sound a bit harsh. You're probably not used to such punishments."
"No, Your Honor," Olivia replied.
"Americans of your generation," he spat. "When you did something wrong as a child, you were probably told that it was not your fault. You were probably told that you were special."
Olivia did not understand what that had to do with anything, but she kept quiet.
"Well, you're not in America anymore. I am afraid I am not willing to let you out of your time in the pillory. You are still scheduled to be there from eight this morning until eight tonight."
Olivia felt extremely disappointed.
"However, I am not a heartless man," the judge continued. "Mr. Kholod and I discussed it and he convinced me exempt you from flogging."
"Really?" Olivia said hopefully.
"Instead of flogging you with a leather whip, Lieutenant Petrov will spank you bare buttocks with a wooden paddle. It will still be painful, but it will cause much less damage to the skin and you will recover much faster. It's a punishment normally reserved for naughty children, but Mr. Kholod convinced me to show you some mercy."
It was not much of an improvement. But Olivia did not want to appear ungrateful. She would hate for the judge to get angry and change her punishment back to a whipping. "Um, thank you, Your Honor. And thank you Mr. Kholod," she said looking back over at her lawyer. Her attorney simply nodded.
"You are most welcome, Miss Williams," said Judge Thorsky. "But there's just one stipulation."
"Oh? What's that?" Olivia began to get a sinking feeling.
"Well, Miss Williams, it is my understanding that some Americans have a certain attitude when it comes to punishment. Say, for example, a child is caught by his parents smoking a cigarette. Often times his parents will force him to smoke the entire pack of cigarettes all in one sitting. The result is that the child never wants to smoke another cigarette ever again. You take a forbidden thing that is pleasurable in moderation, but you force the disobedient person to experience it in excess. Then the vice loses its appeal, because the offender has had too much of it."
"Um, okay ..." Olivia was completely bewildered.
"So with you, your vice is shamelessly flaunting your body in public and trying to draw the attention of random men," the judge stated matter-of-factly.
"What? No!" Olivia protested. "I'm nothing like that."
The judge held up his hand to silence her. "Don't interrupt His Honor," Officer Amelin reprimanded her.
"Miss Williams, you can try to deny it all want, but the police found you walking the streets with your intimate body parts exposed. You had an orgasm when Lieutenant Petrov was examining you," the judge gestured toward the lieutenant.
"You soaked the front of my uniform with your fluids," the lieutenant growled. Olivia's face turned red and she looked down.
"You clearly suffer from some sort of attention seeking nymphomania," Judge Thorsky declared. "And I believe the best way to cure you of your desires to to overexpose you to the thing you find so pleasurable. So, for that reason, I have decided that you will serve your time in the pillory nude."
"What!" Olivia screeched. "No, absolutely not!"
"Quiet!" yelled Office Amelin.
