Community Service by Zack

Community Service
by Zack

Notice: This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons is entirely coincidental.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mary was anxious as she entered the big Southwind department store in suburban Seattle. She stopped and looked around as she reviewed what she had planned. She had never done anything like it before, but she needed the money. She approached the counter that displayed expensive watches.

The salesclerk asked, "May I help you?"

"Yes. I'd like to see some watches. I'm looking for a gift for my father." Mary pointed at a tray under the counter that held gold watches.

The clerk looked her over carefully. The cheapest watch on the tray sold for over fifteen hundred dollars. Mary was dressed in a miniskirt and a sleeveless top. Her top was skimpy and barely contained her large breasts, but it was obviously expensive. The salesclerk nodded and put the tray of watches on the countertop.

Mary examined the watches until she found the type she was looking for. It sold for almost six thousand dollars. A man walked up to the end of the counter and started talking to the salesclerk. Mary glanced around nervously. No one seemed to be looking her way. Her hand quickly moved from the tray to the inside of her shoulder bag.

Mary turned away from the counter and walked towards the store exit. She could feel her heart pounding, and she fought an urge to run. Just before she reached the exit a hand grasped her upper arm and pulled her to an abrupt halt.

"Just a moment, Miss." The speaker was a hard-faced woman in her thirties, dressed as a Southwind salesclerk. "Store security. I want to look in your handbag."

Mary blustered, "Why do you want to look in my bag? I haven't stolen anything."

"Then there won't be any objection if I look, right?" She opened the bag before Mary could object and started rummaging through it. She held up a gold watch. "Well, well. What is this?"

"That's my watch. I bought it two weeks ago."

"And you never bothered to take the price tag off? Can it, Sweety. I've been watching you ever since you went up to the counter. You didn't buy anything."

The woman produced hinged handcuffs and locked a cuff on Mary's right wrist, spun her around, and locked the other cuff on Mary's left wrist. The move was so swift and unexpected that Mary's hands were fastened behind her back before she could object, much less struggle.

"You're under arrest for grand theft."

"You can't arrest me! You're just a store clerk."

"I'm also a reserve deputy sheriff. I certainly can arrest you." The deputy squeezed the cuffs until they were snug on Mary's wrists, and then gave them one more click so they were just too tight. She made a mental inventory of Mary's assets. Big tits. Narrow waist. Pretty face. Long, honey-blonde hair. This one was definitely a keeper.

The deputy renewed her grip on Mary's arm and pushed her towards the back of the store. "Where are you taking me?" Mary asked. Her voice trembled.

"To see the Security Director. She'll call the police and file the complaint. You do know you've committed a felony, don't you? You're going to go to prison."

Mary was frightened. She blinked back tears. It was so humiliating to be marched through the store in handcuffs. She was relieved when they entered a service elevator and went up to the store offices.

The deputy guided Mary into an office and stood her in front of a desk. "Stay there!" she commanded. She picked up a phone and punched some numbers. "I just paged the Security Director. When she gets here she'll call the police, and you'll be in jail about an hour later."

Mary started to speak, but was interrupted when the office door opened and a woman entered the room. She was dressed in a suit, with her jacket unbuttoned and open. She had a lean body and high, firm breasts, and could have been mistaken for someone in her late twenties except for the fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She gave Mary a long look and then addressed the deputy. "Well, Jackie, whom do we have here?"

"She's a thief, ma'am. I caught her with this watch. It's worth more than five thousand dollars, so it's felony grand theft."

She gave Mary's handbag to the Security Director, who opened it and took out the wallet. The Director found a driver's license and compared Mary's face and the picture on the license.

"Mary, I hope you realize that you're in a lot of trouble." She shook her head. "It's so sad to see a young woman ruin her life with one stupid action."

She looked through the rest of Mary's identification. "I see that you're a sophomore at Sacred Heart College. They're very strict, aren't they? Even if you somehow got probation and managed to stay out of prison you would be expelled. And how is your family going to feel when they learn that you're a criminal? If they're paying for you to go to college they must have hoped you would make something of your life."

Mary was crying now. "Please, can't we work something out? It would kill my parents if I went to prison."

Jackie interrupted. "Not a chance. Southwind has a strict policy of prosecuting all shoplifters. You're going to prison."

"Don't be so harsh, Jackie. It would be tragic if Mary's whole life were destroyed because of one impulsive act."

"Ma'am, we can't just let her go! That would be wrong. She's got to be punished."

"I agree, but it would be a waste if she went to prison. How about community service? Would you do that, Mary? Would you work one night a week for the rest of the semester if it meant that you wouldn't be tried for theft?"

"Oh, yes! I'll do anything if my parents don't have to find out about this." She flexed her arms. "Please, would you take the handcuffs off? They're very tight and painful."

"In a little while. You do understand that this community service will have to be arranged privately? We can't go through the courts because Southwind would insist that you be prosecuted." The Director turned to her computer and called up a document. She typed for a while and then printed the modified document. "This is a confession, Mary, and you're going to have to sign it. This will make it certain that if you don't do the community service you will go to prison. Take the handcuffs off, Jackie."

Mary's hands were dark red and numb. She had to massage them for a while before she could sign the confession.

The Director handed a card to Mary. "Be at this address at seven sharp next Wednesday evening. Wear the same clothes you have on now. And understand this: if you aren't there on Wednesday you will be in jail on Thursday."

Mary babbled thanks while Jackie escorted her to the elevator. When Jackie returned to the office the women exchanged a high five. Jackie said. "That good-cop, bad-cop routine never fails, Alice. She's a beauty. We'll make a fortune."

"I wonder what she'll say when she finds out what kind community she'll service. But who cares? She'll be trapped by then. We make a great team, Jackie."

* * *

On Wednesday Mary appeared promptly at seven. It would be usual for community service to be performed in an office or some public building, but an apartment building was located at the address Alice had given her. The number of the apartment indicated it was on the ground floor. She rang the doorbell, and was not very surprised when Jackie opened the door. Alice was waiting for her inside. She exclaimed, "You're right on time, Mary. Good girl! If you are always this obedient you'll have an easier time of it."

Mary asked, "Is this where I'll be working? And what will I have to do?"

"Community service, of course. The community you'll be servicing is made up of middle-aged and elderly men who like to whip or spank young women before they fuck them."

"You mean I'll be a prostitute?"

"Not technically, since you won't be paid. We get to keep the money, and you get to stay out of prison."

"It sounds like you've got this all worked out. I'm not the only woman you've blackmailed, am I?"

"Of course not. Why do you think you're here only on Wednesday?"

"Are all of the others also shoplifters you caught at the store?"

"Yes. Not all of them were as considerate as you and actually stole something, but Jackie is very skilled at planting evidence. It doesn't matter once they sign the confession. But don't worry! Some of the girls actually like being spanked, and maybe you will too. As an additional incentive we let you keep all your tips. If you make the customers happy you can earn several hundred dollars on a good night."

Alice continued, "Your first client won't be here for half an hour, so we have time for a training session. Tie her hands, Jackie."

Mary resisted for a moment, but then allowed Jackie to cross her wrists behind her back and tie them tightly with cotton rope.

"We'd better gag her, too." Alice stuffed a handkerchief into Mary's mouth and held it place with a silk scarf that she tied behind Mary's head.

Alice made Mary sit on a small square table while Jackie tied her ankles to a spreader bar. "Now for your initiation into the wonderful world of discipline. Bring her over to this chair, Jackie."

Jackie dragged Mary behind a leather covered chair and bent her over the back. She wound her fingers in Mary's hair and held her head down on the seat. Alice flipped up Mary's skirt, exposing black thong panties. She decided to leave them on. The customer would want to rip them off himself.

Alice used a riding crop to strike a vicious blow across Mary's bottom. Mary screamed, but the sound was muffled by the gag. Alice paused to admire the red welt that immediately appeared. She sighed with pleasure and hit Mary again. She was rewarded by another scream. Before she could strike again the doorbell rang. "Damn! There's always an interruption when I'm having fun."

The video monitor showed Alice a middle-aged man standing outside the door. She activated the intercom. "Yes?"

"Hi. I'm Marty. Joe sent me." Alice opened the door and he entered the apartment.

"Hello, Marty. Did Joe explain the rules?"

"Yeah. No blood, no permanent damage. Anything else is OK."

"That's right. Can I have the money, please?" Marty gave her a thick roll of twenty-dollar bills. Alice started to count them.

Marty said to Jackie, "Untie her. I like to tie them up myself." Jackie freed Mary's wrists and bent over to untie her ankles. When she straightened up she was looking down the barrel of a 9mm pistol.

Marty said, "Party's over, Jackie. Get face down on the floor. You too, Alice."

Mary finally was able to get the gag out of her mouth. "You took your own sweet time getting here, Marty. My butt will be sore for a week."

"Sorry, kid. But it was worth it. The bug in your shoe picked up everything they said and I've got it all recorded out in the van."

He gave Mary some plastic handcuffs. "Truss them up and watch them while I search this place." Mary pinioned Jackie's and Alice's hands. She made sure to pull the cuffs as tight as she could. More cuffs were used to fasten their ankles.

Marty searched the apartment and made a collection of video tapes and anything of value. He held up the gold watch. "Look what I found, kid."

Alice asked Marty, "Is this a robbery? I don't keep any money here."

"It's not a robbery. I'm a private detective. The father of your Monday girl found out what was going on and hired me to stop it."

"OK, she can go."

"It's not as simple as that, Alice. My client wants retribution."

"There's nothing you can do to me that won't hurt the girl too. She really was shoplifting, and Southwind will prosecute. And Mary will go to prison. You may get me on a pandering charge, but that's six months in jail, max."

"Mary's in the clear. We really did buy the watch two weeks ago. Ben Franklin persuaded the clerk to misplace another like it so you would think it was stolen. And you're in more trouble than you think you are."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you stop to wonder why the girl's ID said she was twenty one but she was only a freshman in college? The ID was fake. She's only seventeen. Do you know what the penalty is for sexual exploitation of a minor? You two will be lucky if you're out in ten years."

Jackie started to cry. Alice capitulated. "OK, you win. What do we have to do?"

"My client has a ranch way out in eastern Oregon. You'll go there and do some community service."

"Servicing cowhands, you mean?"

"Some. But you'll get plenty of fresh air and exercise. Do you know what a ponygirl is? You and Jackie will make a great team."