This is another story set in my dystopian world that has banned abortion and contraceptives. I got the idea from my good friend and co-blogger at Angry Black Lady Chronicles, Ian Boudreau, who wondered what it would be like to be someone who enforces the laws in such a world, so this story is dedicated to him.
Once again, I have broken it into two posts because I’m wordy as fuck. This is part one.
“We have two newbies. Number two is one hot piece of ass.” Ralph ignored Bill Benson, that fat fuck, who was leering over him as he dropped the paperwork on Ralph’s desk. “Seriously, man. She’s got tits out to here.” Bill held his hand a foot away from his chest and continued to snigger to himself. “The only problem is, she knows she’s hot shit. I hate girls like that.” Ralph knew he shouldn’t rise to the bait, but he couldn’t help himself.
“Shut up, Benson. I’m sick of your crap. If you have nothing else for me, get out of my office.”
“Chill, Stiller. What the fuck is wrong with you? What guy doesn’t like fresh pussy? If you weren’t married, I’d swear you were a limp-wrister.” As Bill talked, his eyes issued a challenge to Ralph.
“Don’t make me have to write you up, Benson. It’ll be your second write-up this month, and you know what that means.” Ralph stared hard at Bill, showing the latter who was alpha. After several seconds of silence, Bill stomped out of Ralph’s office, allowing Ralph to slump in his chair. He sighed, then picked up the papers Bill had dropped off and read them thoroughly before doing his rounds. Per usual, he started with the new inmates. The first was Deborah Strauss, thirty-nine years old. A mother of five, her husband had just died in the Iran war. Ralph’s shoulders slumped; he hated these cases most of all.
“Get me the fuck out of here.” Deborah wasted no time laying into Ralph as soon as he stepped into her cell. “This is some serious bullshit, and you know it.” Ralph swallowed hard at Deborah’s blackened eyes because he knew that meant she had not gone quietly with the Brothers who had arrested her. It was against the law to hit a pregnant woman – unless it was a three-striker and she was resisting arrest. Ralph put aside his personal repugnance and began his spiel.
“Good morning, Deborah. I am Ralph Still—.”
“That’s Mrs. Strauss to you, asshole. And I don’t give a good goddamn who you are.” Deborah’s eyes were burning with hatred, and Ralph was thankful she was tied down.
“Ralph Stiller, the warden of Maternity Ward. You will be fed three—”
“Maternity Ward? You have got to be fucking kidding me. This is Death Row, dickwad. Don’t make it something it’s not.”
“Three times a day at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m. You will be released so you can eliminate your—”
“Eliminate. What an apt word.” Deborah’s voice dropped, and her whole body sagged against her bonds. All the fight leaked out of her as the reality of her situation hit her hard.
“Twice a day at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. If you have an accident, you will be fastened to the bars as your bed is cleaned.”
“Like a caged animal,” Deborah said, more to herself than to Ralph.
“I will return in an hour in case you have any questions.” Ralph might as well have been talking to the walls for all the attention Deborah paid him. He checked her restraints to make sure they were fastened properly before leaving her cell. He heaved a small sigh as he locked the door behind him. As he made his way to the second newbie, he couldn’t get Bill’s words out of his mind.
“A hot piece of ass.” “Tits out to here.” “Fresh pussy.” “Hot shit.”
Ralph pushed all that to the back of his mind. He loved his wife, and he had never cheated on her, though he had had plenty of opportunity. He knew that many of the guys he worked with indulged themselves with the inmates, whether the latter were willing or not, but the thought repelled Ralph on so many levels. He paused before entering the second new inmate’s cell and recalled what he had read about her. Eve Masters, nineteen years old. Not married, no serious boyfriend. That in itself was against the law – having sex outside a marriage – but one that wasn’t strictly enforced. There wasn’t money for that kind of policing, and, privately, Ralph thought it a good thing. He would never dare say it out loud, of course, especially as he was an officer of the state.
Being pregnant outside a marriage, however, was against the law and enforced. Any single woman who gave birth had to pay a sizeable fine, was given a permanent strike on her record, and had a “W” for whore branded on her inner thigh. If she weren’t married within a year of giving birth, her child was taken from her, and she was sentenced to an automatic ten years in jail.
Ralph shook his head again. He didn’t like to think about all the laws that he had to uphold; he preferred to just keep his mind on his job. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and opened the door to Eve’s cell. He literally stopped in his tracks when he saw her. She was a mixture of American Indian and black, with a hint of Oriental. Her skin was a warm mahogany with tinges of rosiness. Her almond shaped brown eyes tilted slightly at the corners, giving her an undeniably exotic look. Her kinky black hair fluffed around her face in a beguiling fashion, softly framing her chiseled cheekbones. Her full lips were curved in a lazy smile, and yes, she, indeed, had ‘tits out to here’ that stood up proudly on their own.
“Hey, stranger, got a cigarette?” Eve’s voice was husky and raw, and Ralph felt his penis stir at her words. Ralph opened his mouth to give his standard spiel, but found himself replying instead.
“There’s no smoking in the cells, Eve. Sorry.” Ralph wished he could take back the apology as soon as he said it because it made him look weak. The unwritten rule around the cells was that you never, ever gave an inch to an inmate because she would then take the proverbial mile.
“Too bad. I would have made it worth your while.” Eve winked at Ralph, and he immediately hardened. He couldn’t help but notice that on Eve, the standard regs clung to every curve, causing her nipples to poke out through the cheap fabric, even though she was wearing a bra. For a brief moment, he thought about his mouth on those luscious breasts. Guiltily, he turned his thoughts back to his Sarah, but her memory seemed strangely muted in the presence of Eve.
“Good morning, Eve. I’m Ralph Stiller, and I’ll be taking care of you during your stay in the Maternity Ward. You—”
“Maternity Ward? Is that what you call this place?” Eve’s voice was a cross between amusement and disgust. “How so very polite of you.”
“You will be fed three times at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m. You will be freed twice a day at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. for elimination purposes. If you cannot wait until then and void yourself, anyway, you will be fastened—”
“I’m not going to shit myself, Ralph. I have better control than that.” Ralph winced at Eve’s choice of words and was about to tell her it was unseemly for a young lady to curse, but just then, she caught her lower lip between her teeth and eyed Ralph salaciously, causing him to almost ejaculate in his pants. “I’ll be back in an hour to see if you have any questions.” In his eagerness to get out of the cell, Ralph forwent his usual routine. The minute he was out of Eve’s presence, he readjusted his crotch and finished his rounds.
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In the next week, four inmates from the Maternity Ward were moved to the Last Supper shift, which was never easy for Ralph. Although he tried to remain detached from the inmates, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge when one of them ended her time in the Maternity Ward. He was the one who took care of them for up to nine months, and he cared about the women, despite his best intentions. One of his favorites was recently transferred, and Ralph had had an especially difficult time not visualizing what would happen to her once she had her baby.
Perhaps in response to the upheaval on the ward, Ralph found himself inexplicably drawn to Eve’s cell. He would make excuses to visit her, and while he never did anything inappropriate, he was always painfully aware of how hard his penis was whenever he was in her presence. Actually, he didn’t have to be around Eve to be affected by her; he only had to think of her breasts, and he was instantly hard. One night as he was making love to Sarah, he thought of Eve in her place, and even though it made him feel incredibly guilty, it also gave him a fantastic orgasm.
He started bending the rules for Eve – not very far, but bending them, nonetheless. He brought her a cigarette once, and she told him he could feel her breast (she said tit) as payment. He didn’t bother pointing out that he could touch her any time he wanted because he wasn’t that kind of guy, and he didn’t take her up on her offer, but for the rest of the day, he couldn’t stop imagining what her breast would feel like. Maybe he could ‘accidentally’ brush against it one day as he tucked her in for the night. Ralph immediately flushed for even thinking such a sinful thought. He said a quick prayer and pushed the temptation out of his mind as best he could.
The one time he accidentally touched her thigh while adjusting her blanket – he could feel the branded W, which was strangely arousing – it had caused his penis to go rigid. He tried to discreetly adjust himself so it wasn’t noticeable, but Eve had instantly spotted Ralph’s erection.
“Hey, I’ll blow you if you let me sit up for two minutes.” Eve’s mouth curved into a smile as she batted her eyelashes at Ralph.
“None of that, Eve,” Ralph said, his voice trembling as he said her name. “You know better than—”
“Who’s going to know, Ralph? Just turn off the lights and let me make you feel really good.” Eve ran her tongue slowly over her top lip, and it was all Ralph could do not to rip off his pants and jam his penis in her mouth.
“I’ll be back in an hour to check on you.” Ralph quickly exited Eve’s cell before he did something he would regret. He could hear her laughter all the way back to his office.
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“One newbie today. Nervous bitch. She nearly screamed bloody murder as I tied her down. Handle her with care, Stiller.” Bill slapped a thick sheaf of papers on Ralph’s desk, an unappealing grin spreading across his face. “Still, she’s not bad-looking, even if she’s on the skinny side. She’s chickenmeat, too, which means nice and tender. I might have to give her a poke if nothing better comes along.”
“If I ever catch you touching any of the inmates, I will rip your hand off myself,” Ralph said evenly, giving away nothing with his demeanor. Only the darkening of his eyes indicated that he was close to losing his temper. “Then, I will throw your ass in jail so fast, you won’t know what hit you.” It was against the law for a man to force himself upon a woman, but the law wasn’t enforced. Plus, there were countermanding laws that made it unpleasant for a woman to report a rape. Nonetheless, Ralph was willing to throw the book at Bill if need be, and he had the clout to back up his punch.
“Hey, man, I’m just shooting the shit. I got plenty of girls giving me their pussy for free; I don’t need to take one.” Bill spread his fingers on both hands out in the universal ‘no harm, no foul’ gesture, flashed Ralph as sincere a smile as he could manage, and sauntered out of the room. Ralph silently scolded himself for taking the bait, but he didn’t approve of a man treating women like that. Women were to be treasured and cherished, not treated roughly and degraded. He picked up the papers Bill had left him and began reading.
Mary Rodriquez, twelve, pregnant as a result of rape – by her father. Ralph dropped the papers and shut his eyes. He had two daughters himself, and while he was a Godly man, he would kill anyone who hurt either of his daughters. How could any father do that to his own daughter? Ralph couldn’t fathom it, but he had the urge to seek out Mr. Rodriguez and shoot him dead.
Ralph remembered the vitriolic debates surrounding the bill to outlaw all abortions, including those that would be as a result of rape and/or incest, had come up in 2020, and while he had been careful never to voice his opinion, he had thought it cruel to remove those two provisions. The bill had passed by one vote, and with that, all abortion became illegal. Ralph had been a beat cop in those days, but he had been promoted to the Maternity Ward as soon as it was established. Ralph slowly rose from his desk and made his way to Mary’s cell. He paused outside, reluctant to enter. He mentally shook himself before walking into the cell. Upon seeing him, Mary started to whimper. She was maybe five feet if she stretched and probably didn’t weigh a hundred pounds. She was thin, except for her belly which was distended to an awkward degree. Her enormous brown eyes were sparkling in fear.
“Don’t touch me, Mister. Please don’t touch me. I don’t want you to touch me, Mister. Please don’t touch me.” Mary’s hands clutched and unclutched as she chanted her mantra.
“Hello, Mary. My name is Ralph. I’m going to take care of you while you’re here.”
“Where’s my mom? I want my mom!” Mary burst into tears, her distress palpable. “I don’t want you to touch me, Mister. Please don’t touch me!” She continued to sob, causing Ralph to swallow hard. There were no women on the Maternity Ward because women were too emotional to tend to the inmates. A woman was more likely to be swayed by a sob story than was a man, so women were forbidden from working on the Maternity Ward.
“You will be fed three times—”
“I’m scared, Mister! The bad men hurt Mommy when they took me away from her. I want to go home!” Mary continued to sob as Ralph forced out his spiel. He wanted to comfort the frightened child, but what could he say that would alleviate her fears? He managed to finish his set piece before fleeing to his office.
Ralph had other duties to do, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the girl whose cell he had just left. She was just seven when her father started visiting her room at night. When she complained, he told her he would go to her baby sister instead, and Mary stopped fighting him off after that. He stuck to oral sex until Mary got her period at age eleven; then he raped her. He impregnated her a month before her twelfth birthday, and then he moved onto her younger sister. Mary attacked her father with a butcher’s knife when she caught him leaving her sister’s bedroom. Afterwards, she turned the cleaver to her own stomach. That was only her first strike, but it was enough to land her in the Maternity Ward.
“It’s just not right,” Ralph thought to himself. He had a hard time believing that God would want this poor child to be hurt any more than she had already been; on the other hand, Mary clearly had broken the law and should be punished for it. On the third hand, sometimes, the punishment did not fit the crime. Ralph stopped his line of thinking because no good could come from it. He had a job to do, and as painful as it was sometimes, he took pride in doing it well. He pushed himself out of his chair and went on his rounds.
End of Part One