The Awaiting Policeman

The Awaiting Policeman.

The day had been bad for kirti. she had hurt her foot by banging it on the door,
during breakfast she had spilled her tea, her uniform had a crow shit on it so she had to wash it and then
iron it to dry.
she thought the day was bad and something bad was going to happen. although she was not superstitious, she had
the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
she wore her uniform, tight khaki pants and a scanty red shirt which accentuated her assets and barely
covered her upper arms.
she worked in a pizza hut outlet. she was a waitress and sometimes did managerial work when the manager was busy in
something else.
not from a poor family, but a well off family fallen on bad times.
kirti's father had just faced a company dissolution and now was doing a job.
kirti's mother was also doing a job at a boutique.
since her father's company closure, kirti had faced all sorts of trouble in fullfilling her needs.
she had from 10,000 rupees a month pocket money gone down to effectively nothing.
her father always gave her the suggestion to get a job if she wanted more money.
she had tried giving tuition, but they still lived in a posh area, where the parents only hired proper,
experienced tutors. at the age of 20 she would not get a better work than this.
when things got a little more frustrated she decided to heck with it and become a waitress.
she got the job easily, as pizza hut is always looking for girls like her, beautiful, young and from good
background.
the waitress job was not easy, she got teased and harrassed many times.
customers used to find excuses to bump with her. hands on buttocks was a commonplace. once she even was
pinched on them.
but she earned 15000 rupees, which was a good bargain for her.

kirti got in the car to take her to her workplace. it was a car pool of 4 people.
she reached and as usual started working.
her manager was in a bad mood today.
"somebody left the fridge opened yesterday." her manager, shweta came and told her.
"who could it be?" kirti asked, she had no idea about it.
"it was you, who else could it be."
"no ma'am, i didnt even go in the kitchen yesterday."
"well, let me see, when i find the culprit, he or she will be fired."

kirti had no idea who left the fridge opened, but she knew shweta had the suspicion on her. kirti knew shweta
did not like her. she was looking for ways to get her fired.
kirti thought to be extra carefull that day. but she never knew what fate awaited at midday.

a police man came and asked for the manager of the outlet.
shweta went straight to him and asked him what had happened.
kirti was looking from a distance. she did not knew what was going on.
they both kept talking and then shweta led the policeman into the back of the restaurant.

after a while shweta came out and came straight to kirti.
"follow me kirti."
kirti complied without reluctance.
shweta led her into the store room. the police man was sitting there on the chair and there was
another chair in front of him.
"sit."shweta ordered her in a stern and cross voice.
kirti got the feeling something was very wrong and she is in big trouble.
"so miss kirti, i am from the nearby police station, we have a complain against you. they say you have
stolen a necklace from a customer today."
"what!!??" kirti was flabbergasted at this statement from the police officer.
"there must be some mistake, i mean....... i mean........."
"no need to give any explanations. just give it back, i am not here to arrest you, i am just
here to collect the necklace, there wont be any case, any FIR. just return it. the victims want what is theirs
and they wont do a thing to you. understand."

"but i didnt do anything." kirti was speaking the truth, there must have been a big misunderstanding.
"we have witnesses and they have identified you while you were working. if you want it to end the easy way
just return the necklace."
"i dont have it." kirti's voice sounded like she would burst out crying any moment.
"thats it, we need to search you, turn out your pockets."
kirti immediately turned her pockets out. there was no necklace.
her handbag was also searched nothing came out.
shweta was acting like a deputy to the police, she had a perfect chance of getting kirit fired.
she helped the police officer search the handbag and kirti's pockets.

"look miss kirti, the people behind these guys are very powerful, they can strip me of my uniform,
they dont want a police case, but just want their thing back. if you have give it now, otherwise
things will go rough. you will be arrested and you know how the women police interrogate. they'll pull
your hair and slap you hard."
"please trust me police inspector,i have nothing." kirti had now started to cry.
"okay then, i will have to take you in."
"please let me call my parents."
"no, not yet, first i need to take you to the police station then only you can call anyone, its a rule.
you are not arrested yet, but in the process, during the process you cannot call anyone."

hot tears were now rolling down kirti's face.

the police man dialed a number on his cellphone.
"yes, bring the mobile, she disagrees to have anything, we need to arrest.
what! how much long?
one hour, what am i supposed to do until then, i have an accused with me.
okay."
the police man kept away the phone now.
"the mobile will take about an hour to reach here, they are busy in a raid. until then you are
in my custody. miss shweta, please leave, i cannot afford anyone talking to her until she is arrested."
shweta left the store and got busy in her work.
kirti felt cornered, trapped. she did not know what to do.

"i have the right to call someone, i know this much law."
"dont teach me law, missy. do you know i have the right to detain anyone for 24 hours without any good reason,
i am practising this right, you are not arrested yet, so you have no right to call now, i have
kept you under my custody, for atleast 24 hours you do only what i tell you to do."

the police man slumped in his chair and started smoking. after his cigarette finished he spoke again.
"still 55 minutes left for the mobile to arrive, what do i do, i am stuck with you, you know i was
really waiting for this raid that the other policemen are carrying out right now.
i was planning it for months and because of you i have missed it and sitting in this shithole, waiting for you to be
arrested."
kirti had mustered up her courage by now and had stopped crying.
"you deserve some punishment. catch your ears."
kirti did not know how to react at first. she sat still in her chair looking in the police man's eyes,
thinking did he really mean it, was he speaking to her, i cannot get a ridiculous punishment like this.
when the policeman kept looking at her with his rock solid eyes, kirti got he message.
the punishment was indeed for her and she had to do it.
she seized her ears and at once a wave of nausea ran in her body.

"such a sweet little girl. have you ever been arrested before?" the police man asked with mockery.
"off course no." kirti felt a little foolish sitting and talking with ears held.
"have you ever seen anyone being arrested?"
"not exactly."
"when you do, you will know, catching the ears mean becoming a cockerel. stand up and become a cockerel."

kirti shuffled her feet and at once led go of her ears.
she could not believe her ears.
she sat, her buttocks stuck on the foam of the seat, transfixed by the punishment she had been mustered.
"go on, dont look at me like that."
kirti again felt lonely, cornered and helpless. she wanted her parents here right now.
all her life she had never been given such punishment.
the only punishments she had got were standing outside class, double homework and suspension from school.
she had never been beaten.
never held her ears even.
in the past half minute, she had already held her ears and now been given the most humiliating of the
punishments.
my body is not made for this thing,
my family background people do not get this punishment,
all thoughts were coming in her mind.
she thought how could she come out of this situation.
become a cockerel, how ridiculous can it be.

"do it, what are you thinking!"
the man's voice was now hard. she knew he meant it and she had no choice.
sluggishly her legs moved. her buttocks rose from the chair.
she stood up and moved to the side.
the police man's eyes followed her.
she thought for a second. and did not know how and when her body started to get on with it.
slowly and gradually her arms started going under the legs. her body started to bend.
the police man knew that behind the slowness of the body is the shame of becoming a cockerel.
he started to enjoy it.
kirti still hadnt become a full cockerel. her ears were yet to be grasped.
"become properly, catch your ears."
with a little difficulty from her tight pants and shirt kirti became proper cockerel.
"very good, now remain like this until the mobile arrives."
kirti was not sure whether the police man was joking or serious, as her legs were already paining. not to forget the shame.



Since kirti's body was not accustomed to any such thing it started to pain immediately. her knees started
biting her in just a minute. holding of the ears was a hectic labour.
after a burdensome 2 minutes the police man started a little bit of an inquiry.
"For how long have you have you been working here?"
"for 8 months." kirti replied. her voice hoarse, finding its way difficult from her mouth because of the position
her body had held.
"what does your father do?"
after a series of trivial questions and answer session 5 minutes had passed. the conversation
was toughest for kirti. she had had a few difficult conversations before, like when her boyfriend asked some
straight questions about her privates, she found it difficult to answer them,
but now she realized answering simple questions in the cockerel pose is even difficult than answering
questions about your privates.

the cockerel pose had started bringing hell on her body now. her legs had become restless, swaying the
buttocks up and down to find a bit of relief, obviously it was no good. when she raised her buttocks up
it brought a second of comfort but then it started paining again, then she would lower them to find
a second of comfort. so every 2 to 3 seconds she was swaying her buttocks.
when she elevated her buttocks her tight pants also loosened a bit. which was a better feeling for
her. but when she dropped her buttocks the pant got tight, which made additional nuisance.
her sleeves were troublesome all through out. since her shirt was tense her sleeves were annoying her upper arms
and shoulders. tight clothes had made her whole body more rigid and stiff in the cockerel position.

she now wanted to scream from the agony her legs were inflicting on her. her ears were red and aching, because
of the fact that it was difficult to hold them. she was reaching her hands as much as she could and pulling her ear
lobes in order to sustain the hand and ear engagement, which was being well monitored by the police man.
a few more minutes passed with kirti struggling like she had never struggled before.

then shweta entered the store room. she did not knock, but just opened the door and came in. when her eyes fell
on kirti, she had a flash of many emotions at once. shock, surprise, loath, embarrassment, unease and finally
dread. dread came to her when she thought the police might also make her cockerel beside kirti because
she had entered without permission when the police men had asked her to stay out.
the thought made her shuffle back a little, she stood staring at kirti's body not knowing what to do.
she had come in to ask the police man how long will it be until the police vehicle arrives.
but now she stood transfixed by what she was just observing. she could swear she will get the order to
join kirti any second now. she had seen police men punishing people like this.
to her relief the police man asked in a polite tone,"yes? can i help you?"
"no, i just came to.. to check, how long untill you take her away?" shweta asked nervously.
"any time soon."
shweta left immediately afterwards and thanked God she was not punished.

Inside kirti had started to cry, because her body was ready to break apart from the agony.

to be continued.............