Chapter 6: A Deathly Silence

‘I could sit like this all night,’ Arnold told her. Kaye stroked his head and held him for a while. As they parted, she asked, ‘When you are dreaming about girls before you go to sleep, do you dream about giving them a kiss like we’ve just had?’ ‘Yes,’ he said going slightly red. ‘But it’ll seem even better now I’ve actually experienced it for real.’ he added.

‘Good.’ she told him, smiling. ‘Now, imagine that you’ve kissed the girl in your dreams like we’ve just done as you took her home after a date. Then imagine it’s the end of your next date. You’ve taken her home, you’re on her doorstep and you are kissing her again, can you tell me what else you would be dreaming you are doing?’

Arnold went very red this time. But he no longer had any secrets from Kaye, so he told her, ‘I’d be dreaming one hand was up between us and I was holding her breast over her clothes.’

‘I feel very proud that you were able to tell me that,’ Kaye told him. ‘Before you get your first girlfriend, I’ll teach you everything you should know about making love and making sure that she will want to stay with you. If you would like me to, of course.’

‘Yes, please,’ Arnold said, ‘I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone else this, but although I think I know the basics, being honest I don’t really know exactly what I’m supposed to do and how I should do it.’

‘Well, I’ll make sure that by the time you need it you’ll know it all.’ Kaye told him. ‘You’ve already learned some. On a first date you would see her home and give her a kiss like we did last time. On a second date you could kiss like we have just done.’

‘The next step is not necessarily on your next date. You’d have to judge your own timing. Just remember that to make love needs two people who care for each other, so you won’t want to do anything to upset her.’

‘That next step would be to caress her breast over her clothes like you’ve just told me. I’ll teach you some more in the future, but here’s an idea. When you lose your next stone, your reward will be threefold. I’ll fire you. We’ll have another kiss. And whilst we kiss you can caress my breast over my clothes.’

Arnold’s mouth was hanging open. ‘Wow,’ he said, ‘Wow.’ ‘How did the brief kiss we had last time affect you?’ Kaye asked smiling at his excitement. ‘It made me dream about the one we’ve just had every night.’ Arnold told her. ‘Well, we’d better do the same this time then.’ Kaye said.

‘Give me your hand.’ Arnold was still sitting up, so he put his nearest hand out. ‘Close your eyes,’ Kaye told him as she took hold of it, ‘And keep them closed until I tell you to open them.’

Arnold closed his eyes tight. His heart was beating like mad. He felt his arm moving as Kaye manoeuvred it. The next minute he felt his hand rest on clothes, but underneath was something lovely and soft. He knew Kaye had placed his hand on her breast. Keeping his eyes closed was one of the hardest things he had ever done. Seconds later his hand was moved away, and Kaye told him to open his eyes.

He beamed at her, ‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘That was lovely.’ ‘Next time you can caress it for the length of the kiss,’ Kaye told him, ‘All you need to do is reach the next stone.’

‘Settle down now.’ As he slid down in the bed, Kaye tucked him in then leaned over and kissed his forehead. ‘Goodnight.’ she said. ‘Goodnight.’ Arnold replied. Then as she turned away, he said, ‘Kaye.’ As she paused and looked back at him, he told her, ‘I’ve gone hard again.’

She smiled at him, ‘Enjoy your dream then.’ she told him as she put the light out and left the room.

The next day Sunday they did another walk of fourteen miles. Over dinner with his mum and dad that evening, Kaye told them what they were hoping to do over the coming half term holiday.

His mum smiled and said, ‘That’s nice and it works out well, we’ll take the opportunity of going away ourselves.’ ‘Let me know what your accommodation costs are likely to be,’ Arnold’s dad said, ‘And we’ll give you the money to pay for them.’

‘Do you really think you will be able to walk that far?’ Arnold’s dad asked him. ‘Yes, Kaye’s worked it out based on our weekend walks.’ he told him. ‘Incredible,’ he said smiling at Kaye, ‘You’ve done wonders all round.’

‘I’ll sort out accommodation and a definite schedule now.’ Kaye said.

SPECIAL GROUP – A HORROR MOVIE

The Prison that Governor Davies was in charge of had a capability to hold one thousand three hundred prisoners, but generally speaking they averaged between eight and nine hundred. They also had a small theatre which held an audience of four hundred. As part of the supposed rehabilitation programme, there were a group of prisoners who put on various sorts of plays from time to time. It was also used to show films once a month.

A week after West and Tarrs had been released from the prison, the Governor received a DVD in the post addressed to him personally. There was a note with it.

‘The enclosed DVD shows the execution of two former inmates who, amongst a number of violent offences, killed a young police constable. For criminals to be aware that something like this could happen to them would be an excellent deterrent. But whether you show your guests this DVD or not is entirely your decision. Whatever you decide, please destroy it once you have finished with it.’

Governor Davies put it in the machine he had in his office and watched it. It showed West and Tarrs strapped to a concrete floor. He could see the terror in their eyes as the camera did a close up. Then the camera looked up to see a large tank hanging above them.

The tank started downwards towards the camera, then the view changed to the tank coming to land across the chests of the two prisoners. They could be heard pleading for mercy. The camera moved round and showed that stuck on the tank directly in front of West and Tarrs faces were two head and shoulder poster pictures of Constable Clancy, the constable they had killed. Next the view changed to the side of the tank which showed a hosepipe attached. The camera followed the pipe along the floor and up to a tap. A gloved hand came into view which turned the tap on.

The view returned to a close up of the tank with the two heads poking out from underneath. A few moments later the sound of water could be heard pouring into the tank, followed by screams from West and Tarrs. A clock had been placed on the floor by the prisoners.

The camera now moved in closer just showing part of the tank, the two heads and the clock. There was a ruler attached to the side of the tank, the end of which rested on the floor. It showed the distance between the bottom of the tank and the floor to be ten inches.

The next shot showed the clock had moved on ten minutes. The gap under the tank had reduced to nine inches. West and Tarrs were screaming in terror as the weight on their chest increased.

The camera ran for two minutes then jumped forward ten minutes. The ruler showed the gap was down to eight inches. West and Tarrs were both crying in between gasping for breath. After two minutes, the camera jumped forward another ten minutes. The gap was now seven inches, the only noises from the victims was the sound of struggled breathing.

After another two minutes, the camera jumped forward another ten minutes. This time the distance had reduced to six inches. There was no sound of breathing and both faces were dark blue. Two minutes later the camera jumped forward a further ten minutes.

The gap was now showing just under six inches then as you watched there was a sound of several things cracking. As the cracking finished, the tank visibly dropped to four inches. Both faces showed clearly that they were dead. The picture faded and a card appeared in its place.

The writing on it said, ‘You just heard their rib cages breaking under the weight of the tank.’ That stayed up for a minute then it was replaced by another reading, ‘Violence will no longer be tolerated by the public.’ That stayed for a minute, then the screen went blank. The whole thing had taken just thirty minutes.

The Governor sat for quite a while in silence, he knew it was his action that had brought West and Tarrs to their fate, but barbaric as their end had been, he knew it was no worse than the end they had given Constable Clancy. He also realised that showing this to the prisoners would likely do ten times more to suppress future violence than anything the courts would do. His mind made up he called his three senior officers in to see him.