Chapter 2

Becky awoke in bed with a splitting headache. As she struggled to open her eyes, she saw she was in a strange room she had never seen. The décor was plush and gaudy. Where is she? She tried to recall what happened before this. She remembered the saloon. It was then she realized she was stark naked in a strange bed!

Now she was truly panicked. Was she violated while she lost consciousness? She felt between her legs and did not find evidence she was raped. At least there is that. She struggled to her feet, wrapping the blanket around her nakedness. Her head throbbed but she managed to stand and look out the window.

The window looked out over the main street in town. She recognized some people she knew walking or riding by. She saw her view was from the second floor over the saloon. She was naked in the brothel! I can’t be here. This is scandalous. She searched for her clothes but none were to be found in the room. She could not simply walk out in the hallway of a whorehouse wearing nothing but a blanket nor could she jump from the window. He tried to think of what to do. Becky tried door to see if she could discretely recruit someone to help her. Locked! She could not call for help and bring unwanted attention to herself. Her head continued to pound and she retreated to the bed and wrapped the banket around herself tightly.

Her moving in the room and the creaking of the floorboards must have alerted someone to her being awake. After several more minutes she heard a key in the door and it opened. Cochran walked boldly into the room with a wide grin. “Sleeping Beauty awakens!” he declared and relocked the door behind him, dropping the key into his vest pocket.

Becky glared and demanded angrily “Why am I here and where are my clothes? I demand you bring them to me immediately or I will have you arrested.”

“Arrested for what, exactly, Mrs. Walsh? For providing you a room at great expense when you passed out drunk in my establishment? Arrested for relieving you of your restrictive clothing so you could breathe easier after you lost control of your faculties? By all means, report me to the sheriff.”

“You undressed me? How could you?”

“Believe me, it was our pleasure.”

“Our?”

“Of course. Your preacher friend assisted.”

“Oh my God! No!” How could she ever face Pastor Grey ever again? She was mortified. “Where is he? Did he also get drunk?”

“He was fine when he left. He suggested you to sleep it off and gain some empathy for those employed by my humble establishment. Said you should learn some Christian charity and remove hate from you heart for those you have so long viewed as beneath you.”

This was coming too fast for Becky. The pastor deserted her as a lesson? Surely, he understood the tenuous situation in which he abandoned her. She needed to get out of here and back to her family before anyone found out where she was, especially under these circumstances. “Sir, this joke has gone far enough. Would you please return my clothes post haste and allow me to leave?”

“Certainly, Mrs. Walsh, right after you pay for the room. You have tied up valuable real estate during your slumber which otherwise would have raised some revenue for at least one of my girls and, of course, myself.”

“What!? Pay you? You cannot be serious!”

“As a heart attack, Mrs. Walsh.”

“This is ridiculous. Fine, anything to get out of here. I will return and pay you once I get money from the bank. Now get my clothes.”

Cochran snarled “We do not extend credit here. I always demand my customers pay up front, especially customers that are self-righteous little prigs that have spent years trying to make my life in this town miserable.”

“But ... but I obviously have no cash me. How do you expect to pay at this moment?”

“As your preacher feller suggested, with empathy. You should walk a mile in the shoes of the women you demean. You will pay your debt with your body as they do.”

Becky as starting to see how hopeless her situation was. “Please, Mr. Cochran, I beg of you. Don’t do this. I am married and have children at home that will worry if I don’t return soon.”

“Frankly, bitch, I don’t give a shit.” Becky felt like she was slapped by his crude address. No one had ever talked to her in such a vulgar manner. “You either perform a service or I will kick you out on the street keeping your clothes as collateral. You can walk home to your brats buck naked. What’s it going to be?”