Chapter 1: A Goodbye Kiss For Two Girls In Love - and Memories

Lisa kissed Samantha goodbye and there were tears in both girls' eyes. She held her tight for several minutes until both young women realised that the time had come and they parted with one last quick but tender kiss. This was the sad part about what was otherwise to be a very happy day. Samantha and Lisa had been best friends for three years, not that they had seen too much of each other during that time, but the last few months had been very precious for both of them and they were to meet again as soon as Samantha was released and could make the journey to Wales where Lisa was headed. She went to be given back her own clothes, taken from her thirty eight months ago in exchange for prison uniform, and dressed. The touch of them on her skin felt odd after all this time. She noticed that her shoes, once so comfortable, were now too tight. Well, that was hardly surprising, since she had been barefoot for all but three days of her time here and her feet had probably grown a little. She determined to buy a new pair as soon as she got home.

The gate guard shook hands with her before letting her through. She had already shaken hands with governor, the only male in the establishment and a hidebound bureaucrat if ever there was one, though with flashes of humanity now and again. She had bid farewell to the hatchet faced chief warder who had lusted after her from the first but had dutifully kept her hands to herself all the same - except when punishing her! She took one last look at the low level building under which she had passed much of her sentence and walked through the gate into the waiting car, which took her straight to the airport and back to her old life. Lisa knew she would be missed by many, for she had become a very popular girl in the last few months. But it had not always been thus.

Lisa's troubles had started the first day she had been in this Asian country on a two week holiday. She knew it was a case of mistaken identity and so did her parents and her lawyer and all who knew her. Lisa was incapable of criminal acts and, with a rich and very generous father, had no need to steal. Unfortunately she had come here alone, as the first great adventure of her life. Her parents had been worried, but her father had never been able to say no to his winsome blonde daughter and here she was. Her arrest had come as a total shock and she had made use of her one and only phone call to contact Daddy. Daddy, alas, had been away and it was weeks before he heard of his daughter's plight. She knew it was all a mistake, but the judge had not seen it her way and, three years ago to the day, a leggy slim blonde had been deposited at this prison to begin a three year sentence for theft.

Samantha had taken to her right away and the two had immediately bonded. Lisa had the vacant bed next to Samantha. On Lisa's first full day she had been sent to work in the kitchen in the morning and in the grounds in the afternoon. It was August and very hot, but Lisa had enjoyed being in the open, after the steamy heat of the kitchen.

Lisa had noticed something odd during the day and asked Samantha about it as they were being marched back to their cells. "Why do some of the women not wear shoes, Samantha? It can't be for comfort. Some of those stones are sharp as razors!" She had seen several inmates in this state, as they toiled among the sharp flints in the garden.

Samantha looked at the women in question and her face lost its smile for a second.

"Because those women have all been punished at some time, Lisa, by being sent to solitary confinement. While they are in they are made to undress completely and when they come out of solitary they get their clothes back, minus their footwear. They must remain barefoot for the rest of their sentence. It gives them a bit of status, being marked out as graduates of the isolation block but it's a hard won status, Lisa! Their feet toughen up in time, of course. Some of them have been like that for years now and would probably reject shoes even if they had the chance to wear them, but they go through hell in solitary. I have nightmares about it! Never get sent there, Lisa!"

"But it can't be that bad! I mean, surely it's just a matter of being on your own. Once you get used to being confined you just buckle down to getting through your time there. It can't be that terrible."