by R.G. Chilton
"Tell me about it," Diane purred.
"Again? You're worse than a five-year-old with a favourite story," Jack joked. "You're beginning to sound like my niece."
"Well I'm not five," Dianne purred, nibbling on her husband's ear. "And I really, really want to hear it again."
"So there's this place in Arizona where they've got an institute," Jack said, stroking his wife's hair. "It's for people who have been declared incompetent."
"Declared incompetent?" Diane probed, wanting to hear him repeat details.
"Like Britney Spears was," Jack reminded her.
"People?" Diane probed.
"Girls. Women," Jack clarified. "They can't be minors so that means they have to be over 21 before they can be admitted."
"Admitted?"
"Committed," Jack corrected. "They need a doctor's note and everything."
"Just a doctor's note? That's all it takes?" Diane asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it again.
"I think they need a judge to sign off on it. Or maybe just a public notary."
"And what they do is legal?" Diane enquired.
"It is," Jack confirmed. "State law says that people labelled as incompetent can be treated the same as naughty children."
"Really?" Diane asked.
She knew. She had seen the law. It was a simple, short one:
A parent or guardian and a teacher or other person entrusted with the care and supervision of a minor or incompetent person may use reasonable and appropriate physical force upon the minor or incompetent person when and to the extent reasonably necessary and appropriate to maintain discipline. (13-403. [Criminal Code])
In this case, 'appropriate physical force' meant punishments that were more appropriate to adults than children. Diane thought of them as very adult ones that maintained 'discipline' in the institution.
"Really," Jack confirmed.
"And we get to watch?" Diane asked.
"Not quite," Jack answered. "We get to evaluate."
Diane looked up sharply.
"That's new. What do you mean, evaluate?"
"Didn't we go over this? That's why it's couples only."
"What?"
"Officially, we're evaluating the service. That's the only real reason we'd be allowed to witness it."
"But how? Why?"
"Honey, we went over it," Jack said. "Remember? When we went over the forms?"
"I think I would have remembered that," Diane said sharply.
"We talked about the costumes," Jack pointed out. "We talked and shopped and talked and shopped and..."
"We looked at uniforms and costumes and I still think that I would remember something about it being an evaluation."
"But we went over it being couples only..."
"And that at least one of the couple had to be a woman," Diane nodded in agreement. "But that's to keep it from becoming a sausage fest."
"No, we went over all of this," Jack said. "It's because every woman there is officially there to evaluate the service."
"But..."
"I'm sure we talked about this," Jack said. "It was on all the forms. It's the reason behind the costume."
Diane was sure that they hadn't talked about it; that, she would have remembered talking about it. She would have remembered if they were doing anything like evaluating the institute's services.
"Look, if you don't want this then we can call a halt to..."
"No, no I want to see it," Diane assured him. "I really want to go there."
"I know you do, honey," Jack agreed. "Me too. But I know we talked about this."
Diane didn't actually consider calling an end to their plans. They had spent long weeks planning this. Money was already spent. Not that much, not compared to what they could afford, but more than they normally spent on a vacation. It wasn't just the travel money; Diane had invested time and effort preparing for this. Shopping for just the right thing then changing her mind and shopping for the right thing and then... Diane thought that they might have talked about it when she was in her shopping zone. Sometime around the time tenth outfit was returned maybe. Or the twentieth. There had been lots of shopping going on.
So maybe they had talked. Diane didn't really know for sure.
"Are you sure? Because we could cancel at anytime."
"You wouldn't!" Diane shrieked. "We've planned and talked for weeks. Months! Don't you even dare think of cancelling this."
"I won't," Jack assured her. "As long as you're sure you're okay with everything."
"I'm sure! I'm more than sure," Diane assured him. Then she showed him how sure she was and her mouth was too full to speak.
"Well it feels like you're sure," Jack moaned. "Oh yeah, that's sure."
Diane felt like grinning. As twenty-somethings with means, this was going to an adventure they would talk about for years to come. Maybe it would be the first of many trips they took to weird places or maybe it would be the last, but either way it would be an adventure.
They arrived at the compound mid-morning. It was deep in the desert, surrounded by mile after mile of nothing. Cactus, sand, and scorpions made up the landscape for as far as the eye could see.
The compound was divided into two parts with the main part concealed behind a high stone wall. Diane had seen pictures of the inside of that compound and she considered it the real Niles Brooke Institute with the other bit a mere add-on. It was spacious and parts of it were green. Other parts included a rock garden and an athletics track, and the school of course, with an attached gymnasium and various outbuildings. From the pictures, Diane knew that much of the outdoor bit was shaded, or at least where the inmates went. Between the shaded areas and the wall keeping out the desert wind, Diane knew that the inmates didn't have to worry about having their skin weathered by the desert.
Their skin might be marked, but not by the desert.
The other part of the compound seemed an afterthought: a motel, gas station, a convenience store/gift shop thing between those buildings, a small diner attached to the motel, and a couple of parking lots scattered about.
They pulled into the parking lot nearest the motel and stopped at the space nearest the office.
"Now what?" Diane asked.
"Now we check in and get ready for tonight," Jack answered. "Not that it looks like there's much to do here. Maybe we should have timed things so we arrived later."
"We talked about this," Diane said, turning his words against him. "We needed time to change and refresh after the trip. Besides, I know how we could pass the time."
"Not now," Jack laughed. "I'm not an iron man and I want to be ready for tonight."
"But that's hours away," Diane purred. "I'm sure you'll be ready again for tonight."
"Well if you put it that way..." Jack grinned.
They walked to the motel's office, still giggling. There was a woman behind the desk, one that looked closer to 30 than 25. Her blouse was cut low and her skirt barely reached her knees. Her name-tag read Sara.
"Hello there," the woman said with a smile. "Are both of you checking in?"
"We have a reservation under the name of Smith," Jack began.
"That's a popular name around here," she answered with a smile. "Do you have a booking number?"
Jack opened his wallet and extracted a piece of paper. Then he rattled off a 12 digit number. She nodded and entered it into her computer.
"So you do have a room for two booked."
"Sara, what kind of room service does this place have?" Diane asked.
"It's Miss Holly to you," Miss Holly said with a smile.
"Why?" Diane asked, slightly confused over why the name-tag read Sara if she wasn't supposed to use the name.
"Tomorrow you might or might not call me Sara, but for now I'm Miss Holly to you," Miss Holly answered with a silly grin.
"What's special about tomorrow?" Diane asked. "What would be different then?"
"It depends on which side of the wall you're on."
"What do you mean by that?" Diane snapped.
"Nothing," Miss Holly answered with another sassy grin. "Nothing at all. You're in room eight, it's just around the corner there. If you need anything just call the desk."
Driving to the room they caught sight of a few other people. Diane rushed into their room before she could make eye contact with any of them while Jack unloaded the car.
"Did you see them?" Diane asked.
"Of course I did," Jack answered. "They weren't invisible."
"Do you think they're here for the same thing we are?" Diane asked
"No dear, they're probably here for the cross-country skiing," Jack joked.
"I mean are they here as witnesses or are they here for legitimate reasons?" Diane asked.
"Legitimate?" Jack snorted. "When you've got families signing women into a place like this then how can any of it be legitimate."
"Huh?"
"They're grown women who should be in charge of their lives," Jack explained. "Instead, someone has decided that they've been partying too much or whatever and sent them here."
Diane nodded. She had read the literature. She knew that most of the inmates at the institute hadn't done anything wrong, or at least nothing illegal. This wasn't a real jail. The police weren't involved when girls were sent here. No real judge had pronounced sentence. The literature had been clear that this was a secure holding centre with detox facilities for those who required them, but one that was outside the official prison system.
It was only one of a number of secure holding facilities in Arizona, but as far as Diane and Jack could tell this was the only one that offered this kind of discipline. Even it wasn't, it was the only one they had found that allowed visitors on punishment night. Visitors, or as Diane now knew them as, evaluators.
"I need a shower to get that dust off, then we need to make sure you have as long as you need to get your strength back," Diane giggled.
"I'm kind of dusty too," Jack said with a grin. "Mind if I join you in that shower?"
They started in the shower and finished in the bed.
"That was great," Jack said with a lazy grin.
"I was thinking about tonight," Diane admitted. "How about you?"
"There's something happening tonight?" Jack teased.
"Oh you."
"Of course I was thinking of it," Jack confirmed. "How could I not?"
"Do you think we should call Sharon?" Diane asked, mentioning the friend who had told them about this place. "Just to let her know we arrived okay?"
"It couldn't hurt," Jack said lazily.
Diane reached for her phone.
"Zero bars," Diane announced.
"Figures," Jack noted. "There wouldn't be a lot of towers here in the desert."
He reached for the phone and typed in a number, or tried to. He had only punched four digits when a voice came on the phone.
"Hello? I was trying to call... Well how do I get an outside line? Why? Hmmm, well in that case. " Jack hung up the phone and turned to Diane. "You'll never believe this. We need to book ahead for outside calls. Something to do with preventing escapes."
"I'm not getting any Wi-Fi," Diane said, giving her phone an annoyed look.
"So no outside world for us," Jack frowned. "Maybe some food? But let's have takeout from the diner; I don't want to deal with that clerk again."
"Maybe she needs some time on the other side of the wall," Diane joked. "But you get us something. I'll check out the store. There has to be some great souvenirs there."
"Just remember, no last names," Jack cautioned. "We want to be able to contact these people later, not have them find us."
"I know about the plan. I helped plan it, remember? Now throw some clothes on."
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