(aka Bike) Part 1011 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad
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“I can’t breathe, help, I can’t breathe,” Simon thrashed about in bed, his arms flailing made it difficult for me to calm him.
“Simon, calm down, you’re safe.”
“I won’t tell you anything you bitch,” he grabbed me around the throat and began to squeeze.
He was still fast asleep and the way he was going, I’d be ending up on the long sleep. I tore at his hands but they kept squeezing my windpipe and I was beginning to feel frightened.
I pulled at this thumbs but he was so strong, that in the end I had to hurt him to stop him. I punched up between his hands and caught him on the jaw. He bit his tongue, shouted and fell back–I rolled out of bed, coughing and spluttering with eyes streaming, really believing he would have killed me.
“What happened?” he asked as I switched on the light. He sat up, “God, my tongue hurts and my jaw–what’s the matter with you?”
“Someone just tried to kill me,” I gasped, my throat was still hurting.
“What now?”
I nodded unable to speak.
“Who was it, where are they?” he leapt out of bed presumably to apprehend himself, though I’m not sure he would apprehend this very well at all.
“It was you,” I coughed and spluttered.
“What?” he asked aghast.
“You nearly killed me.”
“Cathy, I wouldn’t harm you for the world.”
“You were dreaming.”
“I was, that bitch was trying to kill me.”
“Yeah, well I tried to calm you down and you decided to strangle me.”
“Oh my God, I didn’t did I?”
“It’s not something I’d make up,” I showed him the marks on my neck.
“Oh God, I am sorry.” He wanted to hug me, but for the moment I didn’t want him near me. I asked him to make me a cuppa, and went into the bathroom to put some cold water on the bruising. When he came up with the tea, I dabbed it dry and rubbed in some moisturiser–very gently.
“I am so sorry, Cathy.” He passed me some tea and I thanked him. “I can’t believe I did that–must have hit myself in the face too.”
“No, that was me, trying to avoid you killing me.”
“Wow, you pack a punch,” he said ruefully rubbing his chin.
“So would you if you thought it was your last one.”
“That bad was it?”
“If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have killed me, my voice box feels very sore.”
“I’m so sorry, Babes, what d’ya want me to do?”
“I don’t know, I hope this is a one off.”
“What if it isn’t?”
“If you wake up next to a dead body which closely resembles mine–you’ll know it wasn’t.”
“I can’t believe I did that–how can I say I’m sorry?”
“Si, you’ve said you’re sorry and I believe you.”
“God, if that happened again or anything happened to you–I’d never forgive myself. I couldn’t face life without you...” he choked and began to sob, “I’d kill myself,” he added.
“And who would look after the children?”
“They’d have to go back into care or something.”
“Simon, those are our children we’re talking about–they love you, how could you even think of such a thing,” I was crying too, now.
“They wouldn’t let me keep them and how could I cope anyway?”
“You’re a resourceful chap, you’d think of something.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t adopt any more until this is sorted.”
“What d’you mean?”
“Put the adoption business on hold until I’ve been locked up or cured.”
“We’ll do no such thing, those boys have been waiting all their lives to be in a family, really in a family.”
“Of a murderer?” he sniffed.
“I’m sure plenty of your ancestors did it.”
“Things were different centuries ago.”
“Yeah, they didn’t have digital watches and computers–so they had to kill each other much more low tech.”
“No, things were different in those days.”
“In what way?”
“Well, life was cheap.”
“Not to the owners–besides, tell that to the families of those three women in Bradford.”
“What women?”
“The three women sex workers who were murdered by that criminology student bloke–the Crossbow cannibal.”
“Well they probably asked for it.”
“I don’t believe you just said that.”
“Why? They chose to do what they did for a living.”
“Simon, they all had problems with drink or drugs, like lots of street girls–they were working to feed a habit.”
“Well then.”
“Simon, they were still young women–you know, sentient beings, who felt pain and loved their families–very few women would work the streets if they could help it–it’s very dangerous and soul destroying work.”
“C’moffit, Babes, no one forced them to do it, did they, they made choices.”
“Did they deserve to die because they made some bad decisions? That’s like saying you deserved to at the hands of those bandits because you chose to do banking.”
“Oh c’mon, Cathy, how is banking like prostitution?”
“You mean apart from screwing their customers?”
“Oh very funny, I don’t think.”
“I wasn’t comparing the two professions, I was suggesting that you blaming the girls for their own deaths would be like someone blaming you if that Russian secret service woman had killed you.”
“Secret service? What’s this about secret service women?”
“Katya Romanova, was a renegade secret service agent.”
He went pale–“She could quite easily have killed me, couldn’t she?”
“Without a qualm, I suspect.”
“Shit, Babes, I coulda died.”
“The three women all did die for some pervert’s gratification.”
“Yeah, but I coulda,” he swallowed, “I mean, me–I coulda died.”
“Life is cheap is it?”
“Okay–point taken. I was wrong about the prostitutes.”
“They were women, Si, you can’t kill a job, only the holder, who is a person.”
“Okay, okay–you know what I mean. I suppose you want me to sleep on the settee?”
“Did I say that?”
“No but you keep moving away from me.”
“You frightened me.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“I know, I’m sorry too, but it really frightened me.”
“I’d better go then.” He got off the bed and began to walk towards the door.
“Get back into bed, Simon, and stop being so silly.”
“Silly–I nearly strangle my wife and she calls me silly.”
“C’mon, get back in and let’s go back to sleep–and I’ve got to get up in four or five hours, I need my beauty sleep.”
Comments
PTSD
Simon needs some serious help for the PTSD. Then he needs an education and I think Cathy will give it to him.
Portia
Portia
He's getting the education
and sometimes listens. The PTSD sounds like and issue. Considering that Simon has been attacked personally and had his family attacked several times recently, I'm not surprised that he is having problems. Hoping that Cathy is made of stronger stuff.
Boxing Mitts
Simon might need a little help to not kill Cathy in his sleep. Cathy would sleep a bit sounder, too. Restraining him (like with handcuffs to the bedposts) would be a bit too dangerous. But, perhaps a pair of well-padded boxing gloves would be in order?
Asking for it...
These are the sorts of things some people say about prostitutes*, because they're despised, not because they're particularly guilty of provocation. And indeed, prostitutes "provoke" men far less than many women, since what's on offer is relatively less subject to whim or likely to be a tease. One might as well say that the postman was asking for it if he's bitten by a dog. After all, everyone knows that dogs hate postmen.
If Simon's bank forecloses on a customer, or refuses to make a loan, does the disgruntled customer have the right to take a few potshots at one of the employees? Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, when asked why he kept robbing banks, answered, "Because that's where the money is." But doe that mean the anyone has the right to terrorise the bank employees for a chance at getting some of that money? People die in bank robberies, even innocent bystanders; is there any sense in which they were "asking for it" by entering a bank to purchase traveller's cheques?
If the cook overcooks the porridge, is it reasonable to whip her?
Cheers,
Puddin'
* I confess to a slight suspicion that the real reason is that they're women, as a general rule, and that this tolerance of killing prostitutes, and official reluctance to expend much effort in catching their murderers and rapists, is our own version of the "Honour Killings" we piously decry when perpetrated by "ignorant" tribesmen, especially tribesmen of less-favoured circumstances than our own.
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
The John Is Just As Guilty
Prostitution wouldn't exist if there wasn't a man somewhere wanting it. It is the world's oldest profession after all. Prostitution and banking do have a lot in common. Bankers charge outrageous amounts of interest for borrowing money just like prostitutes charge a pretty penny for sex. Something that really makes me mad is that the prostitute gets the brunt of any punishment for getting caught, but the John's get off with a slap on the wrist and sometimes don't get any punishment at all. There was a case here in KY one time where the police pulled a raid on a brothel and caught a county official literally with his pants down. The prostitute went to jail and this idiot never had anything done to him. They confiscated a black book with names of more politicians, but nothing was ever done to them either. Most so called "Christians" are the first people to condemn people for it, so if one is killed, they seem to think they had it coming.
>> Prostitution and banking
Heck, prostitution and any job, unless one's job is doing what one loves when you feel like it and is supported entirely by mana falling from Heaven. I dare say many of us have laboured at unpleasant jobs because we needed the money, have put up with jerks, whether bosses or customers, because one was fearful of being tossed out on the street with no job and poor prospects.
Once you've resigned yourself to the fact that doing what one loves is not profitable for most of us, there's not much left that isn't something like prostitution, even if bodily fluids are not involved.
I'm a certified massage therapist, and a damned good one. I charged US$120 for a fifty minute hour, and expected a substantial tip, which I usually got. My business was basically making people feel good. What, if anything, is whoring if not something like the same? Some of my customers hoped (naïvely) that there was no difference in fact, which quaint notion I never hesitated to disabuse them of, but I wasn't particularly offended. So they're idiots, many of us have silly fantasies, and these particular fantasies are ingrained in our culture. Just look at almost any movie targeting a male audience, most of which feature the most unlikely men winding up in the sack with women who probably wouldn't spit at them, much less swap spit, in real life.
Physicians basically do the same job of making people feel good, and generally charge more per hour for considerably less physical effort. Their code of ethics demands that they treat all comers, not just those they like. Again, is it just that sex is involved that makes prostitution particularly different, much less so uniformly condemned?
At one time, sacred prostitution was a feature of mainstream religious life, a celebration of the holy mystery that lies at the heart of human life and procreation. It's only lately that we've got to be prudes who are supposed to faint dead away at the sight of a woman's breast, as poor Janet Jackson found to her cost some years ago. The ancient Greeks erected phallic and vulval statues, and the Hindus still have Lingams and Yonis associated with public worship:
Somewhere along the line we most of us got whacko about naked people, and positively apoplectic about sex that wasn't safely hidden away from public view. Taking the long view across human history, this is a minority opinion.
Ever notice the little intertwined lingam and yoni symbols on the shield at the front of the chariot? They're still around, but we rarely draw attention to them these days.
Cheers,
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Another example
Try the Warren Cup for size - it's now in the care of the British Museum, but the chap who found it had huge difficulty selling it on because of what was portrayed.
Unfortunately we still retain strong elements of the religious philosophy of believing that it's somehow "wrong" to discuss any topic of conversation involving the gonads - as is any activity involved with them that isn't for the express purpose of procreation. Couple that with the march towards more openness being lead by certain branches of the publishing industry, which tend to focus on the "here and now" instant gratification. Throw in patriarchal attitudes as well (exemplified by the typical rape defence that due to the attire of the victim, she was somehow "asking for it".
With such competing attitudes, it's hard to see what it would take to progress society to a state where people could talk about sex / relationships sexual orientation / gender identity / sex crimes etc. in an open and honest way without religion pulling in one direction and various tabloids and magazines pulling in the opposite direction.
EAFOAB Episode Summaries
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
The Warren Cup
There's a nice description here: Wikipedia Warren Cup Article
Cheers,
Puddin'
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Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Daily Dormouse-1011
Hopefully, Cathy's Blue Light Special can heal Simon of his horror.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
I second that though
I believe the spiritual healing light was the Pink one ?
A thought occurred to me though that Cathy's healing may very well prevent Natasha and Boris from harassing her again as if I recall it seems that anybody who did get healed by that light seems to eventually come to a change of heart ( remember Julie's father? )
Finally, I wonder when Julie's mother is going to die. Last time the prediction by Cathy was something like six months or some such after she had taken Julie in. I think that may very well be the next crisis to come. Julie may very well hate her biological mother but in the end children in their heart of hearts do hope for reconciliation.
Kim
Unless WA state, since I
Unless WA state, since I retired in 2002, has rewritten the RCW's (Revised Codes of WA), a 'John' there gets into as much trouble as a prostitute does, if they get arrested and charged. PLUS pictures and prints placed on file. The infamous "Green River" Killings were the catalyst to the RCW changes. Simon definitely needs psych help and he needs it now. He is clearly on the edge and it would not take much more to tip him over. Hopefully, Cathy can convince Henry that he needs to take Simon into tow and ensure that he goes to and gets the help he needs. Jan
Simon would benefit...
...from some professional help. Surely Cathy now knows enough ‘tame’ doctors that there’s one he could talk to about his recent experiences.
Peaceful Sleep
Bike Archive
Bike Resources
Prostitution.
People end up in prostitution when there is no other viable means to survival.
Furthermore, it is not just women!!. Boys end up there as well, especially gays or T.G's.
Believe me when I say that after begging and stealing, there is nothing much left but prostitution. Here is further wisdom, It doesn't need drugs to start an individual out 'on the game'; starvation, exposure,homelessness, fear and violence are equally effective motivations.
I have to say that I must have been one of the luckiest people alive when I was picked up at 14 years and 9 months whilst prostituting myself in Lime Street, Liverpool. That was exactly 4 months after having escaped, absconded, survived, from a borstal. It only took four months for cold, starvation, and homelessness to precipitate me through begging to stealing and finally to prostitution.
A homosexual third engineer got me a job as 'deck-boy' on a ship, all I had to do was 'put out' to the homosexual paedophile ring amongst the crew.
The rest is already known to those who read this site.
Cathy's absolutely right!!!!!
NOBODY DESERVES TO DIE!!!!!!
Keep it up Angharad.
You have a message as well as a good story to tell.
Beverly.
Time too learn
the art of sleeping with one eye open Cathy....Well it's either that or Simon gets treatment for his PTSD, Otherwise how could Cathy ever feel comfortable in her own bedroom again?
Once again Simon shows his ability to say something without thinking about what he is really saying, Hence the thoughtless remark about street girls, How anyone could think those poor girls deserved to die at the hands of someone's warped mind and hands, Is something i find difficult to understand...Those girls needed help, Not a meeting with the crossbow cannibal.
Kirri
Simon
I have some trouble reconciling Simon with those statements. I suspect he was in shock though, it is scary thinking you could do something like that. I have nothing but empathy for people who prostitute themselves. Truth is, I don't know enough about the subject to really have an opinion, never been there nor done that.
Opinions
Good conviction Oldpov!
If you can't back your opinion with facts, dont express your opinion! well said!
Don't let someone else talk you out of your dreams. How can we have dreams come true, if we have no dreams?
Katrina Gayle "Stormy" Storm
Why Simon did the killer come on to you ?
Like that term "sex workers". Think I read that "sex workers " in Nevada organized and formed a union. If they struck, and scabs crossed the line, would they be union Bustiers.? I know Ang must like that one.
Cefin