Stephen

I felt a gentle hand on my arm, bidding me to stand up. I did not see the kindly look upon officer's face as I stood with shaking legs, as the judges re-entered the court.

I stood as straight as I could, I tried looking at the three female judges and then my cowardice took over and I hung my head in shame.

"Stephen Woodrow Ryder." I looked up as the clear voice of the senior judge addressed me. "You are sentenced to attend a punishment center, during the next twenty eight days. You must attend within this period or you will be arrested and appear before me on a far more serious charge, which will result in your loss of freedom for a considerable period of time. You will also not be allowed to drive a motor vehicle for a period of nine months from this date and you will be bound over for two years. Do you understand?"

I managed to look at her as I answered. I could not help the trembling of my voice as I almost sobbed my reply.

"Yes Ma'am, thank you Ma'am… I am er.. most sorry for my stupidity Ma'am."

I hung my head as I heard the prosecuting lawyer speak in a loud voice. "Court is adjourned"

I heard the court officer whisper to me as the judges filed out. "Come with me and I will give you your forms. Her voice was kindly and for the life of me I couldn't understand why.

The punishment centers had been existence for over a year now and had been designed for a variety of crimes, vandalism, joyriding, petty theft and drink driving. They were specifically designed for the juvenile male although on odd occasions, for severe or repeat offences girls had been sentenced to attend. I knew very little about them and anecdotal hearsay of what punishment, punishment centers actually doled out was a closely guarded secret. Offenders who had actually visited the centers were not allowed to say what the punishments consisted of for fear of being immediately arrested for contempt of court; and the government had banned newspapers from speculating on what the punishments might be or reporting hearsay from offenders. All that was known was that they were an effective method of curbing adolescent crime and that there were very few repeat offences.

I sat at the desk in front of the young court officer, my eyes were still full of tears and I still could not repress the odd sob of deep regret as I waited. I noticed that she had taken off her uniformed jacket and was wearing a white shirt. Her breasts seemed firm as they pressed against the crisp white material as she leaned towards me.

After she had finished sifting the forms and putting them in order she spoke. "If you will sign these. Please"

She handed me a sheaf of forms, which I signed without reading. She took them from me, her slender fingers shuffling the papers into a neat pile before handing me the top copy.

"Take this with you… you are to attend Center 19 any time within the next twenty eight days." I felt sure that she gave me a look of kindness and sympathy as I got up and turned to leave. On impulse I turned back to her. I looked at the soft expression of sympathy upon her face and although I was near to tears again I managed to stammer. "Thank you for your help er.. Miss, I am so sorry to have caused so much trouble."

Constance picked up the telephone as she smiled conspiratorially at her fellow judges. "I think a telephone call would be more judicious than a note… don't your think." She laughed at her own pun as she dialled the number.

"Martha… oh good… and you? Yes the same! Yes we have had a young man in this morning. I don't want to influence you in any way… and I know the punishment is statutory; but I would ask you to let everyone read the court report."

Constance listened for a short while and then spoke again. "Oh yes… if it had been for more severity I would have put a recommendation on the form."

She listened again for a few moments and then spoke softly. "Yes… I had not immediately thought of that. Yes I know it could be short notice… but if we are free we will certainly attend. I think that he is so contrite that it might even be today, its still early enough… before twelve isn't it?"

She listened once more and then thanked the woman on the other end of the phone.

I was determined that I should get this whole sorry mess over and done with. I returned to my apartment and showered thoroughly. Changing into clean clothes, I looked for the address on the form. Offenders must attend BEFORE twelve noon. You may be detained overnight. You may bring any medicines that have been properly subscribed. You may NOT bring luggage. Forty minutes later I was on my way. The cab dropped me off one street away, somehow I think the driver suspected where I was heading, but I walked quickly into a florist shop and waited until he had departed before making my way to Number 26/28 Arlett Street.

The building looked like every other government office on the street. It did not have a sign other than its number, etched discreetly into a brushed chromium plaque set into the wall beside the glass door. The door was framed in stainless steel with a broad bar across the front of the glass. The glass of the door matched the windows, with its opaque smoked glass, guarding the view of the interior from the street.

So here I was waiting at the business-like counter of Punishment Center 19. The glass that had portrayed my apparition of Debbie Pearson, separated me from the young girl who spoke into the microphone on her side of the glass.. "Can I help you?" Her voice sounded strangely neutral through the small speaker that must have been concealed somewhere in the counter surface.

"Er my name is Steve.. er Stephen Ryder, I have to report here within erm.. er twenty eight days.. er, so I have come today."

I felt foolish and embarrassed talking to the young girl behind the counter, whom, no doubt, would know the details of my crime.

She looked no older than seventeen; the cuffs of her crisp white shirt were folded back at the sleeve, revealing her slender wrists. She wore a neat stainless steel watch on her left wrist and a tiny silver chain adorned the other. Her face looked neat and attractive with a minimum of make-up; her appearance was slightly studious, no doubt aided by the wire framed spectacles that she was wearing.

"Can I have your form please… you did bring it with you?" Her voice was questioning as she looked at me, her eyes were quite obvious in her interest of looking me up and down.

I fumbled in my jacket pocket and produced the form which I put in the tray which was set into the counter and allowed objects to be passed to the other side. I slid the form towards her, underneath the glass partition.

She did not thank me, but read the form for several moments before she extended her slender manicured fingers forwards and pressed a button on her counter position. "Please wait there and I will send someone out to fetch you. She motioned behind me and I looked around to see that there were three chairs opposite the counter, the backs of them against the smoked glass of the window. For the first time I noticed that because of the light, one could see out of the windows, although passers by could not see in. There was a low glass table in the centre of the room on which were placed a variety of Government information leaflets.

I took the middle seat and waited;. I mused at my fright on seeing someone I thought was Debbie Pearson… and then I remembered that it could not possible have been her. I had often enquired in a quite causal way of old school friends what ever happened to so and so, eventually slipping Debbie's name into the list of people I enquired about. I had found out by this reasonably subtle method, that she had gone on to do nursing. The last time that I had enquired I was told that she had qualified and that she was now a theatre nurse, having moved to another city, although they couldn't remember where.

I sat and waited. The young receptionist reappeared several times behind the counter but paid me little attention. I was too embarrassed to ask how long I would have to wait and instead started thinking about what my punishment would be. I had heard of aversion therapy for drink driving and wondered whether I would be shown a series of films about the blood and carnage that can be caused by drink driving.