And They Danced

Chapter Fifty-Eight - Recovery

We talked to Deeksha but she couldn't tell us much about Alan and Richard. She hardly knew them. Alan might have occasionally made cruel comments; most of the boys had. "You know what it's like," she explained. "It was sort of expected of them."

And, that evening, after the Tiddlers had been sent up to bed, the Minors gathered at the dining table to try to work out what to do about the two.

The first thing that we agreed was that the pair were not any sort of threat. They never held any real loyalty to the gang and would not be looking for revenge.

"But we have to do something to make it clear that this sort of behaviour is not acceptable and that we won't tolerate it," Denise insisted. "They need some sort of final warning."

"We're just not set up for any sort of prison," I said, "and with everybody working so hard, the idea of having someone sitting around for months on end isn't going to work anyway."

"Forced labour, anyone?" Peter asked, knowing perfectly well what the answer to that would be too.

"Of course the traditional approach is just to lop a hand off and have done with it!" said Brian.

"Yes, it's such a pity we're trying to be a bit more civilised than that," Denise commented coolly.

The room went silent.

"Hang on... there might be something in Brian's idea... in two of Brian's ideas," Peter said in sudden excitement.

"Peter!" Denise exploded.

"Hear me out!" he insisted. "Remember how he used to put an X on the back of Rebecca's hand when he was having difficulty telling the twins apart. Couldn't we give these two a tattoo or something? Something that will always be there as a reminder but..."

"But falls short of actually maiming them," Denise agreed.

"And we can tell the other groups about it," said Brian, excitedly. "And everybody knows that if they do anything like this again..." I did not have to complete the sentence.

So, later that evening, Richard and Alan were brought in front of the judges once again.

"We have come to a decision," I told them.

"The first thing that you have to understand is that these things you did were very serious. We know that you were under pressure but you were, nevertheless, responsible for your own actions."

And I appreciated the way they both met my eye and acknowledged this.

"Now, under normal circumstances, you'd find yourselves in some sort of prison for a very long time. However, with things as they are, that's clearly not practical."

A nod.

"So we're going to give you one last chance. However you need to be made to understand that this really is final. You are each going to have a blue line tattooed around your left wrist. This will be a permanent reminder for you that you are on your final chance. We'll also be telling our allies about the mark. If you ever attack any of us again, you'll be executed without any possibility of mercy. Do you understand?"

That was met by another nod.

"We won't be able to do it tonight but we'll try and get it sorted out tomorrow. Once it's done, you'll be free to leave us, however we have an offer we wish to discuss with you. We can talk about this later but, for now, do I have your words that you won't do anything stupid?"

"Yes, sir."

I turned to Jason. "Then I don't think we need the handcuffs anymore. Would you do the honours?"