I darted away!
I had it! I thought I would win after all!
What trouble it was trying to operate with untrained employees! One had to resort to such extraordinary shifts!
I ran.
Thinly, I could hear a police whistle blowing!
I must be being pursued!
With too much cunning for my own good, my first thought was to possess the contents of the bag and discard the evidence.
Masked amongst the mob, I plunged my right hand into the purse.
SNAP!
YEEOWWW!
A hidden something had seized my hand with agony!
I tried to withdraw my hand!
Whatever it was was also fastened to the inside of the purse!
In agony, I sought to shake the purse off. It wouldn't leave!
With my left hand, I seized the bottom of the purse and tried to pull it off my hand.
AGONY!
In extremis, I stopped and tried to use my left hand to free my right. I plunged my left hand into the purse.
SNAP!
YEEOWWW!
Something had clamped down on my left hand!
I had both hands inside the purse! I couldn't get them out!
The faint sound of the police whistle kept blowing.
It was inside the purse!
A hard, smug voice behind my ear said, "I thought that you'd try that." Miss Pinch!
She touched the side of the purse with her finger and the faint police whistle went off.
But that was not all she did. She pushed something hard and round into my right kidney. A gun!
I was in agony. My fingers felt like they were caught in the teeth of a savage beast. Two savage beasts.
"I don't take the subway home," she said. "I live just a few blocks from here. So walk quietly and no yelling. This gun has a hair trigger. It is quite invisible to the passerby. Stop screaming. You are making a scene and I might have to call the cops after all. March along, Ink-switch."
I clamped my teeth on my lip. I somehow endured the excruciating pain. A bullet in the kidney does not help one's circulation a bit. I avoided it by walking.
We went across Broadway. We went north a couple blocks. We turned west again.
She halted me at a walk-down, the entrance to a basement apartment in an old shabby house that had survived the demolition of much of the nearby area. The steps were full of snow and garbage. I was seeing it all in a red haze of pain.
Miss Pinch pressed a bell three times.
Then she took a key and unlocked a wrought-iron grill. She took another key and unlocked the basement door. She gun-prodded me into a small hall. She shut and locked both the grill and the door.
"You can resume screaming, if you like," she said. "This basement is totally soundproof. It really is a find. It also has a nice back garden where one can bury unwanted bodies. So just be patient and do as you are told."
She kicked me into a second room.
In spite of my red haze of pain, the place gave me a shock. She sensed it and said with satisfaction, "Interior decorated by myself."
It was dull red of hue. Instruments of torture hung tastefully upon the walls. Festoons of whips served in lieu of curtains. A huge bed occupied the center of the room, its four posts topped with the grinning faces of gargoyles. The carcass—stuffed, I hoped—of a dead goat hung head down in the corner. It was full of darts.
"Now just sit down on the bottom of the bed, Inkswitch." She assisted the movement with a prod of the gun.
"Now, I know you are probably provoked," said Miss Pinch, looking at me with slitted eyes. "Men are violent and unreliable. Therefore, we cannot begin upon the removal of the bag until certain precautions are taken. You might kick out."
With her left hand she undid my overcoat. She reached to my waist and undid my belt. I would have lunged up but it looked like the gun was going to hit me in the teeth. I sat back. She pulled off my shoes. She shucked off my pants. She pried off my underpants. A chain rattled!
She was fastening a steel cuff to my right ankle. It was held to the right-side bottom of the bed with links. She clamped a steel cuff to my left ankle. It was connected with a chain to the left bottom post of the bed. Miss Pinch got up on the bed behind me. She pulled my overcoat, jacket and shirt up over my head and down on my arms.
She then hauled me backwards to the center of the bed. From the right-hand upper post of the bed she pulled a steel cuff on a long chain. She put it on my agonized right wrist. She did the same from the left-hand upper post and put that steel band on my left wrist.
Going to the posts, she shortened the leg chains until my feet were securely fastened wide apart.
She took up the slack on the wrist chains as far as she could with my hands still in the bag.
"Now, I know those traps must be quite painful," said Miss Pinch, sounding very congratulatory about it, "but we will have to free them. But only if you promise not to strike out. Men are so violent!"
Begging, I promised.
Working on the outside of the purse bottom, she effected the release of something. She drew off the purse.
Two huge rat traps!
They had teeth and were gnawing deeper with every movement!
Standing very clear of possible strikes, she got the sleeves off the right hand and trap after she unfastened and refastened the steel cuff. She then tightened the chain so the arm was extended nearly to the right side bedpost. She repeated this operation on the left side.
I was naked and spread-eagled, chained face up on the center of that bed!
Miss Pinch removed her overcoat. She took off her hat. She smoothed out her hair before a mirror in a frame of daggers.
"You forgot the traps!" I screamed at her, driven by the agony of my mangled fingers.
"Everything in its own time and place," said Miss Pinch. Then she raised her voice and called, "Candy, baby! Come see what I've got for us!"
Chapter 6
The door to the back room opened. Mincingly, expectant, a woman, maybe thirty, tiptoed in. She was dressed in very frilly, very feminine, gingham clothes. She had frizzy, very fluffy, platinum-colored hair. She had big, round, black eyes. She wasn't very pretty but she certainly was making the most of what she had.
"Oooooo," she said. Then she jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "Oh, Pinch, dear! What wonderful things you do! And all for me!" She raced to Miss Pinch and kissed her passionately.
A lesbian and her "wife"!
Oh, Gods, what did they want with me!
Candy danced back and looked at me, spread-eagled and naked on the bed. She pretended coyness. Then she said, "He isn't very big, is he?"
"Oh, my darling Candy," said Miss Pinch. "You are not pleased."
"No, no, sweet Pinchy. Please let us not quarrel. He will be just wonderful! Have I offended you, dear Pinchy?"
They embraced with croonings of endearment.
"Take off these Gods (bleeped) traps!" I screamed at them.
Miss Pinch said to Candy, "I thought that you, just this once, might like to..."
Candy drew back in horror. "Oh, no, no! I could not bear to touch a man. What must you think of me! Oh, dear Pinchy, how could I be so gross? Never, never would I be unfaithful to you even by a fingertip."
Miss Pinch smiled at her indulgently. Then, humming a little tune without words, she moved over and, in the most painful way possible, began to take the trap off my left hand. Believe me, I screamed!
"Ah," said Candy. "Ah, dear Pinchy. Kiss me!" Her eyes were shining.
Miss Pinch kissed her. Then she came back and finished the left hand with maximum agony. I screamed myself hoarse!
Candy had sat down on a sofa. She was panting. Her mouth was wet. Her knees were wide apart. She was beckoning urgently to Miss Pinch.
Miss Pinch grabbed her, crushed her to her flat chest and then carried her to the other room and slammed the door shut with her heel.
Through the red haze of agony from my
right hand, I could hear urgent beggings in the next room. Then little moans. Then groans of ecstasy. Minutes. And then a gasping shriek!
What was going on in there?
More minutes.
A low muttering.
The door opened.
Miss Pinch still had her coat and shirt and tie on. But she was nearly naked from the waist down. She was breathing hard.
Candy was wearing only a chemise now. Her face was red and flushed and wet.
Their eyes were hot.
What could they possibly have been doing?
Miss Pinch went to an Iron Maiden and opened it. It was serving as a fridge. She got out some beer.
They lolled down on the sofa, drinking from their beer cans thirstily.
"Take off the Gods (bleeped) trap!" I screamed at them.
In a conversational voice, Miss Pinch said, "Everything in its time and place, Inkswitch."
"What are you up to?" I bellowed.
"Tell him," said Candy. "I always love to hear it."
Indulgently, Miss Pinch said, "All Rockecenter's companies have classes in Psychiatric Birth Control. It's vital, you understand, to reduce the world population. They breed like rats. And they're all riffraff. They outstrip the world's food supply which has to be reduced so food prices will stay up and Rockecenter's friends can make a profit. And, of course, that is the name of the game."
She took a thirsty guzzle of her beer and, without bothering to wipe off the mustache, continued learnedly, "Birth control requires more than pills and besides, I. G. Barben has no monopoly on them and there are competitors. So the answer to controlling world population is homosexuality. Now, if everyone was a homosexual—the men gays and the women lesbians—then there's no more population problem at all. The great work begun by the Rockecenters decades ago is just now coming into its own. Birth control training is now being introduced even into kindergartens. The competitors of Barben will go broke, as who will need the pills? There will be no mass meetings against abortions and even abortion is going out of use. The trend is overwhelmingly toward universal homosexuality.
"The Psychiatric Birth Control classes are wonderful. They were developed by Dr. Frybrain, the head of the International Psychiatric Association, on a special Rockecenter grant. And the Rockecenters, as you know, have always controlled psychiatry and psychology. What used to be called 'normal' sex is the real sex crime. And what used to be called 'sex crimes' are now normal. So if every student becomes dedicated, as psychiatrists are, to making all the perverts and sadists and homosexuals they can, then the long-term Rockecenter goal of shrinking world population will become a fact. So we are expected to make at least one man a pervert. And that's where you come in, Inkswitch."
"I won't cooperate!" I screamed. "Take off this Gods (bleeped) second trap!"
Miss Pinch looked at Candy. "How do you feel, dear? Ready?"
"Oh, yes," trilled Candy.
Miss Pinch put her beer down.
She walked over to my right hand. She began to remove the trap with twisting motions. I screamed!
"It seems to be stuck," said Miss Pinch with thin-lipped satisfaction.
Candy's beer began to run out of the sides of her mouth. She was starting to pant.
Miss Pinch gave the trap a more dreadful twist. I screamed my head off!
Candy dropped her beer can. It frothed in a puddle on the floor. She put her heels out straight. Her mouth was open, her eyes hot.
Miss Pinch was beginning to breathe hard. She closed the trap tighter. I almost tore my lungs out.
"Oh, God," panted Candy.
Miss Pinch tore the trap off. I yelled so hard I deafened myself.
Candy had her legs straight out, her head back. She was beginning to buck up and down on the sofa.
Miss Pinch seized her in her arms and, pressing hot kisses on her throat, bore her into the other room and slammed the door.
I could hear moaning and begging. I could hear an urgent scramble. Then more begging.
Then small moans.
Then a shriek!
Minutes passed.
A low snarling. The voice of Miss Pinch.
More minutes.
What were they doing?
The door opened. They came out. They were both practically naked. Miss Pinch had no breasts at all. She had a tattooed dagger in the middle of her chest. Her short hair was ruffled and wet.
Candy had lipstick smeared all over her face and stomach. Her large breasts were shiny and wet.
They plopped down on the sofa, legs outstretched. Candy had her head back. She looked quite spent. Miss Pinch was staring at me, thin-lipped and calculating. I began to be afraid.
"What you are doing," I said, "is criminal. You stole my money!"
"Shut up," said Miss Pinch. She got up and got two more beers out of the Iron Maiden.
Candy took hers and held the cold can against her (bleep).
They sat that way for a while.
Then Miss Pinch took a mouthful of beer and leaned over Candy and put it in Candy's mouth. Sort of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Candy swallowed convulsively. She began to revive.
Miss Pinch got some marijuana out of a can and rolled a fat joint. She lit it and put it in Candy's mouth. Candy, after a few soulful drags, sat up.
Miss Pinch took the joint and pointed it at me. "Have a few puffs?"
"Gods, no!" I said, already a bit ill with the growing stench of it in the room.
"Smart boy, Inkswitch. But I could get you in severe trouble by reporting to your superiors that you won't do grass. You know and I know that staying away from happy drugs is the fastest way there is to get demoted in a Rockecenter company."
I had her there. I didn't have a superior.
"I notice you aren't dragging on it," I sneered.
"Big H, man. All I ever use is Big H. And speed, of course." She gave the joint back to Candy. "But Candy here is a sweet and delicate thing. I only let her smoke Acapulco Gold, the very best hay. Her psychologist keeps trying to get her on to cocaine, but nose powder would ruin her lipstick. I know why he's doing it. The vicious (bleepard) wants to have sex with her. Straight man sex. A real pervert." She turned to Candy. "We'll get him on that bed there someday, won't we, sweetheart?"
Candy sat up straight. "I feel better now. What's this guy's name?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, Candy. I forgot to introduce you." Miss Pinch pointed to me. "That loathsome male creature's name is Inkswitch. Inkswitch, this is Miss Candy Licorice."
Candy hastily drew back her hands although no motion to shake had occurred. "I am not pleased to meet you," she twittered. Then she was off onto something else. "Music. Oh, dear Pinchy, please turn on some music."
Miss Pinch hurriedly raced over and opened up a casket. It was a stereo. She put on a record.
A low sound filled the room. It was coming from the mouths of two devil masks on either side of a brick fireplace evidently used for heating torture tongs.
Wagner! One of his more stern, foreboding symphonic works.
Candy listened for a while. Then she began to massage her very ample breasts. The nipples began to stand up.
"Oh, Pinchy," she said, "would you think me forward if I said it's time we really began to prepare for the evening's sex?"
Miss Pinch petted her head and kissed her on the cheek. "Whatever you say, my darling."
I flinched at the look in Pinch's eyes.
Miss Pinch walked over to a closet, her naked body moving like a man's. She reached inside. She was selecting one of several somethings.
She stepped back. She was slapping a fourteen-inch rubber truncheon against her palm.
Candy was sitting up, eyes bright. Wagner rolled through the room. Miss Pinch checked the chains that held me spread-eagled.
Her eye was moving up and down my nakedness with calculating selection.
Candy had her legs apart. She was all bright attention.
Miss Pinch chose the sole of my foot.
WHACK!
"Go ahead and scream," said Miss Pinch. "It's no good without screaming."
I vowed I wouldn't give her that satisfaction. I clenched my teeth.
She aimed for my foot again.
WHAP!
The pain shot through me. It stung!
She moved up the side of the bed. She turned on a red light that put me in a spot.
She chose my stomach.
SPLAT!
Then she got to work.
Teeth bared, laying on with all her might, she began to hit my body everywhere!
She hit my (bleeps).
I screamed!
Candy was panting. Miss Pinch's eyes glared with hate. The rubber truncheon rose and fell in rhythm to Wagner.
Agony!
I screamed and screamed and screamed!
Miss Pinch had descended now to fists!
Candy was whimpering. "Pinchy, Pinchy, Pinchy! Oh, my God, Pinchy, take me, take me quick!"
Miss Pinch whirled. She seized Candy's nakedness in her arms. She raced with her into the other room and slammed the door behind her.
Gibbering moans. Then shrieks and shrieks and shrieks!
Silence. Had Miss Pinch killed her?
At length, a low snarling. It sounded like curses.
Then silence.
Minutes later, the door opened. Miss Pinch came in carrying Candy. She dumped her on the sofa and then got down and began to massage her wrists and ankles.
Candy came to and flung her arms around Miss Pinch's neck.
Miss Pinch said to me, "You're a dirty (bleepard), Inkswitch. You have an evil mind. Get your lustful eyes off this poor, innocent girl."
Miss Pinch had some beer and Candy had a joint.
After a while Candy said, "Music. I must have some more music, dear Pinchy."
Miss Pinch found A Night on Bare Mountain. The awesome strains were shortly coming through the devil masks.
Oh, Gods, they were going to do it again!
The truncheon was even worse!
I passed out.
When I came to a long time later, they were on the couch again but Candy was collapsed on her knees, her hair against Miss Pinch's lean belly.
"Ah," said Miss Pinch. "Decided to stop faking, did you?" She spat at me.
The music had run out. But the beer and marijuana hadn't.