The Law of Puberty.
Chapter 1.
A sleepy little township.
I was just promoted to the rank of Sargent in the Queensland police force in Australia, and was given an assignment away from the capital of that state, to the out of the way township of Puberty, situated on Puberty Bay, a picturesque little village with scenery to die for but not exactly what a police officer would aspire to.
For me it was bearable, as I was now thirty-five years of age and my relationship with who I thought was a good woman, had just come to an end when I found that she was sharing my bed with a couple of my fellow officers and my direct superior, amongst others. I was, as a direct result, promoted so that I could be sent to this quaint little village, so that everyone could enjoy her in our bed without being restricted to my on-duty hours.
I was happy to get away and drove my car with all my worldly possessions to the township of Puberty. The drive seemed to last forever when finally, I came to the outskirts and could already see the ocean view. It was a pleasant little hamlet, if I can call it that, and I was soon at the police station.
The police station was an old converted wooden farmhouse with a veranda on three sides and a sign that said, ‘Police Station’, otherwise one would have thought it just another dwelling that was constructed best part of a century before.
I entered the station to be greeted by my second in command whose name I already knew was Frank. I was not in uniform and unknown to him, and so I leaned on the counter and said that I was reporting an armed robbery.
Frank seemed delighted, “That will certainly break the monotony, I will get the boys here for this.”
By the boys, he meant Rowland and Andy, two police officers who were in their mid thirties and had been posted to Puberty to get rid of them, very much like myself, whereas Frank was born here in Puberty and knew all there was to know about the area and the inhabitants. They were in the process of strapping on their weapons, when I stopped them and explained with a smile that I was their new Sargent.
I could see that they looked on me with apprehension, so I broke the ice with, “How long do I have to be here before you good for nothing coppers offer me a cup of coffee?”
They all immediately returned a smile and Andy who was obviously addicted to coffee, (as he already had two empty cups on his desk), soon had four cups ready to be consumed.
Rowland who did not seem to have the ability to speak without being humorous, started, “Jack, what did you do to deserve this honour to come and work with us?”
I stated in plain fashion that the love of my life was sleeping with the entire police force, and that my off-work schedule was interfering with their ability to service her ever increasing need, and so I was promoted to Sargent and sent up here to be their leader.
They all smiled, even Andy, who seemed to have a more reserved nature and by the stains on his fingers had a strong addiction to roll your own cigarettes. I now felt that I was in company of good people that would make my stay as pleasant as possible.
I enquired as to what crimes occur in the vicinity, and seemed to receive only silence as a reply, when Frank finally responded, “Disturbing the peace; theft of minor items; cattle or horses on the roads; the odd traffic infringement; domestic problems; drunk and disorderly; even prostitution, but our resident prostitute, Valerie, is getting a bit old now, so we just turn a blind eye to her. As you can see, we have a great selection of major crimes in progress constantly.”
They all smiled at Frank’s reply as they sipped on their cups of coffee, when the phone rang. Frank answered the phone and seemed surprised, and then relayed to us that it was Val, and she said that she had just been raped.
I immediately accompanied Rowland and Andy in the squad car to find Val sitting on the person that she accused of raping her. Rowland smiled as he recognised the old guy underneath Val, and ordered Val to get off him and let him stand.
Rowland, “Sam, is it true that you raped Val?”
Sam, “I didn’t have enough money to pay her, so she said I raped her. I didn’t know she put up her prices, so I only brought what I thought was the correct money.”
Rowland with a smile, “Val, you should have informed him that your prices went up before you supplied him with your services, so either Sam can fix you up later if he agrees, or you can no longer offer him any more of your services. What is your decision Val?”
Val, “OK then, this time for the old price, but next time I will need more, as my costs continually rise, and I am barely keeping up with inflation.”
Rowland looked at me with a smile and said, “Another problem solved for the forces of law and order in the township of Puberty.”
It was then that I realized the extent of the criminality that happened in the sleepy little town, but did not realize that we would be kept busy with the problems associated with any township of this size.