‘Okay, ya beg real good, bitch. Anyways, I need the collar for me dog.’
As Katherine stood and started to remove it he grabbed both her wrists. Karl’s sense of power was overwhelming. He was very reluctant to let it wane. As long as she wore the collar he felt he controlled her. He hissed through his teeth, ‘Not so fast, bitch. First ya gotta earn it. Ya know, reward, like them carrots an’ sticks. Do me a dance.’
Karl was remembering a recent visit he made to Kalgoorlie.
He had visited one of the pubs where scantily clad waitresses, so-called ‘skimpies,’ served beer. He noticed that some of them gave a quick flash of their naked breasts to some patrons but he had not been included. In drunken desire he had stumbled forward and clumsily tried to force one of the girls to expose themselves for him but was rudely rebuffed and thrown out of the pub. Katherine was incredulous. ‘Dance? What do you mean, dance? There’s no music. I can’t dance.’
‘Oh, yeah, yes ya can. Ya can sing too, an’ make the music. Jist git ya gear off. Show us them big tits a yours like them girls do in Kal. Let’s have a bitta fun, eh?’
‘I can’t. Benjamin will —’
‘Shuddup, bitch. I ain’t scared of Benjamin. I’se in charge now, ya’ll fuckin’ well do as I ask. If I says jump, ya don’t argue, ya jist say, ‘how high’. Gottit? No, git ya fuckin’ gear off ya fuckin’ bitch and dance or …’ he gave a meaningful look at his dog. ‘Then, an’ only then, I gets me collar for me other dog. So hurry up, ‘fore I make ya, woman.’
Carolyn and Isaac had fled the room and stood on the veranda staring in. Karl took a deliberate step towards the children.
‘Please, Karl, not with the children here. Please,’ Katherine begged through her tears.
No woman had ever begged anything from Karl before and he found the experience thrilling. To get her to beg again made him feel even more powerful, more controlling. He wanted more. His mouth extended into a parody of a smile. He pretended to think about it, called his dog over and slowly sat in the lounge chair but said nothing.
Just as Katherine turned and was about to go to the children he shouted at her, ‘Where da ya think ya goin,’ bitch? Ya got me collar an’ I’m waitin’ for me dance, so git movin’. Ya brats kin watch ya too.’
Katherine turned back into the room and with tears of shame and fear she reluctantly pushed the dress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. It was a final humiliation.
Karl had fortified his desire with whisky and the power already shown over her. He grinned at her, ‘Yeah, that’s good, now I kin see them big tits. Now sing an’ dance fa me.’
She did as she was asked, all the time afraid that worse might happen. All the way through the performance Karl grinned while sipping whisky but said nothing other than ordering her to ‘make her tits jiggle’ a bit more for him. Katherine could not believe he found this erotic with her unhappy face and voice cracked from crying but then realised it was not meant to be. It was just another way of showing his power over her, humiliating her and making her do as he wanted. She feared it would rouse his feelings to the point of assault. She feared desperately for the children.
He took another swig of liquor and gave another order, ‘Dance ‘round the room an’ back ‘ere, then I’ll take it orf’.
She did as he asked and returned, panting. The tightness of the collar constricted her breathing and her face glowed red above her swollen neck. Karl sat and watched while taking copious swigs from the bottle. The children cowered outside the door. Carolyn was wide-eyed with what was happening while Isaac just sat holding his sister’s hand tightly.
Karl thought, ‘Wish I ‘ad a leash, lead the bitch aroun’ a bit. Show the bitch who’s boss.’ Aloud he said, ‘An’ agin, bitch, youse din’t go fasht nuff, an’ skip more this time.’
She tried and returned exhausted, slumped to her knees and panted.
Karl removed the collar and left the room. As he walked to his vehicle he turned to the prostrate, gasping form of Katherine and shouted, ‘I’ll be back tonight, bitch. Lock the gate then go clean yaself, youse all dirty.’
Once the sound of Karl’s vehicle faded Katherine went to her children. Carolyn’s questions were constant, difficult to answer and penetrating. Isaac stayed quiet. His eyes were wide. Katherine held them and tried to reassure them. Inside, she was terrified for their futures.
She wanted to kill Karl. But his superior strength would make that almost impossible. There was nothing in the equipment shed that she could use as a weapon. In the kitchen area there were small knives. She was tempted but she could not conceal one in her clothing. It could also be easily turned against her. Her only hope to overcome his superior strength would be through cunning. But how?
W inter found Petri back in the remote goldfields on the edges of the Great Victorian Desert of WA. He had eliminated most of his proposed test sites and the Spex program was now in the final stages of selecting the best area for an extraction test.
Petri was leaning over the bonnet of his vehicle, inspecting a map, when a ute pulled up in a cloud of dust.
‘Ya right, mate?’ asked the driver, loud enough to be heard above the incessant barking of the black mongrel chained on the tray.
Petri replied, ‘Yeah, thanks. Just trying to work out where this goes.’ He pointed to the rough track leading into the scrub, and lifting the map for the stranger to see.
As the driver got out of the car Petri noticed a rifle clipped in behind the seats. ‘Well, I kin help ya there. Bin ‘round these parts fa years. I’m a dogger, huntin’ ferals, dogs an’ other vermin. Wadda ya wanna know?’
Petri politely tried to account for his presence without going into details or becoming too technical. He explained he was an exploration geologist and needed to collect samples over a wide area. Very few, if any, might lead to more detailed exploration and even fewer may lead to the development of a mine.
When he heard this, the dogger became very cool in his responses.
‘I don’ want no exploration companies wanderin’ round this country. Sure as hell don’ want no mines.’ The dogger casually leant against Petri’s vehicle. ‘Best go back,’ he said. There was something threatening in his voice.
Petri was cautious. ‘As I explained, the chance of a mine resulting from the sampling is really very small.’