The Commissar's in Town Ch. 01-07

"It wasn't theft, Mr. Leland. It was a lawful judgment. Apparently, though, the new regime thinks differently. I've been told that my views, that women need more financial security to offset men's economic advantages, are outdated, and that I'm a 'dinosaur,' stuck in the past century, that too much has shifted in women's favor and needs to move backward a bit. I'm sorry that you feel ill-used, but so do I. And so does your ex-wife, no doubt. She won't be living in the lap of luxury, even with your financial assistance, I assure you.

"All those years, and because she made a mistake in a moment of drunken passion and bad decisions, and who hasn't been there, are your own hands clean, and she is tossed out on her ass, forced to start over and re-enter the workforce even with the alimony, and God help her if she remarries someone poorer, because then she's screwed. It might look bad to you from your ivory tower of righteousness, but she's lost her husband, her source of income, has to somehow keep a roof above her head, hence why you have to pay her mortgage for a while, and God forbid that she should have to refinance for some reason, because then she's stuck with the bill for it, and now she might stuck raising a child all on her own because her husband thinks that she's committed paternity fraud, which isn't a real crime, by the way.

"What right have you to doubt her that she's carrying your kid, anyway? It was ONE TIME! Statistically speaking, it's much more likely that the child in her womb is yours instead," Trudy went on the offensive now, feeling a bit rattled and shaken by this angry white male's outrage at her.

"It wasn't one time, Judge, or is it, Ms. Randall now? It was many times, as it turns out, but this was the only time that she got caught. I've done some digging, so I know it. This was the only time that I could prove, bitch! My God, you really do believe your own crap, don't you? You actually think that she's some victim! And, yes, if I'm defrauded into raising and providing for another man's child, that IS a crime, as it should be! How is that NOT a crime? How is that not fraud, not theft?" David tore into her all over again, making her flustered now.

"Okay, it's a financial hit and a fucked-up injustice, but she's not intentionally cheating you by this. She didn't know if it was your kid or not, so why endanger the child's welfare over an uncertainty?" Trudy became defensive.

"The hell she didn't know, or at least suspect, and if she even suspected, she should have told me and agreed to the paternity test on her own. That's fraud by omission, and you know it! I'm not some fancy lawyer with your bullshit ethics rules and such, but I know that much! That is common sense!" David lit into her even more, now just getting warmed up.

"And have a poor, unlucky kid whose fault it isn't be forced to live hand to mouth in a foster home or something, because your pride couldn't take being suckered?" Trudy made a vain attempt to rationalize her actions one more time.

"Think that I would have punished a baby? No! I would have found a home for her, a loving home, or perhaps adopted her if Alycen had shown some remorse and maybe groveled a bit, perhaps we might have had a future, but she showed nothing but malice and spite that I dared to confront her for persistent adultery! God damn her ... and God double damn you, cunt!" David snapped at Trudy again, "and she wasn't kicked out onto the street ... I was! I live in my brother's cabin because I can't afford a place of my own! I don't know where you got your notions or figures or calculations, but after the fleecing that I took at your hands, my ex-wife's, and her cunt lawyer, I can't even keep a roof over my own head, because every spare dime that doesn't go to her has to go into my business! That's what it's like to run your own firm! You really don't know that, do you? You and your fellow elite judges and lawyers don't know what it's really like to run a small business at all!"

Trudy was white as a ghost now, not having taken such things into consideration, and now no longer able to fix her mistake. Her whole worldview, her entire judicial career, all of her work, was now cast into doubt by a few revelations that she now realized couldn't be lies. The man was shopping for groceries in a discount supermarket. He wouldn't do that if he were as well-off as she thought him to be. Her head began to spin and she began dizzy, her stomach doing flip-flops as she awakened to the lies that had guided many of her judgments.

Why? How? Why hadn't she listened to more of these men? Sure, many were still bad like her ex, but some were apparently good men like David who got nothing but cruelty and oppression at her hands, not justice. She was supposed to be a fair and impartial judge, and she had nearly always sided with the wife, wasn't that a form of bias, didn't that make her a poor judge, not only of laws, but of character? Trudy couldn't take the shock of this epiphany. She fainted and fell to the floor, weak and nauseated by this earth-shattering news.

In spite of his anger, David Leland had the decency and compassion to help Trudy to her feet and call for a chair so that she could sit down. He gave her some 7 Up that he quickly paid for in cash, sacrificing some more of his small discretionary (and shrinking) beer (domestic now was all he could afford, not his favored craft brews) budget. The store clerk looked at him strangely, since people had witnessed him in a shouting match with this woman, who had apparently been the trial judge in his divorce case. Why would a man buy a lemon-lime soda to help settle the stomach of an aging woman that he had traded barbs with just minutes before? He even gave her some Rolaids, much to her surprise.

"Sir ... I saw some of that altercation. You're clearly mad at her, but after your confrontation somehow led to her fainting, you were actually kind to her. What gives?" Sasha Rothstein, the curly, chubby strawberry blonde, asked the once hostile guy who had shown an unexpectedly softer side to him.

"I was mad at her because she was the trial judge who royally shafted me and went more or less completely along with my wife's plan to take me to the cleaners in the divorce. I was nicer to her after that because she fainted and she's an older woman who clearly doesn't have the robust constitution that she did before. While I was happy that she got sacked from the bench today, I couldn't help feel something for her, some kind of empathy, after she seemed to have realized something that upset her, plus losing your job is not exactly the best day for anyone, not even judges," David explained himself, wondering what Sasha would make of it.

"So, in other words, you're a human being with the usual full gamut of emotions, even compassion and worry for others. And enough of a gentleman in spite of your obvious bitterness toward womankind to lift a hand to help an old lady who fainted. What I would have to call, dare I say it, a GOOD man? Just remind me not to get on your bad side, though. You clearly have some rage, but then, you got screwed over in a divorce, probably by a cheating bitch of an ex-wife, just like Dad was by Mom. I'm still mad at Mom for that, by the way. I'm working this job, and don't tell my Dad this, to help him out a bit until Mom finally remarries and he doesn't owe her any more alimony," Sasha surprised even herself by hugging David.

"To think, when she touched my shoulder, I felt seriously violated, my person and my space breached, but when you hugged me, I felt nothing but, and I know that this sounds corny, but 'warm fuzzies' all around. You're clearly not a bad person yourself," David told the clerk, who was little more than a stranger.

"That's the upside to a fat girl, sir. We can keep you warm at night," Sasha joked with her usual self-deprecating humor, attacking the issue of her weight problems before others could.

"Actually, you're not fat. Plump, sure, but it looks good on you," David told Sasha, triggering a startled look on her face, but adding, "I know, that didn't sound right. I'm a bit out of the game, so to speak. I've hardly been dating in recent months, unlike my wife, who has her dance card full."

"No, no, your words ring more honest, more true, so your praise doesn't seem like empty flattery or an attempt to sugarcoat things. It's unpolished, but more authentic that way. When you compliment me that way, I feel as if ... you mean it, and that has me wanting to reach for the 7 Up myself. I got butterflies floating around in my stomach over this, but would you like to eat supper sometime together? I know that we're both probably strapped for cash, but that's all the more reason for a home-cooked meal together. The only downside is fewer leftovers for Dad and me, but we have enough canned goods to make do," Sasha invited David on a date.

"Are you ... asking me out for a date ... Sasha?" David acknowledged her nametag, "David Leland, by the way, and the answer is yes. I don't even like the dating scene anymore, and I'm definitely rusty, but for you, well, that's another matter. You're a very real, honest, caring person, I can see that, and you've got lovely hair, by the way."

"Yes, but I'm Jewish. You don't mind that, do you? Sasha Rothstein," she added her last name, a bit nervous in case he somehow turned out to be an anti-Semite.

"Hell, no! Even if you were kosher, it would be a nice culinary adventure, wouldn't it? I bet, and I hope that I'm not stereotyping too much, that you're a terrific cook, too," David blushed as he realized that he might indeed have fallen for the stereotype that chubby girls knew how to cook, and he might have put his foot in his mouth.

Seeing the look on David's face, Sasha put his face in her hands and told him, "I got no complaints so far, no, I'm not kosher, but I'm a pretty fine cook, if not quite a pretty one."

"I disagree. You're very pretty. I love your smile, your eyes, even your braces. You might lack some confidence, but you had enough courage to ask me out, which was more than I had, given how much I've been burned. You're braver than me that way, at least for now. Then again, enough of your company, and I might well get bolder," David beamed as he recovered.

"Please make very bold with me ... and my body. Sorry if that comes out as too forward, but I'm a twenty-one year old virgin who missed out on college thanks to Daddy's wrecked finances. I had to actually convince him to spend some of my college money to get by, too, and that was tough, because he didn't want me to give up on my dreams. That was when I told him that those were his and Mom's dreams for me.

"My own dreams are different. I just want, and I know that this is very old-school, which is funny because I'm not really that old-fashioned ... I want to be a housewife. There, I said it. That's what I want, my ambition in life. Don't tell my friends, some of them very hard-core feminists who might want to drop me if they knew the truth about me. Definitely don't tell my mother. It would destroy what's left out of our relationship if she found that out," Sasha confessed now.

"So, you're applying for a new job as Mrs. David Leland, then? Just know what you're getting into, missy. I'm a very, very embittered, jaded, even angry, thirty-one year old, ten years your senior, unhappily not-quite divorced, cash-strapped small businessman whose wife is probably carrying another man's baby. That's if I'm lucky and it's not mine, tying my life to hers forever. I wouldn't mind being a father, but I don't like the idea of her being in my life anymore, not at all. Then again, I'm stuck with her to an extent, at least until I can get that judgment vacated, and with that woman's dismissal, I might actually have some small, faint hope of that," David ranted a bit, while Sasha held him close to her bosom and even ran her fingers through his hair.

"Sorry, so unprofessional of me, doing this on the clock. Still, I'm ... I guess that I'm getting a slight crush on you. Sorry, that's a bit much, but, yes, I wouldn't mind the idea of being at least considered for the wife position. And some ... er, other positions, such as doggy-style, reverse cowgirl, regular cowgirl, and missionary, just to name a few. I know, I know, shocking that I can even find my own pussy, let alone know anything about sex, but really, I studied ahead, just in case," Sasha bit her nails a little as she blushed, realizing what she said in public, even within the judge's ears, as the old battle axe stared at them and her colleagues looked at her very funny.

"Um ... Sasha, if you ring this up, it might get you out of trouble with your bosses. Let's go ahead and check me out, okay? As for what you told me, I'll give it very close consideration, I assure you. I'm not even sure that I want to do the monogamy thing anymore, if I ever really did, but if I had to, a curvy, curly Jewess with strawberry-blonde hair, freckles, and yes, even braces, doesn't sound so bad to me. Especially if she's open to so many ... positions, of course," David smiled as Sasha rung him up and he paid.

"Hey, whoever said anything about monogamy? I never said that I was a 'good' Jewish girl, did I?" Sasha winked at him, "honey, just because I'm a virgin doesn't mean that I'm going to be that much of a prude. It's just lack of confidence, and you're already helping that along, especially if you agree to be my ... sexual mentor, if you will. If you're okay with teaching me the practical dos and don'ts of sex, that is."

"If I'm dreaming, don't pinch me right now. But we do need to check on the old bat. I hope that she's feeling better now, strange as it is to say that. I was so sure that if she died, I'd be pissing and dancing on her grave, and now I'm actually worried about her health. Is that bizarre or what?" David admitted his mixed feelings about Trudy Randall.

"Maybe you should give her a good tumble in bed and see if that gets the bug out of her ass!" Sasha teased him now, licking her lips right then as she winked at him.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly kick him out of bed right now, would I? I'd have to recover my land legs first, but hey, let me treat you both to supper, okay? My treat, I swear. I got a decent pension coming to me and some leftover wages from my judging days. And savings, which I gather that neither of you have now, though it's clearly my fault ... I'm sure that I probably fucked your father over, too, in court, Ms. Rothstein. It's the least that I can do, and you can take some back to your father as leftovers to eat.

"Please ... I owe you something, Mr. Leland, you and all of the other men that I shafted in my courtroom from my bench, from my ivory tower. I'm not much to look at, I guess, but she needs an education in bed and I've gone through one hell of a sexual drought. We'll both be eager to please, I think. Am I right, Sasha? Please, let's go back to my place and I promise that you'll both get laid. Take that to the bank. I'll even get some Viagra now that it's sold over the counter," Trudy offered the two of them.

"I'm game, but only if you can pick me up from my work in three hours. I'm not off until then," Sasha told them, "Why don't you two go together to your place, have your kinky, nasty grudge fuck, get it out of your system, and then pick me up afterward for supper and my turn?"

"Works for me, at least," David said as Trudy paid up and he left the store with her.

'You know ... I really haven't been with a man in so long I almost forgot what it was like. I wouldn't mind a reminder at all. A nice, hard cock would feel fucking nice in my pussy, and yes, even my ass. I hated it at the time, but now I kinda miss it, and I did enjoy it, even if he was too rough with it. He just shouldn't have raped me in the process," Trudy confessed about her ex-husband, Dwight Randall, once they arrived at her house.

"Oh, God, I had no idea! That explains a lot of your hatred of men, at least," David hit the nail on the head there.

"Yeah, I guess that I kinda took out my rage against him on you and other men, since he got away with it, due to antiquated laws that defined rape so narrowly that husbands couldn't be prosecuted with rape for forcing themselves on their own wives. I deeply regret how I treated you and any other innocent men who were shafted in my courtroom, and I think that I need to find some way of atoning, but this is my start to it. So, you up for letting me ... um ... atone now?" Trudy encouraged David, noticing his bulge, as she wasn't exactly an ugly woman, just a bit harsh and intimidating in her usual manner, not to mention older ... she had a sort of sharp, Helen Mirren, look to her.

"Any chance for a stiff drink? I could use one right now, for a variety of reasons," David asked her.

"After what you did for me in the store, getting me a chair, a soda, and some antacids, it's the least I could do. Maybe in the future I can even help you with shopping, believe it or not. I could tell that you had some trouble with bargains and such. I wouldn't be there if I wasn't used to that. Old habits from my own divorce days die hard," Trudy offered, pouring them both some Seagram's 7, "I could use a bit of a nightcap myself."

"That's very nice of you, thank you, on both counts. I knew that your divorce must have been a very rough business, but I didn't think that you had been hurt financially by it," David shrugged with some surprise.

"Thinking that I would have taken him to the cleaners? No, I was a bit too busy escaping him to worry about that, but, of course, it did cost him, just not like the husbands that I raked over the coals in my courtroom later. I think that I took revenge by proxy, but I never got him back for what he did. Maybe I should have, but I don't take the law into my hands. I've always believed in the rule of law, though now ... I worry that in the wrong hands, the law could be a real menace to citizens, too. Anyway, it hurt us both. Divorces often hit the women hard, too, though not usually as hard as they used to, and apparently not as badly as the men. Anyway, frugal habits, just like spendthrift ones, are tough to break," Trudy admitted aloud, still struggling with it, but also noticing that David drank the whiskey neat without even trying to chase it.

"Yeah, well, you weren't alone there, and I doubt that my ex and her lawyer have any pangs of conscience about it all," David reminded her.

"Also true. If it means anything to you, I think that your ex and her lawyer are in for a very rude awakening with the new regime, whatever their flaws. I just hope that they don't swing the pendulum too far in the opposite direction. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the men now running things, and it does seem to have a lot of Y chromosomes in the mix versus X, just my first impression, anyway, I wouldn't be shocked if some of them had been burned like you were and are using this chance to get revenge, maybe even the deputy commissar that ran me out with my tail between my legs.

"To be fair, I was rather saucy with him, and not in a good way. I'm not used to having my judgments questioned by others, I guess, which probably made me so defensive in the supermarket, that and I mistook you for one of the bad ones. Boy, did I get that one wrong, and for that, I owe you a serious apology, for that and how I treated you in my court," Trudy downed her own shot and poured each of them another one, sure that they could both use it.

"Apology accepted. And I'm sorry that I drove you to fainting like that," David felt bad about that in spite of his certainty that he was justified ... she was not that OLD, but she was older, and retired, so he felt bad about that, perhaps out of ingrained tendencies regarding elders.

"Why, because I'm an older woman? Yes, I was in a bit of shock, but I'm fifty, not sixty or seventy, and I think that, in the long run, the scare and epiphany were both good for me. So, how about I make my amends now, if you're still interested in an old bat like me?" Trudy asked David, removing her blouse and bra to show her fine, if somewhat saggy breasts ... they hadn't sagged that much yet ... not yet.