Hallie Hill was a popular news reporter/anchor on a nationally syndicated cable TV news channel. She was fairly famous. Most anyone who watched very much news on TV would have recognized her. She used her dazzling good looks along with her hard-line political views, to become one of the top political news anchors across the United States.
She was a tall blonde in her mid-thirties. She had a huge following, some for her looks and others for her political commentary.
Hallie preached American liberal politics, often quick to degrade other countries that didn’t have the same views as Americans. She believed all other countries should have American beliefs and adapt American type laws.
Hallie decided she would take an unauthorized trip to one of the countries she despised most. It was a very small country with little to no wealth. I won’t mention the country’s name to avoid offending anyone. This was an off-the-record trip to actually see what went on there. She had to fly through a few different countries to end up undetected at her destination. Once she was there, she wanted to photograph as much as she could to document their way of life.
Hallie tried hard to follow all the laws of the land. She did, however, have the attitude that she was better than the people in this country, and their laws were mostly irrelevant to her.
After her second day there, she was apprehended by the local authorities for taking photographs of certain government buildings that were not to be photographed. She was unable to read the signs that said ‘no photographs’, but should have been able to make out the ‘no camera’ signage. She was also standing behind a roped-off area.
The officers were none too friendly about her misdeeds. Hallie quickly apologized and brushed it off as an accident. The officers saw it differently. She was quickly escorted to a jail cell that was really harsh-looking by American standards.
Hallie had a high-society up-bringing. She always had nothing but the best; lived in a multi-million dollar home, drove a BMW, wore the best designer clothing.
Being locked up in a jail, much less in another country, was devastating. She demanded to be released. She told them to notify the US embassy and they would go through the steps for her release. The government officials laughed at these bold statements.
Through a translator, she was told this country had laws, laws that maybe she wasn’t familiar with, laws that took taking photos and disobeying government privacy very seriously.
The guards quickly went through her belongings and found her ID. Soon, someone realized who she was. She was the same woman that had often degraded their country on US television. The government leaders were notified that they had someone in custody who may be of value to them.
News quickly spread to the US that Hallie Hill had been arrested in this foreign country.
The foreign government leaders looked through her camera and found hundreds of pictures of their country. Many pictures, the government said, were obtained illegally.
Hallie’s news company tried to negotiate her release. The company even tried to buy Hallie’s freedom. Then they asked the US government for help.
The foreign government had a bit of a score to settle with Hallie, more than anything else. They obviously did not appreciate the negative commentary she had about them over the years. They quickly sentenced her to 10 years in prison.
This was done as a show of force, more than anything. Their country had laws and expected them to be followed. They wanted to prove to this troublemaker, in their eyes, a point.
Hallie’s news organization continued to negotiate her release. After a few weeks, an agreement was made, although few details were publicly released. A cash payment was to be made to the foreign government. A ‘fine’, as it was referred to, was rumored to be in excess of a million dollars. The huge ‘fine’ would really be a benefit to the extremely poor nation. Hallie was also to receive 30 stokes of the cane on the unclothed bottom.
The country saw great benefits to this solution. They could desperately use the money the news channel was willing to pay for Hallie’s release, and they could severely punish this person who regularly degraded their country on US television. This was a far better option for the extremely poor nation and they got to prove a point to a foreign journalist without having to finance a long prison sentence.
After having her life turned upside down for two and a half weeks, Hallie was willing to do anything to get back home.
It was arranged that in two days she would be punished and, immediately following, she would be transported to the airport where her company’s private jet would fly her out of the country and back to the US.
Hallie was in great fear of her pending punishment, but was grateful to not have to spend ten years in prison. It was all over the US news that famous Hallie Hill was going to be caned in a foreign county. It was the talk of the news channels. Either people loved her or hated her, but they were all interested in what was going on with her.
Two days later, Hallie was brought to a large room in the center of the prison. The nearly three weeks in prison had taken a toll on her. When she was arrested she was dressed in the best clothing and had her hair fixed and make-up on. Now she was dressed in a thin brown smock, no make-up and her hair was a mess. She had only been allowed to shower twice during her detention, and that was only a quick shower with minimal water and not much soap.
Inside this large room, there was a steel work bench in the center, bolted to the floor. It was about waist high and had 2 steel eye-bolts on the back side of it. Hallie was led to the bench and ordered to bend over it. As she began to lean over, the guard pushed her forcefully down onto the bench. The guard took her handcuffs off and immediately cuffed her hands to each eye bolt. Hallie was bent 90 degrees over the cold steel table. The guards then shackled her ankles to the table legs. They untied the back of her smock and let it fall to the sides as Hallie let out a shrill scream in fear. Since the prison had offered no type of panties, Hallie was now bare from mid-back to her ankles, her bare bottom exposed.
A large female prison guard came in from the side door, lightly swinging a rattan cane. It must have been 42 inches long and 1/2 inch diameter. As she gently swung the cane it made a whistling sound. Hallie was in pure terror.
The guards talked amongst themselves in their own language. The female guard laid the cane on Hallie’s rear end, and Hallie gasped. Tears were already flowing. The good-looking, tall blonde had never felt so vulnerable. As she lay chained to the bench, she felt completely helpless.
The guard pulled her arm back and swung the cane full force, and Hallie screamed a deafening squeal. A large welt appeared almost immediately. The guard pulled back and landed four more just as quick. Five welts quickly appeared. With each stroke, Hallie screamed and pleaded. The guard quickly continued the punishment.
After the twenty-fifth stroke, Hallie felt she could pass out. The guard finished out the last five strokes, leaving Hallie’s bottom and the back of her thighs criss-crossed with stinging welts. The guard quickly un-cuffed her and ordered her to stand.
Hallie had to be helped to her feet, still feeling she could faint. She was crying and sobbing uncontrollably.
Hallie was then taken to a rest room where the clothing she was wearing before her arrest was laying. The guard demanded she get changed and leave the prison issue smock. Hallie struggled to get her tight-fitting jeans on over her swollen bottom. The guard showed no sympathy, and demanded she hurry. She was quickly led away to an awaiting van which would transport her to the airport. She was shoved into the van, where she tried not to sit on her bottom, but as the guard shoved her, she had no real choice. Hallie let out a crying scream as her bottom hit the seat.
Once at the airport, she boarded her company plane and quickly departed the country.
Back in the United States, she was taken to her home. As she turned on the TV and her tablet, she quickly realized her ordeal was all over the news stations. Looking through various pages online, Hallie’s nightmare suddenly became very real again. She even found that someone had posted an uncensored video of her caning on a video sharing website.
There was no way Hallie ever wanted to show her face on television again. After taking several weeks’ sick leave for her bottom to heal and her emotions to get back in check, she took an off-the-air position at the news station.
The End
© Seymour Jay 2019