Page 120 of The Mentor
“Community service,” she said and returned to her cleaning as if the puzzle had been solved and her job was done.
“I need something more painful.”
Shelly’s spine stiffened and she slowly turned to look at me again. “There are many sorts of pain,” she said. “You people are obsessed with the physical pain, as if that’s the worst that could happen to a person.”
“Huh?”
“There are people who can rise above physical pain and there are people whose mental pain manifests as physical pain although no one has laid a hand on them.”
“What are you saying?”
“That the biggest abuser is often people’s own mind.”
I impatiently shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “You’re speaking in riddles, Shelly. Just say what you mean, will you?”
“I’m talking about the pain of isolation, rejection, humiliation, loneliness, longing, grief…” She stopped and looked at me. “You need me to go on?”
“No, I think you’re onto something, I’m just not sure exactly how I can use that to punish Solo.”
Shelly’s shoulders sank. “That would be easy,” she said softly. “He’s all about pride and vanity.”
“And?”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe in punishments so you’ll have to figure it out for yourself. I agree with Kya that your ways of disciplining are ineffective and wrong. Instilling fear in a person is a sad imitation of respect, that’s all.”
“Spare me your lecture,” I said, a bit harsher than I meant it, and instantly softened my voice. “Look, Shelly, you saw Magni before. What Solo did constitutes a deathly offense in our country, and you might not agree with it but laws like that have been the only way of keeping our females safe. I need to come up with a punishment hard enough to set a dire example for the other boys,” I said and added, “Please help me find a nonviolent way of doing that.” Since she was still hesitating, I added. “We don’t want to upset Kya on her wedding day, do we?”
Shelly folded her arms around her midsection and looked down.
“Please,” I coaxed her again. “If it’s as easy as you say, just tell me; I’m coming up with a blank here.”
Shelly still didn’t look at me when she spoke softly. “If you want to humiliate and scare Solo, you…” She drew in a deep breath. “You could shave his head.”
Both my eyebrows shot up and my first reaction was that not even I could be that cruel. Solomon loved his gorgeous thick blond hair.
Shelly spoke quietly. “He’ll be afraid that Willow won’t find him attractive anymore, and it will definitely be a visible mark to the other boys that Solomon did something wrong.”
My eyes glazed over as I thought about the idea. “It’s definitely a way of setting an example. The other boys are going to be scared shitless that I would do that to them.” Nodding my head, I refocused and looked at her, but Shelly had turned her back on me as if she was ashamed of having vocalized such cruelty.
“Thank you. You’re a genius, you know that, right?”
She didn’t answer me.
Twenty minutes later, I walked outside with a brooding Solomon. Jaws dropped and gasps were heard when children and adults alike took in Solomon’s new appearance.
“What did you do to him?” Kya asked, visibly disturbed.
“I got creative like you told me to.”
I knew I’d done the right thing when Magni gave me a nod of recognition and addressed the boys. “Look at that, boys. Unless you wanna look as ridiculous as Solomon, you’d better not kiss the girls,” he barked.
Solomon walked over to sit against a tree, licking his wounds.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I told Kya. “He got away without a scratch and Magni is satisfied. So what if his pride and vanity is hurt? Solo will get over it when his hair grows out again.”
“I suppose it’s better than hitting him,” Kya admitted before she got distracted by the sight of Boulder and Christina walking out of the woods with Raven between them. The three of them were holding hands.
“Aww.” Kya instantly softened and I took the chance to snake my arm around her waist and pull her close to me.
