The Jahorina papers

Part 2-3: The pillory

Part II: The Nocolata Mosanu story

Chapter 3: The pillory
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After passing the doorstep, they entered a dark passage which brought them to a sparsely lightened room. A round platform with a cylindrical pole connecting its centre-point to the ceiling took their attention. The raised round surface's diameter didn't exceed one and a half meter and its purpose didn't need any explanation. Dozen small tables, surrounded by dark couches, were dispersed all over the place.

In front of them was a bar. The shelves behind were covered with alcoholic beverages. Two heavy doors almost invisible, merged in a black painted wall on the right side. The small plate on the nearest door,indicating "WC" was obviously leading to the lavatory while the second one gave access to a staircase hall.
The door swept open and a broad shouldered muscled man appeared.
He had a square face, marked with a big red scar, beginning under the left eye tracing a large ugly track over the cheek in order to disappear behind the ear of which the lower part was missing. A big hawk nose and a couple of cold eyes completed that terrifying appearance.

The two drivers shook hands with him and started to brief their trip. The giant was obviously not satisfied. They were discussing loud, but the youngest couldn't understand them because they were speaking Serb.
Despite of the differences between the Russian and the Serb language, both have similar words and Nicoleta was able to guess that the man was not happy with only three newcomers. He had been expecting at least five.

The two drivers were just carriers and probably not involved in the business itself, because the man took an envelope out of his pocket and gave it to the older driver. The drivers job was done, they thanked, shook hands again and left the room without waisting another word. They even didn't have a look for the three women, who by now were really afraid. They understood that their dreams were over.

They could physically feel the cold eyes gliding over their bodies. This humiliating scan took a few minutes and finally a broad grimace appeared around his mouth. He suddenly turned around and shouted with a shrill voice :

"Tania, amo" (Tania, par ici)

A few second later, they heard someone running downstairs and a girl showed up facing the man with an anxious glance. She was a black long haired girl, obviously a young Moldavian beauty, sparsely dressed. She was wearing a ultra short skirt and a transparent t-shirt.
She listened to the man's instructions and turned her face to the girls.

"Hello, I'm Tania. That's Predrag, he's the boss here." The girls nodded briefly in his direction but avoided to look in his eyes.

"I'm from Moldavia as well and I'm living with Predrag. I'll be your instructor for the next couple of days. Does one of you speak the local language?"
No one did.

" Okay, you'll have to learn the Serbian language, because we're living here in a Serb area, but don't be afraid, it will be easy for you, especially if you learned Russian before." She was looking at Nicoleta.

"As you can see, you'll work in a bar. That means, you'll have to dance during the evenings."

No reaction, because they were more and more afraid.

" Who did this work before?" Tania asked, now looking at the two younger girls.

"We did," Melinda confirmed hesitating.

"And you?" The question was meant for Nicoleta.

"I was working on the fields" She answered a little bit snappy.

"That's no problem, I'll learn you how to dance. It's much easier than milking cows." She tried to joke, but nobody was laughing.

"Look around, that will be your working place for a while. You'll dance and you'll drink with the guests. You'll like the payment, because the boss is very generous, giving you 50%."

She interrupted briefly her speech, as if she expected a thundering applause.

" I can understand, you didn't expect that kind of job, but be honest, you have left the country to get money,haven't you? So this isn't a difficult job and you'll have a lot of dollars after just a short time...." There wasn't any conviction in her voice.

"I'll show you your rooms. You can bring your luggage upstairs, install and in one hour you'll come down and I'll tell you anything you have to know...."

The man interrupted her with some remark and disappeared in the small staircase room, without saying another word.

"Okay, follow me."

Tania brought them upstairs where they entered a long corridor with 5 doors on each side. They stopped in front of the second one and Tania opened first the left and then the right door.

" I guess you'll stay together?"

The two youngest were meant. The answer was affirmative. Nicoleta got the second room on the right side. The rooms were small. They contained one two-person bed, a table and a two-doors wardrobe.

"The rooms have to be shared by two persons", Tania explained

"But for the moment you'll be alone." So Nicoleta entered her room and put the luggage besides the bed.
A small window was blinded.

"The bathroom is on the end of the corridor. I let you alone, don't make too much noise, because the other girls are still sleeping" And Tania left them alone. She went downstairs and entered a room behind the staircase to join her boyfriend, the sinister boss.
The three newcomers arranged their belongings in the wardrobe and meet again in Nicoleta s room after a while.

"That's not what we were expecting.." said Melinda.
Nicoleta nodded and said:

"There's no way back, because we do not have enough money. We're prisoners here."

"What will you do?"

"What I have to do. I have children and promised my sister to send her money, so I'll try to survive here until I have enough to return." She answered bitterly.

There was nothing else to say.
After one hour they went downstairs and joined Tania, who was already waiting in the bar room.

"Okay girls, I'll show you the basics of dancing. We're not supposed to provide artistic performances, just get the guests excited so they spend their money.", she tried to joke.

"I'll show you my presentation so you get an idea of what we're expecting..."

She went behind the bar and switched on the hifi equipment. She picked up a CD from a drawer and put it in the player. Some electronic beat music came up and Tania came back, taking place on the round platform. She started moving her hips, pushed her body against the pole, sliding down and up, making a tour around, so they could see her string, embracing the pole with one leg, moving down and up again, following the rhythm of the music. Her performance was pretty sexual. She suddenly seized the pole, swinging both legs upwards, catching the cold bar between the tights, head hanging downwards. Her body slid slowly downwards, while turning in a spiral around the pole, until the hands reached the soil. Her legs released their hold, flying over her head, coming down, putting the feet besides her head.
Very acrobatic and sensual, showing a couple of muscled spread legs with a minuscule peace of white tissue in between, barely covering her femininity. The whole body was bent over the head and she was standing on hands and feet, belly upwards and a smiling face between two legs. She remained in that position for a few second before swinging the legs back, caching and pressing the pole between them after which her hands left the soil, while her body swung up again allowing her hands to seize the pole again in order to take over the hold from her tights. She let them falling down and was now standing up against the round bar. She made another round and stopped moving.
She was laughing, seeing the confused glances on their face.

"Don't be afraid, we're not expecting acrobatics from you. What matters is that you move your body sensually around the pole, so the men catch glimpses of your underwear."

"Who will start?"

Melinda volunteered.

"Let's choose some music for you."

They went all to the bar and Tania opened a drawer containing three rows of Cd's.

"Take your time, I'll be back in a moment".

Tania disappeared through the staircase door and the three newcomers were alone. They started checking the Cd's without a word, as if the wall could hear what they would say. They were still looking for appropriate music when Tania came back.

"Melinda, the boss wants to see you. It's for an interview."

The Romanian girl reluctantly followed her while her friends suddenly found some Cd's. Nicoleta hesitated not long and put her choice in the player. She never danced alone before but she thought that it would be better for her to do something, knowing that they didn't have an alternative. She took place on the round platform and started moving her hips in front of the pole. Lilia stand besides, giving her advice, because she was already a dancer.
This strange training session took almost one hour. They changed place, changed the music and tried again.

Nicoleta would never forget that awful day on which her life completely changed. But the worst had still to come.
Melinda came back and they could she her swollen lids obviously the result of weeping. She didn't say a word and looked downwards. Tania stand in the doorway and called Lilia to come over.
Nicoleta noticed a red line on Melinda's left cheek and she understood. That interview had been more than some talking. She saw that her shirt was also ripped. She didn't ask what happened, but embraced softly Melinda's shoulders. She was aware that in a while she probably would experience the same horror, so why ask questions?
Lilia came back only thirty minutes later, but the expression on her face betrayed what Nicoleta would find out soon.

"Nicoleta, please come..."

That first day the three girls were tested by Predrag Milosevic in order to find out whether or not they needed help for the second part of their re-education, consisting of satisfying the desire of healthy clients.
They were suddenly convinced that dancing would be the easiest part of their new job.
Welcome to hell.