Beyond An Accidental Shoreline (3/4) By Christopher Skolik

(1/4), (2/4), (3/4), (4/4).

MacGregor turned, a paper thin smile across his face, he looked into Dennison's eyes, perhaps an attempt to locate something specific there. Superficially everything seemed in order; shops, pub, houses, church-(MacGregor caught Dennison looking at the squat unattractive church, "It goes without saying we have no trouble finding priests here."). There was little to suggest anything out of order or strange. As he walked the steep, twisted streets Dennison felt appraising eyes move over him, the flat gaze of the inmates-when he attempted to catch the glance of one of these individuals their eyes fell to the ground before he could establish eye contact, it was obvious that they where experts in the area of stolen surreptitious glances.

He also noted the ingratiating respect they gave MacGregor, and the way this made Macgregor swell. Obviously there where no children or women, and also no sign of any of those trappings of imprisonment that he had expected. No watchtowers, no uniforms, no cameras, or guards. "No guards, at all?" "No, we do try to keep direct contact to a minimum, as we believe the condition is potentially infectious. Naturally we patrol the waters, but otherwise they can police themselves..."

The inhabitants ranged in age from 18 to 90. Most looked ordinary, lads from northern council estates, gentlemen, farmers, and even though intellectually Dennison knew that sexual criminals looked just like everyone else, it still came as a shock just how average these characters actually were. To some extent they even looked like actors pretending to be normal, in a sense they where too average, too normal-and given their techniques of grooming, and putting parents and victims at ease, this was not too short of the actual truth. The middle classes where also well represented amongst the islands population.

MacGregor seemed almost proud of the range of sexual offenders present; "Of course there are doctors, plumbers, builders. We really have to do very little, quite self sustaining-"

"A perfect world-" There was a sarcastic edge to Dennison's voice, "-apart from the fact that they are all paedophiles and rapists, right? Do you really believe it is infectious?" "Yes, even the idea seems to be viral-look at the numbers who attempt to access child porn on the net, as if the idea provokes curiosity, and research shows such material scars the psyche, and scars are sites of infection-even metaphorical infection...ah." MacGregor smiled. Shrugged. Raised an arm to indicate a building silhouetted on the edge of a hill. Dennison squinted, but could make out nothing beyond its rectangular outline.

Continued... Next Page (4/4)

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