The following story has been published here to give more background into Samoto, and its attached care home. The events occured a few years ago, before the 'Comeuppance' series, as well as when Shan was not so 'good' as she is now...
Boarding School 2 – The Care Home
Up until now, Shan’s experiences had been focussed on the school, getting the children ready for their new roles in life. However, she now realised that she had been neglecting the care home, especially the staffing of it.
The objective of the care home was to look after the handicapped parents of the children at the school. Luckily, no-one had looked into the statistics, or they would have realised how unusually high the percentage of handicapped parents with handicapped children was...
At the hospital in the town centre, Tanya Morris sat in the restaurant, eating lunch. As she did, one of the older nurses walked by. Nurse Evans (Tanya didn’t know her first name) was an object of envy for her, as she still wore the full length blue dress and black tights that most nurses used to wear up until quite recently. Tanya was annoyed because, even though she primarily did desk work and hardly any physical activity, because she was in the physiotherapy department she had to wear the short tunic and slacks common to that department, which she hated.
As soon as she went of shift, before going home, Tanya shot to the changing rooms, and re-appeared wearing either a dress or a blouse/maxi skirt combination. She was a staunch feminist, and believed 100% that trousers and slacks were for men only.
She was just checking her email before going home when an advert caught her eye...
“Staff Wanted for Dementia ward in local Asian care home. Must be prepared to wear older style dress uniforms, to put patients at ease during therapy. Female staff ONLY required, as the ward is for female patients only, and as stated there is a strict dress code.”
The advert also included drawings of the uniforms, as well as a contact email address.
Before she knew it, Tanya had applied for an interview...
To her amazement, an email came straight back:
“Dear Ms Morris. We have noticed your CV stored online at the local agency, and feel that you have just the qualities we are looking for. Please attend here at Samoto Care as soon as possible, and we will give you a tour. Please note, when you attend for the interview, please wear a full length dress and a full length coat over it, so as not to disturb our patients.”
Tanya suddenly got agitated. She had a full length, almost floor length dress, but the only full length coat that she had was her thick, shiny white rubber mackintosh that her mother had bought her as a present when she passed her exams.
“Oh well”, she thought, “in for a penny...”
Tanya went home quickly and changed into her full length black dress, with lace sleeves, which she normally only wore to formal dinners, and then quickly put on her coat over the top. By force of habit she pulled up the hood, and fastened it.
Darting outside, she then hailed a taxi, and went off to Samoto.
She was met at the Care Home entrance by Shan, who had seen her coming.
Tanya was surprised by Shan’s ‘uniform’, especially the material, but was too mesmerised by the fact it was a beautiful dress, or the confident way in which Shan wore it, to say anything.
However, as they walked in, Shan’s arm brushed against her hand.
“My god!”, Tanya thought. “It can’t be... latex?”
Shan had put on Lisa’s old red latex dress to meet Tanya, and she was just having the reaction she wanted...
The interview went well, but then Shan dropped the bombshell...
“There’s only one problem, I’m afraid, but it’s a major one. We’re not called an Asian Care Home for nothing. All our staff are either of Asian descent, or have Asian relatives that make them at least look Asian. You, however, do not...”
Tanya stared at Shan, for some reason desperately trying hard not to cry, probably pure frustration. Her dream job was there in front of her, and it had been snatched away because of her race. She stood up, cursing and swearing, calling Shan a racist, threatening to complain to the local council and other bodies.
“Never mind”, said Shan, holding out her hand, “I’m sure we can think of something...”
Tanya, in a state of shock, took Shan’s hand. The needle on Shan’s ring scratched her, and she slumped back in the chair, unconscious...
As she lay there, Shan looked at the thick mac that Tanya was wearing, and the fact the hood was up.
“Interesting...”
Tanya awoke, sometime later, and looked around slowly.
To her amazement, she was sitting in the staff canteen at the care home, with the other nurses. All were wearing a stylised version of a nurse/maid dress, almost like one from a children’s cartoon. All were walking around or sitting with the same fixed smile on their faces. A few were wearing hoods attached to their dresses, with transparent visors over their faces. The badges on their chests said “Samoto Care – Infectious Disease Department”. The hoods made the women look very weird, as they were almost like helmets, mainly the same black as the dresses, but with a rectangular transparent curved visor that left the whole wearers face visible.
Tanya suddenly realised that no one was talking, and everything looked slightly blurred somehow...
She looked down, and would have shrieked if she could have.
She was wearing the same uniform as the other women. She could see from the way it shone and was stretched across her breasts that it was made of rubber. She could also feel something wrapped snugly around her armpits and neck...
She pulled at the belt round her waist, but it was firmly locked. So was all the fasteners on the dress. The she tried to touch her face...
She saw her white gloved hands for the first time, at the same time as her hands were stopped short of touching her face by the transparent visor of her hood...
“Mmmmmgn!” Tanya wailed, stumbling to her feet. Her mouth, under the hood, was sealed shut by something...
Tanya staggered towards the canteen exit, shuffling and tripping as she realised that the underskirt of her dress was acting as a hobble. As she did, however, a pain started in her breasts, getting worse as she got closer to the exit...
Moaning, Tanya kept trying to leave, but the pain was too much, and she collapsed into a chair. At the same time, she caught a glance of the nametag that she was now wearing, reflected in the glass of the table...
“Samoto Care – Infectious Diseases Department. Nurse Tanya Lin.”
Lin?? Who the hell was Tanya Lin?
She then caught sight of her reflection, and screamed and screamed silently...
One of the expressionless Asian faces smiled back, sealed away behind a thick clear plastic visor...
She couldn’t even cry, as something was taking away her tears...
Shan then came into the canteen, walked up to Tanya, took her hand again and led her out of another exit, down to the wing where she was going to work.
“I hope the harness isn’t too tight around your arms and neck, Tanya”, Shan said. “We had to make the uniform up for you at short notice. The hood is our special design, almost like a helmet. It stops the patients from pulling it off, or damaging it...”
Shan smiled at that. The helmet was also designed to stop the staff member from removing it, as well, but it was a perfect excuse for any member of the public who came ‘visiting’...
Tanya shuffled down the corridor, alongside Shan. What with the Asian mask, as well as the helmet, she was having difficulty breathing, especially since her mouth was firmly fastened shut under the mask. The visor was misting up slightly. How was she going to eat and drink and, more to the point, how the hell could she get out of there?
As they walked down the corridor, Shan pointed through a doorway. Tanya looked in, and saw a few racks of clothes. She looked closer, and saw that they were uniforms and dresses, as well as some tunics, skirts and slacks. She also saw some green Ambulance and Paramedic overalls...
One item brought her up short, and she almost tripped over in shock. She recognised her old uniform anywhere...
Her tunic was swinging gently on a hangar, with her slacks hooked up under it. On the hanger next to it was her black dress, and next to that, her white raincoat.
“We’ve been watching you for some time”, said Shan...
Shan spent the next hour giving Tanya a tour. She then pointed out that, as a highly qualified nurse, Tanya had earned a senior staff position, and her own room on site.
“Really, I insist”, Shan said. “The post is a ‘live in’ one, after all…”
Shan guided Tanya into a room. Tanya gasped in shock. It was laid out exactly as the bedroom in her flat, but all the bedclothes were latex, and the cupboards all had their doors open, showing what looked like her normal wardrobe collection.
As soon as Shan locked Tanya into her room, she hobbled over to the cupboards and went to try and get some normal clothes…
Her hands were stopped short, by clear plastic sheeting sealed across the cupboards, in front of the clothes. All of her clothes were out of reach…
Wailing silently, she hobbled over to the wall, and started bashing her helmet against it, trying to get free. It was heavily reinforced and padded, however, so all she managed to do was jar her neck and her arms where the helmet straps were. She was still trying to get her uniform undone and the helmet off when an announcement played on the headphones in her ears…
“Warning, curfew for shift 1 personnel. Blackout in 2 minutes.”
What the hell…? Tanya, mystified, went over and sat on the bed…
Looking up, Tanya suddenly realised something. It was getting dark…
Waving her hands in front of her face, she hobbled over to the mirror. Looking in, she could see that her visor was getting more and more opaque…
Shan looked in later through the window in Tanya’s door, to see her sitting on the side of her bed, her helmeted head held in her hands. From the way she was shaking, Shan could tell she was crying, and the visor of her hood was now as opaque as the rest of her helmet…