I Fought the Law

Even if she was standing there entirely unarmed, the look on her face would be more than enough for anyone to first plead guilty and then beg for mercy even before they were informed of which of her myriad rules they had broken – quite possibly with malice aforethought.

The fact that these rules of hers are not written down, enforced or even acknowledged before they are broken is – of course – no excuse. It is enough that she knows of the rules and knows exactly when they have been broken.

It goes without saying that she is the victim here; she is the one that suffers when these secret rules are broken, because putting everything right is – as is everything else – a job that is always left to her.

However, it is wise not to point out that they are her rules, and that she will not allow anyone else to restore the order that she is the only one to see, and that she is the only one who knows when the secret rules are broken, and that everyone else was getting along in this indifferent world as best they could until she announced the great calamity had occurred and that the world would henceforth be ripped asunder until such time as she could step forth and restore calm and order.

In the meantime, the only answer for the transgressor she has already found guilty is self-banishment to the shed to learn the error of his ways, only to emerge some time latter faithfully promising to do better next time… in the sure and certain knowledge that sometime in the very near future he will be found wanting again.