A Keen Sense of Obligation

Trigger Warning: This story is set in 1970's Alabama and some the characters and institutions have racist and/or sexist views that are unacceptable today.

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At the end of WWII, two friends from India, Srikanth and Pramod, were studying engineering at Oxford University in England. Because of their talent, they came to the attention of the right people, and were given expedited entry to the United States and assigned to Huntsville, Alabama to work on the space program.

Eventually, they both fully settled in Alabama. Srikanth married and in 1951 he and his wife had a little boy whom they named Vikram. Pramod also married and in 1955 had a little girl, whom they named Priya. The families lived next to each other, and their kids grew up as best friends.

As you may have guessed, I am Vikram, and my wife is Priya.

Fast-forward to 1974. I was 23 years old and was in my second year of medical school at a small medical school in Alabama. I had married Priya the summer between my first and second year. She was 21 years old and in her junior year of pre-law.

It was interesting being an Indian in Alabama in the 1970's. We were often the only Asian Indians a lot of people had seen in real life. They didn't quite know how to classify us. We weren't "black" or "colored" or "Mexican" or "Indian" as in Native American and yet we weren't "white". We were in a weird other category.

There was one person who really helped us during this time. His name was Professor Jones. He was chairman of the department of gynecology at the medical school. He came from old money, and his family had been in the town for generations, so he knew everyone.

Professor Jones really took me under his wings. When I got married and Priya transferred to the local college and came to live with me, he also helped her out as well.

There were two very important things he did for her. First, he used his connections to get my wife an internship with his friend Mr. Smith who was senior partner at the biggest law firm in the town. This would be of great help when my wife applied to law school. More importantly, he saved her younger brother's life! Right after we got married, Priya's younger brother came to visit. He met all our friends including Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones on seeing him, immediately felt there was something wrong with him. He quickly listened to his heart, and then promptly called his friend who was an accomplished cardiac surgeon. Dr Jones' friend diagnosed my brother-in-law with valvular heart disease. He was admitted that day and underwent surgery. This was all done at no cost as a favor to Dr. Jones. The kind of heart disease my brother-in-law had was one where patients will suddenly drop dead during their teens. If Dr Jones has not intervened when he did, Priya's brother would have been one of those statistics. Since that time, Priya felt a sense of gratitude towards Dr. Jones and wished somehow to repay him.

The school year had been going well, and in the month of May was winding down. Starting in July, we would be entering our third year. This meant that we would start clinical rotations where we would get to take what we had learned these past two years and start treating actual patients in the hospital. In preparation for that, the school split us into small groups and had the various faculty teach us physical exam skills. The cardiologists came in and taught us about diagnosis of heart disease. And so on with the other specialists. These lessons consisted of listening to a lecture and then we would practice either on each other, or else on plastic dummies.

I was in a group with three other guys: Jim, Mark, and Scott. Eventually, we had gone through all the exam lessons except for one: Dr Jones' lesson on female exams.

We would be the last group to have this training. All our other classmates had gone through it. However, it was strictly forbidden to talk about this lesson with anyone who had not taken it, and so we were in the dark about what it would entail.

It was scheduled for the evening of Sunday, May 19th at Dr. Jones house. I remember that date well, because it is my wife's birthday.

On Friday the 17th, when I got home, Priya was all excited and nervous about something. That afternoon, Dr. Jones had come over to where she was interning to talk with his friend and Priya's mentor Mr. Smith. When I asked what had happened, Priya refused to tell me any details. She only said that she had agreed to help Dr. Jones with something and that we were to go by his house tomorrow and he would explain everything.

Like I said before, Dr Jones had taken us under his wings and so I and Priya had been to his house many times for dinners and other social events. He lived in a large home by himself.

When we arrived at Dr. Jones' home, he greeted us warmly and ushered us into his study and invited us to sit in two comfortable chairs in front of his desk. He then began to speak, addressing me directly.

"As you are aware, Vikram, you are the first non-white student to enroll at this medical college. I am happy and proud for you. However, not everyone, especially in this part of the Deep South, views this as I do."

"As you know I am the chairman of the gynecology department. As the chairman, I am responsible for teaching the second-year students about female anatomy and how to conduct exams."

"For the past 15 years, I have been using a female model to help me teach the medical students. We are having our last session, with your group tomorrow."

"However, my female model, on learning that there was a 'colored man' who would be in the group, asked that you be excluded from the group for her to participate. I told her in no uncertain terms that you are just as much a part of this group and this school as anyone else, and I would sooner cancel the whole session, than exclude one of my students. At that point, my model refused to participate."

I was surprised by this conversation. Was he trying to tell me that the session would be cancelled because of me? Surely, this was not what Priya meant when she said that she had agreed to help Dr. Jones? My wife, despite having grown up in America, was raised in a very traditional way, and was very shy and modest about her body.

As I was thinking these thoughts, my wife spoke up. "Honey, yesterday I told Dr. Jones that I can model to help teach the class!"

My mind was blown!

"That is why I wanted to talk to the both of you and make sure you understand what is involved before committing to anything," began Dr. Jones.

I nodded in agreement. If Priya knew what it would entail, she would surely not sign up.

Priya interrupted, however.

"No need to, Dr. Jones. You have been nothing but helpful and kind to me and my husband the whole time I have known you. Not to mention, that my brother is alive because of you."

"For some time, I have been praying that I would get a chance to help you out in some way. It seems, my prayer has been answered. I have already decided to go ahead with this," finished my wife.

"Well, Priya, I am humbled that you think of me like this. Believe me, you are under no obligation to do anything. Let's talk about what you are comfortable with for the class," continued Dr. Jones.

"I trust you Dr. Jones. I want you to conduct your class just like you were planning on doing. Just tell me what you need me to do to prepare for the class," said Priya.

I was shocked. I had never seen this aspect of my wife before.

"Ok, Priya, here is what I want you to do," he said, pulling out a stack of cash from his desk. "I want you to go to the store today and buy a bikini - one of those two-piece bathing suits - and a robe. Then I want you to keep the remaining money and use it for your birthday - buy something you like, go out to eat, or anything that you want. Then I want you to dress up and come to my house tomorrow evening. We will first have dinner, and then you can change into your bikini and robe for the class," he finished.

Hearing the word "bikini" brought a slight blush to my wife's face. She had never worn anything as revealing as a bikini in public before. Whenever we had gone to the beach, she had always worn a one-piece bathing suit and a pair of swim trunks. However, she remained resolute.

"Sounds good, Dr. Jones. Do I need to do anything else?" inquired my wife.

"No, that's it. Oh, and one more thing. Make sure that you don't trim or remove any of your body hair. Also, don't worry. You are performing a great service by helping train future doctors. However, if at any time you feel at all uncomfortable or want to stop for any reason, we will stop," Dr. Jones reassured.

"Thank you, Dr. Jones," said my wife as we stood up, shook hands and walked out.

"Ok Vikram, time to go to the store and pick out my first bikini," Priya said to me, winking as we got into the car.

When we got to the shopping mall, Priya insisted on going in alone, telling me to wait in the car. An hour later, she came back with a small shopping bag. When I asked to see what she had bought, she said that the store clerk had done an amazing job of folding everything up so it fit in the bag, and that since the bag was so nicely packed for tomorrow, she didn't want to mess with it.

After putting the bag with the bathing suit into the trunk, we went back into the store and did some more shopping using Dr. Jones' money that he had given Priya.

That evening, I asked my wife about what she had signed up for. "Are you sure, you want to do this, Priya. What if you have to be naked?" I asked.

"Honey, I am sure. After all that Dr. Jones has done for us, I owe him this. Remember, it is because he stood up for you, that he is in this situation. Besides, I am sure that I will not have to get naked," she explained.

"Why are you so sure?" I asked

"Because he told me to buy a bikini. If I was going to get naked, there would have been no reason to get a bikini. It would have been just a waste of his money," she replied.

"So, stop worrying, and get some sleep. I will be fine," she finished as she closed her eyes.

Sunday, we drove to the ocean, and had a nice lunch at one of the famous beach fish houses. We then drove back home and got ready to go to Dr. Jones' house. Priya decided to wear one of her beautiful salwar dresses. She looked stunning.

We arrived at Dr. Jones' home and were greeted by him and escorted to the living room to join the other guests. We saw the rest of my groupmates, who seemed surprised Priya was there, but figured she was just there for the dinner, never even having imagined that Priya would be the model.

Shortly after we arrived, Dr. Jones came up to us and asked to speak to us in his study. When we went in, we were surprised to see Mr. Smith, Priya's boss at the law firm, in the study waiting for us.

Dr. Jones explained that he was required by school policy to have an adult male chaperone present for the model. The chaperone was required to be male, since it was felt that a man might be better able to defend the honor of the woman if so required. In the past, this had not been a problem as the husband or boyfriend of the model would be present. However, there was a problem in our case. Since I, as a student, was subordinate to my professor Dr. Jones, I could not play the role of chaperone.

Dr. Jones stated that he had conferred with his friend Mr. Smith seeking a solution. One solution would be for Mr. Smith to chaperone. He was not a subordinate of Dr. Jones, and since he knew Priya from work, he was not a stranger. Otherwise, the event would have to be cancelled.

"What do you think, Priya? Are you ok with Mr. Smith being the chaperone?" inquired Dr. Jones.

Priya looked at her boss and blushed. She knew that he would be seeing her in her bikini. However, she had made up her mind that she would help Dr. Jones by serving as his model. "If that is what we need to do, then I am ok with it," Priya replied bravely.

After this, we went and had a nice dinner. Dr. Jones even bought a birthday cake and candles for Priya and we all sang and wished her happy birthday.

Dr. Jones then instructed us to go into the library. He would be in shortly with the model.

I entered the library with my three other classmates. Dr. Jones's library was a large room. Dividers had been set up partitioning the room and we could not see the portion of the room furthest from the door. In our part of the room, wooden chairs were arranged in a tight semi-circle in the center of the area. We assumed that was where the model would be. We would all be within an arm's length of the model. The center chair directly in front of where the model would be, was marked "Reserved." We proceeded to sit down in the remaining chairs.

Shortly after we were seated, Dr. Jones came in with Mr. Smith, followed by my wife! Everyone's eyes got wide, as she was wearing a robe instead of her dress from dinner! There was no doubt who the model would be! The three of them moved into the center of the semi-circle. Mr. Smith sat down on the center chair, in front of my wife. Dr. Jones remained standing next to her.

"Hello, gentlemen!" Dr. Jones began. "We are here to learn about the female body. I consider it a crime to reduce one of the most beautiful things in the universe, to just a bunch of stuffy diagrams. That is why I have always taught this class with the help of a lovely female assistant."

My classmates cheered.

"Today, Vikram's wife Priya, has graciously volunteered to be my assistant. Let's hear it for her!"

Cheering again.

"Just a warning. I want you to treat Priya with the utmost respect, both during the class and afterward, If I find out that any of you are being disrespectful or crude to her in any way, or talking about this class to others, or spreading rumors or gossip about this class or Priya, I will make your life hell! Is that clear?"

His last statement put the fear of God into everyone, and we all agreed that we would be respectful.

"Ok, Priya, before we get started, thank you for agreeing to do this. I want to make it clear to you, that your participation is completely voluntary. You can stop at any time. Is that clear?" asked Dr. Jones.

Priya nodded.

"All right, then. First, we are going to study the general female form. For that, we will need you in your bathing suit. Priya, dear, if you will give me your robe, I will go hang it up for you."

"Ok," Priya said. Although she had known this moment was coming, she still seemed shy about taking off the robe and exposing herself in her bikini. Nonetheless, her hands went to the tie around her waist. She untied the robe, and gave it to Dr. Jones, who went over to a nearby shelf, and hung it on a protruding hook.

Priya looked stunning! While not a daring bikini, it showed off her body well. The bikini top nicely showed off her breasts, exposing a lot of cleavage. You could also see the outline of her nipples against the cups of the bikini. Her bottoms had tie strings at the top of her thighs and showed off her long legs to maximum effect. As per Dr. Jones instructions, she had not trimmed her body hair, and you could see a few stray pubic hairs poking out of the sides of her bikini bottoms.

Although, you could tell she was not used to the exposure, Priya stood confident and erect, her arms at her side, not trying to hide any of her charms. She made it a point to look directly at each person in the audience, her smile reassuring each guy that it was ok to stare.

"Very beautiful," said Dr. Jones. "Gentleman, before us, we have living proof that the female body is the loveliest thing in the universe."

"Priya, let's see you from all angles. Would you mind turning to your right."

My wife turned to her right, giving us a nice profile view. Her shape looked amazing, with prominent breasts and flat but soft stomach.

"Now turn away from us, so we can see your back," instructed Dr. Jones. My wife turned away from us, giving us a full view of her bikini clad bottom. It was just the right size and pertness. Her dimples were visible above her bikini. The cut of the bikini was such that the fleshy area where the thighs and bottom meet was visible.

Dr. Jones had her turn a couple more times, until she was facing us again.

"Now that you have had a chance to appreciate Priya's form. I want you to classify her somatype using WH Sheldon's classification." With that he handed us some drawings illustrating the various body morphologies.

After looking at the drawings, and looking at my wife, we reached the conclusion that my wife was a "mesomorph."

"Great job, gentleman," congratulated Dr. Jones.

"Now, one of the diseases, women, especially young women, can get is scoliosis. I am going to show you how to check for that," continued Dr. Jones.

He then had my wife bend forward as he explained how to check if one shoulder was higher than the other. He then had my wife turn around.

"Now keep your legs straight, bend over, and touch your toes," he instructed.

If the previous view of her ass had been amazing, this was breath-taking. Her thighs and bottom where taut from being stretched. In addition, the bikini bottom had ridden up in her crack, exposing even more of her bottom to our gaze.

Dr. Jones explained how to see if one hip was higher than the other and make sure that that there was no abnormal spinal curvature.

"Gentlemen, looks like Priya is healthy and normal. Her back and backside are perfect," he assessed with a wink.

He turned his attention to Priya. "Great job Priya! Thank you so much for your help. You can turn back around and face us."

"You're welcome," said my wife as she turned back around. "Happy to help!"

"We are done with the bathing suit," continued Dr. Jones.

I could see my wife relax. It had been embarrassing for her to stand in front of my classmates and Dr. Jones, not to mention her boss Mr. Smith, all but naked except for a few square inches of fabric. However, she had not wanted to let Dr. Jones down, and she had persevered. Finally, it was over.

"We are done with the bathing suit. For the next part of the session, I need you to turn your back to us and change into your birthday suit," continued Dr. Jones.

"Birthday suit! You want me to be naked?" squealed my wife in shock!

"Yes, honey. We have examined your general form. Now, we need to specifically learn about your female parts. Your bikini is doing its job and hiding them from our view."

"However," continued Dr. Jones, "as I told you earlier, Priya, if that is outside of your comfort level, we will stop and end the class. We will only continue if you are willing. Would you like to stop?"

My wife breathed a sigh of relief. If being in a bikini in front of all these men was embarrassing, how would it be if she was completely naked in front of everyone?

"Thank you, Dr. Jones, for understanding. I have never done anything like this before. Even being in a bikini in front of others is a new experience for me," Priya explained apologetically.

I was happy we were stopping. Having her exposed in a bikini in front of my classmates had brought a new level of sexual tension to me. But it was enough for one night.

Then she stopped! I saw the same look come into her eyes that I first saw when we were kids. I had challenged her to a race around the block. We were almost done with the race and I was comfortably ahead. I had turned and looked back at her with a taunting smirk. I expected to see her give up. Instead, I saw her eyes flash with determination. She called up some hidden reserve of strength and energy and just turned on the afterburners, so to speak. Before I knew it, she had passed me and had won our race.

She had the same look in her eyes now. Her voice lost its nervous tenor and became confident and determined.