Chivalry is on Life Support Ch. 25

The next thing I knew Kelly was standing directly above me, as I continued to buff, hoping somehow that my efforts would obscure me from notice.

"Oh, hi Professor Rollins. I certainly didn't expect to see you here," Kelly said. I heard Paul Betz laugh out loud and Anna giggle. All four of them (Kelly's boyfriend included) had walked over to us.

Trying my best to think on my feet (or my knees, I should say), I replied, "Hello, Kelly. Mr. Betz, Miss Dawson, sir. Yes, I've never been to one of these festivals before, but my wife and my friends here talked me into it."

"Oh, I didn't mean see you at the fair. Although that is a little surprising. I meant that I didn't expect to see you shining the boots of Professor Lawson." Kelly giggled.

Brooke said, "Walter is a page, you see? I'm Mrs. Rollins."

Kelly replied, "Very nice to meet you. My name is Kelly Blythe." She shook Brooke's hand. "Your husband is one of my favorite professors. Well, actually, both your husband and Professor Lawson are two of my favorites. I've seen you around town with your family friend here." Kelly smiled at Luke.

Luke extended his head to Kelly and said, "Luke Hanover. Nice to meet you." Luke then shook Paul's, Anna's and Kelly's boyfriend's hands as well.

I said, "Yes, I drew the short end of the stick today and am the page. I'm trying to get into the spirit of the day. Ha ha."

"I thought you might've made another one of those foolish bets, professor." She laughed. "But I can see that you put a lot of thought and effort into your costume. You even have a pageboy haircut."

Brooke said, trying her best to rescue me, "Walter doesn't go into things half measure. Once we convinced him to come to the fair, he wanted to look, and act, as realistic as possible."

"Well, you've certainly succeeded, Professor Rollins. You really do look the part of a page. Although your jacket might be a little short," said Kelly. I reflexively covered my bottom with one of my hands, and Anna snickered.

Kelly then said, "The show's about to start, so we better go back to our seats."

"Nice to meet you all," said Luke.

Paul said, "Same here. You know, our shoes are filthy, too. I don't suppose there's any way that we could borrow your page to clean them for us, is there?"

Brooke said, "No, I don't think..."

Luke interrupted her. "Now, Brooke, you may be Lady Guinevere, but remember, Walter is my page, so it's up to me to decide if I want to offer his services to anyone. This tournament isn't too crowded, so after he finishes with Neil's boots, he can go over and clean the four of your shoes. There should be plenty of room for him to work. He can do mine later."

"Why that's very generous of you, Luke," said Paul.

"Don't mention it. Make sure he calls you 'my lord' and 'my lady' while he cleans your shoes. The prof is a big stickler for things being authentic, so we want to make sure he stays true to his beliefs, right? Let me know if there are any issues." Luke moved his hand up and down the tawse, as he spoke.

"You seem like a really good family friend, Luke," said Kelly. Even Brooke had to giggle at that (along with Neil and Laura).

So, that is how I came to endure the maximum humiliation -- or at least what I perceived to be maximum at the time (it's amazing how relative things are) -- of cleaning and polishing the shoes of Kelly, her boyfriend, the thoroughly obnoxious Mr. Betz and his girlfriend, Anna. How could a professor possibly ever recover any sense of dignity or authority after kneeling at the feet of three of his students and cleaning and polishing their shoes? Kelly and Anna were highly amused while I worked beneath them, smiling and giggling. Paul, on the other hand, regarded me with a supremely smug expression while I cleaned his incredibly muddy boots. I tried to tell myself that this was merely some elaborate cosplay, a playfulness in the spirit of the day that would have no bearing on reality tomorrow and thereafter. But I knew that wasn't true.

As I worked, Paul said to me, "I guess I owe you an apology, professor, for questioning your knowledge of the subject matter of male masochism. You're obviously a true expert. Wipe the dried mud from the bottom of my boot as well."

"Yes, my lord."

Anna said, "I can't believe this. This is a trip." She then kissed Paul fervently.

When I had finished, I said to them, "My lords and ladies. I appreciate the opportunity to have been of service to you. Can I assume that what happens at the Ren fair, stays at the Ren fair? I would be ever so grateful to you--truly, humbly grateful--if you could keep this between us, and not say anything to your classmates, or to other professors. Or anyone, for that matter." I was still on my knees, in the position of supplicant, as I made this request.

"Of course, Professor Rollins, we're all just having a bit of fun is all."

"Thank you, Kelly."

"Kelly?," said her boyfriend.

"I'm so sorry, my lord. I meant to say, thank you, my lady."

"You are welcome, page," Kelly giggled.

I was so disoriented by the surreal nature of what was happening, so consumed by my request that they keep things quiet, that I completely forgot to try to prevent them from seeing my erection. I didn't realize this until I stood up to return to where Brooke, Luke, Neil and Laura were sitting. As I stood and looked into their astonished, mirthful faces, I realized in horror that the four of them were staring directly at the tent in my hose. Because I was standing on the step below them, my crotch was directly at their eye level.

Covering her grinning mouth with one hand, Anna pointed at my crotch with the other and said, snickering, "Don't worry, professor, that will stay between us too."

I hung my head in shame and said, "Thank you, my lords and ladies," as I hurried back to my section of the stadium. I heard them cracking up behind me, and was fairly sure I heard Kelly say "so tiny" amidst their laughter.

If nothing else, I was confident that my humiliation that day had reached its apotheosis. It so happened that my confidence was misplaced, as usual.

In the late afternoon, as the sun was beginning to set, we wandered over to the public square, me carrying the heavy bag behind the others, growing increasingly weary and sweaty. In the middle of the square were positioned three pillories. One was empty, but there was an attractive (attractive face, at least, as it was difficult for me to see her body, from her position or mine) middle aged woman, probably in her mid to late forties, in the center pillory. Luke placed me in the one next to her. Because this festival was an adult affair, I suppose, it was possible to lock the pillories, as I discovered when I was unable to escape as Luke walked the other way to join the others sitting on a hill nearby. He had hung the tawse on a rope from a hook on the pillory. The rope had plenty of slack, so it could be used and rehung without untying it. Before placing me in the stocks, he had taken from the bag a sign and a string, and put it around my neck, so that the sign would be visible on my back. I later learned that the sign read "I'm an errant page. My master requests that you correct me with the tawse hanging to my right. Thank you." I did not believe that the word "errant" was in Luke's vocabulary (although he sometimes surprised me), so had to wonder if Brooke (or worse still, Neil) had helped him in writing it.

After I was there about ten minutes, watching Brooke, Luke, Neil and Laura talking, laughing, and drinking nearby (and watching me, waiting to see what would happen), the woman locked up next to me addressed me. "So, what's your story?"

"Excuse me, are you talking to me?"

"No, genius, I'm talking to the oak tree. Do you see anyone else here?"

"I'm sorry, I've had a really bad day."

"Tell me about it. Okay, I'll go first. My name is Claire and I'm a cuckquean. It sounds like I'm in alcoholics anonymous, doesn't it? Cuckqueans anonymous, I guess. You know what a cuckquean is?"

"Of course, the female equivalent of what I am."

"I thought so, but I think of you as the male equivalent of what I am. No matter. See that man and woman at that picnic table over there? That's my husband and his lover. I'm an equity partner in the Cleveland office of a national law firm. She's my paralegal. She's also half my age. She gave me ten with her sorority paddle a little while ago. Tomorrow, after she sleeps with my husband all night, I will serve the two of them breakfast in bed, before I go clean her condo in a maid's uniform. It makes

for interesting Monday mornings, I can tell you, as we review her work for the week."

"I'll bet."

"She's a sexy young thing, I'll give her that. It makes it easier when she forces me go down on her after my husband fucks her. Not all of my husband's choices have been as easy on the eyes. Ok, now it's your turn. Watch out!"

"OUCH!" Someone had struck me brutally on my tights-clad bottom with the damn tawse from behind. It was impossible for me to see anyone approaching or leaving from behind me.

"Sorry, I couldn't give you more notice. I just caught a glimpse of someone in my peripheral vision reaching for the strap."

"Wow, that hurt. Thanks for trying. Could you see whether it was a man or a woman?"

"I think it was a man, but I can't be sure. I think they're gone now. Probably just some college kids fooling around." That was precisely what I was afraid of.

"Anyhow, it's your turn."

"See those four people sitting on the hill off to your right. The woman on the left is my wife. The guy next to her is her lover. He also happens to be her ex-husband. He's a plumber. I'm a college professor."

"Who are the other two?"

"The guy is my friend and fellow professor. The woman is his new girlfriend, my wife's friend."

"Interesting. Brace yourself."

"Ouch!" I heard Laura's laughter from across the lawn.

"I think that one was a woman. She was dressed as a pirate, I think."

"It didn't hurt as much as the first one."

"Does your bull make you eat his cream pies out of your wife's vagina, like my husband makes me clean his out of my cake?"

"Yes."

Just then I saw approaching the last four people I wanted to see: Kelly, her boyfriend, Paul and Anna.

Kelly said, "Hi Professor Rollins. Long time no see." She waved over at Luke and the others.

"Hi, Miss Kelly. I'm sorry, I mean, my lady."

"'Miss Kelly.' I like that. Well, it's getting late, we need to be going soon. I'll see you in class on Monday."

"Yes, my lady. Good night."

The four of them moved on, to my great relief. Meanwhile, the young cuckcake, who was dressed as a princess, came over and liberated my neighbor, who promptly lowered herself to the ground and kissed the young woman's feet. "Thank you, princess."

"You're welcome, piglet," said the young woman. It was true, she was quite sexy.

As she was walking away, the lawyer said to me, "See you around. Good luck. It sounds like you're going to to need it."

As if she were prophetic, I felt someone caressing my ass. It felt like a feminine hand.

"Kelly? Anna? Is that you?"

I heard giggling, but no answer. Next I felt hard swat on my right buttock. It felt like the same hand. More feminine giggles.

It was getting dark and things went silent. About ten minutes passed before someone struck me suddenly and viscously with the tawse.

"Ouch! Who is that?"

Another viscous strike.

"Mercy, I beg you."

I then heard Paul Betz whispering in my ear, "I told you I was a dominant guy, professor. Sometimes the student has to teach the professor. I'm going to help you learn even more about male masochism." More feminine giggles in the distance. "If you really don't want anyone to know about what happened today, I'm sure we can work out an arrangement that works for everybody. It's amazing how good these new iPhone cameras are, isn't it?"

"But, my lord, you promised."

Another biting cut of the tawse. it wasn't as bad as the cane, but it still hurt like hell.

"I didn't promise anything, professor. That was Kelly who promised, not me. We'll talk. Good night."

He struck me again. "Ouch! Good night, my lord."

After about another 10 minutes or so, Luke released me, and the five of us returned to the parking lot.

After we said goodbye to Neil and Laura, I drove Luke and Brooke home as they kissed passionately in the back seat.

Obviously, my subjugation had entered a new public phase. I was to learn that there was, and is, no going back.