Family Matters Ch. 16

The wrangler grasped her by the feet and pulled her out of the cattle trailer.

She was in a yard facing a high wooden platform. They led her up a set of steps and suspended her by the wrists from a dangling rope.

A girl, naked as herself, ascended the steps and held a water bottle to her lips. Faith thanked her; the girl stepped back - not too far on the narrow platform - and looked her over.

Faith resembled a boy, she said; Mr. Kent would like her. She left without further explanation.

It began to grow dark and a floodlight came on, illuminating the yard. She looked up and saw she was hung from a gallows; that explained the platform. Yes, she was standing on a trapdoor that could be released.

At least the noose was around her hands and not her neck, that was good. She guessed she had been put here for her first night as a test, and a warning.

It emphasized her helplessness; like those London whores she read about, she was disposable. She grew wet at the thought.

A moment later she saw a dark cloud heading toward her. Hundreds of flies approached, drawn by the smell of what she lay in on the journey here.

They settled on her and began to feed. They stung as well; soon she became delirious, mad from the tiny bites they took all over her body.

She must have passed out; when she woke they were gone and the floodlight was off, the yard in darkness. But she was not alone; with the flies away, tiny spiders crept out from the floorboards for their turn. Crawling up her legs they sought whatever the first swarm missed, entering every crevice of her body.

They devoured the last traces of manure and the sticky liquid between her thighs; when they were done she was clean as when she was offered for sale the day before. She rested her head against an upraised arm and slept.

Some time after dawn she woke to find a stable boy pinching her nipples. He gave her water and fed her paste from a bowl, putting the spoon each time carefully into her mouth and watching her lips close around it.

She was grateful to him; with nothing to eat since the morning before she was ravenous, but she tried to take each spoonful with as much grace as she could manage in her condition. Afraid to speak, she smiled her thanks.

He played with her breasts for a minute, then lowered her from the gallows and led her down the steps into a barn.

He took her to a stall occupied by another girl who reclined in the hay and waited for him to leave. As soon as he was gone she told Faith to lie on her back and took her, then ordered her to return the favor.

When they had both used each other she introduced herself. Her name was Katie; she pulled Ian's - Mr. Kent's - chaise around town when he went for a ride, and she was indispensable.

She stood up and Faith got a better look at her. She was tall and husky with a powerfully muscled build, the perfect draft animal. She pointed to the center of the barn; in it was a shiny two-wheeled carriage made of dark wood, with shafts and harness for a girl to pull it.

The stable boy entered with a pitchfork to rearrange the hay in their stall. As he reached for a corner, he accidentally poked Katie with one of the tines and she unleashed a torrent of abuse at him. He was an imbecile, a clumsy fool.

He put down the pitchfork and stood a moment looking at her before turning and going out. A few minutes later he returned with a wrangler and the head groom.

Katie realized she was in trouble; she knelt at once before them. The groom told her to stand and the wrangler led her outside.

Faith could not see what happened next, but she could hear. Steps climbing up to the platform beneath the gallows. Indistinct noises; a snap of wood, a scream begun but cut off at once; the sound of a pickup truck arriving and a load slid onto it; the truck driving away. She knew she would not see Katie again and learned a lesson: do not offend even the lowest member of the estate staff.

The stable boy returned with his pitchfork and she knelt with her head touching the hay. Heedless of whether she had permission to speak, words tumbled out of her.

She had the greatest respect for him; and if she ever offended him in any way she hoped he would correct her and allow her to atone for it with whatever punishment he thought appropriate and continue to serve him if he found her worthy. She paused for breath.

He laughed and led her outside to squat. She wondered once again what her strait-laced parents would think of their daughter now; naked and bound, on the end of a leash held by a stable boy, relieving herself in the dirt as he stood above her. She loved it.

She never learned his name, though. Perhaps it was forbidden to her, she was afraid to ask.

Back to the chaise; Mr. Kent was going to "the school" this afternoon (this seemed to mean something) and she would have to pull it. She would spend the morning learning how.

He put her between the shafts and harnessed her, then climbed into the seat and applied the whip to her buttocks; get moving.

She pulled the chaise out of the barn and at his command turned toward the bridle path that encircled the estate. She felt the sting of his whip again and began to run, careful to avoid falling on the rutted stony surface.

Soon she understood the unspoken commands: pulling back on the reins to slow down, slapping her back with them to speed up, not much different from the leash. And the whip on her rear to get her attention, or just for entertainment.

They returned to the barn where bowls of feed and water awaited her. She took her lunch and lay down in her stall to rest before her task this afternoon.

She woke to find the stable boy's booted foot on her belly, shaking it to wake her. She rose, took a drink of water from the bowl and followed the boy to the chaise. He harnessed her and drove it to the front entrance of the house beneath a portico.

He dismounted and held the reins until Mr. Kent emerged in a brown tweed suit. And a mackintosh; the skies were cloudy and promised rain. The boy tipped his cap to his employer; Mr. Kent climbed aboard and shook the reins; Faith pulled the chaise forward.

They had just reached the main road when the rain began, chilling and drenching her. She was too busy to notice, absorbed in the difficulty of pulling a carriage in traffic.

In half an hour they reached the school, a large old building set amid extensive grounds. Mr. Kent was an alumnus and its greatest benefactor; in return, from time to time they lent him a boy for the night.

One was waiting for them on the front steps. At a wave from Mr. Kent he climbed in and they set off.

The older man pointed to Faith's glistening skin, shiny from sweat and rainwater, and made some comment about her haunches. They conversed in low tones on the way back and Faith thought she heard them kiss.

At the front door they went inside together arm in arm, and the stable boy drove her and the chaise back to the barn. He held out a towel, but it was not for her; she was to wipe down the enameled wood of the chaise before she got dinner.

She obeyed and set to work; when she was done the vehicle was dry. Its brass fittings gleamed in the dim light. He led her to her stall and she ate from her bowls before collapsing exhausted in the hay.