R. C. SmithShort Stories and Vignettes

Do not read my works if you are offended by descriptions of sexuality and violence.
(Do not read them just for those descriptions, either.)

Teaching

Audio read by RC (2:30)

In this dream, I am a teacher.

I write a sentence on the blackboard: “If it pleases my Master, I will suffer willingly.”

“Now,” I ask the class, “one of you has written this in his or her homework. Who can tell me what the two grave faults are in this sentence?”

A girl stands up and says, “It says Master, but it should also say Mistress!”

“That’s true,” I answer, “but this is not what I had wanted to hear — 20 lashes, after the class!”

She thanks me — at least this she knows — and sits down. Silence from the rest of the class.

“Now, this can’t be that difficult?” I ask them.

Still no reply. Oh my god, haven’t they learned anything?

“Now listen,” I say, “there’s a flaw in each of the two parts of the sentence. If it pleases my Master — now, you can not impose conditions for anything, can you? If it pleases — do you think that your Master might have to explain himself to you? That you have a right to know whether anything pleases him or not? What insolence! And then the second part: … I will suffer willingly. Now, what is that supposed to mean? Willingly? What will are you talking about? You do not have a will, other than your Master’s. Is that clear?”

Silence.

“Is that clear?” I ask again.

“Yes, Master,” they say.

“Stand up,” I say to a petite dark-haired girl with nicely erect nipples. I take the whip in my hand. “Are you willing to receive 30 lashes?”

“If it pleases you, Master,” she says.

Oh my god! I wipe the sweat from my brows — teaching can be quite a frustrating experience!

(06/2008)

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