RELUCTANT PRESS

and dress it in pretty clothes! Oh, well. 'Bye, Mommy. Don't forget my birthday presents!"

Lucy left the room and Frank said, "Say your prayers, creep, I'm gonna hafta turn you over to Rocco and Joe."

"Wait a minute, Frank," Janet countered. "It just occurred to me that we may have a way of doing business after all."

"Sure thing, Janet," Frank responded.

Janet stepped out from behind the desk to stand over me and I got my first look at her. She was about forty years old and kept her black hair very short and cut in a man's style. She wore jeans, boots and a man's western shirt. She stared down at me for a moment.

"You know, you could die from a beating from those boys of his, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes. Ma'am."

"Would you be interested in a different option? One that contains no beatings?"

"What is it?"

"My daughter has expressed a wish that you were her slave. For some time now, I have thought it would be a good experience for her to have a slave she could discipline and train. If I pay Frank the eight grand you owe him, are you willing to become my daughter's slave for a period of, oh, say a year?"

"I'm not sure I understand you, Ma'am. What do you mean by 'be her slave'?"

"Just what I said," Janet replied. "I will be buying you for her. For one year you will agree to become her personal property. You will not be your own person any more. You will be hers. You will have to obey her every command. It will likely be very embarrassing for you, but you will have to learn to wear the pretty clothes she wants to dress you in and act like a girl if she wishes. I can save you from Frank's boys, but you must enter into this as a willing slave. I want to have no disciplinary problems. with you. If you disobey or re-

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