RELUCTANT PRESS

"As of now, you are a slave, bought and paid for," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Quiet slave!" she said. "You may not speak unless asked to or told to. You will be silent and simply obey. Is that clear? Address me as Mistress."

"Yes, Mistress."

"I wish you to know where you are, the better to understand what I expect of you. This is a school for young girls who have been kidnaped for the white and black slave markets of the world. You look surprised. Did you think that slavery was no more?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"You thought wrong. It is secret, but it still exists in many countries. Once a girl has been broken and trained in our slave school, she is sold at quite a high price to those men around the world who wish to own a girl trained in all the female arts. In addition to becoming Lucy's servant, I am going to give you all the slave-girl training as well. It will be fun, I think, to make a project out of you. You heard me tell Frank that there are no men here. We will see how much like a girl we can make you over the next year. You will dress as a girl, speak as a girl, and learn to behave and move as a girl."

Janet went to the doorway near my head and pushed a button in the door frame.

I lay in shock over what I had heard.

A girl.

She was going to train me as a slave-girl! What had I done?

A tall, Black woman came into the room. 6'4" tall or more, her skin rippled with muscles that could only have come from serious weight training. She wore grey coveralls and had soft leather boots on her feet.

Page 36