Alternative Education

My wife was a total bitch! I mean a one hundred percent purebred, howling at the moon bitch! Moaning day and night about everything from the yard needing to be raked to having too much laundry to do. Shit, Terry didn't work, she didn't do housework worth crap, she didn't even fuck very good. All day long while I worked my ass off playing suck-up to the vice president of the company I worked for, she laid around the house feeling sorry for herself. At company picnics and parties she always whined that she didn't have as many nice toys as the other manager's wives or some such shit.

But I was indulgent of her, mainly because I really was deeply in love with her. We had met at college, where I was getting my master's degree in marketing and she was taking every bullshit art history class they offered. We met, believe it or not, at a Baptist Student Union party where a friend had dragged me in an effort to convert me to a Jesus lover. Terry was there because her friend had told her that all the rich boys would be there.

Well, we got to talking and somehow, some way, I fell in love with her and she fell in love with my father's money and influence. Of course I didn't realize that was what she was after then; I was a little naive. To make a long story short, we started dating and soon went steady and then before I woke up we were married.

I should have been suspicious when she told me she was on her period on our wedding night and we didn't screw for a whole week. Finally she relented and we made love, but where she had been an active, eager participant in the past, that night she was exceptionally passive, lying on the bed and not moving until I came inside her, then she just rolled over and wanted to go to sleep.

That is how our lives went for several years. I was becoming more and more unhappy and had seriously considered getting out of the marriage a couple of times. Finally, I put my foot down.

"Terry, either we go to a marriage counselor or I want a divorce," I said one night over the table at one of her favorite restaurants.

"What?" She looked at me aghast for a full minute while the tension built between us, then she burst into tears. I had lived with her too long. I knew it was just a ruse and I wasn't moved.

"I've been a terrible wife, but I'll get better. I'll try really hard this time," she said through the crocodile tears.

Yeah right! Oh sure, things would change for a week or two but then we'd be right back here again. I admit it, I'm a cold bastard at times and I had anticipated her reaction. "Okay, if you really want to try then come to counseling with me," I said, softly but firmly.

"Why do we need a counselor? I thought our marriage was so good!" She saw my face and the tears dried up as she changed tactics.

"That's why we need a counselor," I said, keeping my voice low, but firm.

Throughout the rest of the meal we argued, but I never wavered and finally, while we were driving home, she gave in.

"Well fuck! If you're so set on it then we'll go, but it won't change anything. She'll side with me, you'll see. I'll get us a counselor tomorrow."

"No." If I let her pick the counselor she'd be right. She'd side with her. Terry would make sure of that before we ever got there. But I ain't that stupid. "I've already booked an appointment for Friday afternoon. I'll pick you up at home at two o'clock and we'll drive over together."

"Who the fuck is it? How do you know she's any good?" She glared at me across the center console between us.

"Do you remember Paul, the vice president?"

"Yeah, the one with the mousy wife who dotes on him hand and foot and dresses like a total slutpuppy?"

"Yeah, that's him. He recommended this counselor to me."

"Why in the hell would that asshole need a marriage counselor? His wife is so sweet and nice and good to him. He couldn't ask for a better marriage."

"Well, fact is, he told me that years ago she wasn't very nice to him at all and he didn't know how to make her happy. They went to this counselor and now they have a very wonderful, happy marriage. He told me that without counseling he wouldn't be a vice president, that he might not even still be with the company."

I almost thought she was going to admit defeat. She looked down at her hands lying demurely in her lap and pouted for a full two minutes. I let her. Then she looked over at me and shrugged.

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Dead serious. And one other thing: if this fails, I'll file for divorce the next day."

"You'd really divorce me? After all the good times we've had?"

"Name one." That shut her up and when I looked over I thought I saw real tears in her eyes, but she didn't say a word.

That night she slept in the guest room, and the next night too. Then Friday came and I went home to pick her up promptly at two. The bitch had a rosy black eye! I nearly shit my pants.

"What the fuck happened to you?" I gasped.

"I fell and hit a door but nobody else knows that. You call this off right now or I call the police and swear up and down you beat the shit out of me."

My gut roiled inside me and I felt my world starting to collapse, but as I looked closer I realized the bruise wasn't real and inside I laughed at her stupidity. Did she really expect me to fall for such a stupid trick? It just showed how little respect she had for me. I stared at her and my heart went cold. Ice formed in my veins and every ounce of love and respect I'd ever had for her slid down my leg and out onto the floor. I reached to my belt and handed her my cell phone.

"Go ahead. I'll tell 'em it's makeup and they'll wash it off and throw your ass in jail for false arrest. Forget the counselor. I'll file for divorce tomorrow." I turned to leave and heard the biggest, fakest sob I've ever heard outside a b-movie.

"Don't go. I'm sorry. No really, please Mike, stop!" I kept walking. I had heard it all before and found that I no longer gave a damn.

She followed me all the way back to my car, pleading and begging and cussing me. Finally as I opened the door to get in my car her voice changed and I knew that finally she had exhausted all her schemes and manipulations and now I was hearing the real Terry.

"Here, I'll wipe this off and we can go right now. I'll do anything the counselor says, I promise. Oh Mike, please don't leave me."

For the first time in a long time she sounded sincere. Finally, after all I had been through with her, she had reached her rope's end. What was I to do? A divorce would have hurt my chances of being promoted with the company's geriatric upper management and I wasn't really interested in the bar scene anymore. I looked up at her and nodded.

"But if you refuse anything the counselor says it's over." I gave her my best 'don't fuck with me' look and continued. "One whine, one lie, one 'no,' that's all it takes and we'll leave and never go back. Do you understand me?"

For the first time in our five years of marriage I raised my voice and glared at her and suddenly I saw something in her eyes I hadn't seen in a very long time. A sparkle, a glint, a flicker of lust that had been missing since the day we married and I said 'I do.'

She hurried around to the passenger side and got into the car. Without saying a word she dug into her purse and soon had the fake bruise gone from her face. As she cleaned her eye I drove and by two forty-five we pulled into the parking lot of a very swank building. I didn't open her door for her, like I usually did, and I didn't wait for her. I just walked inside and pushed the button for the elevator. When it arrived she was there with me and soon we were in a nicely decorated waiting room. We didn't have to wait for long before we were called into a very nice office. It was very comfortable looking, with dark paneling and low lighting. There were nice plants around and a large bookcase filled with impressive books on one wall. In the center of the room there were three comfortable chairs arranged so that they faced each other in a kind of rough circle.

A tall man dressed in a polo shirt and slacks came into the room from another door and introduced himself. "My name is Frank Detrick," he said, holding out his hand. Terry and I both shook his hand and then he motioned to the chairs. "Shall we sit and get started?"

"Why don't you start, Terry? Tell me a little about yourself and then why you are here."

For the first time in a long time Terry didn't put on a big show. She looked at me and then turned to Frank. "I didn't want to come. I was afraid I'd lose control of my marriage, but I guess I have already lost control."

"Go on." Frank said after a short pause.

"I married Mike for his money. I never loved him and I have never respected him. But for the last two nights I've been terrified of being out on my own. I'm thirty-two years old. I didn't finish college and I've never worked outside the home." She broke down and real tears streamed from her eyes. "I can't go back to being poor again. You don't know how it is. I'll do anything." I had never heard her be so honest before and, although her words stung, I felt a little spark of the old love.

Frank didn't look away from her or show any sympathy or any reaction at all to her words. He simply waited for her to stop crying and then looked over at me. "Your turn now, Mike."

"Well, I'm a middle manager in the marketing department of my company. I have a master's degree in marketing. When I met Terry I fell in love with her and I have always loved her, but lately I just can't take the bullshit anymore. I want more than she is willing to give me. For five years I have done everything to please her, but that's over. I haven't had any control at all, and damn it I want my life back. With or without her."

Frank kept the same impassive look as I talked. After Terry's admission I expected him to show some sympathy toward me, but he didn't; he showed nothing at all. He asked a few more questions of each of us and then turned back to Terry.

"So Terry, what do you want? Mike is not willing continue on with an unloving wife. What do you want?"

She looked up at him and her bottom lip quivered, but she and I both realized that tears were not going to have any effect on this man. "I want to stay married to Mike."

"But you said you didn't love him or respect him."

"I could learn to love him and, and just today I have learned that I might be able to respect him."

"Why?" Frank's voice never seemed to change, always soft, even and steady.

"Before we came over, I," she stopped talking and looked over at me. "I did something I shouldn't have done, something pretty stupid really, and he stood up to me. That was the first time he has ever really stood up to me."

"And because of that you could respect him?"

"Well, maybe, if he would do it all the time. I mean not always be mean to me, but just don't let me get my way all the time."

"I thought you were afraid of losing control?" Frank prodded.

"I am, but," Terry paused and looked first at me and then to Frank, "I need to be kept in line."

"Mike, what do you think about that?"

I was dumbfounded. For years, I had given in to her to keep her happy and now she was telling me that she didn't want me to let her have her way. "I don't know what to think," I said. "I just wanted her to be happy."

The interview went on for some time. Frank asked very direct questions and never seemed to show any emotion to our answers. I learned a great deal about my wife that day. She'd had several affairs during our marriage, which I really hadn't even suspected. She liked sex rougher than I gave it to her. She liked her lover to talk dirty to her during sex. She wanted to be pampered and loved and cuddled but only by someone she respected. On and on, things I would have never guessed about her came out. Finally the session was over.

"I want you two to consider something. It is very unusual but I think in your case it would be very beneficial. It is expensive, but the rewards to both of you would be worth it, I think." Frank looked at us and waited.

I started to look at Terry, expecting her to make the decision, but then I thought about everything that had been said that day and stopped. I looked at Frank. "What is it and how much does it cost?"

"It is a combined spa for Terry and a temporary maid service for you. The cost is fifty thousand dollars, but that gets a month at the spa for Terry and a month of maid service for you. At the spa, Terry will learn how to be the wife you want and you will receive training at night to make you the husband she needs."

I remembered that Paul had said something about sending his wife to a spa after seeing the counselor and figured this must be the same kind of thing. Well it had worked for him, so what the hell? Besides, we had the money and if it made our marriage even half as good as Paul's then it would be worth it.

"Okay, we'll do it." I didn't even look at Terry as I said it.

Frank just nodded, but for the first time since I had met him, I thought I saw a flicker of a smile cross his face. "You'll have to fill out some forms and sign some papers. Mary will take care of you. Thanks for coming. We'll schedule another session for six weeks from now."

He led us to the door and pointed us to the receptionist. "Mary, get them an 'S' package and take care of them, okay?" he said before he disappeared back into the room behind us.

Mary gave us a fairly thick package and soon we were filling out forms and signing releases and other papers. It was almost as bad as buying a home but eventually we were done. A limousine would pick Terry up the next morning to take her to the spa and then that afternoon I would have my first "class" and meet my new maid.

That night, for the first time in a long time, Terry and I had great sex. For some reason picturing her having an affair on me was stimulating as I pumped into her, and I got much rougher than I usually did. When she started moaning and moving around I got excited and actually grabbed her hands and held them above her head as I plowed my cock into her. It surprised me when I felt her cum and I realized that I had never given her an orgasm before, not even before we got married. After we calmed down, we laid together cuddling and talking about the spa and my classes. Each of us wondering what the future held, but both of us already believing that it would be better than the past.

The next day, Terry left for the spa and then at about one o'clock there was a knock on the door. Two women waited with two large suitcases sitting beside them. One of the women was short, well built, with olive skin. She was dressed in a traditional black and white maid's outfit with a low-cut neckline that showed a great deal of cleavage and a separate thin black collar. Her legs, covered in black stockings, were full and firm and very shapely. She had the large doe eyes and beautiful aristocratic nose of the Spanish and long coal black hair hung down nearly to her waist. The other lady was tall and fair skinned. She wore a beige silk button up blouse with a high tight collar and long sleeves and a long black skirt. She had large breasts under her silk blouse, but the high collar did not show even the bottom of her neck and certainly no cleavage. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a severe bun on the back of her head. Her eyes were bright blue without a hint of laugh lines around them and she wore a pair of half glasses that made her look like a very cruel librarian

The tall lady smiled a tight thin smile and looked me up and down like she was appraising a side of beef before she spoke. "You must be Mr. Stepps."

"Yes, that's me. You must be from the maid service."

"Yes. My name is Annita Bull and this is Donna. May we come in?"

"Oh, sorry, yes please come in." I thought I saw Donna grin at my discomfort, but when I looked straight at her she just looked down quickly and didn't say a word.

"Thank you. Please show us around so that Donna will know where things are and then you and I will talk." Damn, this lady was all business. She exuded control and confidence and her manner made me very nervous.

I took them around the house, showing them the kitchen, the bar, the bathrooms and bedrooms, the office, the workout room, everything. Finally the tour was over. Annita had not spoken a word during the entire time and neither, I realized, had Donna. Annita turned to me then.

"Come to your office with me. We will discuss the arrangements." She turned to Donna. "Donna, get us both drinks, make mine a scotch on ice." She looked over at me and waited. At first I wasn't sure what to do. This woman and her manner shook me up; she was so firmly in control that I felt like a small puppy dog trying to please his master. Then I realized Donna was waiting for me to tell her what I wanted to drink.

"Uh, just get me a beer please."

"No! Mr. Stepps, beer is for fat, overstuffed armchair quarterbacks who sit and fart and belch." She looked over at Donna. "He will have a martini."

I just stood there in shock. Only my wife had ever spoken to me like that before. Donna said something very quietly and then hurried off. Annita led me, still in a daze, into my own office. She sat behind the desk and offered me one of the chairs in the center of the room. Without complaint I sat down.

"Now, Mr. Stepps -- "

"You can call me Mike," I cut in and received a glare from her in return.

"Mr. Stepps, shall we begin? You have a lot to learn and I only have a month to teach you. You do want to learn to be the husband your wife needs, don't you? That is why I am here."

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Let me tell you a little about what the next month is going to be like, for you and for your wife. First off. Donna and I will be living here. You will learn a great deal of how you should treat your wife by watching how I treat Donna. Other things you will learn because I will teach you. By the end of the month, you will be a very different person. You will be a man, and not just a man, a man to be reckoned with."

"Okay," I said slowly. I wondered at the implication that I wasn't a man now. Deep inside me I almost agreed with it.

"Your wife will be much different when she gets back too. She will act much like Donna will act while we are here. If you treat her properly, and by that I mean as I teach you to treat her, then you and she will be very happy and you will be a very successful man. If you choose to ignore what I teach you, well, then you have wasted a great deal of money."

She sat back and studied me for a while. Donna lightly tapped on the door to the office and then said quietly, "Mistress Annita, the drinks are ready."

Annita looked up at Donna and smiled. "Thank you, my dear. Now take our luggage to our room and unpack. Quickly now."

"Did she call you Mistress?" I asked, finally coming out of my daze and beginning to realize what was going on. A grin crept onto my face as I contemplated the future.

"It is not a laughing matter, Mr. Stepps," Annita said coldly.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't laughing at that. I was thinking about my wife."

A smirk crossed her face, the first chink in her armor that I had seen. "Yes, I imagine that right now she is wondering what you got her into. But don't worry. The people at the spa are very good at what they do. You'll be quite impressed when she gets back home."

For the next several hours, Annita and I talked. Always she guided the conversation, leading me on a journey to explore my own inner feelings. We talked about different things that had happened between Terry and myself, we talked about how I felt about Terry. We talked about how I felt when Terry had revealed that she had been unfaithful. Donna came to tell Annita that she was through unpacking and Annita sent her to check out our pantry and start supper.