Aphrodite's

Acquaintance

"Please make up your mind miss Aphrodite, because I have to come out of the water and I surely need my bathing suit for this reason," I said boldly.

- "Mrs. Aphrodite, if you please," the mysterious woman says, particularly stressing the word "Mrs".

"I most probably came up with an eccentric woman," I thought as I abruptly turned my back to her, ready to go on with my swimming, although deep inside me, something urged me to turn back. I finally turn and look at her. The direct sun almost blinds my vision and I cannot have a clear view. I can only see a shapely figure.

- "Alright mrs. Aphrodite, what can I do for you?" I finally ask sighing in despair.

- "Please come closer! I can hardly hear you," she shouts back at me.

I swim closer to her, trying to hide my naked body as much as I could, under the circumstances. She comes closer too. The sun obscures my vision for yet another time, not letting me see her face. She is wearing a hut, holding my bathing suit on one

- "What can I do for you mrs. Aphrodite?" I ask her again.

- "Maybe everything my boy, simply everything. But most importantly in the right manner and at the right time..." She says meaningfully and comes even closer.

I stay still with my bum just rising slightly above the water, a small casualty in the battle to reach the beach. She approaches me and stands in front of me. Her feet sink deep in the wet sand. I can see a pair of shapely calves on beautiful ankles half hidden by the wet sand from my position. That's all I manage to see from here, not being able to look any higher.

- "Ok. But at least, don't we have to start from somewhere?" I ask wondering with myself for not arguing her attitude and simply giving up with the dispute. I was never good at setting any kind of limits, I said to myself.

- "Let's begin with proper rules of conduct then. Please rephrase your question," she says leaning towards me.

Her presence gives me a peculiar feeling. I cannot move. I feel a strange numbness on my whole body. Like I am bound hand and foot by invisible daemons, maybe angels, soldiers or guards. The invisible guards of Aphrodite perhaps?

- "What can I do for you mrs. Aphrodite?" I ask again.

I suddenly feel a slight pain on my back, as she has just hit me using her shoes.

- "Come on now! You can do better than this!" She insists, like a teacher waiting the right answer from her student.

- "What do you want me to do mrs. Aphrodite?" I try again.

I hear no reply while I receive a second hit on my back, this time even harder, maybe with the heel of her shoe.

Under normal circumstances I would have stood up in front of her, clearly showing who's the strongest among us, maybe delivering "a few quick smacks" on her face, a phrase common among some friends of mine. I lay down still instead, grounded at her feet by her loyal guards.

- "What do you want, for God's sake?" I finally ask with traces of panic, agony and resentment in my voice.

This time she hit me really hard, maybe causing me to bleed. I'm now certain that I must be forcibly bound by invisible and invincible forces. I'm beginning to panic now.

It's an ordeal! Or better say a test, I suddenly think to myself. Whatever it is, I need to find an answer, or else I need to find a drugstore or, even worse, a hospital...

- "Oh my! Try to think for a while! Here, let me help you: what might a Lady ask from a man lying at Her Feet?" I hear her saying, repeating her last sentence stressing every word out, almost theatrically, like being spoken as part of an ancient act.

Style, attitude, expression, I try to think in despair. I may need alternate words, ways of action, or even phrases. I'm beginning to get confused.

I suddenly remember the magazine I was reading a few moments ago:

... Aphrodite, Goddess of love ...

What should I do if a real Goddess was present? Maybe this is exactly what the mysterious woman surrounded by invisible guards demands from me.

In any case, the fact of having invisible guards, doesn't it by itself prove that this woman is in fact a Goddess?

Can someone feel pain while dreaming, or the pain on my back actually shows that what happens now happens in the real world?

Is she driving me crazy, or I just drive into a crazy reality, a real virtuality?

The magazine article and the mysterious woman. Can this be a coincidence? Something strange goes on around me, something that I'm unable to comprehend.

- "What do you wish Madam?" I anxiously ask, fearing for the next hit.

- "Simply to obey your Mistress," She finally says with a smiling voice.

- "Alright then," I say with a relief in my voice.

- Alright?

Her voice becomes bold and dangerously cold again.

- "Just alright?" She repeats, almost interrogating me...

I feel the heel of her shoe ready to inscribe another message on my back.

- "Yes Mistress!" I almost cry out in pain and agony.

- "So you see you can talk the proper way after all, can' you?" She adds meaningfully.

- "Follow me," She orders and turns her back to me, definitely certain that I would obey.

I think that I feel invisible arms lifting me, dragging me closer to her. Or is it just my imagination?

I follow her, trying hopelessly to hide my nakedness with my bare hands, trying to understand what's going on, or rather what's going around. She takes me to my belongings; she nods to me to collect them and leads me to a primitive shower, no doubt an invention by a romantic engineer, the only fresh water shower around.

- "Clean yourself," She tells me, with an unquestionable manner in her voice

I promptly obey. "What is happening to me?" I wonder. I'm totally naked in front of a stranger, simply doing whatever she wants. I have to react somehow. But what can I do? Her "Presence" nails me to the ground. Oh God, am I turning crazy? I think that "some strange thing" possesses me. Something unknown to me, that makes me see things in a completely different way....

The infamous guards might be in my mind only, but I'm still afraid of them. I do not dare do anything to go away, save myself. "Save myself from what?" I wonder. "Save myself from whom?" Am I in any danger?

- "Please face me, I want to see you," She commands.

I turn towards her, forgetting for a moment that I'm still naked.

- "Keep your legs spread apart, hands on your waist," She continues.

She examines me carefully, like someone who wants to find out what I'm made of. I feel humiliated and uncomfortable, as I slowly turn around me. Sun is distressingly hot and my back is aching.

- "Not bad, you can do better; with the right effort. You need hard work though," She finally says.

- "But what do you mean Mistress?" I ask hesitantly.

- "Look into my eyes!" She commands and goes on.

I look at her closely for the first time. Her feminine face was perfectly balanced, with two of the most exquisite eyes I've ever seen. "Eternal beauty" I think to myself.

- "You are, who you are. You are not, who you were anymore," She adds up enigmatically.

- "But..." I'm beginning to mumble looking her straight in the eyes.

- "Silence! Don't you ever interrupt me! I haven't finished yet!" She abruptly says.

"Next time you'll look into my eyes will be ... when you're given permission. I do not know if you're the one. We'll soon find out. I have to put you on trial. I cannot keep you just like that. And first of all I demand absolute obedience, respect and sincere devotion. These for starters..." She says in a strict voice.

"What's going on?" I wonder.

Where am I?

Am I dreaming in my sleep, am I hallucinating? I feel like taking part in an absurd theatre. But the infamous guards prevent me from asking anything. I feel like being the spoils of a victorious campaign, being offered to the glorious Queen, who hasn't decided yet if she'll likes them or not...

- "Put your clothes on and follow me," She orders, handing me her shoes to carry.

- "Yes Mistress!" I promptly obey.

- Mm!

We finally reach her car. She unlocks it and sits on the driver's side feet outside.

- "Hand me the shoes and bring me a bottle with freshwater. It's in the trunk." She commands me.

I rush at the back and in no time I return with the bottle in my hands. She nods me to lean in front of her. She lazily extends her right foot, very well shaped, even with all this sand stuck on it.

- "Clean it!" She commands pointing to her foot.

Very carefully I rinse her foot with water and rubbing very gently, I remove the sand. I take special care in between her tender toes, doing my best not to distress her.

- "Dry it," She orders handing me a towel.

I promptly obey and gently dry her foot with the towel.

- "Kiss it!" She commands.

I look at her in confusion. She kicks me gently on the face, making me to loose my balance.

- "I don't remember giving you permission to look an me in the eyes. Now kiss my foot," She says.

I take her foot into my hands, holding it by the heel and place a gentle kiss on her toes.

- "Carry on!" She says extending her foot more towards me.

I go on kissing her foot with tender kisses, going from the tips of her toes, up to ankle high and back again. This must have lasted for more that a quarter of an hour.

- "Enough!" She suddenly says giving me her shoe. I very carefully put it on her foot.

She offers me her left foot and I start all over again with the drill. Washing, drying, foot- kissing for as long as she wished, until I'm finally ordered to put her shoe on.

- "Put your belongings into the trunk and put yourself in as well. Pull the hood down from inside. Off we go now." She finally says.

- "Shall I go into the trunk?" I dare to ask in confusion.

She gently pushes me again with her foot, sending me to the ground.

- "I don't take you for deaf. Are you by any chance an idiot?" She asks.

- "No Mistress, I am not," I reply graciously.

- "Then don't make me repeat the same things over and over again. It's very annoying, say the least tiresome!" She says.

- Yes Mistress!

I put my things in the trunk and jump in as well, pulling the hood above me. I'm packed in total darkness now. I feel the car moving. I'm also moving ...

But I cannot see where to ...

There is surely a difference between a car seat and a car trunk. Being in the trunk, all vibrations from the rear wheels reach me directly. All things inside the trunk are against me, mercilessly hitting me in every sudden move of the car.

I have a strange feeling of being bought in a cattle market and now I'm driven back to the farm by my new owner. Or even being a hunted animal, the result of a possibly successful hunt. Yes, Goddess went hunting and I was caught in her snare. I should normally feel rage for what is happening to me. But I feel nothing anymore. Just like a trapped animal that has surrendered its fate to the hunters...

I suddenly come up with a crazy idea: I'll wait till the trunk opens up. I'll then quickly jump out and run like hell to freedom away from my hunter. "That's exactly what I'll do!" I say to myself with pride, for thinking such a clever plan, a plan that has not being noticed by the infamous guards. My trapped animal instinct has spoken ...

I feel the car slowing down. I can sense from its movements that is parking somewhere. I have no idea where I am taken. Maybe that was the reason I' was put in the trunk: to be unable to see where I was taken! Anyway I' m ready to make my move."Watch it! Don't get blinded by the sudden light!" I think to myself, happy that I've thought all the plan details. "Remember: When the hood opens, just jump out and run like hell. You'll be free in no time. Piece of cake man!" I say to myself.

I hear the distinctive sound of the lock. The hood suddenly opens up. I quickly spring my head out, ready to leap like a cheetah to freedom. The sudden light doesn't blind me. I stay still for a fraction of time, confused by the fact that an anticipated stimulus is not there. I see walls all around me. There is a large garage door on one side. Better say a shut garage door...

I stay frozen, half my body out of the trunk, realizing that this must be exactly the feeling that trapped animals have. The difference is that I'm not an animal. Or am I?

She quickly leans over me and with a swift move she places a collar around my neck. I hear the safety click together with the sound of a chain being fastened on it. "Chain?" I manage to wonder.

Have you ever been in a position where you are surrounded by totally unexpected stimuli, in incomprehensible situations, among unknown people?

It's first time for me. Confusion is almost total.

What do you do in a situation like this?

In my case, I simply lost control, unable to think, my mind barely working only to support vital life functions. Or it was just like this since I'm still alive. Everything else is vague and obscure.

She pulls me by the chain and leads me to the house by an internal staircase...

She takes me to a small room, with no windows. There was a narrow opening one of the walls, leading to a tiny bathroom.

"Isn't she scared being alone in her house with somebody she just met?" I wonder.

"You fool! Look around you and you'll most probably find out who's supposed to be scared of whom!" I think to myself.

- "Time to rest," She commands removing the chain from my collar with a swift movement.

I hear the door closing and locking as she leaves the room.

The room is dark now. I try to find the switch for the lights. I manage to find it. It doesn't respond. I'm slowly getting used to the dark as a gloomy sense of light floods the room. A small closet nearby, a night- table and an exercise mattress in a corner are the only furniture decorating the place.

- "Imagine if I was to pay for this!" I think to myself smiling.

Oh God! It's no time for jokes now! My whole existence is at stakes and I can only think of silly jokes. What is happening to me! I lie down on the mattress trying to relax and gather my thoughts. It was just like a switch turned off dropping me to an insubstantiality of sleep ...

- "Don't push Sir, if you please!" I protest to the man standing besides me in the crowded bus. A bus with a driver who surely imagines that he's driving an F- 1 Ferrari.

- "I told you Sir, don't push!" I repeatedly say. But he keeps pushing me, ramming my ribs, blinding me with his torch light.

- "What on earth does he need the torch light for?" I wonder.

Have you ever come across a situation where there is a real outside stimulus and your mind manages to insert it in your dreams? Or maybe manages to give birth to a dream simply to accommodate the stimulus? It happens to me all the time. This was another time, no exception.

- "So wake up already!" I hear an anxious voice.

I open my eyes only to be blinded by the light. I'm trying to realize where I am. A woman is standing over me, pushing my ribs with her feet, to wake me up. I instinctively bring my wrist to my eyes to have a look at my watch. I hear a hissing sound and a feel slight burn on my wrist. I wonder what it was.

- "Take your watch off! You won't be needing it anymore. There are clocks on the walls showing My time. You can forget yours!" She says in a strict voice.

- "Yes Mistress!" I quickly obey and take my watch off, anxious that the infamous guards might be around.

- "Whatever you wear from now on, is because I give it to you, or I permit you to. Is this understrood?" She asks.

- "Yes Mistress!" I reply.

- "Stand up now," She orders standing magnificently over me.

I was hardly standing when she puts my chain to the collar with a swift movement. She turns around and starts walking. As soon as the chain slack diminishes, she pulls the chain hard. I lose my balance dropping to the floor. She keeps pulling.

- "Don't get careless," She boldly says, still walking gallantly.

I follow her like a puppy, trying to balance my steps with the chain slack. I can see her holding a thin stick. So that's what burnt my wrist...

She leads me to a smartly furnished room, maybe the living room. She stops in front of an armchair. She touches my shoulder with her stick, pushing me down. I kneel, hoping this is what she wishes. She sits on the armchair crossing her legs. I instinctively raise my head slightly to look at her. She gently pushes my head down with the stick.

- "Down!" She commands.

I'm now looking at the soles of her shoes. Slightly dirty, I think to myself. There is a tiny bit of gum stuck underneath. "I must remove it!" I think. My mind wonders trying to imagine that the piece of gum is no longer there. But it is! Mocking me! Playing with me! "Relax. You're not detective Monk after all!" I say to myself. I feel a slight sting on my chick. Something hissed nearby. Her stick maybe?

Well yes ... and no. It was her stick. But it was not a stick. It was a small whip made out of dark leather, more like a small riding crop, very well woven and very effective, I must confess. I manage to control my surprise and stay in my kneeling position.

She slightly lifts my t- shirt with the tip of her whip. I take it off. It tangles with my chain. She helps me out. The t- shirt is gone, the chain rules!

- "You need a lot of training. But maybe you have the basic skills that I can depend upon. You're very lucky you've found me now that I have the time and interest to help you." She says.

- "I do not understand..." I manage to stumble with a low voice. Another slight burn on my chick. Or wasn't it a burn? I heard the hissing again just before the burning feeling. Just like the snake hisses before biting its victim!

- You'd better talk only for a reason and after my permission only.

- "Yes ..." Hissing noise; burning felling.

- Yes Mistress!

- "Your training begins from this moment. I would be better of with a dog. It would be more cooperative and maybe more effective. But we can change that. Don't let me down!" She says authoritatively.

- "Yes Mistress! I shall not let you down." I reply. Hissing noise; burning feeling.

- "You'd better watch you attitude from now on. I am Me and you're simply ... dust on my soles. Try again!" she commands with a cold voice.

- "Yes Mistress. I shall not let You down!" I say again trying for the proper attitude.

- "That' better. Let's go on. There is only one simple thing that I demand from you: your full submission to My will. It's so simple, even a dog can do it. It seems that you definitely require some extra work to reach this level. Do you understand what I'm saying?" she finally asks.

- "Yes Mistress, I understand You perfectly!" I reply, although deep inside me I feel that I'm not so sure about this. But there's no time or room for intellectual thinking now!

Another attack from the mischievous piece of gum.

- "What are you staring at?" She asks.

- Forgive me Mistress! There's a small piece of gum stuck underneath your right shoe.

- "Is that so? What are you waiting for? Take it off now!" She commands, extending Her foot towards me.

With great care, I remove the gum with my fingernails. Lucky for me it wasn't very dry and hard. The gum, full of sand from the beach, had lost its adhesive powers and was easy to remove. In no time Her sole was clean. My first good effort for the day, I thought with a slight smile of triumph in my face.

- "All right Mistress, I took it off!" I said holding the piece of sand- gum in my hand.

- "What are you waiting for then? We don't want to waste it. Swallow it! Consider it as your first reward for serving me properly!" She says.

I look at the gum in total confusion. An assortment of plastic, sand, soil and everything else that might have stuck on it during its journey as a stowaway passenger on Her shoe. The infamous guards hold me still in front of Her feet. Trying to control my urge to vomit, I put the gum in my mouth. My body makes an instinctive spasm trying to reject the newcomer. She leans towards me, grabs me by the hair, sealing my mouth with Her hand. Just like a child that is forced to swallow his medicine.