The next day on the farm was brutal as Elsie accustomed herself to work she had no familiarity with. The hoe raised blisters in her hand and gave her a splinter; the seeds she planned to plant were tiny and easy to drop in the dust. And all that only came after clearing away a spot of land, no small chore in itself; a million stones and fallen branches needed to be hauled away before she could start.
After hours of back-breaking work she had a neat little row of planted seeds, watered and fertilized and ready to sprout money for her. She'd not moved to Moondust Hollow to strike it rich, but she needed cash if she wanted to keep the farm afloat. Sleeping in the dilapidated cabin had not been an experience which improved over time; the wind flapped noisily against the paper covering the holes in the walls, and even multiple blankets couldn't shake the feeling of coldness which came with exposure to night air.
Loneliness, too, ate at her. Elsie had tried not to spend the day thinking about last night, but it was almost impossible not to let her mind drift as she worked. She'd enjoyed her time with Rachel, the village carpenter, and her domineering husband, Darryl. Though the couple were strangers to her, Elsie had responded instantly and instinctively to Rachel's welcoming sensuality and Darryl's firm dominance over her.
When he told her to strip for a whipping after arriving late for her scheduled "working date" with the family, she'd barely questioned the command. What else could she do? She was in debt to the town--to every individual member of the town, in fact--and she had no money to give them. Though she'd expected to spend the evening working for Rachel and Darryl in more conventional ways, when the experienced couple demanded sex work from her, Elsie had capitulated, not seeing any other real choice but to comply.
What she had not expected was how much she enjoyed the experience. Being whipped by Darryl while Rachel gasped and writhed and touched both their bodies and dominated Elsie's mouth with her tongue... these were thoughts she had to chase away in the bright light of morning, lest her hands tremble while she handled the hoe. Elsie had never experienced anything like that before, nor what had followed: being brought to orgasm by Rachel's tongue and hands while Darryl used her mouth with relentless abandon.
Pleasure stronger than anything she'd experienced before had washed over her, which was perhaps why it had stung so deeply to be perfunctorily sent home afterwards while the couple continued their play alone. Elsie felt unexpectedly hurt by their behavior. She'd believed that the two were genuinely fond of her and liked her as a person, yet even so she felt like little more than a toy for their foreplay. An item to be put back in a drawer when the real game was ready to begin. Something to be used and enjoyed, but then sent home. Not a member of the family or indeed anyone really worth worrying about. Disposable.
Elsie was open to the idea that she was being unfair. She played the events of the evening over again and again, looking for new angles. Maybe she wasn't disposable to the kindly older couple; maybe they were genuinely worried about her health. She did need plenty of sleep and Rachel had been right that today's labor threatened to wear her out. How much weaker would her arms and legs be if they'd kept her until midnight, the full extent of their scheduled time with her? She should be grateful they were so thoughtful.
Then, too, a tiny traitorous corner of her mind burned with the suggestion that maybe 'disposable' was not a bad thing to be. That the shame and humiliation she was feeling in the wake of Rachel's dismissal was pleasant to endure, even arousing. 'They used you and you let them' danced through her mind like a sneer, and her stomach tightened with fire at the idea each time as she wondered what was wrong with her.
---
The schedule the mayor had left with her said 'Charlotte and Paul'. Elsie had not yet met Charlotte, but Paul was one of the few villagers she'd had time to speak with in the short space since her arrival: he ran the village general store.
He'd seemed like a nice man, mild-mannered if a little stressed; the stress was understandable given that he was fighting to survive against the chain grocery market which had moved into the village last year. His gratitude when Elsie had promised to make him her preferred place to shop had been pathetically touching and her heart had gone out to him. He was following his dream against the corporate machine just as she was.
With Darryl's lesson about punctuality fresh in her mind, she arrived at the general store at six on the dot, hair still damp from a frantic post-work shower. Paul was at the door waiting for her, a gentle smile on his face.
"I'm not late, am I?" Elsie asked, though the toll of the village bell punctuating her words told her she was safe.
"Right on time, actually," Paul reassured her with an easy grin, ushering her in. "Let me just lock up the store now that you're here. Go on back into the main house, through that door behind the shelves; Charlotte is waiting for you. She's real excited to have you here tonight, let me tell you."
Elsie hesitated for a moment, wanting badly to ask what sort of work she would be doing for the couple this evening. Her shoulders and back ached to high heaven, but she supposed she could wash dishes or do laundry. Anything more intensive--like lifting boxes of grocery stock--was right out. Paul looked up at her from his puttering and gave her a benign smile. "Go on, she won't bite. I'll follow in a bit, don't worry."
Taking a deep breath, she headed back through the door which separated the general store from the proprietors' home. She'd not been back here before and was impressed to see everything as neat as a pin, without so much as a speck of dust. A woman with wavy brown hair and a pleasant older face looked up from her dusting and smiled with real warmth.
"Elsie?" Setting down her duster on a table that shone from a fresh application of polish, she wiped an immaculate hand on a fold of her long skirt before offering it to Elsie to shake. "I am so pleased to have you here tonight," she gushed. Her voice was low and pleasing, a soft alto that tickled Elsie's ears with every word. "Are you thirsty? Hungry?"
"No, ma'am." Elsie liked her immediately, but felt a little intimidated in spite of the woman's warmth. Her house, her clothes, even her hair were all as neat and orderly as if a drill sergeant had just swept through with a regiment of maids. How on earth was she going to please this woman?
"Ready to get to work right away?" Charlotte guessed with a grin. "I like that. Follow me."
Elsie followed her back to a bedroom done over in dark colors and rich walnut furniture. She hesitated on the threshold, feeling a sense of déjà vu from the night before spent with Rachel and Darryl. "Ah, ma'am?"
