She'd been warned when she signed on for the internship. Her classmates had warned her away with unfathomable looks and cryptic words, but she'd persisted, knowing that the recommendations she'd receive at the end of the summer would "make" her career for the next five years. After an extensive set of interviews with the recruiter, as well as lengthy and she thought, rather intrusive, questionnaires, she'd sat before the Director for a final conversation prior to signing the agreement that would, in the Director's words, "bind her in service for the summer."
An odd choice of words, that.
Ms. Harwood's mouth was pinched in a rather thin line. She was an older woman, slender and strict, her tone brooking absolutely no nonsense.
"Our clients have rather exotic tastes, my dear. You'll be expected to be ready to do anything, within the limits we've discussed, to keep them entertained.
"Make no mistake. You will not be devalued. On the contrary, you will be treasured...a prized piece of performance art...a very expensive playtoy, designed to bring hours of entertainment and pleasure...
"But you will be objectified...your will, your desires, your memories, your very self will be irrelevant, except as it brings amusement and satisfaction to our clients."
The contract was before her, a pen placed in her shaking hand. Her eyes had darkened, liquefied, torment swirling in their depths, but she'd signed the contract without hesitation. And now, she was standing nude before a roomful of clients, eight or ten of them, sipping wine and chatting among themselves while keeping one eye on her.
"She is lovely, isn't she?" Ms. Harwood's cool elegant hand lifted her chin, so all could feast on her flaming cheeks, her eyes snapping from person to person. The gazes in return were dispassionate, impersonal, and slightly sinister.
Her trembling became visible as Ms. Harwood lifted a nightstick, about an inch and a half in diameter, made of round, hard, smooth wood.
"For very light use, using extreme caution," the older woman's flat voice intoned to the gathering. It is a heavy instrument designed for 'day-after' tenderness and bruising..."