The Summer of Francesca

One evening Anne walked home from the office preoccupied with thoughts of tonight's lesson at Paul's and wondering how many men would be there. She paused at a corner and was waiting for the light to change when she felt someone touch her metal collar. It was a young woman - no more than twenty - looking shyly at her. Anne noticed at once that she had a sweet face and wore a collar like her own.

She introduced herself; her name was Lori. Hesitantly she said she recognized Anne as a sister, holding up her hands to show her bracelets. She explained she had never done this before, but her owner was in trouble and she wondered if she could ask for help.

She took Anne to an apartment that had been elegant once but long since fallen into decay. It was a single large room nearly empty of furniture. Only a wooden table, two chairs beside it, and a mattress on the floor remained.

Lori's owner was Athene, a faded aristocrat in her sixties. She was a good woman but proud, regarding Anne even in her business suit as an inferior the moment she saw her collar. She might accept Anne's help but she would never respect her. Athene did not offer her the second chair; instinctively Anne knelt on the floor before her as she told her story.

She was a widow; her husband was ten years older and they had spent their savings on Lori to bring youth into their lives and revive his ardor. It had worked too well; her energy in bed brought on a fatal seizure. "At least he died happy," Athene noted wryly.

With the loss of Hippolyte and his pension, they were destitute. She was reduced to selling the furniture to make ends meet. She wanted to find someone willing to buy Lori; or failing that, to put her down and leave herself with one less mouth to feed.

Lori disrobed at a word from Athene and Anne inspected her. She tried to evaluate her as she thought Paul would. Her elfin but well-developed figure would certainly attract buyers; Anne was almost dazzled by her beauty. Her own mouth grew a little dry at the sight of the girl's small firm breasts, flat belly and tight round buttocks. She suppressed her desire to explore them and promised to speak with her master.

That night as she was kneeling at Paul's feet before putting her clothes back on, she told him about the two women. He gave her a cookie for the information and agreed to consider it. The next evening before her lesson they went together to Athene's. He brought a bag of feed as a gift, and she thanked him. She did not speak to Anne.

Lori knelt in the center of the room naked, Anne in her suit beside her, while Paul and Athene sat in the chairs and discussed the lady's situation. Paul felt he could be of help.

He explained that he could not act entirely on faith, though; he regretted the necessity and hoped it would not offend, but he must examine the girl. Athene said to proceed.

Athene turned away as Lori took him in her mouth, but Anne watched in fascination. Paul said she was very good; Anne could take lessons from her. Afterwards Anne stared at his erect member while Athene looked down at her with undisguised contempt.

Paul told Anne to disrobe and lie on the mattress, and Lori did her next. She left Anne limp and dazed, breathing heavily and making incoherent sounds. It was easy to see what had killed Hippolyte.

As Anne dressed, Paul told Athene he would make inquiries and was hopeful of success. Athene expressed profuse thanks to him.

Anne visited them the next day with a present for Athene. Knowing the older woman would not accept it from her, Anne said it came from Paul; that was all right. She did not allow Anne into her apartment; Anne curtseyed to her in the hall and held out the envelope for her to take.

In less than a week he was able to place Lori with a Sicilian don who bought her for his gang. Athene netted twice what she paid for her even after Paul took his commission. She offered to do anything within her power for him in return; he thought a moment and said there was. Anne knelt before them while they conferred and came to an agreement.

For the next four weekends, Anne rose from her rug on Saturday well before dawn and took her breakfast on the kitchen floor. She retrieved her leash from the closet and attached it to the front of her collar; it hung down to just below her knees. She dressed with the leash next to her skin and walked in the dark to Athene's apartment. As she entered on the first day she started to say something to Athene; the woman slapped her in the face and said "Do not speak to me; do not speak at all when you are in my house."

After she hung her clothes on a hook in the closet, Athene led her to the center of the room. Placing her hands on Anne's shoulders, she roughly turned her to face the door. She fastened Anne's bracelets together, suspended her by her wrists from a chandelier hook in the ceiling and secured a gag in her mouth. The last thing Anne saw before Athene put a cloth over her eyes was a pile of knitting on the table.

Anne hung there in silence for the next forty hours until Sunday night at ten. Athene did not address her except when necessary and then as briefly as possible. The woman obviously despised her.

Halfway through the period precisely at 2 AM Sunday Athene lowered Anne, took her leash and led her to the bathroom and back before feeding her. After that Anne had to wait until she returned home.

The mealtime ritual was as fixed as the schedule. Athene removed Anne's gag but not her blindfold and led her to the kitchen area. Without the use of her sight, Anne had to find the bowls by touch, exploring the floor with her lips until she reached them. Once she upset the feed bowl; Athene called her a "bad girl" and swatted her behind with a rolled-up newspaper. She had to find and pick the pellets off the floor with her tongue. In time she learned to locate the bowls by smell; the feed was always on the left and the water a short distance from it.

At 10 PM Sunday, Athene released her. Anne knelt and kissed the floor at her feet before leaving. The instant she entered the hallway, Athene closed and locked the door.

One of the weekends was a long one with a holiday; Anne hung for the extra 24 hours. She heard a parade outside on the street below; it reminded her of her childhood, and how she used to follow them. Now she was an adult, hanging naked from a hook in a stranger's apartment and listening to it pass. She would not have it any other way; she was almost sorry when her time was up Monday night and she had to leave.

She was halfway home when she realized she was being followed. Alarmed, she quickened her pace for a block to shake her pursuer before thinking better of it. She must not reject suitors. That was not what Paul wanted, not what he was training her for. She stopped and let a young man catch up to her. He was disheveled but poised; and fairly attractive beneath the grime, she thought.

She introduced herself and invited him to her apartment. Once they were inside, she disrobed and offered him a drink, which he declined. She offered him herself and lay on her back; without ceremony he took her on the living room floor.

He told her his story. His name was Edward; a leatherworker from up north he had come here for work but found none. Homeless now, he was living in a city park with other men down on their luck. Sometimes women came to it, or were brought there. When he saw her he thought she might be going that way. But "indoors is better;" they both laughed.

Anne liked him. She told him about the town's leather-goods shops and their need for skilled artisans. He thanked her in a drowsy voice, said he would try to pay her back somehow and fell asleep on top of her.

He had recovered his strength next morning. He took her again, rolled off her and left before dawn. Anne got up to bathe and have her breakfast. On the table were a few coins; she washed them and put them aside to give to Paul.

On her second weekend as she hung at Athene's Paul visited them. He asked if Anne had given her any trouble; she said Anne was willful and clumsy, but might be made into something. He agreed; she was a long way from being a finished product but he was hopeful.

Athene bought a new table and chairs to replace her shabby dining set. Two deliverymen (maybe more; with her blindfold on Anne could not tell) carried them in on Saturday afternoon. Anne suspended nude in the center of the room could not be ignored; they set down their load and stood around her. They spoke Spanish to one another; Anne caught only the word "puta", whore. One of them took her leash up and began to play with her fleece. Anne opened her legs for him, but Athene said "no, no, no" and shooed them out the door.

The next day three women came over to gossip, envy Athene's new furniture, and incidentally play bridge. Anne was the focus of their attention as well. One woman felt she was a poor specimen; her hair was dull and her figure (which Anne was so proud of and had attracted many men and not a few women to it) cheap and trashy. Olga wanted to find defects in her face as well, but Athene would not let her remove the blindfold or the gag.

She described Anne as "meat for sale" and turned to commenting on Anne's behavior, of which she assumed the worst. Athene joined her in denouncing Anne as a slut. Anne sank under the weight of their condemnation; at least some of it was true and there was much they did not know.

The ladies spoke of the bad ends that girls like her came to. Found by the side of a road or face down in a river or hanging from a tree, and more. Anne's blood ran cold at their descriptions.

Athene poured tea for them and they settled down to cards amid the clatter of china, but they continued to speculate on Anne's future; she would not last long, her master would become bored and use her as a lesson to others. Eventually they left and Athene went out, leaving Anne to contemplate their predictions.

Paul came over another time (she did not remember when, the days all ran together in her dark world) accompanied by another man with a deep voice. They discussed her in a strange language full of harsh guttural sounds. The man approached her and put his face close to hers. His breath stank of garlic and stale tobacco smoke; she felt she was going to be sick, but he turned and said something to Paul. Paul told her to lift her chin; as she did the man wrapped his rough hands around her neck.

She thought he meant to strangle her and began to tremble from fear. He spoke to Paul again; Paul put his hands on her neck too. He called Athene over and she wrapped her hands around it just above the man's.

"Who will do her first?" she said, and they all laughed. So the woman had a sense of humor; that was good, Anne was happy to see it. Paul removed his hands and told Anne to lower her head. She blessed him for the reprieve. The three walked to the door; Paul thanked Athene for allowing the intrusion and she assured him it was no problem.

A few minutes later, Anne heard a clicking sound; after a moment she realized Athene was in her chair knitting something, probably a sweater. The peaceful domestic scene comforted her and she fell asleep until Athene woke her at two.

Anne tried to recall for Francesca some of the sensations she experienced from that time. Though just a few months ago it was so strange, and followed by so many dramatic events, many of the images had become hazy and indistinct.

She writhed at first in discomfort and jumped at sudden noises, but began to learn patience and accept her condition as the days passed in darkness. She developed an affection for Athene despite the woman's dislike.

She was glad to have this experience; a simple but effective regimen without force, hardly any touching even (though she might have liked that), but total helplessness for a seeming eternity. She had a premonition that her future training would be less gentle; Paul was a saint for his kindness in easing her into it.

Memories floated to the surface as she told her story to Francesca. The radio with its jaunty Greek folk tunes that Athene listened to sometimes as she knitted; Anne pictured a young version of her dancing to them in a long skirt kicking up her heels. The sound of radiators in the old building clanking and hissing when they came to life, bringing warmth to the cold apartment. The noise of traffic outside which helped her distinguish day from night. Footsteps in the hallway; once someone tried the doorknob while Athene was away but they did not come in. The window Athene left open when she went out, and how the cold breeze chilled her as she hung; how grateful she was when the woman returned.

Once or twice she felt Athene standing in front of her very near but silent; she longed to express her love for the older woman.

At times her mind began to stray out of control and she wondered if she were losing her reason. Would Paul like her better; would she be of more use to him - to everyone, really - without it?

The smells of cooking tormented her. Athene brewed coffee and had a breakfast of toast and eggs in the morning. Twice the woman baked loaves of bread, whose gentle fragrance assailed her senses and drove her almost crazy. Sunday dinner was the worst; Anne got nothing from 2 AM until she returned home that night. She learned to avert her mind and accept deprivation; in time it became a habit.

Eventually these "holidays" came to an end. With the proceeds from Lori's sale Athene was able to move to a newer place and Paul resumed his weekend control. She wondered what he did in her absence, what other girls he viewed or judged or had, but of course he never told her.

He came for her on her last day; she would spend Sunday night at his place. He told Athene that Anne wished to thank her. On cue, Anne kissed the floor before her feet. Athene wished Paul a good evening but said nothing to her.

Returning to Paul's place was like coming home. He gave her a big bowl of water; Athene allowed her very little, to avoid an "accident". Later as she took him in her mouth she tried to follow Lori's example and he seemed pleased.

He chained her to the foot of his bed before retiring and fell asleep at once. She listened to his regular breathing for a while before drifting off.