My Ra

Thanks to Tigerssman and "UNK" for guidance on this story.

***

The house was going to be tough on David, he wanted to postpone dealing with it. He was convinced to go through and pick out sentimental items and deal with the rest later. Joy, Anne, and Mei were working in the attic and found a steamer trunk just full of treasures. Joy said, "David, can you please bring this trunk down to the car? Just do not open it." David picked out a few things that brought back memories of Gran. He could not figure out what she might have in the trunk When they got home all the members of the Bear Family were to have a video conference call at 7:00 and bring their bears.

David was told to bring the trunk into the family room. At 7:00 Specs, Blackie, Boo-boo, Sonie, Goldie, Cubby, Bear and Teddy were all in their owner's arms. Joy said, "Mei you started this family, you need to explain.

Mei started, "David, this bear family just kind of grew as we met more deserving and hurting people. When I was three I got Bear and we shared everything. When Joy was in the hospital after the flood I gave her Bear because she needed to have something close by to hug. Bear gives great hugs."

David was concerned, "Joy, where are these reservations exactly?"

Joy admitted," Just outside Paris, but they probably will take us all over France. David said," You have got to be kidding me."

Gail cut in, "Nope, Fredrick told me to tell Joy to let him know if she ever needs a honeymoon. They saved my honeymoon and they want to meet Joy to find out why Jerry and I were OK with sacrificing our trip because we bought Joy some gifts."

Joy added," Gail, I am switching my major to religion. I called a prof and he said I could not get any better reference material than what you gave me. I need to get a much better Bible though."

I called The Dean and asked her to find out what religion courses I needed to catch up on and if I can take them on an accelerated pace to catch up with my classmates. I think many will transfer to the new curriculum. It might be needed to take two classes in one semester.

She mentioned that married couples would not be allowed to live on campus.

Joy commented to Alkaia at that time," Do you think you could find a small house to rent near campus? 'Gran' had so much stuff in her house, Mom thought we could take some pieces from her house to fill our new one up and rent 'Gran's' house as a furnished house. Rent from a furnished house will give us more money. If we rent an unfurnished house, we might pay less than we make each month. That way it would be less stressful on David going through all the stuff."

Hope took her camera and took pictures of every single item, even glasses and platters, and kitchen appliances. She also took pictures of the entire room as it was, so it would let Joy imagine what it would look like in the new house then she posted all of them to her Facebook page so Joy could just take her laptop out to see the items.

Joy always asked David to open up about 'Gran'. She found out her name was Lily at the funeral, so there was an assortment of lilies. Everyone had at least one at the gravesite as people paid their respects. Joy always asked David to tell her all the stories about Lily. He had to work through his grief and Joy had to find a way to do it.

Joy decided to take over those house decisions so as not to burden her husband. Mom will cover her end. Some of those stories let Joy know what things David had fond memories of. Joy would make sure they came to the new house.

The house The Dean found was right between the Universities and not far from Jacob's church. There was a nursing home nearby. It was a small two-story white house complete with a white picket fence and room for a small garden. Joy giggled as David carried her over the threshold. She took pictures of every nook and cranny to post to Mom.

"Mom, I do not want to overload David with all Lily's things at once, could we store some things at your house and we can slowly migrate them down here?"

"Of course, dear, we will pick out what stuff you want first then we can separate what you want to leave for the renters and what you want to store."

Joy asked Michelle, "Can you please help me decide what to bring down? Michelle was in fashion so she had a good sense of what would look good where. Michelle was ecstatic at her job. Michelle loved all of Lily's things. A blank canvas and for a friend. It will help her see where she was with her fashion sense.

One of Lily's glass and wood china cabinets, cherry rocking chair, and her antique dresser with a large mirror would be great for Joy; they were must-haves. Joy got a lot of light in the house and she had off-white walls. Hardwood floors would be a nice offset and a good enhancement. Some throw rugs could be added to the bedroom.

Michelle and Joy poured over the images, walking from one room to another then back again. Michelle would add captions to each picture when they decided where things were going to go. They also marked Stay and Store on others.

The Care Bears were a Store item except for the tear-stained one.

Michelle thought Lily's cedar hope chest would look nice at the foot of Joy's bed. After they decided on about twenty items to scatter around the house, Joy thought it was enough for the time being. Now Michelle had to work on the other house without seeing it. There were plenty of excellent items left that would just have that "Wow factor" to a prospective renter.

Hope set up a live feed and ran around the house doing live videos. Hope put sticky notes on what was going. It took two days to finish, much of the first day was letting Michelle get used to space and separating what was left. Hope remarked, "When we are done, this place will look better than mine."

Hope said, "Honey, I can't wait to see your house. Dad and I will bring everything south with us." Her husband would rent a truck and bring the stuff south. Hope drove the four by four and her husband drove the truck so they had a car once they turned in the truck. It took two days; they did not want to overdo the amount of driving in one day.

Michelle requited several guys for the heavy work and ladies for the odds and ends. She directed everyone where every piece went. Soon every piece was in, Dad and Mom took the truck back while the guys did some fine-tuning as to where everything went. There were still a lot of things to buy and some for the other house. Soon Dawn and 'The Dean' came armed with pizzas, drinks and paper supplies. Scarlett came with cleaning supplies, knowing Joy will want to start ASAP.

The party was great, David, Dad, and Mom met several of Joy's friends. Joy asked David to watch Buddy and then took off for the town, she had an apology to make. Molly was playing outside when she saw Joy pull up. Molly could not run into her friend's arms fast enough.

"Miss Joy, we all have been praying hard for you and the others at the nursing home. Mommy said there were 'Bad men' there. I do not like Bad men Miss Joy."

"I do not like them either Molly, I lost lots of friends. While I was away I got married and got a doggie." Joy showed Molly the shiny ring. "Molly, I am so sorry about what happened before I left. I was so confused, and I was not happy anymore. It was nothing you or the other children did." Joy took Molly's hand and they walked to the club. As they walked in Joy was swarmed by children, many crying openly. "Miss Joy we all love you and are so glad you are not hurt!" The adults could not hold back the tears.

Joy was determined to have Buddy to continue his job. With her classes, she could only start with one day a week but would do more as she caught up. Friday night was Date Night, and Saturday would be with Buddy and the nursing home.

Molly said, "Miss Joy got married and she has a doggie!" When Joy showed off her ring all the little girls just cooed. They all knew Miss Joy got married, but Miss Joy did not know they knew that. They wanted to enjoy her excitement. "Yes, and every Friday night I will need somebody to watch Buddy. Can I see a show of hands of everyone who wants to help with that?"

Every hand went up with screams of Me, Me, Me.

"Wow that is just too many to pick from, I guess all of you will have to look after him." The adults snickered.

All the smiles and grins just lit up the room, many had never touched a doggie before. When Friday night came every child was waiting for Miss Joy and her doggie.

When Joy walked into the club with her doggie she said," Buddy was a special doggie. When I was at the nursing home; he helped people feel better. You have to have manners with him, you have to share him and not too many of you can pet him at once, he will visit all of you. I give him commands to have him do special things for people. I remembered what Molly did for me and asked the trainers to teach him some new commands. Just before Joy left, she said, "Buddy love." The children were filled with glee at this up close and personal experience. As the children played with Buddy he occasionally licked their faces, they giggled and wore it like a badge of honor.

Afterward, all the parents said, "Watching out for Buddy was a big responsibility that Miss Joy knows you can handle. But it is a reward for having good behavior. Miss Joy would not want to reward people with bad behavior with such an important task. We will let you stay up late on Friday nights to watch Buddy if you agree to have good behavior all week. If you do not have good behavior you will have to wait a week." That was a no brainer for the kids, each shouted, "Deal."

Saturday, Joy went to the Northfield nursing home and showed her credentials of being a pet therapy handler and Buddy as the therapist. Joy suggested that all the seniors and staff get tested for allergies. Buddy was a welcome surprise, soon everyone fell in love with him. He seemed to know who needed him most. Soon everyone was more cheerful which was a great relief was for the nurses. Having more social interaction helped with the healing. They all waited for every Saturday, they wished they could see Buddy more often but they knew Joy was doubling up on her coursework the next two semesters to catch up to her classmates.

Joy made a Skype call to France. Celeste answered and Joy introduced herself as a friend of Gail and Jerry's. Celeste screamed," Fredrick come here now, I have a surprise for you." Once Fredrick got there Celeste could not contain herself anymore, "Fredrick, it is Joy! It is from Joy!"

Joy flashed her wedding ring. "I am told you guys know how to save a honeymoon, is that true? Do you happen to have any openings in springtime? David and I could sure use a break and neither of us has been to France."

Fredrick was caught off guard, "Glad to meet you, Mrs. Joy. Gail told us you were at that terrible place. I am glad you are OK."

"Thank you, Fredrick, David's Gran saw us get married before she succumbed to her wounds. She told us we were soulmates and to go back to school and have me study religion and David medicine. Personally, I think she had a plan for us for several months."

Celeste smiled," I will have to check my calendar. It is a very popular time of year for us." Fredrick, picking up on his wife's cue said," Yes Joy, you just can't spring this on us and expect us to automatically say 'Yes.'" Fredrick just stared at his watch and started humming. "OK it has been a full minute, let us know when you want to come and see our France; it is far better than Paris. You must meet Marie and Loui."

David had just come in from outdoors, he could not help but chuckle," I think you had her worried for a minute. She was a little nervous you did not have a spot. Hi, I am David, you must be Fredrick and Celeste."

"Nice to meet you David, do not let this one go."

"I can't, there is a cord wrapped around us that can't be cut. Besides, her Mistress said if I break her heart she would hunt me down and blister my ass so bad I could not sit for a year."

When Marie learned that Joy was coming sometime in the springtime she was very excited. "Loui, would it be OK if I went with Joy on her honeymoon tour?"

"Marie, when I saw you get That Look when you heard about Joy I told my Dad to tell me when he had a firm date. I am going to use my full vacation time. I told my boss to expect me to be out sometime in the spring for two weeks. I will let him know exactly when after I get a firm date." Meanwhile, on-campus, Dawn was getting settled in. She reclaimed the corner room at the Lodge. It felt so odd not to have Joy right there. She decided to make her class more fluid to meet the needs of the class. She can figure out how to test them later.

She asked some of the sophomores, now juniors, who replaced the freshman Masters, if they would like to be teaching assistants. They jumped at the chance, and the extra money did not hurt. All three brainstormed. "We have to get the students into the mindset of having trust and respect for each other. We have to have them separate sex from the relationship. If they could do that, real growth could come out of the class."

The Dean had a problem, the class was so popular, it was more than Dawn could handle. They had to turn it into a lottery for each school. It was decided that eighty would be assigned for each school with the other twenty seats at each school, to be in the lottery, a student from both schools are combined for the lottery.

Several secretaries did the interviewing, they would be unbiased. A week before school, all the top picks were made to fill out the top 160 seats were notified. The next 100 students were put into the lottery for the remaining forty seats (the remaining sixty were put on a waiting list.) Dawn asked for a stadium lecture hall for her first class so she could address all two hundred students.

She explained," This class will be freeform, stylized to the people of the class. Some may be asked to go to the other school if we can meet the needs of the people better. We want to emphasize that this class is not going to deal with sex. This is all about a trusting, and respectful relationship. We will not even pair up people this year except for classroom role play. If you think you want to be a Master, you need to be sensitive to your sub at all times. All of you are subject to GPA issues. Last year we found that the subs outscored their Masters by fifteen points. I want all of you to have first-class brains, I expect very good grades from all of you. The subs have a motivation to stay subs.

We had a few GPA problems with freshman Masters last year, it stressed out all of the subs. Freshman can't be Masters, I will not go through that problem again. There are sixty students on a waiting list who would die to be in the class. My TA's were paired up last year because of that problem.

I suggest everyone get a distraction whether it be religion, hobbies, or sports. I also suggest all of you introduce yourself to the children of the town, yes the children. They solve problems better than we adults can. Most people overlook them, but they are a treasure. To subs, they will be kindred spirits. Molly is the ring leader, once you get her approval to be prepared to be swarmed with hugs. Six-year-olds can't understand adult problems, but they sure know hugs and how to love someone who is having a hard time:

I became a Mistress last year because Miss Joy wanted to have one. I was not prepared for it, so I got help. Joy has three Mistresses and we worked slowly through the many problems. Relationships evolve, so we all expect each of you to have problems. My number and some others are in your packets, call us day or night. Problems can't wait to be resolved. If I am to be your Mistress, I need to know your joys and problems. I suggest you get a large whiteboard to prioritize all your primary rules, likes and dislikes. You may have others. Keep in touch with family, they are a stabilizing force. I will start calling everyone in a week, so I can see their dorm room and we can have a good chat.

You may look at your roommate to be your confidante. Get to really know them, share everything. If there is a problem, tell them to contact me or a number in your pocket. I will not ask to betray any confidence. We all want to help you so we need to know what is going on with you. Lastly, you need to be examples. No underage drinking or drug use, you will be expelled for them. We want everyone to mature so we have set a no-sex policy until junior year. We do not want younger subs to be manipulated before they do not know who they are yet. If I am your Mistress I have to be firm with my decisions, this class starts at a set time. I will have the alarm go off one minute before that time. It will take at least one minute for the students to lock all the doors, but for the fire exit. If you are late, the next class you will be stripped, you will choose the flogger you want me to use and you will wheel the spanking bench to the center of the stage so you can be bound to it when you get flogged.

"After I get done flogging you, I am sure some others in the class could do with some firsthand experience of flogging someone. You will get demerits. My demerit system works like this, add one then double it. So first offense is two demerits, second offense is six demerits and a third offense is fourteen. There will be demerits if you do stupid stuff you know you should not do. A grand total of ten demits and you are out. If you are late three times, you will have a total of twenty-two demerits, do not even bother coming to class, your name will be removed from my roles and someone on the waiting list would have taken your spot. Oh, did I mention your clothes will be confiscated and you need to walk back to your dorm naked?"

After class, Dawn had lunch with her TA's, she had asked them to see which ones looked over-eager and which ones looked timid. The overeager ones may not be a good fit for the class as they might have too much pride to make relationships. The timid ones could be targeted to be cultivated to be a good sub.

Joy had some free time so she took Buddy and sat in on one of Mistress's early classes. After class, she made a beeline to a young girl with flaxen shoulder-length hair. She had to get to her before the girl rushed out the door. Joy introduced herself to the girl. Joy invited the girl to dinner that evening so they could get to know each other. Joy could see herself in the girl. Mistress just looked on.

Dinner was relaxed, just lasagna and a salad with some steamed carrots and peas. The girl, Zoe, asked," Why did you come to me, Joy? I mean, I appreciate it. I mean, I just sit in the back and hope not to get called upon."

Joy said," Exactly, you are probably the best student in the class, a lot of people talk so much they forget to listen. You absorb everything like a sponge. I bet you constantly ask yourself how you can apply your lessons to your life."

Zoe said," Well, yes I do. Everyone should or what is the point of learning it if you do not use it?"

Joy added. "Are you religious Zoe? If you are, have you visited a church yet?"

"I go sometimes, not regularly; I have not visited a church yet."

Joy continued," You should call Noel, she helped me and my friends out of some tough times. Her husband, Jacob, is the pastor of the church. I will go with you sometime if you want."

"I would like that Joy. It has been hard to make friends, I am not outgoing."

Joy mentioned," I had to drop out of school and go home. There I met David's Gran. She was such a lovely lady. She proclaimed David and me soulmates before we knew it. She scolded David of bad manners because he did not kiss me.

Zoe, do you have any family you are close to?"

"No Joy, I recently lost my parents to a car crash. I can only come here because of the inheritance. I do not know what will happen when that runs out."