After a long day of teaching, all I want to do is collapse on our bed and take a nap. Yawning, I unlock the door to the house. I'm too tired to put anything where it belongs-my keys, purse, shoes, and bag full of the night's grading land in a drunken pile at the bottom of the stairs.
I stumble up to the bedroom and stop short.
Laid out in a silent order are a black lacy bra and panties, a white men's dress shirt, and a pair of black stilettos I'd never seen before. On my bedside table is a tube of a lipstick far redder than anything I'd ever consider buying, and a note.
Put it on and send me pictures.
I contemplate taking a nap before following your command. I can always obey in an hour or two. I often stay late at the high school to grade, so it's not like you'd know I'd been a bad girl. Your side of the bed is uncluttered. I shed my work clothes and stretch out on top of the white and green duvet.
I can't fall asleep.
The gnawing guilt over ignoring an order from you is not unlike the sound of the Tell-Tale Heart from the Edgar Allen Poe story I dissected with my sixth period class a few hours before. I look at them and wonder if it's possible for inanimate objects to glare back. My nap is never going to happen if I don't put the damn things on and do what I've been told.
Grumpily, I dress, leaving the shoes for last. I'd worn flats all day, and my feet are already sore. Stilettos are a one-way-ticket to limping for the rest of the night. But I know better than to think they're optional.
"Let's get this the fuck over with," I mutter and put on the clothes, leaving off the shoes for now.
I carry the instruments of torture, the lipstick, and my cellphone into our bathroom. I paint my lips, and am surprised by how much I like the color. I hold up my cell and snap a photo and immediately delete it-you won't accept the sullen look on my face, that the shirt is hiding the bra and panties, or the lack of shoes. I undo all the buttons of the shirt, and admit that my reflection looks sexier. I take down my hair, and shake it out-better.
Time to step into the shoes. Despite all my whining, I have to admit that they change the entire look. The stilettos take me from girl next door cute to sultry siren. I lift my phone, and my expression is one of deep satisfaction. I send it to you and walk back to the bed. No, I don't walk-I strut.