I was lying. I still didn't want to be here, my mind hadn't changed - though my feelings about Liam were in a state of flux, a strange mix of abhorrence and lust.
The other women again started asking me questions, but Mindy told them to pipe down and asked me, "What happened with Alicia?"
"Who's Alicia?"
"The woman you threw your plate at yesterday."
"Oh . . ." I shoved some ham in my mouth and didn't answer.
"Did you get punished?"
"Um . . . Yes."
"By who? Who's your Master?"
"Liam, apparently. He's the one who punished me."
Some of the women cooed and murmured about how lucky I was.
Mindy winked and smiled at me and said, "We're lucky, no?"
"Yes, very!" I replied, barely masking the sarcasm.
Mindy studied me as if she was trying to figure out how to say something without hurting my feelings.
A girl with long, straight, light brown hair in a white nΓ©gligΓ© introduced herself as Sarah and asked me, "So how'd you find out about this place?"
I looked at her incredulously. "Weren't you here yesterday?"
"Yes. You threw a plate at Alicia. We figured you didn't like the food. It was totally rude of you, by the way. You deserved whatever punishment you got."
I couldn't decide whether or not to ignore that, but I felt like I could shoot laser beams from my eyes. I looked over at Mindy, who seemed tense. "What?" I asked as she stared at me.
She ignored me and turned to Sarah. "So, Sarah," she said, "How's Fred?"
Sarah pouted and shoved a piece of bread in her mouth. "I don't get it. The new bitch gets the good one even though she's obviously ungrateful, but me . . ."
I took it that Fred was her Master, and smirked. Sarah caught me and said, "You don't deserve any of them, even Fred."
I laughed, "Especially not Fred!"
Mindy kicked me under the table and I exclaimed, "Ow!" When all the girls looked at me I just said, "I uh . . . just got a Charlie horse in my calf. So anyway," I hurried, "what do you all do on your down time? Do you even- do we even get free time?"
Mindy replied, "Mostly watch TV or read. But we only get a couple hours."
"Where do you watch TV? Where do you get books?"
"Well, they have a common room set up just down the hall from here. And the books . . . Pa makes you service him to take one out of his office. And you get punished if you bring it back late. But I prefer reading so I deal with it."
A blonde, pregnant girl commented, "We know it's just because you like sucking his cock, you slut."
They all laughed, including Mindy. Sarah said, "It's really just because she likes being a know-it-all."
Mindy rolled her eyes and said to me, "I've been trying to get Pa to lend me
The Art of War
to no avail-"
"And she won't shut up about it!" exclaimed Sarah.
Mindy nodded her head at Sarah and said, "This one's content with her Dr. Phil."
"Ah," I nodded. "When do you catch that?"
"Oh Missy has lots of his episodes recorded."
"Oprah too!" Sarah chimed.
"They uh . . . have a selection they like us to watch," explained Mindy.
"Star Trek wouldn't happen to be in that selection, would it?" I asked doubtfully.
Mindy laughed, "No, but I wish it was! ...Oh, Vivienne!" Mindy got excited and bounced in her seat. She held up five fingers and asked, "How many lights?"
I smiled and said, "Four. There are four lights."
Sarah said, "What the fuck? Those are fingers, not lights. And there are
five
. Learn how to count. Moron."
Sarah didn't know what we were talking about.
Mindy and I ignored her.
I was feeling a bit more at ease, certain that Mindy at least would be a friend. I asked, "So is there a similar reading selection?"
"Well it's just Romance novels. But it's something, at least" Mindy shrugged.
"What? Why just Romance?"
"That's just how they do it. Who knows? Oh, and the Bible, of course." Mindy rolled her eyes.
"How long have you been here?"
"I've been here just three months. Sarah here's been here- what is it, Sarah, three years?"
"Two years. I've been bred twice," Sarah replied proudly.
"Right. And Ginny - the pregnant woman with short auburn hair in the blue satin babydoll - has been here five years."
Ginny smiled at me, "Been bred four times."
Another pregnant woman introduced herself as Pam, she'd been here four years, been bred three times. Once she had a miscarriage. And, to my horror, she was punished for that.
Pam explained, as if I should agree with the reasoning, "It was my fault, of course. My mind and my body were not one. My mind had created a hostile environment for anything to grow in. But Drew, he corrected that. Said I'd been . . . Oh, how'd he put it? That I'd been slippin'. Wasn't myself. Showed me everything I wasn't doin' right."