lawn of her best friend’s small semi-detached suburban bungalow, when she had heard her friend’s father shouting in the kitchen. Her friend’s father hardly ever shouted, except when he watched football on TV. Curious, they left their Barbie dolls half buried in the sand- pit and crept into the house by the back door.
Her friend’s mother was pressed up against the refrigerator. Her friend’s father had one hand on the hem of her skirt, which he had pulled up and over his wife's hips to reveal her white underwear. Unseen and silent, Katherine and her best friend watched from the doorway as the man pulled down the woman’s panties until her bare buttocks shone in the late afternoon light. Then he spanked her.
His hand rose and fell upon the woman’s backside. First the left buttock, then the right and then, again and again. Katherine and her friend watched as the woman’s behind change from white to a bright, angry red. Then the man took something from his pocket. Katherine had never seen anything like it before. It was short and plastic, pointed at one end and fat the other. The man pushed the object into the woman’s mouth.
'Make it wet,' the man had said to his wife. She smiled brightly and did as she was told.
After a moment, Katherine saw him take the thing out of the woman’s mouth and slowly, push it into her anus. And all the time, the woman had not moved or made a sound, only a few pleasurable moans. Katherine, too young to understand what she had witnessed, fled out through the doorway and ran back to her dolls. But before she was out of earshot, she had heard the woman say;
'Thank you, Sir.'
After all these years, Katherine finally realised her best friend’s mother had been a secret submissive...
*****
Congratulations, Kitten, you have passed the test. Now we can begin with your education...
The text arrived just as Katharine’s doubts were highest and her self esteem lowest. The knowledge that she had seen sexual domination in her younger years suggested to her that she had no real choice in this matter. She felt it was a kind of inevitable that she would be led down the path of sexual servitude. Katherine felt relieved. She could continue playing the game and not feel bad about any of it. She was liberated.
She had spoken briefly with Sam that morning. Just the nondescript 'Hi...howya'...doin?' kind of phone conversation, but both had been on their guard, listening intently for innuendos, each aware that the simple misuse of a word or sentence could mean the end of their relationship. Katherine had hung up with a feeling of impending regret.
Within seconds of talking to Sam, her phone had buzzed again with Dominick’s text. She was instantly thrown into a state of consternation and confusion. One moment she had decided to end it all and try to get back with her husband; the next her body glowed with the carnal curiosity and appetite of a woman struggling to control her newfound sexual awareness.
She sat at the kitchen table and read the text again. Education, it said. There was a phone number attached to the end of the text. She was instructed to call and make an appointment. She didn't recognize the number; it was no one she knew. What had he planned for her now? She was intrigued beyond belief.
She dialed the number and a woman answered.
'This is Madame Sworde.'
Madame Sworde? What the hell kind of name was that? Katherine thought. She introduced herself.
'Katherine?' came the woman's voice, puzzled, questioning, and then;
'Oh, you must be Kitten...'
Katherine again had the feeling that she was nothing but a pawn in a game. Everyone but her seemed to know what was going on. But by now she knew that if she did agree to whatever scenario had been prepared for her, it would be exciting and risqué and totally sexually fulfilling. One more weak, fleeting thought of Sam scuttled into a far corner of her mind.