Obeisance: Chapter 9

Obeisance

  by J T and Nye

Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

 Dinner at Tom’s

It was a chilly spring afternoon, an hour or so before sunset, when Malcolm drove Robert home from his meeting at the Harrell Clinic. He peered in the rear view mirror at his distraught employer and asked, “Something bothering you boss?”

“Yeah, but it’s nothing you need to worry about. I’m sure you have plenty of problems of your own to deal with.”

“Nah, talk to me. I don’t mind. Drivers and barkeeps. Bending an ear to the troubles of rich folk keeps us in beer money. So go ahead and punch away,” he said with a grin. “I can take it.”

“That’s good to hear,” Robert chuckled. “Confiding in you is probably a hell of a lot safer than hitting a bottle.” He then sat quietly for a while as he gathered his thoughts and tried to decide just how much he should reveal to his driver.

“You sure you want to hear this?”

“Sure I’m sure. Go ahead.”

Okay, Malcolm, you asked for it,” Robert replied with an acerbic chuckle. “Well, as you may have guessed, ever since Carrie and I took that little celebratory trip out to the cottage things seem to be falling apart all around me. Carrie’s so deep into her discipline and training programs with Abby that I literally can’t talk to her any more. Colin and Bridget took off with Andrew to the northern Minnesota territory, and now I’m starting to wonder if they’re in some kind of hot water themselves. And to top it all off, after that chewing out her father gave me before he left, I’m not sure he has any use for me anymore, and I’m beginning to wonder if he’ll still wants to grant me permission to marry his daughter when the time comes.”

Malcolm nodded his head. “Yes sir, it does seem a bit dark these days.  But I got my faith in ya sir. I mean, here’s how I see the situation. You’re already getting Miss Carolyn into that fancy Harrell Clinic and they’ll get her fixed up all proper and legal, you’ll see. Before you know it Miss Carolyn will be free from all that punishment garb Miss Bridget was ordered to put her in, and you two will be back lovin’ each other like you are meant to. I’m sure you know what I mean by that sir.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I do.”

“Right. Soon you’ll be getting married and, before you know it, you’ll have a houseful of kids of your own. And if Miss Carolyn’s father hasn’t already patched things up with you by then, I’m betting that as soon as Mister Fletcher sets his eyes on his first grandkid he’ll forgive you most anything.

“As for Mister Colin and Miss Bridget, I’ve known them a long time sir. They’re survivors, those two. A few years back they managed to survive the Dublin riots without a scratch, and I’ve no doubt they’ll be back home just as soon as they figure out just what kind of nonsense is going on over there in the Minnesota territories and they find their loved ones.”

“I hope you’re right Malcolm. I really hope you’re right.”

“Have you talked to Mister Fletcher’s business lawyer, Mister Templeton since you been back?” Malcolm asked in the casual way he preferred to put things when he didn’t want to sound pushy about something important.

“Joseph Templeton? No, I haven’t had any reason to.”

“Well sir, I been driving Mister Fletcher for a long time now, and I know of certain occasions when he’d go and seek out Mister Templeton’s advice on things, and not just legal things either, personal things. I was thinking that maybe you could ask Mister Stewart to invite Mister Templeton and that pretty wife of his to his party tonight, and maybe by talking to him in a social way you could get some of your worries tamped down a bit.”

Robert sighed and chuckled. “Templeton, huh? You know Malcolm, that’s a good idea. What I remember of him I like, and I think he did a fair amount of work for my father as well as for Carrie’s father. You know, I think you may be just about the most grounded guy I know around here. I’ll call Tom Stewart as soon as I get home.”

His driver grinned and shook his head. “Ah, sir. It’s no big deal. I’m just a step or two away from where you guys sit. Makes it easier to see some things. You’ll let me know when I need to pick you up tonight to take you on to Mister Stewart’s, won’t you sir?”

                                                                        * * *

Abby greeted Robert at the door when he arrived back at the apartment, ready to give him the run-down on Carolyn’s progress. And on a more personal note, she was also eager to show her owner several of the dresses she picked out from Carolyn’s closet to see if any of them met with his approval for the party that evening, the first party she’d been to as an actual guest rather than a slave since she was immurated.

“I’d love to hear and see it all Abby, but first I’ve got to make a couple of urgent phone calls. But I do like what you’ve done with your hair. It looks like you’ve been taking good advantage of Carrie’s shower and dressing table. You’ve cleaned up quite nicely and I definitely approve. You look very professional and very pretty.”

Blushing and smiling she hurried to open the office door for him, and once she saw him seated at his desk, she quietly closed the door so he wouldn’t be disturbed.

A quick call to Tom confirmed what he had hoped. Joseph Templeton and his wife Amanda were more than welcome. And no, nothing in the way of explanations were necessary, and he would be sure to let Joanne know to expect two more dinner guests.

The call to Joseph proved to be a little more complicated. Not satisfied with a simple invitation, he had Robert sketch out a bit of what was going on and why he was invited to this get-together at a stranger’s house. Only after Joseph understood the gist of things did he agree that the dinner was a good idea and that Amanda would be coming along with him as well. But, he added, he would make sure Amanda was in her most secure hood before leaving for the Stewart’s dinner party. “If this conversation’s going where I think it might, she doesn’t need to see or hear any of it. And dinner or no dinner, I may just charge you a consultation fee as well. I am, first and foremost, a business attorney after all, even if I was a friend of your father.”

                                                                        * * *

After dressing for dinner Robert found Abby patiently waiting by the front door. She was tightly corseted, and sheathed in one of the dresses that met Robert’s approval. It was a tight, long sleeve navy blue hobble dress that ended mid-thigh and was cut high at the bodice so that the simple neck-line rested just below, and beautifully accentuated her control collar. He also couldn’t help but notice that she had taken the time to clean up and polish her collar to a gleaming brilliance. His comment about the collar’s grimy condition must have really made an impression. Over her dress she wore a severely tailored single breasted navy blue suit jacket with locking buttons and sleeves with integrated lockable bands that could zip tightly against the jacket for proper arm restriction.

As Robert had instructed, her pale blond hair was arranged in a very neat French twist and she added just enough makeup to highlight her cool blue eyes, mask her pallid complexion, and provide some definition to her cheekbones and naturally pale thin lips. “Is this curb acceptable Sir?” she asked as she held out a rather gruesome one, though not as severe as a regulation reformatory gag.

Robert shook his head. “No, it’s too extreme. I want you to wear the simplest one we can get away with. Besides, if I’m guessing correctly, once we’re there you won’t need a curb.”

                                                                        * * *

Joseph Templeton was standing on the front porch chatting with Tom when Malcolm pulled up and parked the town car in front of the Stewart’s elegant and spacious Victorian home. “Sir, do you want me to release Miss Abby from her Female Auto Carrier and take her inside while you say your greetings to Mister Stewart and Mister Templeton?”

“Yeah, thanks Malcolm. That’d be great. And after you’re done with that, why don’t you head to the kitchen. I’ve heard Joanne makes sure they have a pretty good spread for the help back there.”

As promised, Joseph had Amanda tightly secured in a full leather hood, an armbinder discipline jacket, and reined in with a short electric training leash. As Joseph shook Robert’s hand and walked with him into the parlor he confided, “Amanda’s been a bit of a pill this evening. She complained about the last minute change of plans and refused to accept my decision that our trip here was necessary. So in addition to the restraints you can see, I had to hook her up to a discipline learning program with a rather aggressive correction feature. But to sweeten the pot just a bit I promised her that if she successfully completed the program before it was time to go home I’d allow her to say hello to everyone. To be honest though, I very much doubt she’ll finish in time to join us for dinner.”

“Poor Amanda,” Robert said with a touch of sadness. “From what I remember of her when the two of you visited my parents, I liked her a lot. She would sneak me sweets my mother disapproved of. Could you at least let her see me for a moment so I can wave hello to her even if she can’t hear me?”

“Yeah, she always was a bit of a rebel. But sure, why not,” Joseph replied with a shrug as he unbuckled her blindfold, “I hate like hell restraining her like this, but I’ve got to stay on top of her for her own good,” he said. “With the huge surge in millitanette activity giving the political edge to those hardliner Nationalists, they’re replacing moderates in state, territory, and local governments left and right, and the changes they’re making to the criminal code are getting more disagreeable by the day.”

Robert was surprised by the news. “Tom, have you heard anything about a surge in millitanette activity?”

“No, but then again, I don’t have much time for news. What kind of activity are we talking about?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard about the Conservative Action Convention bombing in Saint Louis, haven’t you?” Joseph asked.

“No, sorry Joseph.” Robert replied, then looked at Tom who also shook his head.

“Me neither,” Tom replied. “When did this happen?”

“I guess maybe it was a while ago now. With everything that’s going on, time gets away from me sometimes. As I remember, it happened just after Robert took that break from Carolyn and decided to spend some time bumming around Vancouver Island and the Western Territories, so maybe a little over a year ago. Yeah, that’s about right. And come to think of it, the news of the bombing was suppressed pretty quickly. I think the day after it happened the story suddenly disappeared. But the political effects of the bombing were terrible in a horribly ironic way. It seems that the explosion mostly killed the moderates in the party. Most of the hardliners were busy across town partying at a fundraising rally or some such nonsense. Then, with the hardliners suddenly in the majority, the empty positions were quickly filled on an interim basis with the most rigorous, inflexible, autocrats imaginable, and now they’ve reorganized and they’re calling themselves Nationalists.”

About that time Abby approached Robert and did her best to signal her curb. “Tom, is it all right to remove Abby’s curb and unbind her arms while she’s in your house?” Robert asked.

“Sure, no problem. Just make sure she stays inside the house or confines herself to the covered portion of the back deck while she’s uncurbed.”

After Abby thanked Robert for allowing her to speak she said, “I’m sorry Sir, but Mrs. Templeton is throwing herself about the kitchen and we women don’t have permission, or the means, to do anything to stop her. We’re concerned she might break something or possibly injure herself.”

“Damn woman,” muttered Joseph. “Tom, would you happen to have any place where I could securely park my vixen until she cools down?”

“Sure, there’s a small standing stall next to the pantry. It has hitching rings, heel locks, even an electric yoke if you need it.”

“Thanks, I’ll be back shortly. And if she’s broken anything I’ll be more than happy to pay for it.”

As they watched Joseph hurry towards the kitchen, Tom asked, “So tell me Robert, how’s Carolyn doing?”

“Well, she’s calmed down quite a bit, mostly thanks to Abby. Somehow Abby’s gotten Carolyn to actually follow signal commands without throwing a fit. She’s a real miracle worker.”

“Yeah, when I first saw her I got a feeling she knew a lot more than she let on. The biggest problem we had with her at The Retreat was that she seemed to need a lot of personal attention and, if she didn’t get it, she’d get so gloomy her attention to customer service suffered. So we assigned her to the back office and away from the customers. In fact, if you hadn’t arrived during a special event you probably wouldn’t have even met her.

“Speaking of needy girls, why don’t you come say hello to Joanne and give her one of your famous hugs while you commiserate with her about that new high security collar she’s now required to wear. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I do know she’s been looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Sure, I’d love to see that lovely freckled redhead of yours again. It’s been awhile.”

“Great. Now to find her. Even though that new collar keeps her on, at most, a one hundred meter leash, she still has an uncanny way of disappearing just when I’m looking for her,” Tom muttered as he pulled her controller from his pocket.

“Oh well, rather than chasing around trying to find her, while don’t we just wait here in the living room while I summon her,” he said as he scrolled through the menu then pressed a button. “You know, while I generally hate that thing she’s forced to wear, this summoning function has eased my stress level and added considerably to my happiness.”

“There she is,” Robert exclaimed as he watched Joanne dodge a knot of people and hurry toward them.

As he held out his arms to greet and hug her, she glanced at her husband, who smiled and nodded, then welcomed Roberts warm embrace with a contented smile and a warm hug of her own.

“I’m sorry to hear about this new collar of yours Joanne. It looks pretty massive and a bit like a really uncomfortable metal posture collar.”

“Yeah, it does,” Tom replied. At ten centimeters tall and a bit over seven hundred grams, it’s three times the size and weight of a standard control collar. By the way, please don’t take my speaking for Joanne the wrong way, that collar also limits her speech as well as her roaming privileges. Joanne, why don’t you tell Robert about the rules you must now obey in connection with your ability to speak?”

Joanne curtsied and replied, “Yes Sir. As long as I wear my new high security control collar I may only answer a direct question or command, and then only in a polite, cheerful manner. Any thing louder than a soft conversational voice, or any speech deemed off-topic is immediately punished, and each punishment is followed by a mandatory period of ten minutes of enforced silence.”

Tom nodded. “Yep, that’s the situation and I’m guessing that it’s all possible due to the magic of AI. But those damn built-in algorithms make for some crazy side effects, especially in the bedroom.”

“In the bedroom? Really? How?”

Tom grinned and bumped Robert’s arm as good friends sometimes do. “Well you see, when she was free to just be herself, like she was before the BFA sealed that collar around her neck, Joanne was blessed to be a naturally multi-orgasmic, very vocal, and very imaginative sexual enthusiast in the bedroom. However, because of this collar we can’t even turn off, she’s punished whenever she makes an unauthorized sound, and this includes any sounds she makes whenever we’re alone making love. The consequence of this is that I’m almost afraid to touch her affectionately, much less removing her chastity belt for anything other than for the purposes of personal hygiene. I’m even thinking of fitting her with a chastity bra just to be on the safe side. To be frank, I don’t know how many more of those punishments she can take before she ends up going bonkers for just trying to be herself and to be a good and loving wife to me.”

Robert glanced at Joanne and watched as her normally lovely, pale, freckled face darkened while she quietly nodded in agreement and proceeded to dramatically cover her obviously corseted bust with her hands and arms.

“It’s a lousy situation Tom,” Robert replied as he shook his head sadly. “Especially for you Joanne. I don’t mean to exclude you from the conversation, but well…” His words drifted off as he gently placed a hand on her collar and said, “I’m truly am sorry for this. Do you know how long she has to wear this thing?”

“That’s the hell of it. It’s all up to the courts. Joanne has to first attend, and pass with perfect scores, two classes, called Penitence 101 and Penitence 102. Apparently the grizzled old farts at the BFA are now sending any female who they feel has grown too big for her britches to these classes.  You know, women who aren’t afraid to take charge when life demands it, any woman who owns, runs, or manages a business, and any woman who dares to make a personal decision for herself. Anyway, the classes got pretty famous after a TV personality called Daphne was required to take them.”

“Yeah, Carrie mentioned how much she admired Daphne. She want’s a septum ring like the one Daphne now wears.”

“Well, apparently that’s the least of Daphne’s problems. The regime apparently intends to make an example out of her. You know, I usually don’t waste any emotional energy on celebrities, but I really do feel sorry for that girl. She rolled the dice that her celebrity status would protect her and she lost big time.

“But anyway, the classes. Apparently they’re only offered twice a year at the local Mansom Center and I have Joanne registered to start Penitence 101 in about six weeks. After she successfully completes both 101 and 102, I’ll need to petition the court for a hearing. Assuming the judge rules in our favor, the collar can finally be removed but only at an approved BFA regional office, or privately, for a substantial fee, at the same local Hopfield Center where Carrie got her fiancee belt. As you can see, the halves are joined so tightly it looks seamless, and there nothing like a keyhole anywhere.”

“Sorry about that gentlemen,” Joseph broke in, as he returned looking a bit frazzled. “Thanks again Tom and oh, hello, I take it that you’re Joanne. It’s very nice to meet you, and thank you for the invitation to your lovely home,” he said as he took her hand, bowed slightly and chastely kissed the back of her hand as she smiled and curtsied deeply in reply.

“Tom, that standing stall of yours really did the trick. As soon as I tossed her in, snapped her heels into the heel locks, and put her blindfold back on, all that mutinous nonsense just evaporated. And again, I apologize for the ruckus.

“You know, ever since I sent Amanda to the local Mansom Training Center for her latest control file training she’s become more and more difficult and I don’t know why. A couple of weeks ago she pulled such an egregious stunt right in the middle of the front lobby of the Western Pines Country Club that I legally had no choice but to act on it. So now she’s back on probation and she’s required to wear one of those new interconnected control harness devices. You know the kind. If her arms aren’t restrained tightly enough this new system sees it as a violation and her whole body gets a correction until the damn thing determines she’s restrained properly. It drives her nuts and it makes her want to fight even more. And now, as a condition of her probation, if the device’s internal system logs too many violations and corrections she’ll be sent back to the Mansom Center to not only take another round of control file training, which is pretty standard, but also a new two week program called Recidivist Discipline Training. I have no idea what the program involves, or how it’s supposed to help her, but I have a feeling she wouldn’t like it one bit.”

“Perhaps Abby could help,” Robert suggested.

“Abby? Oh yeah, that statuesque blonde with the killer blue eyes who just told us about Amanda antics in the kitchen. Where did she come from, and how’s Carolyn by the way?”

Tom invited them out to the sectional conversation pit under the back deck’s softly illuminated pergola where they could relax with drinks while Robert caught them up on the recent events. “So, you’re taking Carolyn in Friday morning for her septum ring, which she actually wants for some weird reason, as well as these implanted controlling devices?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, they seem to be a bit like those new implanted curb devices you’re using at The Retreat. I’m hoping that once she gets these implants, she won’t have to wear as many restraints. At least that’s how it’s worked for the surgeon who’s doing the work.”

Joseph looked surprised. “You mean to tell me that you’re having this done by a female surgeon? How’s this possible?”

Robert shrugged. “What can I say? From what she tells me it’s all perfectly legal. Her husband owns the practice and she works for him. Apparently, because she wears those special implants, she doesn’t have to wear as many physical restraints while working at the clinic and she can continue to work as a surgeon.” He paused, chuckled, grabbed his nearly empty drink and polished it off before continuing, “You know, one of the incredible things about those implants is that you can’t even tell she has them in her. From the little I could see, her body appears flawless. No scars or anything. Who knows, perhaps they might be a good solution for Amanda. Invisible but effective instant control when you need it.”

When Joanne rang a crystal dinner bell the men paused their conversation and made their way into the dining room where they were greeted and shown to their chairs by their individually assigned serving girls borrowed from The Retreat’s hospitality staff.

                                                                        * * *

“I don’t know anything about what’s going on with Andrew Fletcher, or for that matter Colin and Bridget O’Leary,” Joseph told Robert as the main course was served and the wine glasses were refilled. “Much of what you told me over the phone this afternoon, and the stuff I heard tonight is news to me. But I’ll try and look into it and get back to you with anything I’m able to find out.”

“Thanks Joseph, I appreciate that.  Now, are you sure you don’t want Abby to take a crack at Amanda this evening? Abby’s impressive, and if she can do her magic perhaps Amanda will be able to join us for dessert.”

Joseph laughed and threw up his hands in a grand gesture of defeat. “Sure, why not. I can’t seem to do anything with her tonight other than tossing her in that standing stall and closing the door on her. What would you need Abby?” he asked as he turned to her. “Her controller and what else?”

Abby quietly sighed as she quietly placed her knife and fork on the dinner plate next to her perfectly done, and still untouched, veal cutlet. “Yes Sir, the keys to her restraints would be useful, and I’ll need the code to her heel locks.”

“I’ll give either of you, or both of you, odds of two to one that she can’t tame Amanda by the time we go home tonight.” Joseph said with a friendly smirk as he emptied his wine glass for the third time.

“And I’ll wager ten dollars that Abby will have Amanda compliant within the hour,” replied Robert as he drew a ten from his sport coat pocket and laid it on the table.

“Ten of those new gold backed dollars huh? At a dollar a gram that represents, well, ten grams of fine gold, son. I’ll take that bet,” Joseph said as he pulled his wallet from his jacket pocket and tossed a twenty on top of Robert’s ten. “You know, since we’re busy tossing money around, it’s too bad we don’t have enough people to get up a decent game of poker tonight.”

The table grew quiet and a bit melancholy for a while, with the only break in the silence being the sounds of utensils tapping and scraping against fine china as they ate.

“You know, there could be a fourth.”

The others glanced up and looked at Tom. “What do you mean, there could be a fourth?” Robert asked then drained his water glass.

“Well, there could be a fourth if we all agree that whatever goes on in this house stays in this house.”

Robert pursed his lips then ventured the words, “Tom, you’re talking about ignoring the female congregation laws.”

“At the very least,” Joseph added in a deep lawyerly timbre.

Tom nodded, “Look, as long as we agree to keep what happens here, in this house, just between us, we can have our fourth. I happen to know Joanne’s a very good poker player. She honed her skills while working as a junior account executive before the plot and I’ve seen her run a serious table more than once. Hell, that’s how I first noticed her, she did it with such grace no one at the table, including me, resented emptying their wallets.”

Joseph looked over at Joanne and studied her quiet, expressionless face as she finished her strawberry cheesecake while waiting for the men to decide whether she would be permitted to play cards that evening. “Hell, it’s just poker. And besides, you’ve got me curious about this card shark you’re married to.” Joseph finally declared. “Sure, why not.”

By the end of the sixth hand, Joseph heard a shuffling sound emanating from down the hallway. Soon, the others noticed it too.

“Joanne, do you have you any idea what’s going on?” Joseph asked.

“I believe you’re about to lose twenty dollars as well as this hand Sir,” Joanne said as she laid down two pair, queens high.

Everyone agreed to pause the game and turned to face the kitchen hallway. Before long they saw the bound, and fully hooded form of Amanda shuffling towards the dining room with Abby close behind. Upon reaching the doorway, Amanda stopped. She then advanced one more step forward, turned to her right, walked two steps along the wall, turned a quarter turn to face the wall and froze in place.

Satisfied with the results, Abby walked over to Joseph, curtsied, handed him Amanda’s controller and the keys to her restraints. “I believe she will now behave properly Sir.”

Astonished by what he just witnessed, all he could think to do was to grab her hand, shake it, and say, “Well done!”

The others at the table also applauded the performance. Abby stood in disbelief as she watched this table of free, powerful men applaud her, an immurated property, just for performing the same sort of task she had been ordered to do at the reformatory on seemingly countless occasions. Emotions she thought had been whipped and tortured out of her began to stir and tears began to blur her eyes.

“Abby, do you know how to play poker?”

The question somehow broke through the haze of her spinning mind and she forced herself to parse the words to make sense of them. “Yes Sir, Mister Templeton. I know how to play poker.”

Joseph pointed to an empty chair. “Well, have a seat and I’ll stake you some chips. It’s the least I can do for someone who’s managed to tame that wildcat over there. Even if it does mean that I just lost two-thirds of an ounce of fine gold,” he said as he grinned at Robert.

By the end of an hour’s play, the two collared women owned well over half of the chips on the table. But no one seemed to mind. Somehow the men took the fact that they were, metaphorically speaking, losing their shirts with humor and good cheer.

“Abby, I’ve been studying you,” Joseph said as he folded his cards for the third hand in a row, “It’s obvious to me that you know how to count cards. I suspect any reasonably competent poker player can see that. But the thing is, you also seem to follow a well thought out strategy which tells me that you’ve received some formal training in the fine art of thinking. So tell me, where were you educated?”

Abby considered her hand for a couple of seconds, folded, and watched Joanne take the pot with a full house, jacks high. “I earned a graduate degree at MIT Sir,” she replied.

Joseph nodded. “That seems to fit. What kind of degree did you earn?”

“I graduated with a masters in computer engineering Sir.”

“So you’re not much for the humanities then?”

“No Sir. Though to survive, I’ve had to learn to read and manage people during the years I was incarcerated.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet you did,” Joseph replied. “Well Robert, I think you stumbled onto a real treasure with Abby. I’m thinking I need to get her a governess license, and as soon as possible. She’d look rather splendid and quite formidable wearing the purple sash and quirt of a commissioned governess. What do you think? Would it be okay with you if I did a little grunt work and made your Abby a governess?”

“You can do that?”

“Sure. I know a guy. In fact, it’d be one of the easier things I’ll do next week, and it’ll tickle the hell out of me to tell Amanda that she was ramrodded by a real honest-to-God governess. Well, it’d be stretching the facts a bit, but still –” He glared at Amanda who was still standing frozen, deaf, curbed, blindfolded, and facing the wall, then turned back to the table, “Tom, you wouldn’t happen to have another one like Abby here over there at The Retreat would you?”

Tom mulled it over for a few seconds before replying.  “Well Joseph, if you’re serious, then maybe. Joanne, you know the staff and the market better than I do. What do you think?”

Joanne stopped shuffling the cards and began to deal. “Well Mister Templeton, first of all tell me if you’re really serious about looking for someone like Abby. My contacts are a bit touchy about anyone, especially a female, who wastes their time with pointless inquiries,” she added as she touched her relatively new, and quite formidable, high security control collar and cringed a bit.

At that, Abby piped up, “Mister Templeton Sir, be sure to select one with great care. Some of the penitentiary matrons are certifiably insane. But not me Sir,” she hastened to add.

As he studied his new hand, Robert said to no one in particular, “As I recall, someone recently told me that if a person feels the need to say they’re not crazy then they probably are.”

All eyes shifted to Abby who wrinkled her nose at Robert, picked up her new hand, then grumbled, “Dealer, when you have time, I’ll take three.”

Joseph chuckled. “You know, at first I was just making a joke about wanting someone like Abby. Just a little joke. But with all this crap swirling around Amanda’s unfortunate mistakes and indiscretions, coupled with the fact that I’m staring at the possibility that she may be court ordered back to the Mansom Center for an extended stay while she undergoes that new deluxe program of theirs … well it leaves me frustrated, scared for her, and just plain dead tired. And now that I’ve a little time to mull it over, then yes damn it, I am serious. If getting someone like Abby can keep Amanda from getting into any more serious trouble then yes, I’d like to get someone like Abby.”

Tom nodded. “Well, that makes sense.”

“So Joanne, do you think you can find someone for me?”

“Yes Sir, Mr. Templeton,” Joanne replied with a nod as she gathered her winnings from the last hand, gathered up the cards and passed them to Robert, “I believe so. By the way Sir,” she added, while looking sweetly and hopefully at her husband, “are these chips still worth real money? And if so, will we mere girls be permitted to keep our winnings?” she asked, then clutched her collar with both hands, grimaced in pain, and fell silent.

As Robert dealt the next hand he chimed in, “Well I can’t speak for Tom, and to be honest I haven’t really given any thought about the girl’s winnings, but as far as I’m concerned, sure, why not? It’s just a couple of hundred dollars or so. Besides, who knows, maybe we’ll win it back next time. By the way Joseph, you never did finish telling me your theory on how the millitanettes are somehow inadvertently strengthening the hardliners power base. The only thing I’ve heard about any of this is what Carolyn’s father said about the hardliners forming a new political machine called the Nationalist Party.”

“Well, that’s not exactly what I said. What I said was the reason things are getting tougher is because the hardliners are winning most of the elections. Now one important reason the hardliners are winning so many of these damn elections is due to the voter’s reaction to the highly visible and very bloody millitanette attacks. The millitanettes attack with guns, bombs and various kinds of sabotage, and the hardliners’ response is to crack down on everyone and further tighten the rules, especially the rules governing the conduct of women, who, let’s be fair, are the brains and backbone of the insurrection, as well as comprising the overwhelming majority of the guerrilla shock troops in the millitanette organization. In response to the hardliners’ crackdown, the millitanettes attack again and so it goes. The two extremes feed off each other and we moderates caught in the middle pay the price.

“So, what does that mean for those of us caught in the middle? Well, it means the range and scope of our personal liberties are shrinking. Look, the hardliners began chipping away at things by tightening up those parts of the criminal code that addressed irritating low-level stuff. I’m talking about things like jaywalking, public intoxication, indecent exposure, and loitering. Most people applaud that sort of crackdown. After all, who doesn’t like clean streets, and safe neighborhood parks, schools, and children’s playgrounds? But the problem is, from that humble start the Nationalists are now climbing their way up the metaphorical ladder and broadening their focus. They’re now concentrating on issues like public morality, public order, and some rather nebulous notions that are sometimes referred to as the crimes of Public Sin and it’s little brother, Private Sin. The interesting thing is, this new campaign has even ensnared some of the more careless Nationalist supporters who so eagerly applauded the crackdowns, and it’s really beginning to complicate their lives.

“That’s why Tom had to add more security at The Retreat and that’s why Carolyn and Amanda are in the messes they’re in, and that’s why Joanne’s locked in that bulky, uncomfortable, and extremely irritating high security control collar. Hell, that’s why we had to pledge to keep quiet about allowing these two lovely ladies to join us at the table to play a lousy game of poker tonight.

“And Robert, I think that’s why Andrew jumped all over you about the activities you and Carolyn enjoyed back at that damn picnic of yours. He wasn’t upset that the two of you frolicked by the lake. Hell, truth be told, he even admitted to me in one of his rare bouts of sentimentality that he’s tickled pink that you and Carolyn found each other again after she was finally released from Westminster. He’s thrilled by the idea that the two of you are madly in love, are about to get married, and maybe, assuming you both are fertile, you’ll give him some grandchildren to spoil. But he also knew that if you didn’t do something to demonstrate contrition for behaving like normal randy adults, and the hardliners found out about it, under these new laws Carolyn could very well end up cloistered in a modern iteration of a medieval nunnery for the rest of her life, and you could, at a minimum, lose your guardianship over her. Those big brothers are really starting to crack down on men who go easy on their wives, wards, daughters and numbered property.

“And that folks is all I meant to say except to add that I also vote yes to the girls keeping their poker winnings. God knows they’ve earned it. And Joanne, I’m really sorry about that punishment collar you’re forced to wear. I have a sense that while unhindered, you can be quite the charming hostess, very entertaining, and a sparkling conversationalist, and we’re all poorer this evening because you are no longer permitted to even hold a private conversation in your own home. And that’s a crying shame.”

Chapter 10 “The Procedure”