The Interview

I smiled at her. “Just like this, in fact?” I waved my hand around the room. My host had just told me that after she and Celine had finished with the Australian couple in the basement cells, they’d adjourned upstairs for a chat and a coffee.

“Why yes indeed. Very similar except that underneath us, I expect you’ll find a noisy crowd of Japanese tourists checking in or out! No doubt all obediently following someone with a little flag on a stick! No, cancel that; they are never noisy, are they? Very well behaved compared to those coach tour groups from some countries I could name!” she snorted and added. “There's been times when a good whipping all round would not have gone amiss on some of those louts” she paused and then chuckled. Celine gave Marlene due warning that she did not appreciate her foul language. Then again, maybe even if the bitch had kept her foolish mouth closed, she’d have still received the same. Celine was in an odd sort of mood on that particular day!”

“I take it her examination of the goods was not just confined to being touchy-feely then but strayed into… into more hands-off than hands-on activity?”

That remark produced a wicked laugh. “Well, I’ve watched Celine deliver many a painful punishing slap with her hand, but she chose something a good deal more agonizing than her palm on that occasion! I always found it fascinating watching her when she inspected the merchandise, whether it be a helpless naked, squirming, gagged male or female wriggling under her probing hands. The muted squeals of protest, horrified bulging eyes, pleading eyes, tearful eyes! That look of absolute disbelief they always have, of embarrassment, of humiliation. Each is uniquely different and yet all so very much alike. Cruel, very cruel, yes, but also fascinating!”

“So what had changed on that particular day, do you think?”

She picked up her cup and took a sip before replying. “Circumstances, I suppose. At that point, she hadn’t mentioned anything about her retirement that came later upstairs. I doubt she’d even made her mind up about keeping them until she saw them. Indeed, I later recalled that on arrival, she’d seemed rather subdued, been a bit distant, less vivacious, lacking that effervescent bounce of hers until I took her downstairs.”

“Where she recovered her, her usual bounce, I take it?”

“I’d say she did. I happened to be looking at her the very moment she espied them, and oh my, did her expression suddenly change. Like a woeful small child opening a present, it didn’t want and finding something totally different inside the box! Whatever was bothering her was instantly forgotten in her eagerness to get into my cells and start examining the couple.

I smiled at the expression on her face. Just for the merest action of a second, her own aged face took on a similar look of sheer exuberant childish delight at the recollection. “So that was the exact moment!” I chuckled.

“Moment?” she answered, looking confused.

“Sorry, I meant the moment your life went off in another direction. I mean, apart from the rather unusual course it had already taken,” I added a bit lamely.

That made her laugh. “Unusual, yes I’ll say unusual! I’d been steering a different course for a while, and unusual is probably a very mild description. I doubt those unlucky enough to have been accommodated by me would have chosen such an adjective!” she laughed again and looked and me thoughtfully.

“In a sense, though, you are correct. I wonder what would have been the outcome had I not accepted that couple or if Celine hadn’t been interested in them? If they had not chosen to be in London just at that time and caught someone's eye. Would I have had that invitation? I’ve never even thought about that until now!”

“Invitation”, I queried.

“That’s what I said, but that would be jumping ahead again a little perhaps…” she broke off and stared blankly towards the window for a few seconds before continuing. “No, I don’t think I will rush on; I think you need to hear a bit more about Marlene and, well, whatever his name was” she paused and then shook her head. “No, name and face are gone from my memory and probably for good. Of course, I have good reasons to remember Marlene and not just because she was so beautiful and such a foul-mouthed feisty bitch. Take the worst elements of every loud-mouthed obnoxious Aussie Woman you can imagine, or any such common woman come to that. Roll them into one, and you’d end up with something akin to the lovely Marlene in the original form! So beautiful on the outside and so ugly on the inside!”

I shuddered. I knew just what she meant. I’d had one or two encounters with the breed, as it were. Only a couple of weeks back, while enjoying an evening out with some friends, I’d accidentally nudged a table in a crowded pub. It must have been a hen night or something but the abusive hostility and language I received from the young women seated there over a few minor spills, Jeeez! Her next words abruptly shattered my reflections along those lines.

“I wonder if she’s still like that. Probably not, I expect age, and the endless years have long since curbed such un-lady like tendencies.” She sighed. “Anyway, we shall never know as Celine had her vet remove the bitch’s vulgar tongue many years ago!

I must have gasped aloud; I was only vaguely aware of doing so, my attention being focused on her expression. Evidently, my reaction to her simple statement had amused her, and I knew she’d deliberately tossed that titbit out in the same way a fisherman flicks his fly over the water. I’d snapped at the bait and been promptly caught on her hook!

Well, I might have swallowed the worm, but I wasn’t going to give her the fun of watching me choke on it. “I suppose that’s one way of tackling the problem”, I replied casually with a perfectly straight face. Indeed, just for the briefest of moments, another image flickered into my mind thinking back a week or two.  That of an over made-up petite blonde with what looked like a botched lip-filler job,  screaming awful abuse at me because she’d lost a few millilitres or whatever from her fancy drink with the silly parasol in it. If ever a tongue needed cutting out!

There was a sudden silence as we stared at each other like two amicable pugilists at the weigh-in, then we both grinned at the same moment and laughed while she wagged a finger at me.

“Now admit it. I did shock you just a bit, didn’t I?”

I allowed my grin to expand into a full smile. “Alright, yes, and more than a bit”, I admitted and then added. “Silly, I suppose, I mean I shouldn’t be shocked by now, should I?” the question being posed more to myself than to the smiling figure opposite me.

She shook her head. “I have said it before and probably more than once, and no doubt I will reiterate it more than once. I am not, repeat, not a nice person! Well, not all the time and certainly not to certain two-legged creatures, and I don't mean birds, either,” she laughed, emphasising the last part. “ I do and have done many many things that are not at all nice to people that have done absolutely nothing to deserve such evil treatment!” she paused and added, “Well, let's say not by any normal standards. However, if they want to behave foolishly once their circumstances change, well…” she shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “they all learn in time!”

“Like the lovely Marlene,” I said, “I take it she learned, in time as you put it? Another question occurred to me as I looked at my host. “Please don’t take this the wrong way,” I said tentatively with an apologetic smile. “But from what you have told me, I can make a rough guess as to your age at that point and Marlene perhaps only slightly younger, and yet you gave me the impression just now that she, well that she was…”

“Not dead”, she replied with a chuckle and then a slight sigh. “And me so old now. Poor Marlene, what different lives we have lived!” then she laughed. “Well, she may outlive me yet. A lifetime of healthy eating, continual grooming and daily maintenance plus plenty of exercise. What more could she want?”

“I could think of a few things”, I mumbled, reaching for my cup.

The finger wagged at me again. “Forgotten already”, she teased. “Not nice, remember. Anyway, I doubt if she can even remember those far off days now. A day or two being spared the whip and the odd tasty treat will have been the highlights of her life for a long time now. I must say, though, that she’s had a very good innings. Unusual for a pony to live that long, especially one that’s passed through numerous pairs of hands. I almost didn’t recognise her at first!”

“Where did you see her?”

“Oh humbug!” she puffed her cheeks out and blew slowly through her lips, thinking hard. “When did I see Fredi and Ursel? It must have been three, three and a half months ago. I had flown to Switzerland to sort out some things with my bank to hand more things over to my niece. Actually, she’s my great-niece, but I usually ditch the great, in the title sense anyhow! Papers to sign and all that tedious stuff. They collected me from the airport and hosted me—a delightful couple. I’ve known them for years and years. They have a most secluded and beautiful place in an isolated little valley, both convenient for the city and yet also far enough away to offer them a good deal of privacy. 

It was the name that made me realise who she was. Celine had called the pair Southern Star and Southern Moon, which naturally quickly got shortened to Star and Moony!”

“Of course,” I said. “What else!”

“Hush”, she put her finger to her lips, admonishing me. “We were having lunch on the terrace when a little chariot driven by a very young girl came into view. It was being pulled at a slow trot by a very aged ponygirl. Not one that was terribly pleasing to the eye all saggy, baggy wrinkled and grey if you can imagine it?”  

I nodded in what I intended to be a non-committal gesture. “Possibly”.

She laughed. “Anyway, there I was quietly sipping a glass of delicious chilled sparkling wine looking at this charming sight when Ursel told me that was her youngest grandchild taking her favourite pony for a spin, old Southern Moon.  Well, as you can imagine, my mouth dropped even as Ursel shouted for the girl to take it slowly and not give her too much whip!”

“Marlene?”

“The very same! I confirmed that later when I visited her in the stables, not that she recognised me. Too exhausted, and too many years under her hoof boots and certainly way too many lashings looking at her wrinkled body and saggy flat udders,” she laughed. “the little granddaughter clearly hadn’t paid the slightest heed to the ‘take it slowly or spare the whip’ from the way she looked and the fresh marks on her body!”

“Did you feel sorry for her?

That question obviously surprised her, and I remembered the ‘not nice again.’

“No, of course not; why on earth should I? I will admit to being very surprised at seeing her again, for I’d long since forgotten about the creature. I’d also owned her for a time. A present from Celine when I was starting my place because I’d always admired her and, in part, cut my teeth training-wise on the big filly. I sold her on to a well-known lesbian actress and her girlfriend,  regular visitors who took a shine to the animal. They stabled her with me for a couple of years and then sold her to someone else and don’t ask” she wagged a finger at me. “I’m doing  well to even to get this far little grey cell wise!”

“Was the customary?” I asked, “all the buying and selling?

She shrugged her shoulders. “Another yes and no answer to that question. For some, yes others no, they would remain in the same stable throughout their entire lives. “ she stopped and frowned. “I suppose I shouldn’t have been all that surprised to see her again given the circumstances, and she’d always been a strong health animal! Celine had spotted that immediately.  She always had a keen eye for a good pony!” she finished thoughtfully speaking almost to herself and fell silent. I was about to ask another question, but again she preempted me.

“As I said, I perhaps should not have been surprised at seeing one of my old ponies at my friend's place. Ursels mother was a strange woman.  Crazy about animals, on the one hand, took in every stray, cat, kitten, dog, puppy, pony, goat, horse, rabbit, tortoise, hamster and whatever else. Ursel told me that it was like living full time in a gigantic petting zoo when she and her sister were kids. 

Then, on the other hand, in the outside buildings, her mother's interest in animals ran to the rarer, more unique and exotic variety. Nor were they treated anywhere near as kindly as those in the main house. Anyway, long story short, as she grew older, the housepets grew fewer, and she became a bit softer towards her two-legged collection. Eventually, the whole thing morphed into a sort of donkey sanctuary of sorts for aged two-legged pets put out to pasture, almost!”

I blinked. “Donkey sanctuary? You're kidding me?”

“Nope”, she chuckled. “Cross my heart and hope to die! I don’t know all the ins and out of it, but the old lady lasted well into her nineties and remained quite active. Ursel and Fredi lived with her and just sort of carried on after her mother died. They take in all types of aged, doggies, ponies, house slaves, etc.; it’s a fascinating place to visit.”

I stared at her. Gob-smacked was the only term that came to mind!

“Well,  don’t just sit there doing a bad impression of a goldfish. Close your mouth and say something!”

I shook myself, trying to rid the impression of the geriatric horror that she had just conjured up in my mind. Fascinating, she said, sheesh! However, a question did occur to me that I’d had in my mind for a bit, so I asked that. 

“You mentioned Celines Mothers illness, and yet I seem to have a memory from one of our very first sessions” I screwed my face up. “You mentioned your ponies and then your father and his ‘boys’ and said something like ‘even when my mother was alive’ You were speaking as Celine as I recall?”

She smiled. “You do have an excellent memory. I did say that. Celine's birth mother died when she was in her early teens, but her father subsequently married the woman who’d been her principal stable hand. Celine was very fond of her, and I suspect she did some nifty match-making.  Her father was a prominent politician, remember and having an attractive younger wife was undoubtedly an asset to him. Satisfied?”

I smiled and nodded. “So back to something else that interests me. Were you worse than Celine? I mean, more of a ‘not nice’ person than her, as you put it?”

That question seemed to interest her, for she was about to answer immediately and then pursed her lips and paused for quite an interval, clearly considering it before slowly replying. 

“Firstly, a case of the wrong tense, I think for I am neither retired nor dead, remember” she smiled at me. “Only last week I had cause to deliver a very painful reminder to a creature that should have known far better. I fear that I may have grown far more intolerant with age, which partly answers your question”.

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

“Was I as cruel as Celine?” she mused. “Yes and no, I suppose, although that’s not exactly a satisfactory answer, is it?”

I grinned. “I’m not pushing”.

She flashed me a small smile. “There was a difference between us that I noticed right from the very beginning. Celine was…” she paused, “no, not that. What I mean is that Celine had grown up within the lifestyle of her parents. They both had their unique  and unusual interests, so to her, it was….” She paused again.

“Normal”, I offered, “or a sort of normality”, I grinned and added, “in a very un-normal sort of way!”

“That would be one way of putting it.” She replied. “I mean, she wasn’t backward in any way, very much the reverse. I expect she could have reached the top in many fields had she put her mind to it, for she was a very intelligent and personable young woman. Naturally, she knew right from wrong, the very, very wrong in her case in block capitals! That sort of thinking, though, never bothered her in the least beyond ensuring that her activities never attracted attention. Was she cruel? Yes, of course, she was, but I doubt that she ever gave a thought to her actions. At least not in the way I sometimes did!”

“Lack of conscience, maybe?”

“Possibly, then again, my niece or great-niece, I should say, is very similar, and she certainly didn’t grow up in the same way. She hadn’t a clue about my lifestyle until she was was sixteen. Nor is she lacking in conscience; she also spends a good portion of her time supporting numerous causes. Children’s charities, animal welfare, planet-saving, you name it! Yet, on the other hand, she can be ruthless when faced with a recalcitrant two-legged animal! I used to make allowances when I took in a new beast, but she will not compromise in the slightest!”

“In the genes, maybe?” I said somewhat hesitantly.

“Poof!” she waved a hand in the air. “Let's not get too deep; neither of us are psychologists or whatever they are called. My fault for driving us down this road,” she apologised.

“Actually, it was mine; I asked the question about you and Celine, remember?”

She nodded. “Ah yes, so you did. I suppose you could call it a draw in terms of cruelty and lack of conscience!  Anyway, as I said, her eyes lit up when she caught her first glimpse of Marlene, and the look certainly wasn’t reciprocal!”

“Noisy as well!” I surmised.

“I’ll say. That girl knew how to shriek and couple that with her extensive gutter vocabulary, and, well, I’m sure you get the picture! She was a big girl as well but well proportioned. No shot putting Amazon and, as I said, very attractive so that you didn’t tend to notice her size unless she was standing next to someone smaller.”

“Such as yourself or Celine!”

“Quite, they’d brought her to me stripped and suitably restrained, but I’d taken the precaution of adding a steel neck collar with a length of chain leading to a hefty wall bolt. Those long sun-bronzed arms and legs might look slim and shapely, but I suspected that they also packed some powerful muscles. I wasn’t taking any chances with that one!”

“Her boyfriend?”

“Can’t remember too much about him. Similar in size and build but a hell of a lot quieter, at least compared to her. As I recall, his verbal approach was calmer, more structured in terms of penalties, my legal position, their embassy in London and all that ‘you people need to think about what you are doing’  crap!” she paused and laughed. “If anything, his foul-mouthed girlfriend was the more persuasive of the two. Thank heavens for gags; otherwise, I’d probably have kicked them out onto the streets after the first twenty-four hours. Remember that I told you my facilities were soundproof?”

I nodded.

“That loud-mouthed bitch was the only one who managed to break the sound barrier, as it were. When she reached her high notes, I could hear her in the room above. Only just, but she was the only one ever to achieve that dubious distinction! I was worried that she was going to do herself mischief!”

“So she appealed to Celine?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, I’ll say she did. I didn’t know Celine very well at that point, but the moment she clapped her eyes on the girl Marlene the bitch wasn’t destined for any other owner. I got to know that look of Celines later on, and it said just the one word in big capital letters.”

“Ponygirl”, I interjected. “Or does that count as two words?”

That made her laugh again. “Bingo, you get the main prize. Yes, that was what I later thought of as her greedy ‘pony, and I want it’ look. As far as your question goes, that has always been, indeed is a matter of debate. Ponygirl or pony girl or even pony hyphen girl? Take your pick! Not that it matters terribly to the owners and certainly not to the subject matter!” she finished with a chuckle.

There was a pause while she played the good hostess and refilled our coffee cups, and carefully nudged the plate of biscuits in my direction. I was tempted but declined with a polite shake of the head, making her sigh for some reason.

“So,” I said, sitting back and relaxing. “What happened next is the key question, I suspect. Celine and Marlene wise, I mean?”

“Noise, that’s what happened next, and I mean noise in capitals, N O I S E! The moment we entered, the pair of them exploded, but the boyfriend never had a chance. Anything sensible he might have had to say or shout at us was swamped by Marlene’s enraged shrieks. Silly cow, any chance of them perhaps negotiating something went straight out of the window, not that they had any bargaining chips that would have interested Celine anyway”.

“Does that ever happen?” reluctant as I was to interrupt her thread, I was curious.

She shook her head but then took a few additional seconds to think before replying. “No, not to my knowledge. Why should it? The people who…those with an interest in such acquisitions are invariably wealthy and wealthy in the mega-money bracket! I’m not talking about those who buy a new Rolls Royce when the ashtrays are full, but those who can afford a new supper yacht when that occurs! I have known cases where the merchandise has been acquired, a particular individual for specific reasons, such as revenge. The money would make no difference, nor can I think of any other reason. Once acquired, well…” she repeated that indifferent shrug of her shoulders that was becoming very familiar”.

I nodded and indicated for her to continue.

“Celine made her mind up the moment she set eyes on them, notwithstanding all the abusive screaming. She’d been familiar with her mother's stables and their human livestock occupants from a very young age and had a very experienced eye. At that time, they were just, well, let's say general merchandise, for I was still very naive in some ways at that stage. To Celine, they were immediately destined to remain as a couple, a harnessed couple working as a trained pair pulling one of her racing carriages.” She broke off at my expression and laughed. “Think of it a bit like tennis.”

“Tennis!”

She winked at me and emitted that deep rich chuckle of hers. “Pony racing is very popular in my community. Singles, doubles and mixed doubles or, in our terminology, singletons, matched pairs and mixed pairs. The latter are often the hardest to both train and acquire. Singletons are easy, of course, doubles as well. A matched pair very hard to find and a mixed matched pair even harder.”

I saw the connection with tennis, at least in how she meant it but was still puzzled. “What do you mean by mixed matched?” I asked.

“Male, female, of course silly. Singletons speaks for itself, does it not? Pairs must be trained to work and move in perfect harmony to be successful and, of course, must be similar in build to be effective, but they can be wildly different in general appearance hence matched and unmatched.”

I was about to say something, but she preempted me via that admonishing finger waving in an impatient gesture. “Please, let me continue. Mixed, of course, is male and female, boy, girl pairing. Trying to get a decent pair is not that easy, especially if you want ones that are easy on the eye. Again that’s traditional in the scene; no one appreciates an ugly pony with a poor figure even though you can’t see much of their faces for tack.” She smiled. We, pony owners, are a vain bunch, and we like to display our pretty ponies both before and after races, sometimes minus their bridles!”

I frowned, thinking about what she was saying. “So, finding a boy/girl pair that fits the bill not as easy as it seems is what you are saying?”

“Yup, easy(ish) to find one but then to get something suitable to match and it needs to be a good physical match unless you want to finish last every time plus get laughed at, politely!” she emphasised that last word. “But still laughed at, so a good mixed pair is harder to come by than you’d think. 

“So, Celine spotted their potential at once”.

“Of course she did,  but even more than that, for they ticked one other box that pushed them as a pair right up to top thoroughbred status or the equivalent in human equine terms as a pair. They were already a pair in one sense, a couple, and that can add a lot of zero’s to the price of such acquisitions! Married, brother and sister, twins, lovers, anything like that!”

“How much?” it was an automatic question that just popped out.

That made her laugh again, and she beckoned for me to lean close, closer and then whispered something before sitting back and laughing delightedly at the open-mouthed expression on my face.

I shook my head in wonder. “My God! That’s an awful lot of money!”

“Possibly, but it is one of those relative things. Relative to your bank account and overall wealth. Some people can afford the latest pair of special designer Nikes and some can’t, just as some can afford to buy a matched pair of two-legged ponies and some can’t”. She gave that shrug again.

“Celine must have been rich then, wealthy indeed if she could afford to ignore that couples commercial potential?” I spoke that aloud although it was intended as an internal thought to myself, for I was also wondering just how much the little silver-haired grandmother like woman opposite me was actually worth?

“I’ve already told you that Celine was wealthy, but like many similar families and individuals, they never appear on those silly lists that appear regularly. You know the ones I mean, the richest man, richest woman, most influential, etc.!”

I winked at her. “And you?” I couldn’t resist it.

Her response was immediate and not at all ladylike. She stuck her tongue out at me and gave me the finger! “Mind your own damn business,” she said, then grinned. “I get by quite comfortably, thank you”, she paused, and then the finger wagged again. “and I’ll have you know I also pay my taxes, unlike some!”

I returned the grin. “So, back to business. The connection? What was the connection between Celine becoming somewhat ecstatic by the sound of it at the sight of your Aussie duo and you decamping to the continent?”

She smiled at me. “Well, the noisy Marlene and her beau were to be the catalyst and the two conversations with Celine. One short and somewhat interrupted while Celine delivered a practical demonstration that she both could and would do ‘this and vastly more to one angry, disbelieving young woman!

I raised my eyebrows, making her chuckle again.

“The delectable Marlene, of course, did not take kindly to feeling her new owners hands all over her magnificent body and not being gagged objected rather strongly. I think Celine found that amusing up to the point when the silly bitch decided to spit in Celine’s face!”

“Probably not the wisest thing to do under the circumstances”, I muttered.

She nodded. “Oh, my goodness, no, not at all! The filthy bitch hadn’t hung back either I saw it running down my elegant young friend’s cheek. I remember feeling slightly nauseous. That’s another of my pet hates, people spitting, yuck,” she twitched in a disapproving shudder. 

“Chewing gum”, I offered back, much to her surprise. “That’s one of mine that makes me feel queasy for some reason!

“Quite right. Revolting stuff, if people insist on using it, they ought to swallow the awful stuff not leave it everywhere for people to tread on or to find stuck under dining tables” she paused and tittered as I swallowed a couple of times and pulled a face. “You have gone a touch green, you know!” she teased.

“It doesn’t take much”, I grumbled, swallowing hard. “Could we stick to the essentials, please?”

That made her laugh out loud again, although not as noisy as some of the other times. “Alright, we don’t want any accidents. Funny though,” she mused. “We can talk about some things, horrible things and yet the trivial upsets both of us, interesting is it not?

I chose not to answer, so she continued.

“Celine, I found out later, was always more into fillys and mares than colts and stallions, although she stabled both. I didn’t know that then; otherwise, I’d have been surprised that she chose to maul, to go for whatever his name was first, the boy. Of course, he was verbal and tried to avid her hands, but she was too experienced to be put off by his feeble efforts. Always hard when you are completely naked and restrained!” she broke off and smiled. “It's always such a delight that first time you run your hands over new stock. Feeling their anger, that helpless rage but also their fear, those trembles, the quivering unsullied nervous flesh,” she finished with a sort of long quivering sigh and then looked slightly embarrassed.

I showed no mercy and winked while also giving her a wide malicious grin full on only to receive that little pink tongue being immediately and most unladylike promptly thrust out at me.

“Touché, milady” I surrendered. “I take it Celine was as Queen Victoria might have put it, not amused!”

“Well, naturally, my young French friends wasn’t going to stand for being treated like that, not by a creature that she intended taking full possession of and to her was no longer even human. Not in the normal sense anyway.” She paused as though considering something. “I wonder where that comes from, real in a historical sense or just one of those things that are made up but become accepted over time?”

“Sorry?”

“That ‘we are not amused’ quote you hear so often. Not that it matters!” she clapped her hands lightly together as she spoke as though to reset her thought process. “I remember that look of shock on her face at the very impertinence of such an act, and then she lashed out with one of the most vicious facial bitch slaps that I have ever seen. I was almost surprised that Marlene’s head was still attached to her shoulders. The very sound it made echoed like a sharp thunderclap around my cellar. The flurry of follow-ups was not much lighter either!”.

“What was her reaction, Marlene’s, I mean.”

“Silence, absolute dumb silence, not surprising since she’d hardly have been able to get a word out the way her head was being knocked from side to side. Her boyfriend made a couple of protesting squeaks, but the sound of palm against cheek drowned them out. I know a blow to the back of the head can knock you unconscious, likewise a punch to the jaw. I’ve never heard of anyone blacking out from a face slap, but it certainly knocked the stuffing out of that bitch for a few moments. Stunned, I expect and me virtually the same by the sheer violence of that assault, for it took me a second or two to realise that Celine was screaming in rage at me as well”.

“You, what had you done?” I asked, and she laughed.

“Not responded fast enough evidently. I realised even as her palm was at work; she was screaming for me to help release the girl and get her into my playroom.”

“Which you did, of course?”

“Of course. Hell, Celine was scaring me at that point, let alone the other two. Marlene didn’t help herself one little bit, for by the time I’d freed her from the additional cell chains, and we’d bundled her out and strapped her securely to my whipping hurdle, she’d returned to normal with a vengeance!”

“Which wouldn’t have been appreciated by Celine”, I observed.

She laughed. “I doubt that Celine even heard or noticed. I’d heard of that expression ‘incandescent with rage’ but never really appreciated what it meant till that moment. Celine had lost it, totally lost it, lost control to the degree that I found alarming. Never since that occasion have I seen her like that; she was normally always so cool, so composed  and controlled, but that one time!”

“What did you do?”

“What did I do” she paused and then laughed. “Damn near got myself killed that what! Just for a moment, I thought I was in big trouble. Even as I secured the last buckle on the squirming shrieking girl, Celine had grabbed one of my nastiest implements off its hook and was getting ready to let fly. I realised that unless I intervened immediately, Celine would do something we’d both regret. That particular ‘toy’ she’d grabbed was thin, flexible with a steel core. I rarely used it and then always sparingly and very carefully. I knew that neither of those actions would apply, given the mood Celine was in at that moment! I’ve seen her in action many times since with a whip, and it was always slow, accurate and calculating, never in a mad rage!”

There was a pause as she picked up her coffee cup and drained it before gently replacing it on its saucer and continuing.

“Thirsty work. Anyway, it was a case of reactions kicking in more than anything else. I sort of put myself between Celine and her target even as her arm swung back, and her eyes blazed with that rage possessing her. Marlene was still shrieking filth at the top of her voice and squirming against the straps holding her down, but if only she could have seen what I was looking at, my would she have closed her big foul mouth promptly!”

“What did you say?” I asked with interest picturing the scene in my mind.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing. The only sound was the foolishness coming from the silly bitch who was in mortal peril at that moment, at least that sun-bronzed hide of hers was. I hate to think what damage Celine would have wrought upon it. I mean, all such animals carry the mark of the whip to their graves, but even the most recalcitrant and unruly beasts never get it all in one dose, and that was my fear at that point. Whether Celine would have done what I feared, we shall never know, for even as she raised her arm and I interposed myself between her and her victim, she calmed down.”

“Saved by the bell!”

“Not really. As I said, Celine was certainly no idiot and normally a most composed young lady. Her arm slowly, almost reluctantly dropped, and our eyes met, then she smiled as the rage evaporated. “Gag that animal, please and then hold its head up”, she instructed and watched calmly as I silenced the squawking angry Marlene with a large red ball gag. Then she walked around to face the squirming girl looking down at her as I grabbed a handful of hair and forced her head up as far as the neck muscles would allow.

“Celine just stood there looking down while Marlene had no choice but to look up at her, still trying to make those foul-mouthed protests despite the tight gag, her eyes flashing dangerously with suppressed rage probably as great if not greater than that which had possessed Celine. This was going to be a contest of wills, I decided, and I also knew that there would only be one winner, and it wouldn’t be the one I was holding”

“I suppose she still got a thrashing, although not quite as severe as she might have had?” I said, but she shook her head negatively.

“No, not then, and I was a little surprised, for I thought the same as you. Of course, she would get thrashed and thrashed frequently and savagely and not just by Celine, but that was still to come. Celine had emotionally gone from white-hot to chilling cold in a brief instant. She was to use that long thin whippy rod but just the once.

I watched, fascinated as the two girls looked at each other. Marlene, her lovely face twisted into a mask of rage and hate and Celine one of amused contempt. Then she bent forward and made a hawking sound in her throat to spit almost as effectively into the girl's face then used the tip of that menacing whip to trace her saliva around and around before speaking. ‘Listen to me, you stupid creature. That was a very foolish thing that just did. Very foolish indeed, and now I will show you why!’

The moment of tension was shattered by the sudden loud blaring of a couple of horns from the road outside, one of which kept repeating with several long irate blasts. We looked at each other, then I arose and went over to the slightly open window, but whatever had happened in the road outside had quickly resolved, for I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I returned to my chair, shaking my head and lifting my arms in a recognisable gesture.

“Probably just a black taxicab arguing the right of way with a double-decker bus, that is what it usually is,” she remarked and added. “Neither willing to give way, noisy idiots!”

“Probably!”

“Anyway, it had gone a whole lot quieter back in my little empire of occasional pain. Celine continued to amuse herself, teasing her victim with the tip of that vicious switch. Then she went around behind Marlene, raised her arm, took aim and then let fly with all her strength right across both meaty buttock cheeks, leaving a stripe that sprang up like a mountain ridge and immediately began to bleed.  Just the one and then went back to the front. I was still holding Marlene’s head, but the way she’d bucked and squealed into the gag as that implement bit into her big butt!”

An initial object lesson?” I surmised.

“Precisely. Big brave boyfriend made an instant protest and started getting uppity, but Celine merely looked at him for a second and then walked over to his cell and derisively poked him in the privates with her switch. ‘Shut up, one more silly sound out of you, and I’ll castrate you, she told him with perfect sincerity. ‘Don’t even think of trying to tell me what I can and can’t do. Take a good long look around and put your puny animal brain to work. I own you, and I can do anything I want with you, to you and at any time I choose. Make me angry, and you can say bye-bye to this useless thing’, she prodded his cock with the end of the switch.

“Did he say anything?”

She laughed. “What do you think? No, not a word. I can’t mimic her sweetly ominous tone, but neither he nor I were in any doubt that she meant everything she said. Then she returned her attention to Marlene, who’d quietened down a lot and was sobbing a mixture of frustrated anger and pain, I expect. I was still holding her head, and I remember that my arm was beginning to ache a little likewise my back. I couldn’t fully see the girls face from my position, but Celine could. She raised her foot and ran the toe of her boot all over Marlene’s face as though to emphasise just how low and insignificant she’d become. Then she bent down and put her face close and whispered, ‘that little love tap was just a taster foolish pony. I am your owner, and by the time I’m finished, every centimetre of this splendid body will bear the scars of my whips. I will break your spirit, silence forever that foolish mouth of yours and in time reduce you to nothing more than a mindless obedient dumb animal in my stable. Think about it and think on this. She jumped up and promptly gave her newest ponygirl two more stripes from that evil implement she’d borrowed!

I frowned. “Didn’t you mention something about a conversation you had while down there?”

“Yes, a bit of an exaggeration to call it that. We released Marlene and put her back in her cell. While doing that, Celine said that I ought to come and visit her stable some time and see how they were getting along.  Initially, it was just a polite casual offer. Still, when I immediately replied that I’d love to see her stable and ponies and that I’d been meaning to ask if such a visit was possible, she became very enthusiastic about the idea. Once we’d safely deposited Marlene back in her cell to reflect at her leisure upon  what Celine had told her, we adjourned upstairs for a coffee and a longer chat!”

“Something of a heart to heart,” I said shrewdly, considering all that you’ve already told me.”

She nodded. “As I recall, it was a bit like that.  Celine told me about her mother,  stepmother rather and that she would not be using or needing my facilities, nor did she know when she might resume her activities. The need to keep her replacing her pappa’s broken little playmates had also diminished; I gathered he was not well either, and she was anxious to spend time with them both. Plus, she wanted to spend much more time with her own animals and apologised.  I told her she had nothing to apologise for because if it weren’t for her, I would never have discovered the amazing world she’d introduced into my life. I was also candid with her and told her of my own growing frustrations of late and my thoughts and thinking regarding obtaining a full time ‘playmate’ of my own”

“What did she say.

“I must confess that I was a little worried that she might take what I said the wrong way, that she might think it a criticism of her, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. She suddenly bounced; that’s the only word that describes it. She literally bounced out of her chair, flung her arms around my neck and kissed me on the cheek and lips several times and told me that I must come back with her. Come back at once with her along with her new ponies. I could help break them both in, and it would be so much fun. I must come!”

I pondered for a moment and then tried to phrase my question. “Were you…were you…”

“No”, she interrupted me, firmly shaking her head. “Were we lovers, no. Never, not at any time. Good friends, very good friends, yes, but we never shared a bed. I know Celine was bi, predominantly lesbian or gay as they say nowadays, but she also had boyfriends and almost certainly slept with them. But no, our relationship was based purely on friendship and mutual interest”.

“Human equines or similar?” I offered.

She nodded, “Correct, but at that point, my interest in them was driven more by curiosity than anything else. That would soon change, though” she stopped and looked at the old clock on the mantlepiece. Time, I think till the next time.”

“On to France and the stable,” I said and added finally,” with a cheeky grin.

She nodded and then laughed. Behave, but I promise, same time tomorrow suit you? I am in London for a few more days. 

I nodded and rose. “Fine, same time tomorrow”, I agreed, giving her a little wave of my hand as I headed for the door.