An Unusual Courtship, Chapter 1

An Unusual Courtship


copyright by Mael DelaVara


(All characters portrayed here are fictitious and are not intended to represent either real people or the personae adopted by real people)


Chapter 1


The words caused Michael to feel as if he'd been expelled, for a second time, from the womb.

"I don't believe in sex before marriage," Audrey repeated, noting the spread of alarm across Michael's boyish features.

This was their third date, and the after-dinner conversation in Audrey's tidy duplex had taken a sharp turn. Michael seemed too shocked to say anything, so Audrey cast about to find a way to rephrase, maybe even explain, her belief. Instead, her mind took her, inexplicably, to a memory of the only occasion she'd ever seen her mom in an ungovernable rage.

She must have been about nine at the time, and her brother was a little over two years older. Her mom had caught him"playing with his thing," and for some reason found this act so wicked that she dragged the unfortunate boy by his ear into her bedroom without even troubling to close the door. There she snatched up her hairbrush, grabbed the child around his waist, bared his bottom and, while standing, administered a spanking that seemed interminable. As a girl, Audrey had not understood the exact nature of the offense, but as a woman now in her thirties she regarded men's sense of entitlement as destructive of true intimacy. She cast a suspicious glance at Michael.

"How often do you masturbate?" she heard herself say before she even realized that she'd uttered the question.

Michael squirmed and paused before stammering, "Maybe every day."

"Don't you have any self-discipline?" Audrey shot back, her eyes flashing with momentary anger.

"All guys do it," Michael mumbled sheepishly.

Audrey began to doubt if the relationship had a future. She liked Michael. It had been many years since she felt so attracted to a man. He was courteous and charming and, above all, kind and gentle. But she would have to deal with the pressure of his ungoverned sexuality; and she felt it an affront to her dignity that he would be pleasuring himself while they were dating.

"I do love you, you know," Michael interjected quietly.

He'd never said those words before. Audrey caught his eyes and held them firmly in her gaze.

Yes, I believe he does, she thought to herself as she began to experience a confusion in all her faculties.

"Well," she replied precipitously, "if you lack self-discipline, then you need discipline."

Michael blinked uncomprehendingly, but then under Audrey's steady look, he came to see what she was saying.

"You mean I need to be spanked?" he offered by way of a paraphrase.

"Yes," Audrey said, with a quiet confidence that restored her to herself.

Michael was at a loss for words, so Audrey broke the silence. "If you want a relationship with me, you will stop all self-gratification and you will submit to whatever correction I think necessary. And you will take your punishment like a man."

After that declaration, Michael was even less prepared to gather his thoughts into coherent speech. Audrey took advantage of the pause to continue: "You don't have to decide anything now. In fact, unless there's an emergency, I don't want to see you or hear from you until Saturday. If you accept my proposal, come by in the morning, say around ten, and if things go well, we'll have our fourth date in the evening. I'm sure we can find a restaurant neither of us has tried."

Michael was on the brink of saying something, anything, but he became suddenly aware that Audrey had stood up. He took this as a cue for his departure and lingered over putting on his coat, hoping for a kiss longer and deeper than the one he'd enjoyed at the end of their previous date. Instead, he was embraced by a lingering hug that made him feel surprisingly comforted and reassured.

Audrey recognized that she had enveloped Michael in a deep sense of calm, and she began to tingle at the prospect that he might, he just might find it in his best interests to submit to her plans for him. Only next Saturday would tell.