Cath and I got up to follow Madame but she stayed in her chair and just pulled a cord at the side of her chair. After a few seconds the door opened and the maid walked in.
"Yes Madame." She responded.
"Would you please take the new additions to the family to the dressing room and I will be along when I have finished my cup of tea."
"Yes Madame." The maid said.
Cath and I followed the maid down the corridor. Suddenly she stopped and spoke to us.
"Did you both read the contract thoroughly?" She asked.
"Well I sort of perused it." Said Cath.
"I just followed my wife. I thought that she had read it properly and would explain it to me later."
"I joined the shop two years ago and when I went for the job I did not see the contract on the door. I had my interview and Madame offered me the job but said that I had to read the contract before I left that day and sign it or she would give the job to someone else. Being a cocky twenty one year old I thought what does this old bird know? I looked at the contract on the door and just signed it and walked out of the shop. I thought nothing more of it."
"I went out with my girlfriends that night and celebrated the fact that I had landed a job at one of the best boutiques in town and I have to admit that I had a few too many to drink and ended up taking some man home whose name I never did find out and shagging him then falling asleep looking forward to a nice lie-in on the Sunday. At about five o'clock in the morning I kicked the man out of my bed because he was annoying me and I rolled over and went back to sleep. I was nicely asleep when my mobile phone rang."
"I wearily woke up and looked at the number and did not recognise the number but I picked it up anyway thinking that it might be a man that I may have given my number to the night before.
"Hello." I said.
"Where are you bitch?" A female voice said.
"I sat up with a start and asked."
"Who the fuck is this calling me a bitch?"
"It is Madame Fantasy bitch."
"What do you want Madame? I am not due to start work until tomorrow." I said.
"Did you not read the contract on the door before you signed it?" Madame asked.
"No Madame I did not I just thought that it was a standard work contract."
"You should have read the contract baby girl. The first line gave you a time and address to be at today so that we could fit you out with your outfit for the shop."
"I am sorry Madame. Shall I come now?" I asked.
"Yes you should come now but you will have to be dealt with for not being here on time." Madame said.
"I did not know what she was meaning but I said.
"Yes Madame."
"Be here in half an hour." She said.
"Yes Madame." I said.
"I put down the phone and found that I was quivering. I had got off to a bad start with my new employer and somehow I knew that I was in trouble. I quickly got ready and made my way to the address that I was given. I knocked on the door of the house and it was immediately opened by a maid who was dressed just as I am now. I was invited in and shown into Madame's front room and told to stand and wait for Madame."
"Madame kept me standing there for an hour and when she did come in she did not apologise. She said nothing at first and then she said to me."
"I am very disappointed Sarah. You should have read the contract because I now have to decide whether or not I should still give you the job. What would you do?" She asked.
"She made me stand there and think about things. I really needed the job. I had my rent and my bills to pay and I had a social life to live and this job paid was so well compared to other shops. I looked at her and saw the severe look on her face and somehow I knew what I had to say."
"I should be punished Madame"
"I am glad that is the conclusion that you came to because I agree with your assessment and I think you should be punished. So strip off all of your clothes."
"I looked incredulously at her and said."
"What all of them?"
"Yes all of them baby girl."
"I could tell from the tone of her voice that she meant what she was saying and I also realised that I was in deep trouble. I should have read the contract because now I was paying the price for not reading it. I took off all of my clothes and stood there naked. Meanwhile Madame had stood up and gone to a cupboard and come back with a cane. She swished it through the air and commanded me to bend over the couch. I looked at her for a moment and knowing that it was futile to disobey, naked I bent over the couch and waited for the punishment to be administered."
"Suddenly I heard a swish and then a Smack as the cane caught my buttocks. I let out a scream of pain and took my hands and rubbed my buttocks. God it hurt. It was a sting worse than that that of a bee. Madame stepped forward and moved my hand out of the way and then Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish, Swish and then it stopped. I was in floods of tears and did not dare move."