I didn’t want to look at Nan, wanted to get as far away from her as possible because I was afraid that Thomas’s retribution might spill over on me. But if I was afraid, Nan was downright petrified. She clasped shaking hands together and stuck them down between doubled up legs. She closed her eyes and her lips moved quickly, as if repeating some kind of mantra to calm herself that got only more frantic, as if she were trying to convince herself of its effectiveness.
“...attention to the master’s pleasure, attention to the master’s pleasure, the master’s pleasure, master’spleasuremaster’spleasure...”
Then, several pairs of boots, men’s and women’s, clumped and click-clocked in the hallway, getting louder. Nan’s voice caught, like her throat had gone dry. Her shoulders trembled, and she tu
