The Slave Read Online Free PDF Page B

several marks
crossed both cheeks from his belt. If she didn’t have so much to
do, it would have been nice to stretch out on that bed and pleasure
herself for a while, pressing those sore spots down to get the most
satisfaction. But she contented herself with the knowledge that she
had things to do, and left the room awake and slightly aching and
perfectly happy.
    She left the garment bag with
the bellman downstairs and took a cab all the way home. It was
extravagant, but soon she would have no need for the money she had
so painstakingly saved over the years. Why not splurge , she thought, sitting back and
watching the traffic. I should go to town! Have lunch at Lutéce, maybe.
If there’s time.
    Home was a modern building in the financial
district, not far from the South Street Seaport. She looked around
her one bedroom with a moment of indecision, and decided to make
her calls first. Might as well get the really hard part out of the
way. She changed into jeans and a T-shirt, pulled her Rolodex out
and started calling.
    It was a regular roller-coaster ride of
reactions. Of course her boss at the auction house was pissed.
Couldn’t she at least give them two weeks’ notice? And who was it?
Was it Christie’s? Would she at least give them a chance to match
the offer? Robin bit her lip and lied, and felt a little guilty.
But in reality, she knew that they would have no problem filling
her job, and that after a few days her co-workers would get used to
her absence as they all got used to the eternal shuffle in the art
world.
    That done, she called the super and told him
that she would be vacating within the week. As expected, he
stuttered and shouted his own outrage and swore dire circumstances
should he have to place a call to the owner corporation, but her
willingness to let the security deposit go caught him by
surprise.
    This is not so
hard , she
thought, dialing the third storage company and getting their
prices. I
guess it’s really kind of easy to leave town in a hurry. Not that I
know I’m leaving town. Hmm, that’s a thought. Do Marketplace slaves
ever go out? What if I don’t leave town and I end up seeing people
I know? What would I say if they invited me out for a drink, asked
me what I was doing?
    “ Hey, lady! You still there? I said
you can get the lease as long as you want.”
    “ What? Oh, yes, yes, thank you. I’ll
call you back later,” Robin said, returning to the
present.
    You think too much about the
wrong things , she scolded herself, laying the phone down. You didn’t think
about how to manage this properly, but now you’re thinking about
what might happen if you get accepted and if you get sold and if
that person lives in town and if and if and if. And meanwhile, the next number
on the list was her Mom and Dad’s.
    She decided to spend some time packing.
    That job wasn’t easy at all, and by
lunchtime, she knew that Lutéce was out of the question. She called
one of the Chinese places that delivered menus under her door every
week and ate General Gau’s Chicken right out of the box while she
divided her belongings into Pack, Give Away, and Throw Away piles.
Then, she spent more time on the phone, calling various charity
organizations that provided pick-up service. Only one could send
someone today, so they got several boxes and bags of clothing,
kitchen items, books and office supplies. The young men were very
friendly and grateful, and she was even more pleased with herself
when they gladly accepted $50 to take her “throwaways” as well, and
dispose of them somewhere.
    And it was only after they left that she
realized that not once did she imagine them overpowering her and
ravishing her on the floor of her apartment. She giggled and dove
back into her work, trying to get as much finished as she could.
The Rolodex remained next to the phone, stubbornly flipped open to
the card she left it on.
    By 5:30, she admitted defeat. There was no
way she could get anything else out of the house