Chapter 32.   The Fate of A Dancer

Greg Masterson had asked me to use whatever influence I had with the ballet company to help the dancer, Jennifer Maisten. I also knew this would please Stephanie who had put Masterson up to this in the first place.

I knew that Jennifer was a criminal who had embezzled money from the company.  When the public prosecutor had declined to prosecute her, the company had launched a successful private prosecution.  The company then was empowered to pass sentence on Jennifer within the statutory guidelines. They had used this power with a vengeance, as there were many directors furious with her at the time.

I knew that sometimes the passage of time causes angers to fade.  Sometimes an organization might be willing to take a second look at something - especially if they liked the person making the request.  I went way back with the company, knew most of the Directors, and was known by them in turn as a heavy financial contributor.  I thought therefore I had a chance to sell them on some leniency for Jennifer. 

First I wanted to convince myself that Jennifer deserved leniency.  Even if she were released on parole there could still be some stiff conditions for her to fulfill - including sexual conditions.  

I decided to drop by the theatre one evening when I knew she would be rehearsing.  As I entered the rehearsal room with the mirrored walls and the wall mounted barre that all the dancers used, I noticed that while most of the dancers wore normal rehearsal attire of leotards and tights, there were also a few, including Jennifer, who were nude except for their ballet shoes and leg warmers and, in Jennifer’s case a short classical tutu skirt extending stiffly and horizontally out from her waist.  She wore neither the customary bodice with it nor the underwear and the skirt itself left none of her charms to the imagination.  

Jennifer was acting as a stand-in for one of the principal dancers in the rehearsal of the famous dance from “The Sleeping Beauty” known throughout the world as the “Rose Adagio”*.   As such she danced the role of the princess Aurora, dancing in turn with each of four fully clothed suitors.  Each suitor in turn would provide her a point of balance and stability while she twirled en pointe on one slender leg and with the opposite leg raised skyward - nearly 180 degrees from the supporting leg.  The view of her private parts this provided was breathtaking.  I knew that, while they were willing to let Jennifer do this dance in rehearsal as a stand-in, that they had no plans to let her perform the Aurora role before the public, with or without clothes.

The Artistic Director Leonard Morrison warmly greeted me.  He had recently been promoted to that position upon the retirement of the previous Director.  While he now had responsibility to supervise other choreographers, he continued to actively create new works himself.  I asked him if he could spare Jennifer for a brief interview and he readily assented.  He told me Jennifer and the four suitors were due for a break anyway and to limit the interview to thirty minutes.  He instructed Jennifer to remove the tutu so that it would not become wrinkled.  Soon I found myself alone with Jennifer in a small office nearby.  I locked the door against any interruption, took a seat behind the desk and kept Jennifer standing there for a long moment while I looked up and down her beautiful body, naked but for her ballet slippers.  This was the same girl I had seen masturbate unconsciously when she was in the sensory deprivation cylinder for her slave training.  

She stood erect, her feet shoulder width apart, and kept her arms hanging at her sides as any well-trained slave would.  The office seemed quite a bit cooler than the rehearsal room.  She seemed a bit unsteady, shifting her weight nervously from one foot to the other.  It was a pleasure to watch the alternating muscular tensions in those gorgeous legs.  It was a pleasure to gaze upon the perfectly flat and well toned abdominal area of her body, her cute navel, and to drop my gaze still lower to take in her well trimmed pubic area.

“You are probably wondering”, I began, “why I summoned you here.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Steelforth, I was wondering that, sir.”

I continued to enjoy the sight of her standing there in all her nakedness.  I was going to savor this interview, not rush it.  I wanted her to be quite conscious that I was enjoying the sight of her body, and that the interview would proceed according to my timetable, not hers.

“I want to know you Jennifer, and for a reason I cannot yet disclose.  Suffice to say I am here as a representative of your owner.  It is very important that you open up to me.  Hold nothing back.  Let me see the real you!”

“The real me sir?  I am not sure what that means.”

“It means I want to know what goes on inside that pretty head of yours!”  

By now I was noticing her starting to shiver from the coolness of this room.  I saw there was a folded blanket on the credenza.  

“I know how important it is to you dancers”, I remarked, “to keep warm when not exercising so your muscles don’t cramp.  Here, I give you permission to wrap yourself in this and take a seat”, I said handing her the blanket. 

“Thank you sir!”

The girl wrapped herself in the blanket that was only large enough to cover her from just above her breasts to just below her crotch.  This left her delicate shoulders and collarbone bare as well as her slender and quite muscular thighs.  Still it would be enough to preserve her body heat and yet still leave me with a tantalizing view.  I had often noted how typical it was for a dancer to have strong muscular legs in combination with an upper body that seemed almost fragile in its thinness. 

“I want you to take me back nearly two years now to when you were embezzling money from this ballet company.  I want to know what your thoughts and feelings were then toward the company.  Be honest.”

“I was resentful.  I thought they were always passing me over when there were good roles.  They were passing me over for others who couldn’t dance as well as I because they were prettier.  It seemed unfair.  I would never get one of the principal roles.  The only way I could have a chance at these roles would be if I could get plastic surgery for my face.  But I had no way to pay for that on the salary of a low level company dancer.”

“So you embezzled.”

“Yes sir.”

“I assume that you did actually get the plastic surgery since your face is as pretty as any I have ever seen in this building.”

“Yes I did sir.  And thank you for the compliment!”

“Are they still passing you over for principal dancer roles?”

“Yes sir.  But now it is not because I am not pretty enough.  It is because they wish to punish me further for my crime by stunting my dance career.” 

“Do you think your sentence was fair?”

“I knew by the end of my trial”, she responded, “that what I had done was wrong.  I knew I had to make restitution for it.  I also knew there was no way I was ever going to be able to repay the company such a large amount out of my meager salary.  I also knew that restitution alone would not be enough.  I had to be punished severely for my actions to deter others from committing similar crimes.”

“So you accepted your sentence of slavery as fair?”

“Well…yes.  Yes sir I mean.  Indenturing me would not have been enough for what I had done.  I accepted that I needed to be enslaved to satisfy the punishment requirement as well as the restitution requirement.   I accepted that I needed to lose all my freedom and all my rights for some years in order that the ballet company and the public would be satisfied that I had been suitably punished for my crime.  Anything less would not have been fair to the company.”

“But I hear in your voice that you have reservations about your sentence?”

“May a slave speak freely sir?”

“Yes, Jennifer.  That is what I am giving you permission to do.”

“I don’t object, Mr. Steelforth, to the parts of my sentence that provide real money value to my owners, even though many of these things are humiliating.   Making me dance nude for the ballet company is a fair punishment.   Or making me work 60 hours/week between two jobs.   Or even forcing me to provide sexual services to many of the managers and clients over at Masterson Automotive.”

“I think I hear a ‘but’ coming”, I said, trying to reassure her that it was ok to continue.

I saw a tear begin to form and trickle down one of her well tanned cheeks.  Since her enslavement there had been few if any opportunities for her to express her feelings about all this to anyone.

“What I object to is the pointless sexual humiliation I must constantly endure - like working nude in my cubicle over at Masterson with all the well dressed clients smirking at me, attending staff meetings in the nude, rehearsing nude here every night, being fucked every day by some stranger - not to earn money for my owner but just to satisfy a requirement in my sentence that I be fucked daily by strangers.”

I was impressed with her attitude so far but felt I needed to press her further.

“But what you are saying Jennifer”, “is that you accept the need to make restitution but don’t think you should experience punishment just for the sake of punishment.”

“I don’t mean I shouldn’t be punished.  I just mean that the punishment part of my sentence seems excessive.  I am genuinely repentant for the crime I committed.  I was sentenced to five years of sexual humiliation and monthly public whippings.  I have endured this for a year and a half already.  When is enough enough sir?
 
“That is a good question Jennifer.  I like your attitude and I want to help you!”  

As I said this I placed my right hand affectionately on one of her luscious slender thighs and felt in my palm the warmth of her being.  I felt the beginnings of stiffness in my penis as I did so.

“I am going to try to see if something can be done to alleviate your situation.  Greg Masterson cannot relax any of the terms of your sentence.  Only the ballet company can change your sentence.  Do you know Frank Matters, the lighting designer?”

“Oh sure.  Frank is a great guy - always so courteous to the dancers.  And he is kind of cute too!”

“I have heard that Frank is looking for a new lighting operator and gopher since Stephanie won her freedom.  I know he has the hots for you.   The job would almost certainly involve having sex with him.  How does that sound? “

“With Frank it would hardly be punishment sir!”

“But that’s just it Jennifer.  If we are to succeed you need to convince a lot of people around here that the sexual aspect of that job is abhorrent to you - that you would hate having sex with Frank!”

“I don’t understand sir.”

“I want to get them to accept the job with Frank as satisfying the non consensual sex part of your punishment!”

I saw a light of understanding in her eyes now.

“And I will also see what can be done about some of the other humiliating parts of your sentence.”

“Thank you sir.  I will be ever so grateful to you!”

“Stand now Jennifer, fold the blanket neatly and put it back on the credenza.”

The girl quickly complied with my order.  As she did so I admired her nakedness yet once more, particularly her muscular buttocks as she was bending over to put the blanket back.  I could not resist the temptation to caress her buttocks gently.  I unlocked the office door and indicated by gesture that our interview was over and that she might return to her rehearsal warm-ups.

As I walked back through the rehearsal room I got the attention of Leonard Morrison.  He was obviously too busy creating a new dance routine to really talk now but I arranged to return the next day for an interview with him.

My next stop was to visit Frank Matters.  My plan partly involved politicking various members of the ballet company staff - so that they would support my request when I put it before the Board of Directors.  I strongly suspected that the prospect of having Jennifer as his lighting operator and sex toy would help persuade Frank to join with other staff members in arguing for leniency for her.   He invited me into his office.

“It’s been quite a while Bill”, he began.  Ever since that night - was it 6 months ago - when you came into this office and talked to my then assistant Stephanie.  How is she doing now that she has been freed?”

“Very well last I heard.  Thank you for your interest.  That sort of leads right into what I wanted to see you about Frank.  I heard that you went through a number of different girls as temporary lighting operators and none of them really worked out for you.  Did I hear that right?”

“That is fairly accurate”, he replied.  Another problem is that these temp women they send me aren’t all that attractive or all that young - if you know what I mean!”

“I know very well what you mean you old pervert!” I said with a broad grin and slapped him on the back.

“I may actually have a solution”, I continued, “to both your problems.  Do you know the dancer, Jennifer Maisten?”

“Hell yes.  I tried a couple of times to see if I could get her as my assistant.  What a hottie!  The Artistic Director said that was not possible since she was already dividing her time between two jobs.”

“That could change - I am trying to arrange things so that she works full time here in the theatre - say thirty hours a week as a dancer and maybe ten to 15 hours a week as your assistant. “

“I’m listening!”

It all depends”, I continued, “on whether I can get her criminal sentence modified, and that would be up to the company’s Board of Directors.  Might you be willing to work with me on this?”

“Tell me more.”

“Jennifer’s sentence calls for her to endure, as punishment, non consensual sex at least twenty times per month.  She has endured this punishment, along with whippings every six months, for a year and a half now.  I don’t know how much more she can take.  I am afraid if I go to the Board for sentence modification and just ask for this punishment to be cancelled, they may well turn me down.  There are some on that board that were furious with her for the theft two years ago and argued strenuously for the sexual punishments to be part of her sentence.”

“So you propose what then?” he replied.

“I am going to propose that they ‘force’ her to be your assistant and have regular sex with you!”

“But Jennifer likes me”, he responded, “and I feel that she would willingly have sex with me.”

“But it must not appear so”, I said.  “You and I and Jennifer are all going to have to be good actors.  We will stage some sort of incident where others see you being rough with her and that you slapped her face.  When they tell her she is going to be your new lighting operator and comfort girl, she will protest that she would rather die than “have sex with that man!”

“I guess I am not above playing a game with you Bill, but what would all this accomplish?”

“I can then go before the Board”, I continued, “with a proposed sentence modification that says that her non consensual sex punishment can be fully satisfied by being assigned as a sex slave to you for the remaining three and one half years of her term.  This will relieve her of the awful business of having to fuck twenty different strangers every month.”

“Do you think the Board will go for it?  Will they really think being assigned to me would be a true punishment?”

“Actually Frank, it may not matter if all of them believe it as long as some do.  The directors who see through this little charade may well vote our way anyway - because we will have given them a face saving way to justify changing her sentence without appearing to be canceling the sex punishment part.”

“Don’t sentences have to be changed with the judge’s approval?”

“Yes, but that is usually only a formality once the original plaintiff has agreed to the change.”

“I’m onboard.  What will I need to do?”  he asked.

“Just wait for further instructions for now”, I replied.

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That evening I felt very lonely.  Although I had hopes my relationship with Stephanie would eventually work out after her therapy was finished, I was feeling an immediate need for some things that Stephanie could not yet give me.  I called the schoolteacher and sex therapist Sherry Wilson.  She had become my best friend, and this was a “friendship with benefits”.  She wasn’t busy that evening and invited me over.  We got comfortable over a couple glasses of wine and I began to unburden my soul.  I told her about today’s events and what my strategy was for improving Jennifer’s situation.  She approved. She filled me in on what had been going on with Tom Jenkins therapy. I told her about how Stephanie had entered sex therapy and how I would be partnering with her in that.  Then I got into what was really occupying most of my waking moments. 

“Sherry, I think I can tell you this as a friend.  I have both physical and emotional needs that Stephanie may not be able to satisfy for months or perhaps years.”

“So you come to me, Bill, to fill those needs now?”  

With that she stroked my thigh gently and I began to feel aroused.  She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed.

“Are you jealous of Stephanie?”

“No, I have known from the beginning that you and I would only be friends and not romantic partners.  And I have enjoyed you on that basis and enjoyed the sex and hope it can continue a while longer.  She is the one who is romantically a match for you Bill.”

“Why do you say that?” I replied.

“Because you have told me”, she continued, “how you and she interact.  I know you make her feel visible.  And more to the point she makes you feel visible - in ways that go beyond what you and I have.  Don’t take this the wrong way, Bill, but I think the age difference between the two of you may be an important factor.  You take almost a fatherly interest in her, which she has not experienced with men her own age.  You are somebody she can look up to and admire for all the fine qualities that make you who you are.”

“But don’t you see the same things in me she does?” I replied.

“I like you Bill and am certainly aware of some of your better traits, but I don’t think I see the total package the way she does.  And I, perhaps, cannot look at you or any man with quite the innocent eyes that she can.  It may be that the work I did as a prostitute for many years has colored my perception of men, made me more cynical I expect.  As a result I don’t expect as much from a relationship with a man as she does.  And probably I cannot give back as much as she can.  I am not a romantic, but you are Bill!”

“Are you suggesting that I should marry her?” I replied.

“Yes!  Go to her Bill.  Tell her you love her and want her to be your wife.  You will need to be patient, as her therapy will take time.  I tell you this as your friend.  Someday, when I have lost you, I may regret having been so candid.”

The arousal I had felt earlier had faded by now.  But I still felt very affectionate toward Sherry and gave her a big hug.  I had much to think about, so I made my excuses about having to get up early tomorrow and went home without the physical release I had planned.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day I felt it was time to put my little ruse into action.  I called Frank Matters and encouraged him to go ahead and stage an incident that would convince everyone that he and Jennifer were bitter enemies.  By mid morning he had sexually harassed Jennifer in front of witnesses, insisting that she come to his office and fuck him.  When she resisted his demand he slapped her around for several minutes and finally stormed off to his office calling her all sorts of names.

Later that morning I had my meeting with Leonard Morrison, the Artistic Director.  He was pleased to see me.

“Congratulations”, I began, “on your recent promotion.  I came to talk about Jennifer.  I come as a representative of her current owner, Masterson Automotive Group.”
I would like, if you don’t mind, to gain some insight as to what her prospects might be here as a dancer.   

“I am always more than willing to discuss any of our dancers with you Bill.  You should know that after all the years you have supported us in our fund raising campaigns.”

“Before I go into her prospects”, Leonard continued, “I think you might find it instructive to see just how good a dancer she really is!”

“I saw her just yesterday”, I responded, “as a rehearsal stand in for Aurora in the Rose Adagio.  I could not have been more impressed!”

“Yes, but I think I can show her to you in another way.  The company has recently acquired a ‘Virtual Dance Simulator Machine’ (VDSM).  This is a computer controlled machine programmed to train dancers to perfectly emulate a model dancer image that they see through virtual reality goggles.”

“I think I have a general idea”, I replied, “what you are talking about.  I recently visited a self-defense training school where they used ‘Virtual Fight Training Machines’.  This must be something quite similar.  Right?”

“I have heard something of how those work.  Our machine has some similarities but also is quite different.  Jennifer is just about to start a practice session in one of these machines.  Have you the time and interest to see her practice?”

“Of course!” I replied eagerly.

He led me to a large adjoining room off the main rehearsal room.  There was Jennifer in the process of removing her tutu.  She was then entirely naked but for her ballet shoes.  She smiled to acknowledge my presence and Leonard’s presence and then put on a pair of virtual reality goggles and an earphone headset.

“Complete nudity”, he said, “is a requirement for any dancer using this machine.  The machine needs all the information that the naked body can provide as to the positioning and tensioning of all the muscle groups.”

The machine bore some striking resemblances to the ‘Virtual Fight Training Machine’.  Like that machine it consisted of an open three-dimensional framework that defined an action area.  In this case, however, the action area was 24 feet by 36 feet - much larger than the 8 ft by 12 ft area of the fighting machines.  Attached to the framework at many points were video cameras.  

“Before a dance student can experience a multi-sensory training session”, he continued,  “he or she must have had a series of hypnotized sessions in a simple audio-visual trainer.  Jennifer has had this hypnotic training so that she will be able to experience certain physical sensations that will help her adjust her muscles to match those of the virtual dancer.  These sensations will be produced by coded subliminal visual cues flashed on her retinas.”

“Jennifer will find herself mimicking the attitudes and movements of a model dancer.  She will ‘see’ the model dancer’s bodily positions through the virtual vision capability of the goggles and “hear” the dance music through the headset.  This computer controlled machine will train her to think fast and keep on dancing through any discomforts until she can perfectly imitate the movements of the virtual dancer.   The machine will cause her to feel a certain discomfort in any muscle group that is not perfectly emulating the model.  She will discover that there is a ‘sweet spot’ for each and every one of her muscles where that muscle will feel just right and that only happens when that particular muscle is doing exactly what the corresponding muscle on the model dancer is doing.”

“But how will the machine know if each of her muscles is doing the right thing?”  I asked.

“The machine’s computer at all times knows”, she responded,  “the position, attitude and motions of the student dancer’s body by integrating data from multiple video cameras.  It compares this data with the data it also has concerning the position, attitude and motions of the model dancer it has generated for the student.  But perhaps the best way to understand all this is to just watch.”

Leonard flipped a switch so that the dance music would be heard over speakers and not just in Jennifer’s headset.

There were two buttons on one of the frame’s side posts.  Jennifer pushed the one labeled “Model”, and took up a position near the center of the action area.  From time to time she would turn this way or that, and assume various postures.

“At this point the computer is measuring all parts of Jennifer’s body in order to create a virtual model for her that will be anatomically identical to Jennifer.  This will make it much more possible for her to mimic the movements if the model’s body works the same way as her own.  For example Jennifer is very slender, has long limbs, a torso of only average length and small breasts.  So the computer creates a slender long limbed average torso small breasted model to demonstrate the movements for her.”

A light flashed indicating that the model customization process was complete.

Jennifer pushed the ‘Start’ button on one of the frame’s side posts.  Almost immediately we began to sense that there was an invisible ghost like presence in the same dance area with Jennifer.  We could see her begin to respond to this presence that only she could ‘see’.  All the muscles of her beautiful dancer’s body began to tense and then execute beautiful sequences of moves.  I could feel my penis begin to get partially erect inside my slacks and hoped that Leonard did not notice.  No such luck.  I could see him glance briefly downward at my crotch and I thought for a moment that he was going to say something but then he just smiled and encouraged me by a gesture to keep my focus on the dance.

“Here”, Leonard offered, “Why don’t you slip on these virtual goggles?”

I did so and the picture was now complete.  I could see the computer generated ‘model dancer’ that Jennifer was emulating quite clearly now.  The model was long limbed like Jennifer and I was amazed to see that the model was even anatomically correct in all details.  It was also apparent why a much larger action area was needed for this than for the fight training machines.  The model dancer and Jennifer were doing long runs and leaps that required considerable space.

As we watched we saw Jennifer very imperfectly matching the model dancer at first.  We saw grimaces on her face from time to time when the machine corrected her by causing a discomfort in the relevant muscle.  As the exercise progressed Jennifer’s dance began to match the model dancer to a remarkable degree and we saw a look of ease on her face.  Evidently she had learned to find all the sweet spots in her muscles that the machine had taught her.

Finally the exercise was over.  Jennifer was dripping with perspiration but I went over and hugged her anyway.  I never minded the odor of girl sweat on a healthy, athletic and pretty girl.  I caressed her face and told her I was very impressed with her performance.  Leonard also gave her a few words of encouragement.  Then we withdrew to Leonard’s office for our further discussion of Jennifer.

“What I want to know”, I continued, “is how talented is she?  Is it possible that she is being, well, held back from leading roles she would be qualified to dance?’

“I will be very frank with you Bill since we go way back and I know I can trust your discretion.  Jennifer is one of my top four dancers.  You saw her standing in at rehearsal for the role of Aurora in the Rose Adagio.  That speaks volumes as to her talent.  If it weren’t for her criminal conviction she would have been given a number of important roles by now.  As it is I am holding her back because important people on the Board want me to.  They say it doesn’t make any sense to reward her and advance her career while we are at the same time punishing her for stealing from us two years ago.”

“If the Board could be persuaded to soften their stance on that, do you think you could use her for bigger roles?”

“Hell yes!”

“Leonard, I am trying to work out a change in her criminal sentence which I will soon submit to a vote of the Board.  The sentence change, if it goes through, will eliminate all the gratuitous sex humiliation, the whippings every six months, and will also limit the non consensual sex part of her sentence to servicing perhaps only one or two individuals.”

“How many has she been servicing so far?”

“About twenty per month - which is the minimum that her sentence now requires.  Masterson Automotive has no choice but to carry out the terms of the sentence so 
they have been using her as a kind of fringe benefit for their key managers and also to entertain VIP customers of the firm.”

“If the Board changes her sentence”, he inquired, “would that mean she would no longer have to service all those managers and VIPs at Masterson Auto?”

“The change would have to be approved by the Court”, I responded, “and the Court would not approve the change unless Masterson Automotive were appropriately compensated.  After all she was rightly convicted and they did buy her in good faith. 

“Do you mean Bill, that if Masterson can no longer use her as a company prostitute they would have been cheated of a big part of what they thought they were getting when they bid on her.”

“That’s it in a nutshell”, I replied.  So part of my proposal to the Board is that the ballet company offer to repurchase Jennifer at a fair price based on what she was worth before the change in her sentence.  She would have a lot more value here as a top notch dancer than she would have at Masterson doing some sort of clerical work where her skills are probably mediocre.”

“Well yeah … I suppose that’s true.  But your dreaming Bill if you think this organization has any money in the budget to buy another slave dancer this year.”

“I think I can see my way clear”, I replied, “to subsidize her repurchase by making a special donation to the company.  Part of my idea is that she would then spend all of her time here.  You would have a better rested and more available dancer to work with.”

“You would do that?  What is this girl to you Bill?”

“It is not what she is to me personally, but what she is to the woman I love!”

“I’ll probe no more.  I would be happy to support your proposal with the Board, but there are no guarantees they will go for it.  I don’t begin to understand all the politics that goes on there!”

I thanked him for listening and headed for the office of Jay Worthington, the President of the Board.  His secretary informed me that I was in luck since his fund raising activities for the company normally kept him away from the office most of the time.  Soon I was sitting in his office sipping the coffee the secretary brought us.

“It has been too long since we talked Bill”, he began.  “What brings you our way today?”

“A problem about a dancer”, I said.  “I’m sure the name Jennifer Maisten is all too familiar to you.  I know you were involved in formulating her sentence after her criminal trial.”

“To some extent yes, along with several other Board members.”

“The girl has served a year and a half of her five year sentence.  She has endured unspeakable degradations.   I am thinking perhaps she has been punished quite a bit already and that maybe the company could consider lightening her burden somewhat.”

“And why should we do this?  The whole idea was to make an example of her to deter others from committing similar crimes.”

“I think you have had that deterrent effect already Jay.  More to the point Leonard informs me she is one of his top four dancers but he can’t give her a major role because attitudes are so hardened against her on the Board.  I think it would be a tragedy if a dancer of her talents were held back another three and a half years.  After all a dancer’s whole career is probably not much longer than 15-18 years!  My proposal could help the company develop a top talent that would surely increase box office over time!”

“Now you are talking my language Bill!  I will be frank and let you know that your real problem selling this will not be with me but with our Treasurer, Hank Weinstein.  I would go see him if I were you.  If you can get this by him the others will fall in line!”

“Why does he have such a hardass attitude toward her, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Well you have tangled with him before, Bill when you attended past board meetings.  You know he is an old curmudgeon about everything, but there is more.  Jennifer worked in his department when she embezzled and he was the one who was most furious of all when she was found out.  Probably he felt humiliated that her getting away with this crime was a reflection on his lax supervision.  He became quite vindictive.  He was the one who pushed to include all the sexual humiliation in her sentence.   I think he would have had her drawn and quartered if that were within the sentencing guidelines!”

“Is there a softer side to this man?  A chink in his armor perhaps?”

Worthington just laughed out loud.

“If there is”, he replied, “none of us has discovered it in recent years!  Here is his business card.  Call him at his accounting firm.  I do wish you luck.  You will need it!”

With that he rose and extended his hand, indicating that our interview was over, and I left the building.

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I called Hank Weinstein from my car.   When his secretary put him on I began my pitch.

“Hank, its Bill Steelforth.  You remember me I think.  We met at the board meeting two months ago.”

“Steelforth you say?   Aren’t you the one who is always twisting our arms about some radical new proposal?” he said with what could pass for a good-natured laugh.

“Well I may have another radical idea to put to you.”  

“Speak up man! I can hardly hear you.” He replied.

“I said I have another radical idea”, I continued, “and wondered if I could drop by this afternoon to discuss it?”

“We have some reports that have to be sent by courier to an important client by 5 pm.  But I think if you dropped by around 5:30 I could give you some time.”

I knew of course the only reason he was making time for me at all was because I have been a generous contributor to the ballet.  At 5:30 I arrived and was ushered into his office.

“I usually take a glass of sherry this time of day.  Will you join me young man?”

“Of course!”

He opened his liquor cabinet and poured us both a glass.  After some small talk he indicated we might get around to what I had come for.

“So what is this ‘radical idea’ Steelforth?”

“I want to talk to you”, I replied, “about lightening the sentence of Jennifer Maisten.”

He was in mid swallow when I said this and I thought he was going to cough up sherry all over his desk and papers when he heard this.  His face turned beet red.

“Do you know what that bitch did to me?” he managed to say finally in a voice still fighting for air.

“Jay did brief me a bit on that.”

“Did he tell you the bitch utterly betrayed me and made me look like a fool in front of the board?”

“Not exactly.  But he did say she had been working for you and that when her embezzlement was discovered you were more angry than any of the others!”

“Did he tell you that she caused me so much emotional distress back then that it affected my marriage and my wife nearly divorced me?”

“No, he didn’t mention that at all.”

“Now why on earth would I want to ‘lighten her sentence’ as you put it?”

I knew from my conversation with Jay that he would probably not be susceptible to any argument based on mercy for Jennifer.  I had to find another way.

“I am asking you to consider it only because it is in the best interest of the company.  The Artistic Director has informed me she is one of the four best dancers he has, but he hasn’t been able to give her any leading roles because of her status here.  I would like to upgrade her status so she can be given these roles.  That, in turn, will help box office.”

He looked at me quizzically.

“Her sexual punishment would continue of course”, I replied.  “No one should escape just punishment after committing so serious a crime!”

There was a long period of silence.  Finally he spoke.

“Could you spell out what you have in mind?”

“Sure Hank.  I propose the board recommend to the Court that Jennifer be paroled from slave status to indentured servant status for the remaining three and one half years of her original five-year sentence.  It would be a sexual indenture of course and her punishment would be having to have sex with a man she hates - Frank Matters.  She would become his assistant and his sex toy!”

“But it would hardly be punishment if she liked Frank now would it?”

“Perhaps you haven’t heard about the fracas this morning when Frank tried to force her back into his office for sex?  Several stagehands witnessed that incident.  I am sure you could get confirmation that making her work for Frank would indeed be punishment.”

“Well maybe you have got something then young man.  Still, you are asking me to swallow a lot in the way of improved status for a woman who betrayed me!”

“Hank, you are a religious man I believe?”

“Yes.”

“Then perhaps you are familiar with the Book of Ecclesiastes?” I pushed on.

“Indeed I am”, he replied.

“There are some lines there”, I continued, “that speak of the need for us to constantly adapt to changing seasons and changing circumstances - lines that were adapted as the basis for a popular song **:

        To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
        There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
        And a time to every purpose, under Heaven
        …
        A time to build up, a time to break down
        A time to dance, a time to mourn
        A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.

“I will have to think on this”, he replied slowly after a long pause.  Now I have to turn my attention back to my practice.  Good day!”

He stood, indicating the interview was over.

About two weeks later a meeting of the board was scheduled.  I had persuaded Jay to put me on the agenda to speak to the directors.  After the reading of the minutes and some discussion of old business, Jay announced that the subject of Jennifer Maisten would, at my request, be the first item of new business.  All the directors were now looking in my direction - somewhat confused as to why her name was coming up again a year and a half after her embezzlement trial.  I heard some whispering and a groan or two.  He nodded to me to begin my pitch.

“Gentlemen”, I began “and Mrs. Moore, I ask your indulgence for perhaps ten or fifteen minutes while I put a proposition in front of you that may, if you accept it, contribute much to the long run success and reputation of this ballet company.”

I began to sense a change in the room.  I had gotten their attention, or at least their curiosity, for the moment.  

“A year and a half ago we prosecuted Jennifer for the crime of embezzlement.  We were able to secure a conviction and get Jennifer sentenced to five years of sexual slavery as punishment for her crime, and as a deterrent to any other would be criminals who might think of committing a similar crime.  I know that many of you were furious with her for her betrayal of trust - particularly for the betrayal of Hank Weinstein’s trust, since he was the one who had trained her for a responsible position handling our funds.”

“Yes, yes we know all that.  Get to the point Steelforth!” one of the directors yelled at me.

“There are actually two points”, I continued, “that I want to make.  The first is that Jennifer has indeed been punished for the last year and a half.  She has been forced to have sex with twenty strangers every week over at Masterson Automotive, she has been made to work two jobs for a sixty hour work week, and she has been taken to the public whip master and publicly whipped several times during her sentence.  I am going to ask you in a moment to consider if she has not suffered enough already for her crime.”

I heard some coughing and somebody said under their breath “like hell she has”.  I chose to ignore this and forged ahead.

“My second point is that Jennifer, in spite of the hardships laid upon her, has applied herself with great discipline to becoming a top notch ballet dancer.  Her talent in that regard is so great that when I visited a rehearsal recently I saw that she was being used as a stand in for Princess Aurora to train the four male suitors in their roles.  Yet the Artistic Director informs me that he cannot give any leading role to Jennifer because of her status with this board.”

“You would have us reward a thief with a leading role?” one of the directors called out to me.  There was beginning to be nervous coughing and shuffling of feet and whispers.

“I would ask this board to reward a very hard working dancer who has experienced complete remorse and been punished many times over for her crime.”

“But why should we even consider it?”  another called out.

“Because not to do it”, a new voice chime in, “would be to hold back this company from being all it can be!”  The voice was that of Leonard Morrison, Artistic Director.

At that comment, from so credible a source, the room fell quiet.

“I want to make it clear”, I continued, “that I am not proposing that Jennifer’s punishment come to an end.  What I am proposing is that we buy Jennifer back from Masterson Automotive so that she would be full time with us, and recommend to the Court that Jennifer be paroled from her slavery to the status of a sexually indentured servant for the remaining three and one half years of her sentence.”

“But we have no money in our budget to buy Jennifer back”, Mrs. Moore protested.  “And who would be her parole officer for the next three and one half years?”

“I am willing to make a special donation to the ‘Special Acquisitions” fund to cover the cost of buying Jennifer back.  I am also willing to serve as her parole officer.”

Hank Weinstein slowly rose to his feet.  All eyes were on him because he had been Jennifer’s manager when she stole the money.

“I had a visit from Bill this afternoon”, he began slowly, “and I found Bill’s arguments persuasive.  I was an embittered man when we sentenced Jennifer.  I gave full vent to the vindictive part of my nature.  But I see that there is a “time for tearing down, and a time for building up” to paraphrase the famous song.  As long as there is a punitive component to her indenture, I will waive any objection I might otherwise have made to this proposal.”

 “So what is the punitive component?” someone asked.

“Just this”, I replied.  “Jennifer hates Frank Masters and swore she would never have sex with that man.  There was a nasty quarrel between the two of them last week.  A few of you may have heard something about that.  Frank needs a lighting operator, gopher, and frankly a sex toy.”

There was a ripple of laughter at this.

“So what I am proposing is that Jennifer be sexually indentured to Frank for the remainder of her sentence.  That should be punishment enough!”

More laughter and guffaws.

“My proposal is that Jennifer’s hours would be reduced from a sixty hour week to a forty-five hour week, with thirty hours devoted to dance and fifteen hours to being Frank’s assistant.  As an indentured person Jennifer would have some personal autonomy and dignity and would be able to go home every night and be with her loved ones.”

Jay pounded his gavel and said “without objection then I will ask Bill to submit his detailed proposal in writing at our meeting next month and we will vote on it then.  Now moving on to the next order of business …”

With that my part in the meeting was concluded and I nodded to the directors and excused myself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the weeks that followed I had to meet again with Greg Masterson, negotiate a buy back price for Jennifer and put together a detailed written proposal for the board.  At the following month’s meeting my proposal was accepted by acclamation.  The board instructed its attorney to submit a petition to the Court to modify Jennifer’s sentence.  The Court agreed since the petition came from the original plaintiff and victim of Jennifer’s crime.

The last step was for Jennifer and I to attend a ritual manumission ceremony at the courthouse.  Jennifer appeared naked as all slaves do.  Jennifer’s slave collar was removed and replaced with a wristband identifying her as a sexually indentured servant of the ballet company, and identifying me as her parole officer.  

Being sexually indentured meant that she would be required to service one or two individuals designated by her employer on an ongoing basis.  There would be no more prostituting her to random strangers.  Her bio-implant was de-activated with a promise that it would be totally removed upon completion of her probation.  She was permitted to put on clothing that I had brought for her to wear and informed that, with rare exceptions, she would be permitted to wear normal dance clothing such as leotards and tights on the job during rehearsals and performances.  

The Court informed her that she would be under control of her employer only during working hours and that she might arrange to have a home and a personal life.   She was also admonished that, as her parole officer, I would have the power to violate her parole at any time if I felt, in my sole discretion, that she was not fulfilling the terms of her indenture.  In that case she would appear back in court and her status would revert to slave for the remainder of her original sentence.  With that the Judge banged his gavel and Court was dismissed.

That evening I explained to Stephanie all that I had been able to do to improve Jennifer’s situation.  She was ecstatic at how much of an improvement I had been able to bring about.

*  Readers unfamiliar with classical ballet or with the Rose Adagio in particular can find several versions of this classic from “The Sleeping Beauty” on YouTube from companies such as the Paris Opera Ballet or the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.

** Words-adapted from The Bible, book of Ecclesiastes, Music-Pete Seeger. 

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