Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
42
ANDI
“Andi? Oh my Goddess! Thank goodness you’re all right!” Flow-da’s eyes were bright with tears as she grabbed Andi and pulled her in for a tight hug.
“Flow-da!” Andi hugged her right back. She was glad to see her friend looking well—she’d been afraid that Goodie Tight-azz might have done something cruel to her or even kicked Flow-da out for speaking up for her. “What are you doing in here?” she asked, waving a hand to indicate the Emporium.
She and Goodie Bo-long had been to the shopping district and had wound up back at Goodie Oo-lah’s Emporium. Andi’s hostess had bought her several nice outfits—well, nice by her own standards. Andi thought they wouldn’t have looked out of place on a stripper or a sex worker, but since she wasn’t paying for the clothing herself, she had to take what Goodie Bo-long bought her.
Now she was in the very back of the large shop, looking at some of the strange products on display while Goodie Bo-long talked to Goodie Oo-lah, who seemed tolerant enough, despite the two Manimals who were nosing under Goodie Bo-long’s short skirt. Andi had excused herself from the conversation and wandered to the back, but she hadn’t expected to see Flow-da there.
“Why are you in here?” she asked again, since her friend hadn’t answered the first time.
“Oh, I’m hiding out—I sneaked away from the boarding house so Goodie Tight-azz couldn’t make me go to another one of those awful New Order meetings,” Flow-da whispered. “She’s determined to convert me—she was trying to get me to put a control collar on my poor Hartford this morning!” She nodded at her Manimal, who was rubbing his face against her thigh.
“She’s a fanatic,” Andi said flatly. “I don’t want to put a collar on Cade, either. Luckily, Goodie Bo-long doesn’t seem to care if I do or not.”
“Oh, is that where you ended up—with her? I watched some of what was going on from the window—I was hoping she would take you in!” Flow-da exclaimed. “I was so worried about you!”
“I was worried about you, too,” Andi told her. “You didn’t get into trouble with Goodie Tight-azz for trying to stand up for me, did you?”
“Well, I got a good long lecture on the evils of letting your Manimal do ‘sinful things’ to you.” Flow-da rolled her eyes expressively. “Tell me—what did she catch you doing? Were you letting Cade mount you?”
Andi felt her cheeks getting hot.
“No…not exactly.” She cleared her throat. “He, uh, got a taste of my honey and then he didn’t want to, er, stop tasting me,” she explained. “So when Goodie Tight-azz burst in on us, that’s what he was doing.”
Flow-da nodded.
“I thought it was something like that. She’s so judgmental!”
“She wouldn’t let me take anything with me,” Andi said. “She’s still got my clothes, Cade’s clothes, and all my money.”
“That bitch!” Flow-da exclaimed. “I didn’t realize she robbed you like that!”
“Do you think I could go to the authorities and make her give any of it back?” Andi asked. “I mean, do you have police or peace keepers or anything like that where I could file a report or make a complaint?”
Flow-da sighed.
“Yes, we do have a Chief Peace Keeper you could talk to, but unfortunately she’s a NO member—practically worships the ground Mother Strict-ezz walks on.”
“I see…” Andi nodded grimly. “So if Goodie Tight-azz explains what she saw when she burst in on me and Cade, the Chief Peace Keeper is probably going to side with her.”
“Oh, she definitely would,” Flow-da said. “I hate to say it, but you’d better just steer clear of her, Andi. Steer clear of all of them—they’re crazy and they’re only getting crazier by the day.” She shivered. “I just can’t wait for the Moon shuttle to get here so I can leave this stupid town!”
Andi felt the same way, though she was in a considerably more comfortable position than she had been earlier.
“I wish I could ask Goodie Bo-long if you could stay with her too,” she said to Flow-da. “She certainly doesn’t have any rules about not letting Manimals mount you.”
“Oh, that would be so nice!” Flow-da sighed longingly. “I mean, I was able to let Hartford mount me for a little while yesterday but I was so nervous that Goodie Tight-azz might come back at any time, I couldn’t really enjoy it. It did scratch the itch though, if you know what I mean.”
“Actually, I wanted to ask you about that,” Andi said. “You told me that some people say The Scent is some kind of parasite that makes you, uh, want to be mounted and bred?”
“There are lots of theories. Some people say it’s a parasite that affects both males and females. Though differently, of course, since we get to stay in our right minds while the men all became Manimals. Some people think it’s a drug that someone is pumping into the air that makes everyone horny all the time. And of course, the NOs claim that women have just become degenerate and developed unnatural lusts because they’ve lost the ‘guidance of their men’.”