Chapter 13

"Well?" Sarah asked me as soon as I picked her up on the way to school.

"Yeah. I can go." I'd thought about teasing her, but I was kind of tired.

Mr. Reiser had kept me up late, but I wasn't going to complain about that. Plus, I knew that new houseboy would be there when I got home and I'd have that thought nagging at me all day long.

"Really?" Sarah widened her eyes and I nodded. "That's so cool. You have the best master ever, I bet. What did he say?"

So I relived that whole conversation on the drive to school, smiling by the end of it. Mr. Reiser was a good owner, far better than most of them, from what I gathered from the slaves I went to school with. The other kids always had stories about how they were worked too hard, or punished too often, or whatever. Mostly I figured they just liked to complain.

I was in my third period economics class with Ms. Kellerman, listening to her explain how the reinstitution of slavery had saved the South from the Great Depression when I was summoned to the school office. A black girl, one of the office negras, came knocking on the classroom door and she had a note for me. I didn't know what that was about and neither did the girl.

"Ma'am?" I spoke up quietly as I stood in the office. The school secretary, an older black woman named Perth, gave me a look.

"Dani, you go to the nurse's office. There's some people in there who want to talk to you," she told me, and I swallowed hard. "You're not in trouble. They just want to ask some questions. Go on now."

I felt very nervous by then, not knowing what was going on or why, but I didn't have any choice. I walked down the short hallway to the nurse's office to find the door already open. The nurse wasn't inside, but two other people were, a man and a woman, both of them older and dressed nicely, I suppose. They were white people and for just a brief second I wondered if my Master had sold me.

"Come in," the man said. "You're ... Daniel?" He read my name off some papers he held and frowned slightly.

"Yes sir." I blinked at him because he had a funny accent. He wasn't from the South, or the Union, I didn't think.

"Is that your name? What do people call you?" the woman asked and she wasn't American either, near as I could tell. She closed the door behind me.

"Dani ... Danielle," I replied. I didn't know what to do with my hands, so I tried putting them behind my back, but I didn't like that. So I put them in front of me.

"You're a boy, yes?" the man asked.

"I'm a boy." I nodded slowly.

"Alright. Well, sit down." The man pointed at a chair and waited for me. "I'm Dr. Ramirez. This is Dr. Hermosa. We're with the United Nations, have you heard of that?"

"Yes sir." I licked my lips. "Am I in trouble?"

"No. Good heavens." The woman smiled, taking an empty chair near mine, but the man remained standing and I had to look up at him.

"We're just getting information," he told me. "This school and many others like it in your country are supported by the U.N. and other organizations. We just want to make sure that the money is being well spent."

"Okay." I shrugged, looking between the two of them. Dr. Hermose held a clipboard and she tapped it with her pen.

"Are you a slave, Dani?" Dr. Ramirez asked, and I'd heard about this before, these people who would come asking questions.

"No." I shook my head. "I'm in the custody of my benefactor, Mr. Reiser."

"Yes, of course." The man nodded as if he'd expected that. "You're freeborn, yes?"

"Yes." I agreed with a shrug.

"And when were you taken into custody by Mr..."

"Mr. Reiser," I said. "Um, about a year ago. I was sixteen."

"Mr. Reiser makes you, ah ... dress like that, Dani?" the woman wondered. "Did he make you, uh..."

"Did he make me a girl?" I looked at her and she nodded, smiling apologetically as if I'd be embarrassed. "I was already a girl. My parents wanted me to be a girl since I was a baby."

"Oh." That confused her maybe.

"Mr. Reiser bought me clothes and my breasts," I told her, pushing my tits out for the man's approval. "They're nice, right?"

"Uh, very nice," he cleared his throat. I'd worn a simple outfit that day, just a cotton blouse in red and a pleated skirt in black, kind of a short one, but not like a mini-skirt or anything. I knew I looked good.

"Does Mr. Reiser have sex with you, Dani?" the woman asked. I wondered if I'd been a real boy, would the man have been asking me that?

"No. I'm a house negra," I answered. "What does this have to do with school?"

"I see." She licked her lips and ignored my question. "And what exactly is a house negra, Danielle?"

"I'm a domestic servant." I looked at her like that should have been obvious.

"Well, how about Mrs. Reiser, does she..." Dr. Hermosa started asking, and I smiled.

"There is no Mrs. Reiser," I told her kind of smugly, making it plain that my Master didn't need a wife with me there.

"Does he hurt you, Dani?" Dr. Ramirez asked, and I stared at him.

"Of course not," I said. "Why are you asking me this stuff?"

"It's just background," he said, but he was lying. "Do you think we could examine your body? Your back, um ... shoulders, stomach. You don't have to get naked or anything..."

"No." I crossed my arms over my tummy.

"No?" He blinked, not expecting that...

"No sir, I don't believe I want you to look at my body," I decided, not that I had anything to hide. The strop hadn't left anything but a lot of red behind the night before and that was gone now. I just wasn't liking the idea that they thought Mr. Reiser would hurt me.

"Dani, you have to let us look," the woman said patiently. "We won't hurt you."

I closed my eyes with a sigh and pulled my blouse over my head, taking it off so I sat there in my bra and skirt. There weren't any marks on me of course, but those two United Nations people were looking anyway.

"Thank you, Danielle," Dr. Ramirez finally said. "You look fine, um ... Why didn't you want us to look if you have nothing to hide?"

"Cause you thought there might be." I frowned at him and put my blouse back on.

"Okay," the woman sighed. "Let's talk about your school then. How long have you been attending school here?"

"A year," I told her.

"Have you ever been exploited sexually or physically abused by a teacher?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"No."

"Has a teacher ever offered you anything for sex, Dani?" she asked. "Better grades maybe?"

"No." I shook my head again.

"Have you ever been disciplined by a teacher?" the man asked me, and I nodded. "What happened?"

"I was talking in class when I should have been listening," I told him, trying my best to sound bored. "Mr. Davis made me stay after school and clean the classroom."

"I see," he nodded. "Your teacher didn't spank you or ... touch you in some way while you did that?"

"Nope." I smiled and shrugged. "I just ... cleaned."

There were a bunch more questions, but I didn't admit to anything. I didn't like those people, snooping around and asking questions, like they were angels sent from God himself to pass judgment on my Master and my school. My whole country in fact. I knew a lot of other countries didn't like us just because we had slaves, but that wasn't any of their business anyway, so far as I could tell. It wasn't like the South was buying people in Africa or something, all the slaves were already here. Those United Nations people were insulting and they could kiss my little black butt for all the help I was going to give them. I loved my country.

"Okay, one last question, Dani." The man smiled and sort of dropped down so he could look level into my eyes. "Have you told us the truth today?"

"Yes sir," I said, staring right back and not even flinching.

"So, what you think, baby?" Purdy was all over me during lunch. "Gonna hook up with me on Sunday or what?"

"Yeah." I shrugged and we were sitting in our usual places, except Purdy wasn't usually there. "I can go, but if it sucks, I'm going to see my parents."

"You're going?" Venus looked at me, brushing some blonde hair out of her eyes. "Can I get a ride?"

"She's giving me a ride," Sarah said.

"You gotta sit on Sarah's lap." I giggled.

"Yeah, whatever." Venus shrugged, but Sarah looked unhappy, probably because she figured we'd stop smeplace and fuck before we went to the party.

"So all ya'll are coming?" Purdy grinned. "Shit. We'll have a good time."

"Where's this place at?" I asked him.

"Over in Hemmford. Give me some paper, I'll draw it for you," Purdy said. I pushed one of my notebooks towards him, since he was right next to me.

"So how's that Cuban girl?" Tricia asked Sarah, getting a dirty look in return.

"Leave her alone," I said. "Like everyday you gotta bring that up?"

"What? She ain't sold yet anyway, is she?" Tricia giggled and I really didn't like her sometimes.

"My Master's getting a new slave today," I said, and probably I should have kept it to myself, but I didn't.

"Hey look..." Purdy tried grabbing my attention as he drew his map.

"A new girl?" Sarah asked me, so I sorta looked back and forth.

"No. A boy," I said, and pointed at an octopus or something on the paper. "What's that thing?"

"Never mind that." Purdy scratched it out.

"You're lucky then," Sarah decided.

"A boy?" Venus smiled at me. "So that ain't so lucky, huh?"

"Yeah." I shrugged.

" ... And go like three stoplights, kay? Go left and it's there, Lexington Apartments. Number 202," Purdy explained, writing it all down.

"Oh, shit a boy?" Sarah was catching on. "Like you?"

"Like her! God!" Tricia giggled. "What a trip!"

"They got a phone or something, like if I get lost I can call?" I asked Purdy, and then looked at Tricia. "I don't think he's gonna be like me."

"But your Master's kind of a fag anyway, huh?" Venus asked.

"He's queer, yeah." I shrugged. "But not like all the time."

"He can't be all the time," Sara said. "He'd get arrested."

"Just with me," I agreed.

"Shit! That ain't being queer." Purdy grinned at me. "You got all this? You gonna find it okay?"

"Yeah, as long as I can read your handwriting." I frowned at my notebook.

"I got good handwriting. What are you talking about?" He grabbed at my hip and I jerked away.

"You flirt with me and I'll make you pay," I told him half seriously.

"I wanna do more than flirt with you, negra!" He grinned back.

"God! You're such a slut." Venus rolled her eyes, talking about Purdy. "First Tricia, now Dani ... Who else have you fucked?"

"Why? You interested?" The boy stuck the tip of his tongue out at her.

"You wish!" Venus shook her head. "You're all kinds of wrong color for me, nigger."

"And you ain't all that anyway." Purdy shrugged.

"So what's that new nigger like?" Sarah asked me.

"I dunno, I haven't seen him," I replied with a shrug. "He's slaveborn, I know that."

"How old is he?" she wondered.

"You looking for a boyfriend?" Venus giggled at her.

"What new nigger?" Purdy asked. He'd missed the beginning of that whole conversation while he drew his map.

"New slave at Dani's house," Tricia told him. "Keep your eyes off her tits and maybe you can keep up."

"Shit!" He grinned. "Have you even seen those tits?"

"Leave my tits alone," I said, but I had the best ones in school and I knew it.

"Let's go in the bathroom like we used to," Purdy whispered, and he wasn't leaving my tits alone at all.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled.

"Really?" He grinned.

"You want to go down on me?" I shrugged. "I'll go with you."

"Go down on you?" Purdy rolled his head on his shoulders.

"Heh!" Venus grinned at me. "I'll do it."

"Yeah right!" Tricia stared at Venus. "What happened to white only?"

"I ain't never sucked a girl before." Venus giggled.

"She fucks me," Sarah said, and I looked at her sharply. "I mean..."

"Oh fuck! Really?" Tricia looked back and forth between us.

"You fuckin' her?" Purdy grinned at me and I wasn't exactly embarrassed, but I guess I was a little.

"Sometimes." I shrugged, since there wasn't any sense lying about it now.

"So you're like some lesbian fag sissy slut negra, huh?" He laughed and I elbowed him.

"Fuck off!" I put my notebook away. "We're just friends."

"Fuck friends, that's cool." Venus giggled and it was her fault anyway, hers and the way Sarah always wanted to one up Venus for some reason.

"So who gets on top?" Tricia wanted to know.

"You wanna find out?" I wiggled my eyebrows at her and she jerked back like I'd slapped her.

"No!"

"Figures!" Sarah laughed. She was one of those people who only felt bad about something for like thirty seconds at the most.

"All talk," Venus agreed, and Tricia made a face. "You can show me, Dani. Anytime." The mulatto wiggled her tongue at me and I giggled.

"See?" I smiled at Purdy. "I can get fucked anytime I want. So what do I need you for?"

"Shit." He didn't know what to say and that was a first.

"All you gotta do is suck my little dick," I whispered, pushing my hand down against his big cock, feeling it through his trousers. "And then I'll give you whatever you want." I licked his ear. "I'll even give you my ass."