Date: Wed, 7 May 2014 14:44:50 -0400
From: d.a. w <daw62@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Roommate Chapter 16

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The Roommate Chapter 16       The Grand Tour Finishes


From the conclusion of Chapter 15

However, it is uncivilized not to let a fine lunch settle.  With that Beau
led me out of the tent and toward a place just over the ridge.  There two
lounges had been set up, and complete with a masseuse we both lay down, had
an absolutely fantastic massage, and I took a nap.

The Roommate Chapter 16       The Grand Tour Finishes

Beau was not exaggerating when he said that the getting to the mountains
where the last of the tour of Pleasant Acres was to occur was a fairly long
trip.  As we went up and down the foothills, we went across what looked
like a series of pastures, and went through gates in a series of fences.

"These are the pastures for our grazing herds like the cows and horses."
Beau explained as we made this journey.  Beau was correct that crossing all
these pastures took some time, and the sun had definitely moved from its
zenith by the time we got to the foothills of the mountain range.

After was passed what would be the final pasture gate, Beau stopped.

"Listen.  Do you hear anything?"  he asked.

Listening carefully I heard what seemed to me some men yelling, and the
sound of something crashing down to the earth.

I reported that I heard the sound of people talking or yelling and
something crashing down..

Beau smiled.  "You have good hearing.  It's about three miles, and we will
be at the beginning of the timber line, and there you will see the servant
gangs who work in our lumber operation."

I stared at Beau because I had not even thought that what I thought to be a
somewhat classic plantation would eventually farm trees as well as
everything else.

"Well, I keep saying it, but you keep surprising me.  Is the lumber
operation the last of Pleasant Acres profit centers?"  I did not know if
that term would be a correct application for all the areas of Pleasant
Acres, but "profit centers" is the term which my family used to refer to
the various businesses from which we derived our income.

"Well, I was going to hold the last for a surprise, but since you asked,
the answer is No.  We actually operate a stone quarry as our final profit
area at Pleasant Acres."

"Beau I do not know how your family keeps track of all this.  You must have
a business model that is unique!"

"Well actually the whole organization is pretty straightforward.  Each gang
reports to an area supervisor reporting on what tasks were accomplished
that day.  The supervisor compiles the reports of the gangs, and also of
course any supervisor's report of problems or concerns, and the supervisor
of an area then sends that report by telephone and computer data transfer
to a center in a building that is a part of that set of pens and buildings
you first visited this morning.  The reports from all the centers are then
delivered to my Father or the family member who is in the Plantation Main
Office, which is in the basement of our home.  This system started years
ago when couriers rode horses from all the areas of the plantation to a
plantation office in that same area by the tree stand.  Then after radio
became a means of communication we had all the supervisors report by radio.
However we discovered that radio signals can be intercepted and we had some
indication that others were finding out our information by intercepting our
radio messages.  That was when a set of buried phone cables were put in.
It took two years, but eventually we had the buried lines all in place.  It
is the method we still use, except that we have upgraded to fiber optic
cable now, and of course the reports are now done by the computers which
encrypt the information and sending it by the cables to the main office
where it is decrypted."

I just sat on my horse and shook my head in amazement and admiration.

"Beau, I will have to tell you that before I came for this visit, I was
very satisfied with my family's accomplishments in business, but Pleasant
Acres is more than a dozen of our operations."

"Frank you and your family are amazing.  I truly enjoyed the family
togetherness that I felt there, and I even enjoyed the independence when I
stayed with you.  As you have come to see, we have many servants, but
little privacy.  I really enjoyed being able to go to bed, and even get up
and shave etc. all on my own when I was with our family.  There is a
closeness at your home I love."

I thought for a moment at making some comment about getting rid of his
parents for the summer, but decided that my snooping best existed without
anyone but myself being aware of its occurrence.

Beau looked at me, and I realized that I was just staring.

"Sorry," I managed to get out.  "I was just overwhelmed at all of this.  I
think the term in that Pleasant Acres has left me `speechless."

Beau looked at me and laughed, and I joined him.

"Lead on Macduff." I managed to quote (trite, I know) from Shakespeare's
"Macbeth."

We crossed a small stream, and soon came to the area where crews were
cutting down large trees.

The trees were being harvested more than just being felled.  I could see
that some trees were marked by green painted bands around the trunk, and
others were marked with yellow bands and still others had red bands.

Answering my question even before I asked it, Beau explained.  "Trees have
multiple usages and the bands indicate what the evaluator has determined
would be the best usages for the tree.  Of course a team of evaluators
create the list of trees to be felled before the actual felling of the
trees in done.  Then when the crew come to cut the tree down there are
supervisors there to note the use, and to make sure that the correct
servant team comes to finish the tree after it has been cut down."

"Beau it sounds like everything else at Pleasant Acres.  All activities of
servants and supervisors is like a well maintained machine all making use
of this fabulous resource which is the land and all it can grow."

After paying attention to the trees I finally really paid attention to the
servants.  These servants showed that they handled heavy items.  They were
massively muscular and could use the saws, both gasoline and manual, to
strip the tree that hand been cut down into multiple units.  These then
were loaded large transports and taken down roads that were mostly paved
with a combination of sawdust and the ever present small stone and
pulverized stone.

At this point I finally looked more closely at the servants, and discovered
that the stripes of their servant uniforms were a sort of forest green in
color.  I could not resist and commented.

"I see Beau that even the servants' stripes are color coordinated." I said,
actually thinking I was making some sort of irrelevant comment.

However, Beau replied. "Around the outside of and near our home, servants
wear black and white stripes because black and white stripes are the
traditional convict and servant uniform and would be what persons would
expect servants to be wearing.  Away from the house, in the fields where
are food crops are grown the servants wear the brown and white stripes
since these servants work close to the earth, which we represent by the
brown stripes, and here in the forest and also in the quarry the servants
wear green stripes as these servants work with the earth in its original
form with trees and granite, and therefore we thought that these servants
are being `green' for being close to nature."

.

I was amazed that even the stripes on the servants was thought out and
coordinated with the servants' tasks.  I just nodded my head in admiration
and amazement.

.

Beau smiled, and for a few more minutes looking at the servants stripping
down the tree and using all of it in from branches, bark, to trunk sections
and then other servants coffles took the separated tree parts each to a
separate staging area.  There seemed to be a coffle assigned to each of the
areas.  I was reminded of seeing a film of ants working in small groups
each doing some part of the task of keeping an ant colony running
efficiently.  As there were several supervisors on their horses and in
their pressed clean brown shirts. How could these shirts not show wrinkles,
or even damp spots as they watched and supervised the servant gangs?  Their
riding breeches also looked both immaculate and fit tightly to their legs
as they guided their horses through their legs as well as the reins.  I was
sure I was watching what would become many board feet of lumber as well as
many other products that used wood as a part of them.

I noticed that these supervisors also did have a whip coiled on their
saddles, but I did not see any servants receive and kiss from these whips.
I thought that the servant crews seemed well skilled in their duties and
self-motivated to get the job done.

Just as I decided to make a comment on this observation, I heard a crack of
a whip off to my right and slightly behind me.  I turned in my saddle, as
did Beau.

"Shaker, you and Moocher better pick up your stripping speed or I make sure
you dance tonight at assembly."

"Boss yes boss" rang out from two servants working on a tree that had just
been felled.  "Speeding up Boss!" both added.

"You know I think you two need a little inspiration.  Get over the log and
shuck" the supervisor yelled.

"Shucking and bending Boss" the two miscreants yelled as I saw them then
move over to the trunk of the tree that had just been felled.  As they
moved over the entire coffle, since they were all attached along a long
chain moved with them.  I could see that there probably was about five to
six feet of chain linking a leg shackles of each coffle member between the
ends of the coffle.

When Shaker and Moocher got to the trunk of the tree, both of them dropped
their pants and underpants and bent over the tree trunk.

The supervisor rode over, uncoiling the whip that was circled over the
pommel of his saddle.  Moocher I will do you first. You count'em out nice
and loud so that the other gangs know you will be piss and shit house
cleaning tonight."

"Boss yes Boss!"  Moocher yelled.

"Shaker, don't think Moocher will be alone piss and shit house cleaning
tonight, and as soon as I am done with Moocher, Shaker you'll get stripes
too."

"Boss yes Boss!"  Shaker yelled.

I watched as the Supervisor expertly pulled the whip back in a fluid
motion.  "Count them Moocher!"

I watched fascinated as the Supervisor uncoiled and flexed the whip to get
it into a straight line on the ground.  Suddenly the Supervisor flexed his
wrist and his arm, and the whip disappeared from the ground in a blur, and
I heard to sound really more than saw it connect with Moocher's bare butt.
It connected with a very loud crack."

"Boss, ONE, Boss!"  Moocher yelled.

After the third stroke, the Supervisor yelled.  "Moocher pull up, button
up, and stand aside."

Moocher stood pulled up his boxers and his pants, buckled his belt, and
stood at attention.

The scene was repeated with Shaker.

The Supervisor then looked at the two.  "Remember that you are here to
work, and not to play games with each other.  I saw you Moocher try to trip
up Shaker as we worked this trunk into position.  That's why tonight you
Moocher will be in the stocks bed."

I saw Moocher droop just a slight amount, but almost immediately responded
with "Boss yes Boss.

Boss thank you for your correction, Boss."  Shaker made his own statement
of acknowledgement and correction, and they both got back to work showing
much more attention to the tasks than they had done before.

Beau saw my look of surprise.

"Frank, the quarry and the logging operations do not use the same servants
as the rest of Pleasant Acres.

These involuntary servants are big strong men who have become involuntary
servants at the category of servants who have almost no restrictions on
their use.  They are life servants who committed serious felony violent
crimes like murder and armed robbery in which someone was injured or
killed.  The state welds their leg shackles and connecting chains on them,
and they remain chained for the rest of their lives.  Also you will see
that their collars and cuffs are thicker and are not round but the flat
style.  Their collars and cuffs also are twice as thick as the normal
cuffs. They also are welded on by the state.

 The supervisors at the logging and the quarry both have certification as
prison guards, and are authorized to use the punishment whips you saw being
used.  Still, we do watch these two operations and when I have talked to
some of the involuntary servants in these two places they also tell me that
the pens here are known by punishment involuntary servants as having the
fairest and least sadistic guards in the state."

I shook my head a little bit.  "I understand.  I remember how hard those
convict hard labor servants were treated who were working at the landslide
site," and here I paused as I thought back to that experience, "and how
liberal the guards were with their whips."

 Beau added.  "Actually we allow these servants to become skilled in their
tasks, and though we recognize that they do work literally under the whip,
we encourage the teams to develop a team unity and pride, and we try to
support that unity and pride by recognizing the teams at the end of each
week.  We give them rewards that really resonate with the servants...and
actually come from asking many years ago what they themselves would like as
a recognition of their skill and hard work."  Beau paused here, and I knew
that was my clue.

"What's the big reward?"

"Hot showers at the end of the week, which is Saturday, as we do not work
servants on Sunday."

"However even with these servants whose crimes showed these highest
violence and have life sentences as involuntary servants, we still try to
recognize skilled workers here in the logging and quarry operations.

We are limited by state rules, but the best performing teams get cages with
warm water showers all week, and heated floors as you saw back at the cages
by the house. Actually we have discovered that the servants in the
agricultural fields have little pride or special skills and develop no
pride in their work, and therefore must receive more encouragement to
continue working at all, and even more to work at their optimum level of
efficiency than the forest and quarry servants."

I nodded my understanding.  It would not take any expertise to dig up weeds
and loosen the soil around the base of the plants.

"Well, let's go to our final stop" Beau said.  "It is the quarry, and
although there are indeed some skilled jobs at the quarry, much of the work
there is just pure manual, hard, dirty labor, and there you will see that
when we have to deal with humans working at the most primitive and almost
animal level, we have to supervise these servants in ways that make sense
to these servants."

We then rode toward the mountain itself, and I heard and then saw where the
earth had been removed and the rock exposed.  We approached the quarry I
could see that the many coffles in their green and white stripes working in
leg shackles, and almost every coffle had a supervisor.  I was amazed that
the coffle supervisors were also in the green and white striped pants and
shirts, and had their ankles shackled together with chains between their
ankles cuffs.  The fact that they were unchained from the coffle was one
mark of their authority, but the whip that each carried certainly showed
that these involuntary servants had the authority to make the coffle do
their bidding.  The whip established that failure of the coffle, and its
members individually, to obey would be met by stripes from the whip.

"Quarry work takes muscle and is dangerous."  Beau noted, and I also noted
that the guards seemed to mimic the servants.  They also were large and
intimidating to me. The servants also worked with a servant leader here
sort of keeping the tempo of chiseling rock from the rock face by singing
some song and the beat of the hammers on the chisels match the rhythm of
the song.

Beau added "There are involuntary servant workers here who have become very
skilled in planning where to work the rock, and how to best plan the
harvesting of the rock."

"I assume those servants who do this work have some reward for their
skill."  I replied.


"Yes, and just like the forest gangs, those with special skills get warm
showers, and warn floors to their pens.  These extras are very much
appreciated by the involuntary servants.

We watched the quarry for a while.  I did notice that there was more
cracking of the whips here than I has seen any other place at Pleasant
Acres.  As I was watched I saw a gang of twelve servants move up the rock
face, sit down, and took our chisels from their belts, and begin to etch a
line across the top of a level of rock.  I looked at, and he acknowledged
that these tapped lines would become where another block of stone was taken
from the mountain to the service of humanity.

Down the rock face, I could see another servant gang was enlarging the
etched line the earlier gang had created, and this gang worked together to
enlarge the crack into a fissure.  Further down the rock face a final gang
was pounding wedges deep into the lines the other crews had created, and I
could see that these would become the rock blocks which would be further
worked by other gangs into the blocks of stone which would be the façade
of many important buildings.

"Do you want to go closer?" Beau asked.

When he asked I noticed down the roak face where some of the large blocks
of rock, four gangs of servants were harnessed to a block, and were pulling
it over to an area where I could see other coffles of servants were further
shaping and finishing the rock for its final use.  I especially noticed the
coffles who were harnessed to the blocks.  These servants were hugh muscles
animals.  I looked at Beau.  "I guess I have found your Cliydesles."

Beau laughed.  "Yes they are very strong, but I would not want to try to
talk to them about almost any subject besides pulling blocks of rock
around.  They are really our strong horses, and are even kept in stalls in
a stable like facility.  They have a strong sense of their special skills,
and are not ashamed of their use.  They actually like to show off to
strangers.  Do you want to go over and see them prance and pull to
entertain you?"

I thought about it but decided that I could appreciate their skills from a
distance.

"No," I replied I am getting tired.  Let's head back. I think I indeed seen
the extent to Pleasant Acres, and been truly amazed with that extent, and
the variety of products that are produced here.  I never imagined that a
forest and a quarry would be included as well as the normal farm
vegetables, and animal operations.

I am impressed with your family's skill in managing such a truly huge
enterprise."

"Well, if you would like, then let's go back to the house.  However, I did
promise to let you see the punishment area by the house more up close and
personal."

With that comment Beau took off on his horse at close to a gallop, and I
followed behind.  It was not exactly a race, and it was not exactly not a
race.  As we rode through the pastures, we again had to stop to open
several gates, which did allow Beau and me to rest, and along with the
horses to catch our breath between the pasture gallops.  After several
fences, the gate opened onto the paths.

We galloped along to the paths which defined the fields, and we since we
did not pause to look at anything, we arrived at the punishment area
amazingly quickly, I thought.

Beau led the way over to the shed stage like structure and the large
concrete paved area with the squares painted on the concrete and identified
by Roman numerals.  Beau rode over to an area behind the stage and there
was a hitching rack for the horses where there was grass on which they
could munch as Beau gave me the tour.

Beau first let me up a set of stairs to a door at the back of the stage
area.  Beau got out a set of keys and unlocked the door, and opened it for
me to enter.  From the sunlight I entered a fairly large room which was
only dimly illuminated by the sunlight from outside.  Beau tapped a switch,
and lights came on bathing the area in bright light.  The contrast from
cave to high noon was almost disturbing, and it took me a couple of seconds
for my eyes to adjust.

When I could see, I discovered that I was surrounded my many devices that I
would certainly have identified as punishment perhaps even torture.  There
were three structures right in front of me that almost caused me to say I
wanted to leave.  There once again were two heavy sawhorse structures with
a padded three inch wide board at the top.  I remembered only too well the
punishment horse on which I had been fastened in the SHU at Enfield
Correctional.

Beau noticed my reaction.  "What's wrong Frank?"

"Well," and here I paused to gain a bit of composure, "You did not see the
punishment horse on which I received my punishment strokes at the SHU at
Enfield, but these four horses with the padded top and the straps could be
made by the same manufacturer."

I paused here, and Beau seemed to sense I needed a moment to compose
myself.

"I thought that I had pushed that excruciating experience so far back in my
memory that I would never think of it again, but this brought it all back.
I can almost feel that paddle striking my bare butt again."

"Do you want to leave?" Beau asked, and his voice revealed his concern.

I thought about leaving, and it took me a few seconds (or more, as I really
had no sense of time at that moment), but then I said slowly.

"No Beau.  I need to exorcise the demons of that experience.  Let me glace
around, and then let's leave."

"Certainly buddy." Beau said.

Curiosity did get the better of me however, and I did not rush out.  I
looked around and saw a collection of whips and floggers neatly arranged on
four racks to one side.  I would estimate that there were perhaps a hundred
of these instrument of pain and punishment arranged on the racks. I did
look at these and saw that they varied in the number of leather strands
from just one, to what I assumed would be the famous cat of nine tails.
However, in each type of whip there was a variety of weights to the leather
strands and widths to them also In addition to the whips and floggers was a
collection of paddles.  They also varied in length, width, and length.  I
would guess there were several dozen of these paddles neatly arranged so
that whoever would wield these would have a choice of exactly how much
damage would be done to the servant being punished.  I could see that a
servant undergoing a paddling or a whipping on the frame could experience a
painful, perhaps up to almost terrifying experience depending on the
instrument being used and the number of strokes, but I suppose that the
amount of force behind each stroke of either instrument of punishment could
also tailored to customize the experience for each servant.  I
involuntarily began shaking.

"Let's get out of here."  Beau said, and he grabbed my arm and guided me
toward the door.

"I'm sorry roommate.  You have never talked about that punishment session
in the SHU, and I did not connect that the types of discipline devices used
here in the South for involuntary servants would find their way to the
discipline program of a state like Massachusetts."

"I can understand Beau.  Actually the connection between finding the exact
same device here as a state mandated device to discipline the involuntary
servants as what I was strapped down on in the discipline room in the SHU
does actually give me real cause for concern that the supposed civilized
way we in Massachusetts treat our most troublesome convicts is, in fact,
identical to what is used in Tennessee.

As Beau lead me out the door and down the stars, I still found myself
shaking slightly as the memory of those disciplinary strokes of the paddle
in the SHU punishment room came rushing back in much too much a vivid and
painful way.

We traveled around the side of the stage building, and when we turned the
corner I saw up close the wood and steel state-mandated involuntary servant
discipline/punishment devices the Pleasant Acres was mandated to have
available.

Right in front of me were four modern versions of those colonial era
stocks.  These were made of steel rod, and there were three different
heights of the stocks.  Beau flipped a tab on the side of the first one and
folded the top half up.  "I guess you can figure this little punishment
device here."

Indeed I could.  "So I guess the three different heights are to accommodate
different heights of the servants."

"Yes," Beau paused, "but there is more to these different heights than just
accommodation.  The manuals that come with these suggests that taller
servants could be locked into a slightly lower than comfortable stock, and
this would greatly intensify the miscreant's discomfort.  It would be a
sort of a thing that you would use it the first session in the stocks did
not get through to a servant that following orders was required.  The
manual suggested you put that servant into the next lower stocks the next
time.  This forces the back into a more painful position, and, the manual
notes, it presents the servant's butt up and just inviting some strokes
from the `Board of Education' which is the manual's little `joke' term for
one of those paddles you just saw."

I did not react to the "Beard of Education" line as a joke if that is what
it was intended to be.

Beau stood there looking at me, although I was so concentrating on the
stocks, that I really did not concentrate on what Beau was doing.

After a few moments of watching me, Beau shook his head, showing he had
made a decision. "Would you want to try a stock out?" Beau asked.

I was in a quandary. I really did want to try it out for some reason, but I
did not want to be locked into it.

"I will try it out but only if you stay in front of me so I can see you,
and know you won't lock me into them `Just for fun.'"

"I am both shocked and chagrined that you would be suspicious of your old
roommate!" Beau replied, in fake shocked surprise.

"Well I am sure you remember that old saying, `Trick me once. Shame on you.
Trick me twice. Shame on me.'" I replied, only partially in jest.

"I promise on my honor as a Southern Gentleman, and as your host that today
I will not lock you into any device here on the punishment plaza."

I then did what I wanted to do for some reason, and I put my hand and head
into the first set of stocks.

The height was uncomfortable, and so I went to the next set, and tried that
set off.  That set was at a height that was comfortable, realizing that
comfort was a relative term in this context.

I looked at Beau, and he looked at me expectantly.  Instead of calling him
over I pulled the top of the stocks over, and lowering it down and then
letting it rest on my neck which I moved up bit off the bottom of the
stocks, I moved my other wrist into its slot and lowered my neck.  The
stocks settled down onto my neck and wrists.  I was really proud of the
fact that I had outwitted Beau.  Beau just kept smiling at me, and I did
not quite understand why until I moved a little bit to make myself more
comfortable, and I heard the latch move away from its unlatch position, and
heard it slip down over the lower part.  I was locked in the stocks, and I
had done it to myself.  I was afraid that Beau would leave me locked up,
but he moved immediately to release me from the stocks.

"Thanks Friend."  I said as I left the stocks. Freed from that set of
stocks, I looked at the second set of three stocks.  These stocks however
were on the pavement, these stocks were clearly meant to go around ankles
as they were a bit bigger than the openings for wrists.  The stocks
themselves were fastened into the concrete.  Beau again asked if I would
want to sample these, and before I could let my rational mind answer my
inner mind answered.  "Yes."

As I laid down Beau placed my ankles into the stocks and closed them.

"Now Frank, the servant locked into the ankle stocks can have several
things done.  The first is to have his hands cuffed and pulled forward.
This puts a lot of stress on your back and leg muscles.  Servants placed in
this stress position usually begin yelling in about five minutes I am told.
The other is to have the hands cuffed behind the back and attach them to
the servant's collar.  This position also causes great pain in a very few
minutes.

"I think the State of Tennessee has some punishments that might be even
worse than I experienced in the SHU."

"Well you have not seen them all yet." Beau said.  Beau left me in these
sitting stocks for a few moments.  "Let me know when you're ready to be
released convict." he said.

"Now, please SIR." came out of my mouth.  I was actually embarrassed at my
convict-like response.

The next place Beau guided me to be one of the punishment stations not made
of steel but rather two ten foot high wood posts which disappeared down
into the concrete.

"These poles are buried to a depth of 48 inches in concrete." Beau informed
me.

 When I got closer I saw that there was a steel cable which was attached to
thick leather cuffs near the bottom of the poles, and probably ten feet up
the pole I saw another set of leather cuffs also attached to a steel cable.

As I got closer, I could see that the cables went through the pole and each
was then attaches to a wench on the outside of the pole.

"The servant being punished has his hands and legs cuffed by the leather
cuffs," Beau told me as we got close to the poles.  "Pick up the cuffs,"
Beau instructed.  "You will see that the leather is thick and also is lined
with fur.  The servant being punished has the cuffs put on wrists and
ankles, and then the officer or owner then can order the offender to be
stretched between these poles at a level of stress from one to ten.  It is
all computer controlled.  There are ten levels between each of the one to
ten base points.

Supervisors are authorized to order a servant into punishment at levels one
to four, but an owner must authorize any punishment stretching beyond
four."

Here Beau paused.  "Would you like to experience this punishment station?"

I looked at Beau.  What would make him imagine I would want to be
stretched?  Then I noticed a twitching on the little head at the bottom of
my trunk.  It was showing an interest in this device.  I was confused.  My
rational brain did not want any part of this, but somewhere deep inside me,
I did want to have this experience.  I think that I might have been
sweating and perhaps trembling a bit as I had this internal
approach/avoidance conflict.  Finally I decided that I would not reveal
this desire which both excited me and terrified me.

 "No Beau, I think I'll not go for being stretched, but if I ever need a
chiropractor I know I could just
 come down here and get adjusted for nothing."

Beau actually began laughing.  "Well I believe the servants have a less
flattering term for this punishment station, but I think in the future I
will call it `The Chiropractor.'"

I shared Beau's laughter, but behind my chuckles, my brain was in high
alert.  I could sense that inside myself two sides...one rational and one
emotional and the two sides were having a conflict. The emotional side of
me, irrationally, wanted to feel the stretching, but the rational side of
me wanted nothing to do with the pain and stress that I would experience in
this device.

The final device that I saw Beau called the windlass.  I was like the
device I had seen at some horse farm.

There was a central hub and radiating out from the hub were six poles.  At
the end of the poles was a set of steel manacles.

"If a supervisor believes that a servant is malingering, then the
supervisor can assigned the servant for a night on the windlass.  The slave
is attached to one of the poles, and the supervisor can set a certain
number of revolutions per hour that the slave much achieve to avoid a
shock.  Once attached to the windlass the servant must just keep moving at
a reasonable rate set by the supervisor to avoid being shocked.

I knew that I did not want to even get near the windlass much less get
attached to it.  Beau then told me what I already would have guessed.

"The supervisor can assess a certain time period for each revolution of the
circle, and the servant must attain and maintain moving around each
revolution of the windless for the period of time assigned.  Of course if
the rate falls below the standard the servant is shocked."

I stood, with one hand resting on one of the spokes.  "You know Beau, I
think this whole place is shocking.  Let's get back to the house.  I think
I would like a soak in a tub and have a nice leisurely dinner.  You have
worn me out both on my bottom from all the riding, and mentally from all I
have seen today."

"You know Frank, my good buddy, I think you are absolutely correct.  Last
man to the house just might have to come out here for a punishment."

We both ran for the horses, and had the horses at a gallop...but I think
the horses were tired too, as I think their full speed gallop was not as
fast as it was early in the day.

After we went through the tree visual barrier from the house to the
plantation, we rode up to the house, and there were two servants waiting
our arrival.

Beau of course won, and he said "Let's go for a bath before dinner. I
happily agreed and we both went up the stairs for a shower or, for me, a
soaker tub bath.  Jeremy was awaiting my arrival in the bedroom, and I
again marveled at the efficiency of the alert system.  I was sure that some
servant was assigned the task of notifying the appropriate servant that his
services might soon be required.  When I entered the bedroom Jeremy smiled.

Master Frank, your soaker bath is being drawn.  Sir.  SIR may this servant
help you out of those riding clothes, and if the tub is not full by that
time, your servant would be honored to give SIR a massage as SIR waits.

I decided that as decadent as I had first thought it was, having a personal
servant in the bedroom did have some real positive features.  All I really
had to do was stand there as Jeremy first removed my shirt and then my
riding boots and socks.  Then he carefully removed my riding pants and
shirt, and finally my boxers.  I no longer thought much about the fact that
I was now naked in front of another man.  As I stood there awaiting
Jeremy's information about whether I would go to the soaker tub, or receive
a message, I smiled to myself.  "This kind of personal service can really
become a very pleasant part of life.

I could easily become addicted to it.

Jeremy came back.  "Master Frank, your tub is just filled, and I have added
the scented oils.  Please come in and step into the tub. SIR.  SIR after
you have soaked, I will have your shower ready for you to rinse off, and I
will lay out your clothes for dinner, SIR."

As I soaked, I had a lot to think about.  I had to try to really come to
grip with the size and diversity of Pleasant Acres Planation, and also with
the variety of the work and environment for the involuntary servants who
made Pleasant Acres a place of great beauty, great industry, and great
service and comfort for the free persons who lived here.  As I thought
about the diversity of work of the servants that I had observed who, as far
as I could see, were not badly treated, but who were still living in a
manner that I really had not even had the smallest concept until my trip
down to Dixie.

After Jeremy had me get out of the hot tub, helped me in, and then helped
me into the warm shower, and dutifully washed my back, I sent him out of
the shower.  "I can do some things for myself." I said to him.

"Of course Master Frank.  When you are done, I will have your clothes set
out and ready for you to go down to dinner." Jeremy said as he disappeared.

I finished, dried myself off...noting that this was almost the first time
here that I had performed this task myself, and went into the bedroom to
see Jeremy waiting for me, smiling, and ready to help me into the
appropriate dinner clothes which he had laid and would help me into.

"Yes," I thought to myself, "this much service could become addictive."

With this thought I let Jeremy practically dress me and went down for
dinner.