We just watched a movie." You're lying again. You were drinking you stupid little bitch. I can smell the alcohol. You smell like you've done nothing b...t hang out in a bar for a fucking week!"I cry out in pain as he closes his fingers around my throat even more. There's a sharp *SMACK* as he slaps me right across the face. I gasp as the right side of my face starts to sting horribly."Now you see, if you had come home on time. I would have fucked you, you insolent bitch, but you weren't here! I. ? I will show you mercy after you receivethe 40 lashes you deserve for? failing tomeet quota in? plowing the fields. ?The disciplinarian then proceeded to continue the whipping to the delight ofthe native farm workers assembled for the public punishment. This was the monthly ? PunishmentDay ? at the ? Farm for Women Prisoners ?. On this day thoseprisoners that failed to meet their quota as slave laborers were punished withthe bullwhip. The slave on the Whipping Ladder had failed to meet her. Well, it's not easy doing things this new way. Not at the first, I mean." Sure, I know, Howie. But it's all worth the momentary upheaval in your life, you'll see."Howard nodded gratefully, sipping from his champagne again. He was becoming a little drunk now. He poured more, drank it down under the approving eye of Ralph. Yes, now he felt a little better. Cindy would come around, just as Ralph said she would; and when she did, they would have happiness neither of them had ever thought existed. She knew she had frittered away the fortune, she knew it, but how else was she going to keep up with her step sister? She was the older one, she should have had all this. ‘And now I do.’ Falling backwards onto the bed, she heard the wood protest her weight, but did not care. This was all hers now. By now Matilda would be lying dead at Vera’s doorstep, she would find the hidden room eventually, the one that held her sister’s fortune, hidden coins and prized possessions, and she would live out.