Found a wood lathe on FB marketplace. Yeah it is older, but to work on my flogger handles, I don't need anything fancy.
But it does need a belt to make it operational. That has been ordered and should be here in a week.
Mary loved watching her husband play poker.
Being the CEO of a small medium sized business, she didn't get much relaxation time. Projects to supervise, meetings to run, employees to shape and move along took a great deal of her time. Sure, she often thought to herself, the company made large amounts of money and was in the Top 5 of her industry, but still. It ate up a great deal of her time.
His poker was a night where she didn't have to do anything, but watch. Just exist.
Mary always sat behind him, just close enough to see his cards. She didn't give advice. She didn't chat with the other players. She just watched the cards fall and the chips go where they may.
She knew who the other players were. They were often the same group of guys. Bill was her husband's best friend, been so for years and years. Gary was an office mate of her husband. Sometimes everyone jokeed they were husband and husband. Jess was the odd man out. No one really remembered where he came from, but he showed up week after week and was a good player. Though he had a bad tick where he would smile too much when he had bad cards. Jess never won much.
Then there was Isaiah. Everyone called him Izzy, for short.
One of the reasons Mary sat where she did was to be able to look at him, when she could. He was a man with ebony skin and the clearest blue eyes she had ever seen. Like the deepest sea, frozen in time. His build was like Bruce Lee's, skinny but the muscles stood out when he wanted them to.
Mary often caught herself staring at him, over her husband's cars. Then like a hawk, his crystals suddenly latch on to her stare. She would break it off by taking a sip from her glass, and his would go back to the table.
The game, as always, was Texas Hold'em. Each player got two cards, where they would place bets, then three more cards were dealt to the center of the table, face up. They call this the Flop for some reason. The players would bet on what they thought were the best hands they had. Then another face up and more betting. The final part of each hand was The River, where one last card was laid on the table and one last bet.
She often thought it was a slow moving game but she liked it like that. He had enough hustle in her life.
In-between hands, her husband turned to Mary and began to say "Mary, Would...."
She knew what she wanted: Time to refill everyone's glasses. She hated to do things like that, but none of the guys wanted to leave their seats.
"On it." She told her, as she got up from her stool.
Mary went to the bar and got bottles of beer for everyone, as well as the opener. Going back to the table, she set a bottle down in front of the player, popped the cap and then move on to the next player.
The thing is though, she always left Isaiah for the last.
With the last bottle, Mary would set it next to his chips and then turn to leave. Only this time, Izzy turned his head to look up at her. They again locked gazed, when He shifted his eyes to her glass and then back up to her. Mary blinked as He did it again. Finally understanding, She picked up His glass and poured the beer from the bottle into it. Setting back it back next to chips, Mary heard Him say "Thank you", but never looked up again.
She returned to her stool as the next hand was started. From her place, she could see her husband's cards: two Aces, clubs and hearts. "Well that is a good start," Mary thought to herself, trying to keep her face under control.
The bidding started at $100, until it got her her husband. With a slight smile on his face, he raised the bidding by $75. Everyone matched him, including Jess with a huge smile on his face. After Gary threw in his chips, the Flop was layed out:
The Queen and Jack of Spades, with the 5 of Hearts.
The next round of bidding found Bill tossing in his cards, Gary betting $200 which Jess and Mary's husband matched.
When it came Izzy's turn, He called Gary's $200 and raised the stakes by $500.
Gary's breath exploded and said he was out, flipping his cards over to show the Jack of Diamonds and 5 of Clubs. Jess grinned even more while evening out the pot. The husband called Izzy's bet.
The next card down, which in poker terms was called The Turn, was the Ace of Diamonds.
Mary could barely contain herself! She had to turn away from the table, so the light of excitement would not give away what cards her husband held. Specially to Isaiah.
She got up and went to the bar, to get under control. From there, she could hear the bidding: Her husband started with an even thousand, which Jess just managed to cover. Izzy matched that and doubled again. Her husband called, causing Jess to stare at the empty spot where his chips used to be.
"Ah geez guys. I got everything in the pot," he complained. " You take an I.O.U.?"
Mary's husband chuckled and told Jess "No paper dude. Cash or security."
Jess asked what the husband meant by "security"
Placing his cards face down on the table, he said "Jewelry, gold coin, artwork, or the like. Hell, isn't one of your comics worth a grand?"
At the mention of his comic books, Jess went pale and looked at his cards again. Slowly he put them on the table, also face down and slid them under the pile of chips in the center.
"I'm out," he told the other two men.
Izzy and the husband stared at each other across the table. Each man being as stone faced as he could be.
Mary returned to her stool, watching Isaiah's unmoving eyes bore into her husband. "Shall we?" the Dark man asked to no one in particular, to which the husband simply nodded.
With The River, the last card appeared on the table:
The Ace of Spades.
Mary simply could not keep her eyes from widening at maximum! She could not believe what she was seeing. The pot on the table was going to hugs, knowing how Izzy played.
But Isaiah never took his eyes off the husband. He simply said "All in" and pushed the entire pile of his remaining chips towards the center of the table.
The husband looked at that pile and then down to his own. It was somewhat smaller, say by about $5,000. "I'm a little shy," he told Izzy. "What kind of security do you want?"
Isaiah set his cards back on the table, face down, side by side. Sitting fully back in his chair, he shifted his crystal orbs from the husband to Mary.
"Her," He said nodding at her.
Mary gasped and put her hand to her mouth. "My God," she thought, "What in the holy hell is he thinking?!?!"
The husband, turned to look at Mary, then turned back to Izzy and, finally, picked up his cards to look at them. Setting them back on the table, he said "I'll agree to it if she will."
She could not believe what she was hearing. Her own husband was willing to use her as a settlement in a card game. But then she thought about it. He had four Aces. Sure Mary didn't know what cards Isaiah was holding but they couldn't beat four Aces.
Could they?
Steeling herself, Mary said "Do it."
Isaiah looked back to the husband and said "What do you have?"
Mary's husband turned over his cards. "Four Aces."
The dark man reached out to one card, using it to flip the other one over and showed both to the crowd:
The King and 10 of Spades.
"Royal Flush."
There was silence in the room. No one said a word.
Well, except for Isaiah. He looked up at Mary and said "You're mine".
The actress rolled on her back, to let the sun warm her belly.
She let her arms and legs curl in the air slightly, as she scratched her back on the deck planking. The sun, now beginning to set, felt good on her breasts and vagina. A slight breeze came over the fence and across the deck, causing her to shiver slightly. Turning back over, the actress got to her hands and knees and padded over to the man as he sat in his chair.
Smiling up at him, she curled up at his feet while he puffed on his pipe. He reached down and patted her on the head, telling her "You are such a good girl, Sandy. But it is time to go back inside.
The man picked her her leash and clipped it to her collar. Rising from the chair, he gave her a slight tug. She got back to her hands and knees and followed him back inside the house.
He led her back through the kitchen and they found themselves once again in his den. The man told her to sit before his recliner, and then walked to the closet to open the door.
"Sandy,"he told her, returning to sit in the recliner, "You are a wonderful little puppy, but today's training is done. You did very well and I am very proud of how you preformed today. But now you have to go home. "
The actress frowned, with small tears forming in her eyes. She gave him a small whine and shook her head at him.
"Now, Now Sandy. That is no way to end this. Do as I say: Go into the closet and get dressed."
She looked at the open door and then back at the man, then again at the open door. With her head hung low, she slowly padded into the closet with the leash trailing behind her, turning one last time to gaze at the man as he got up from the chair and shut the door.
Again, the light blazed above her as the door clicked shut. The actress got up to her feet and looked around. She saw her clothes, shoes and the things from her pockets. Even after only a few hours, they seemed strange to her, like they belonged to someone else.
With slow moving hands, she put on her things: underwear, pants, bra, blouse. As she was putting the the odds and ends back in her pockets, the actress realized she was still wearing the collar and leash. She began to cry as she felt the collar in her hands, and then undid the clasp.
"Thank you Sandy." She told the collar as she kissed it and then placed it on the shelf, coiling the leash next to it.
The actress then turned and grasped the handle. With a deep breath, she opened the door, walking through to the room. Finding the man standing next to his recliner, she slowly closed the door, list to the click with the sound of finality.
"Welcome back, Ma'am." the man told her with warm smile. "You will have to excuse me, but I have other...appointments...today."
"Yes." The actress begrudged him. "Yes, of course."
The man walked her to the front door and let her out.
The actress walked down the path to her car. Then with a sudden turn, came back to him while he was closing the door.
"Pardon me, Sir. But....Can I come back, sometime, and be Sandy again?" she almost begged of him.
Smiling at her, he said "You may come back any time to visit Sandy. She and I would like that very much.
~fin~
The actress shivered in the sunlight, drenched in soapy water.
She was on her hands and knees in the middle of a small kiddy pool, while the man ran a sponge over her body. Her hair was plastered to her head and she knew her hands and feet were wrinkled from the length of time she spent almost elbow deep in the water.
"There's a good girl," the man almost cooed at her. " We'll almost done with the bath."
Leaning into his hand as the sponge swished down her back and over her bare ass, the actress held her head high for the man to give her more attention. He grinned at her, patted her head and then grasped her collar with his fingers. Tugging slightly, the man led her out of the pool and onto the deck.
"Shake yourself, while I go get a towel." He told her, going in the back door of the house.
The actress shook her head back and forth, as hard as she could. Her hair whipped across her face and stuck to her back. She then wiggled her shoulders and hips in an attempt to fling the water from her. Some of the water flew from her body from the actions but she was still mostly soaked.
The sound of the back door opening drew her attention back to the man. He came through it with a towel flipped over his shoulder and each hand holding a metal bowl. These he set on the ground next to his chair and then walked over the actress.
"Sandy, Sit!" the man ordered her as he knelt down in beside her. The actress sat back on her haunches with her hands on the deck before her.
The man rubbed her head rather roughly with the towel, drying her hair as much as possible. He then dried each of her arms and reached in to do the same to her breasts. "Up!" He barked at her and the actress went again to her hands and knees. The towel was dragged on her back and over her ass, making sure the skin was dry as it could get.
Moving around behind her her, the man passed the towel over her vagina and the inside of each leg, before finishing with the outside of her legs and feet. He then produced a hairbrush from his back pocket and proceed to work on her drying hair.
"You have such a wonderful coat, Sandy! Such a pretty girl!" He told told her as he made long strokes through her hair.
As he finished, the man removed a couple of hair ties from the handle of the brush and made two long bunches of hair on each side of her head, hanging down over her ears.
Standing up again, the man looked down at her and told her "Such a pretty girl! You look all ready for a show now! But first, I bet you are hungry, aren't you?"
The actress nodded her head eagerly at him and yipped a yes.
In agreement, the man said "Come, Sandy. Dinner time!". She padded after him on all fours as he led her to the chair and the two bowls. Sitting in his chair, the man held up his hand and ordered "Wait, Sit!"
She again sat on her haunches and watched the man's hand. He continued to hold it in the air, palm out towards her, as he filled and lit his pipe with his other hand. As soon as he had the pipe going, he dropped his hand and told her "Now. Eat."
Dipping her head to the first bowel, she discovered a browned meat, looking like hamburger. The actress' nose told her that it was slightly spiced with cumin and some onions. She could feel the saliva starting to form in her mouth, as her empty stomach growled at her.
The actress's face dived deep into the bowl, so she could get a hunk of the meat into her mouth. She then lifted her head slightly and chewed. Swallowing, she dipped her head back into the bowl for another bite.
"Don't eat too fast, Sandy. Take a small break and get some water." The man's words came to her ears.
Realizing how thirsty she was, the actress left the food bowl and leaned over to the other one. Leaning down into it, she lapped the water as best she could, then giving up and simply putting her lips in the water and drinking it in.
The coolness ran down her throat and she felt a contentment she has need known before. Alls she wanted to do was finish the meat and water then curl up somewhere for a nap.
Such was a dog's life.
The man walked over to the dog kennel and unlatched the opened the gate.
Hearing the sound, the actress awoke from her doze, shaking her head. She got on to her hands and knees and trotted out the door. The man had resumed his spot in the chair and she trotted over to me, sitting back on her haunches with her hand on the floor in front of her.
"Did you enjoy your nap?" He asked, smiling at her. "You know, we are going to have to find you a name. We can't have you running around, barking and what not without a name. What do you think we should call you?"
The actress blinked her eyes at him, turning her head to once side. "How can I tell him anything without talking," she thought to herself. Instead, she frowned slightly and gave him a small whine.
"Oh I know, " he apologized sightly to her. "I'll just have to say some names and see if you like them.
She smiled and bobbed her head up and down.
"Alice?" He asked and then saw she shook her head.
Trying again "Peggy?" Another head skake.
"Uhura?" That only brought a growl.
"How about Sandy?"
The actress nodded agreeably and ran around the room as best she could on all fours. She returned to the man's feet and looked up at him with a smile on her face.
"Sandy it is then. Such a good girl!" The man beamed at her, patting her on the head. Then he asked her a question she was not really ready for:
"Do you need to go to the bathroom, Sandy?"
The actress stopped in her tracks. Looking up at him rather wide eyed, she didn't really know how to respond to that. Her blatter told her she needed to go, but her brain refused to like the idea. The only response she could come up with was a small bark at the man.
"I know, Sandy, but we all have to go sometime." He told her gently. The man got up from his chair and strode over to the wall, where he retrieved a plain black leather color and leash. Walking back to the actress, he bent down and fastened the collar around her neck, and the leash to the collar in turn.
"Come, Sandy" he ordered to her, as he gave a slight pull on the leash.
The man walked her through a couple of rooms until he came up to a door that led them outside. Following the man out the door, the actress saw a large grassy area. The lawn looked freshly cut and felt springy on her hands and knees. She dipped her head down to take in the smell of green through her nose. Closing her eyes, she drank in the scent. She could also feel the sun on her bare back. The actress just wanted to lay down and roll around the feelings.
Suddenly, she tugged hard by the leash.
"Not now, Sandy. We need to pick you out a spot to pee."
The actress looked back to the man and followed his lead. The man walked her around the yard, stopping here and here for her to sniff the ground and shake her head. By the fourth or fifth stop, the man told her "you will have to pick soon Sandy, or I am going to lock you back in your kennel and you can pee there".
The actress bit her lip and looked around the grass. Pulling on the leash, she lead the man to a spot next to the fence and stood there on all fours. "Here then, Sandy?" He asked her. She nodded with a small whine.
"Then go about your business. Raise your leg and pee."
Using the fence to brace her leg, the actress told her body to let go of the fluid. But it wouldn't start. Again she closed her eyes and pushed as hard as she could.
With a rush, the golden stream sprang from her body and wet the grass at the base of the fence. The actress felt great relief as the urine streamed out, coming to a trickle at the end. When she was finished peeing, she moved up a few feet from the wet spot and kicked the grass backwards with her feet.
The man patted her on the head and told her "Very good girl, Sandy! But it looks like you peed on yourself a bit. You need a bath."
The actress laid in her kennel, slightly dozing.
The feeling of her pee pad felt slight wooly on bare skin and the fake grass itched at her nose. She started to scratch it with her fingers but remembered what the man had said. Flipping her hand over, she rubbed it with the back of her hand and then laid her head back down on her arms.
Her mind went back to a few hours ago, when this adventure started.
She remembered being on all fours before the man who was her teacher now. She had just agreed to his training with a single "woof" and he sat back in his chair and smiled.
"Good girl! That is a good start," he had told her. "But we need more transformation than that. " The man had stood up and walked to a small door behind the kennel. When he opened it, the actress could see it was a small closet. "Come," he called to her.
She crossed the floor on all fours until she was at the doorway. "Go inside and get undressed," he ordered her. "Neatly fold your clothes and place them on a shelf. Put all your personal items on another shelf and make sure your phone is plugged in one of the power cords. When you are done, paw at the door and I will let you out."
The actress looked up at him with dewy eyes and then look at the dark closet and then back up to him.
"Now," he said with a final word.
She crawled into the closet and only turned to look behind her when the door shut and she could hear that lock click. But suddenly the blackness disappeared with a bright light shining above her. The actress could see the shelves the man had told her about, all empty except for a couple of metal trays and usb cords running from a socket on the floor to one of the higher shelves.
Getting to her feet, she took all of the items from her pockets and placed them on one of the metal trays. Keys, wallet, sunglasses, lipstick and other miscellaneous things. All of this went on a tray. She then followed his orders and made sure her phone was plugged and and set it on a shelf, giving it a firm pat.
The actress then stripped. Shoes went on a lower shelf. Her pants followed, folded neatly on the next shelf. On top of them went her blouse. The top shelf held her bra and panties.
Turning towards the door, the actress' body suddenly started to shiver. She really came to grips with what she was doing and where she was going mentally. Was she really going to do this? Going to be naked before a man she really didn't know? What the hell was she doing?
Still, the actress felt she needed to do this. She needed to be a dog. She needed to know what it was that was driving her to act this way.
She lowered herself to her hands and knees. Padding over to the door, she scratched at it when a hand and pawed at it, giving a small whine to be let out.
The man opened the door and she trotted out of the closet, looking up at him with admiration. He patted her on the head, and told her she was such a good girl.
"Time for a little rest I think," he said to her. Going over to the kennel, the man opened the door and pointed inside. The actress gave a short bark and crawled in. Turning around as best she could, she watched him as he latched the door and walked out of the room.
She then layed down on the pad that was inside the kennel and closed her eyes.
The actress remembered all this and smiled at the recent memories.
The actress goggled at the photos on the wall of the enclosed room.
Turning away from them, she looked for other things to see. The actress found herself surrounded by dog items everywhere: leashes hanging from pegs, shelves with dog collars of all kinds, even simulated dog tails with metal plugs on the end. Looking down at the floor, she spotted bowls, some filled with water and others empty. Even in the corner of the room was a large dog kennel with the door open.
From behind her came the man's voice, "Welcome to my secret world. For years now, I have trained both men and women what it is like like to be a pet. That is a dog. People who wish to give up their identity and power and lose themselves."
The actress turned to face him. "But that isn't what I want! I just need to..." she paused.
"know what is like to become a dog." the man finished for her. "Benjamin told me what the movie was to be about. He sent me the script, which I have read. The Mother finds herself questioning her identity. She finds herself slipping into the idea she is becoming a dog."
She bit her lip and looked again at the floor. Strewn about were chew toys and plushies of all kinds. Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths. The actress could not believe where all this was going. Was she really going all herself to be treated as a dog? She wanted so much to get in touch with this character, but was this going too far?
After a few minutes of contemplation, the actress raised her head up and looked the man straight in the eye.
"Yes," she told him. "Please train me."
Nodding to the actress, the man turned and seated himself in the other chair in the room. "Come over here and get down on all fours facing me." He told her.
She shook herself all over and complied with order. First she knelt down and then placed her hands on the carpet. The man reached out and lifted her chin until they could see each other eye to eye.
"This is how you will be for most of your training. You won't communication in human language. You will bark, yip, whine or growl. We won't start with the dog ears or tail plugs. If you do well and continue, we will add those later. Nor will we use the paw gloves and shoes. Those are only for really good puppies."
"But," he continued, "You will be naked. Dogs don't wear clothes and neither shall you. If you have a problem with this, you need to get up right now and leave. Don't ever come back. Nod if you agree."
The actress looked him straight in the eye and spoke a single word:
"Woof"
Taken aback, the actress gasped "You must be kidding."
She shook her head in disbelief. The words "You are here to be trained as a dog" still filled her ears.
The man sat back in his recliner and grunted rather happily. "Of course I mean it. I've read the script. You know how to be a mother, but what you don't know is how to be a dog." He turned and picked up his copy of the script and flung it into her lap.
"That character thinks she is turning into a dog. To make that part of the role work, you need to know what it is to be a dog. I can help you with that."
The actress focused on the bound script in her lap. She flipped it open at random to read some lines, so the man's words would not affect her. "He can't be right," she told herself. "He must think I am a method actor or something." The actress concentered on the printed words before her. The scene she had turned to was in the middle of the movie, where where she read:
55 EXT. FRONT LAWN - CONTINUOUS 55
Mother, on all fours, chases after cat
The actress slammed the script shut and held it to her chest. Tears began to fill her eyes, as she looked up and met the man's dark gaze. "See," he told her, rather gently. "Anyone can be human. You need to be a dog."
Still holding the script to her chest, she sobbed "How?"
The man rose from his recliner, bending over to put his pipe in a nearby ashtray, and walked to a closed door in the corner of the room. As he passed by the couch, he uttered a single word to her: "Heel."
Without looking back, he reached into his front pants pocket and retrieved a set of keys. Using one of the keys on the ring, he unlocked the door and walked inside. The actress hesitantly got up from the couch and followed him inside. Looking around, she was shocked to see what was in the room.
Much like the first room in the house, this one was also lined with framed photographs. But instead of pictures of dogs, these were pictures of women in poses of dogs.
Naked women.
Women with dog ears clipped on them. Some with fake dog muzzles on their faces. Still others with dog tails sticking out behind them. All of them were wearing dog collars.
Here and there were photos of the man holding a leash attached to the collars. Some of the women were sitting on their haunches with their hands on the ground. Most of the photos were showing the women on all fours. What really caught the actress's attention is every woman pictured was smiling and looking up with a shine in their eyes.
The actress parked her car in front of the house.
It was an ordinary house. Two stories with a large privacy fence running from the sides, to what she thought was the back yard. It sat alone on the lot, no neighbors for miles around. She thought it was rather odd, not being used to seeing something this mundane. The actress was used to large mansions with pools and fountains. "This is so.....plain." she thought to herself.
Walking up to the large brown door, the actress tried to look in the windows, but saw dark curtains covering them on the inside. She shrugged her shoulders and then tossed her head, so her reddish blond hair fell onto her back. When she pushed the doorbell, the actress did not hear a sound. However, in a short time the door opened to show her a rather gaunt looking man in his 60s or so.
What really caught the actress' attention was the man's eyes. They were large, black and unblinking. The bored into her like black suns from a scifi movie she was in awhile back.
To break the contact with those eye, the actress looked down at her outreached hand and "Hi! I'm...."
The man interrupted her with "I know who you are. Benjamin told me you were wanting to be here. Come."
He turned his back on the actress and strode further into the house. The actress blinked at his retreat and stepped across the threshold and turned to close the door behind her. After it was shut, she looked around the room to speak with him again but he was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, the actress was confronted with a living room dedicated to dogs.
Pictures on wall showed canines of all breeds, some standing, some sitting on grass. Others still showed dogs in pairs, posed like family photos. Other frames on the wall were dedicated to medals and cards saying what dog placed in various dog shows, the actress guessed.
Looking around, she saw a showcase holding a number of trophies. Some large some small. Mixed in with the awards were jars. Some looking like dogs themselves, others like small wooden boxes. All of them bore a name and a set of dates.
Somewhat taken back, the actress looked around again, trying to find the man when his voice barked "Come!" from a doorway at the back of the room. She followed the sound into another room, this one a bit more friendly. Finding the man sitting in a leather recliner, stuffing tobacco into a pipe, the actress walked up to hold out her hand again and tried to introduce herself again. "Ben said you were..."
Pointing at the couch with his pipe, the man simply said "Sit."
She blinked her eyes at the man again and did as he requested. The couch was leather, matching his chair in color. Crossing her legs, she watched the man finish filling his pipe and getting it lit. A cloud of grey smoke separated the two of them. "But," she thought to herself, "at least it blocks those eyes."
Casting out another cloud of smoke from his nostrils, the man said to the actress "I know why you are here. Benjamin sent me the script yesterday when he told you were come coming over. An interesting concept: A woman believing she is becoming a dog."
The actress beamed! This was going to work out great! "Yes! I fell in love with the script when my agent gave it to me! A stay at home mom who is so driven by her child and husband, she begins to lose her grip on reality and thinks she is turning into an animal!"
"I want to get into this woman's head! I want to feel what she is feeling! I want to be where she is!" The actress continued. "But I know very little about dogs. I need someone to help me connect to a dog spirit, if you will. Ben says you know all about dogs. That you have trained dogs most of your life. If you can show me how you do that, I would so, so grateful!"
The man simply said "No."
Taken aback, the actress sunk deeper into the couch. "But....why not" she stammered back to him.
He leaned forward in the recliner and waved away a fresh puff of smoke. "Because," he told her frankly, "you are not here to learn how dogs are trained. You are here to be trained as a dog."