Madame Hortense awakened David with kisses.  "Good morning," 
she sang, "and how's my favorite tickle-slave this morning?"
     David muttered something sleepily.
     Madame  Hortense  bent close to David's ear  and  whispered, 
"Kootchy, kootchy."
     David laughed half-sleepily.
     "Did you enjoy tickle-torturing me yesterday?" she cooed.
     "Yes...yes I did," he said.
     "Why how DARE you derive pleasure from tickling me.   Remind 
me  to  tickle YOU with a perfumed Q-tip sometime," she  said  in 
mock indignation.
     "You really enjoyed that, didn't you Madame Hortense," David 
said.
     "Yees...how  dare you think of something different before  I 
do...you  should be careful about giving me new ideas, slave.   I 
just might use them on you...Did you know that the second toe  on 
your right foot tastes just like sugar?"
     "Really?" David queried.
     "Why yees," she responded.  "It's the sweetest toe I've ever 
tasted...and what do my toes taste like?"  his mistress inquired.
     "Pleasantly  salty  to the palate," David  chose  his  words 
carefully.  "You have very nice toes, Madame Hortense."
     "Well,  I'm  glad you like them," she smiled  extending  her 
foot towards him.  "Make a feast of them now...before I send  you 
downstairs to wash the dishes."
     David took Madame Hortense's toes into his mouth and  sucked 
them  gently.   "Don't forget my crevices, darling,"  she  cooed.  
David  darted his tongue between her toes.  "Ooh, that  tickles," 
she squealed.  "No fair tickling me on during the week...that's a 
no-no...it's  a  breach  of  our   contract...please...continue."  
David  continued sucking her toes.  "Ooh, my little piggies  just 
LOVE your tongue," the mistress squealed in a high-pitched tone.  
     All  of a sudden Madame Hortense pulled her foot  away  from 
David abruptly.  "Enough of this," she snapped, "you have  dishes 
to  do!  Report to the kitchen immediately...and I don't want  to 
see any spots on the glasses like the last time!  Or else..."
     "Yes,  Mistress," David said, and he hurried  downstairs  to 
the kitchen where a sink full of dirty dishes awaited him.
     "And  I'm going to inspect each and every dish,  glass,  cup 
and  saucer, so you'd better do a good job!   Understand?!"   she 
called after him.
     "Yes,  Mistress," David called out.  He was already  halfway 
down the stairs.

                              *    *    *

     David stood over the sink washing what amounted to a  week's 
worth  of dirty dishes.  "God, I hate this!" he said to  himself.  
"What  does  she think I am, a maid!  All she ever does  is  bark 
orders and tickle me...bitch.  Maybe I ought to just tell her  to 
take   this  job  and  shove  it."   David  thought   a   minute.  
"Naaaaaaaaah!"  and kept on cleaning the dishes, whistling as  he 
cleaned.   In the distance he could hear the clump, clump,  clump 
of  Madame  Hortense's boots descending the stairs.   She  strode 
into  the  kitchen.   David looked up from  the  sink.   She  was 
wearing her leather mistress outfit and a stern look on her face.  
"I heard you whistling.  You're not allowed to whistle while  you 
work.   I sent you down here to do the dishes, NOT  to  entertain 
yourself.   Cease  that  whistling immediately,"  she  turned  to 
leave.  She turned back toward David and said, "Call me when  you 
have finished washing the dishes.  I'm going to check to see that 
they're absolutely spotless."
     "Yes, Madame Hortense," David said obediently.
     Madame  Hortense turned to leave the room.  David broke  out 
into a whistle in spite of himself.  Madame Hortense wheeled  and 
glared at him with fire in her eyes.
     "Oops,  sorry.   Must've  slipped  out,"  he  said  grinning 
sheepishly, his hand to his mouth.
     Madame Hortense's expression changed not one iota.   "You're 
going  to SUFFER for that one later, young man," she said  icily, 
and she stormed out of the kitchen.
     David  continued  with the dishes.  "God, I  never  realized 
just how many dishes she has," remarked David.  "This is going to 
take  forever.  Well...I guess it's really my fault  for  letting 
them go for so long."
     David  kept washing dish after dish, cup after  cup,  saucer 
after  saucer,  and glass after glass until finally,  five  hours 
later, he had finished.  "Whew!  I'm glad THAT job is done!"   he 
said  mopping  his  brow.   He called  out  to  Madame  Hortense.  
"Madame Hortense, I've finished with the dishes!"
     "Well  it  certainly  took you long  enough!"  his  mistress 
snapped  storming back into the kitchen.  Madame Hortense  picked 
up  a dish out of the rack and inspected it thoroughly  as  David 
stood  beside  her apprehensively.  She examined  it  from  every 
angle,  holding it close up to her eyes at first, and then  at  a 
distance, cocking her head from one side to the other and all the 
time  saying,  "Hmm, hmm."  At length she announced,  "This  dish 
passes inspection.  You have done well so far, my slave.  But  we 
still have many more dishes to inspect, don't we.  If I find  ANY 
dishes that are not cleaned to my satisfaction, you shall  suffer 
one  hour's worth of tickle-torture for each dish.  Nooow,  let's 
have a look at this next one." 
     Madame  Hortense inspected each and every dish,  glass,  cup 
and  saucer  as David stood with bated breath beside  her  hoping 
against  hope that all the dishes were done to her  satisfaction.  
One  by one she picked up each and every dish, inspected it,  and 
put  it back in the rack after thorough  examination,  announcing 
that  it had passed inspection.  She was down to the  last  glass 
now  and held it up to the light.  David was breathing a sigh  of 
relief.   "I'm  saved,"  he  thought.  All  of  a  sudden  Madame 
Hortense  gasped at what she saw.  "David, what IS this  on  this 
glass!"    David's  heart  sank.   "ANSWER  ME!"   his   mistress 
demanded.
     David  looked  up  at  the glass.  "I-it's  a  spot,  Madame 
Hortense," David stammered dejectedly.
     "A  spot?!   A spot?!  You dare leave spots on  my  precious 
glasses!   Have  you been using that generic  dishwashing  liquid 
that I specifically told you NOT to buy?"
     "Yes, ma'am.  The store was out of your favorite brand,"  he 
explained.
     "And  it never occurred to you to try another store?!"   she 
asked in amazement.
     "No, ma'am," David stammered.
     "You're  getting  a  tickling session  right  now!"   Madame 
Hortense shouted. "A full hour's worth!  Push that table over  to 
the sink!"
     "But, Madame Hortense, what are you going to do?"  asked the 
terrified David.
     "That another hour's worth of tickling for questioning  me," 
she said, "now push that table over here and be quick about it."
     David pushed the table over by the sink.
     "Now get on the table and hold your feet over the sink!  I'm 
going to put this worthless dishwashing liquid to some good use!"
     David  placed  his  feet over  the  sink.   Madame  Hortense 
grabbed David's ankles and jammed his feet down into the sink  so 
hard he thought she had broken them.  She took the squeeze bottle 
in  her  hand and squirted dishwashing liquid all  over  David's 
feet.  Next she turned on the hot water tap.
     "YEEEOOWWW!"   David  screamed  as the  scalding  hot  water 
hit his feet.
     "Oh  shut up!"  Madame Hortense snapped.  "I'm going to  use 
this  worthless dishwashing liquid on your feet as part  of  your 
punishment!   That's  about all it's good for anyway!   Why  it's 
almost as worthless as you are!"
     David was in excruciating pain.  The scalding hot water  was 
causing  stabbing, burning sensations in his feet.  He  was  sure 
he'd never walk again.  Yet the soap suds felt strangely sensuous 
on his feet.  
     Madame Hortense reached down into the water and stroked  the 
bottom of David's foot with her fingernail. "Can you feel  that?"  
she  asked.   David's  pained laughter told her  that  he  could.  
"Goooood.   I don't want your feet entirely numb.  I want you  to 
FEEL you punishment."  And with that, she took a scouring pad off 
the sink, reached down into the water and began stroking  David's 
half  numb  feet  with  it.   "Does   that  tickle?"   she  asked 
hopefully.    David  burst  out  with  uncontrollable  gales   of 
laughter.  "I'm going to tickle your feet with this scouring  pad 
and scrub them in this infernal generic dishwashing liquid,"  she 
said scrubbing harder.  "This will teach you to disobey me.   And 
the  next  time I send you to the store  for  dishwashing  liquid 
don't  you DARE buy generic.  Nothing but the best for MY  sacred 
dishes!  Do you understand me?!"
     "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Yes, Mistress," David nodded laughing.  
     Madame  Hortense  kept scrubbing the soles of  David's  feet 
with the scouring pad.  She ran it between his toes and  squeezed 
it out under his toenails.  She scrubbed the tops of his feet and 
his heels.
     "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!"   David  was  screaming,  half   in 
laughter, half in pain from the scalding hot water.
     "Using  generic  dishwashing liquid on my  precious  dishes!  
I'm VERY upset with you today, very, very, very!  Don't you  EVER 
buy generic dishwashing liquid again.  EVER!"  
     "HAHAHAHAHA, yes Mistress," David squealed.
     "You don't have the sense you were born with!" she spat.  "I 
don't believe you didn't think to go to another store.  Have  you 
taken  complete  leave  of  your senses?   I'm  going  to  tickle 
you...and  tickle  you...and tickle you...all over the  soles  of 
your feet."
     "HAHAHAHA!"  laughed David, "M-m-madame Hortense, please,  I 
can't stand it anymore.  Please...stop!"
     "STOP?!  STOP?!  Don't tell me to stop, it's not your  place 
to  tell  me to stop!"  screamed Madame Hortense  quickening  the 
pace.  "I am your mistress and I will tickle you for as long as I 
like!  Where did I put that scrub brush!"
     "OH  NO,  please,  Madame Hortense,  not  the  scrub  brush, 
PLEEEASE!" pleaded David.
     "SHUT UP!"  his mistress shouted,  "you've still got a  full 
hour  and  a  half's worth of punishment  to  endure!"   and  she 
started scrubbing the soles of David's feet with the scrub brush.
     "YAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"   David cried, half laughing,  half 
screaming.
     "Why,  I think you rather enjoy the sensation of this  brush 
on your feet," his mistress cooed.  "Does it tickle?"
     "HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!  YEEES, MISTRESS, YEESS!"  David cried.
     "Gooooooood,"  his mistress cooed,  "I'm enjoying  scrubbing 
your  feet  with this brush.  I'm going to get them  all  squeaky 
clean...so  I can suck them later.  Won't that be fun?" she  said 
licking  her lips, "But for now...let's just TICKLE  them!"   and 
she  accelerated  the pace, scrubbing and tickling  David's  feet 
with the brush.
     David  was  beside himself with laughter.  The pain  of  the 
scalding hot water, the sensuous feeling of soapsuds on his  feet 
and  the sensation of Madame Hortense tickle-scrubbing  his  feet 
with  the  bristly  scrub brush was  making  him  ecstatic.   The 
tingling  sensations he was feeling in his feet  were  exquisite.  
Madame  Hortense  played  him like an  instrument,  tickling  and 
scrubbing  his feet.  She kept up the pace  relentlessly.   "This 
will  teach you to use generic dishwashing liquid on  my  dishes.  
See  what  torture  I'm forced to subject you  to?   Is  it  your 
fervent  desire  to  be punished every day  like  this  for  your 
misdeed?"
     "Oh, NO, Madame Hortense," David managed between snickers.
     "You're  lying to me!"  his mistress scolded.   "Don't  ever 
lie  to your mistress!  You know you love it when I  tickle  your 
feet.  That's why you misbehave the way you do, because you  know 
I'll  tickle you.  What other pleasures do you have in your  dull 
life besides my ministerings to your ticklish needs?  You love to 
be  tickled.   You NEED to be tickled.   It's  your  nourishment.  
ADMIT IT!  Tell me how much you like to be tickled.  SAY IT!  Say 
'Madame  Hortense, I loved to be tickled, and I want only you  to 
tickle me.'"
     "Never," David managed weakly, he was laughing so hard.
     "SAY  IT!"  his mistress demanded.  "Repeat after me, 'I  am 
Madame Hortense's tickle-slave.'"
     "I  am  Madame  Hortense's  tickle-slave,"  David   repeated 
between smirks.
     "It is an honor to have her tickle my feet."
     "It is an honor to have her tickle my feet."
     "Serving her is my life's only pleasure."
     "Serving her is my life's only pleasure."
     "She is my all, my everything."
     "She is my all, my everything."
     "I will serve her faithfully until my dying breath."
     "I will serve her faithfully until my dying breath."
     "And if I ever use generic dishwashing liquid on her  dishes 
again..."
     "And if I ever use generic dishwashing liquid on her  dishes 
again..."
     "She  has  carte blanche to immerse my feet  in  dishwashing 
liquid and scrub my feet with a brush."
     David hesitated.
     "Say it!"  Madame Hortense exhorted him.
     "She  has  carte blanche to immerse my feet  in  dishwashing 
liquid and scrub my feet with a brush--please, Madame Hortense, I 
surrender.   Please stop tickling me," David pleaded half out  of 
breath from laughing so long.
     "I'll  decide  when  to stop tickling you,  thank  you  very 
much," his mistress chided.  "You're forgetting your place, young 
man.  I'll have to tickle you some more to remind you."  And  she 
laid the brush aside and went at David's feet under the hot soapy 
water with her long fingernails.
     "YAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"   David roared.  "Madame  Hortense, 
isn't  my  two hours of punishment up?  I can't  take  any  more.  
HAHAHAHAHA!"
     "Weeell...,"  Madame Hortense mused, "technically,  I  could 
assess  you another hour's worth of torture for tickling my  toes 
with your tongue this morning when it wasn't a weekend.  You  did 
breach  our  contract  by that action...Should I  be  a  merciful 
mistress and forgive you?...Naaaaaaaaaaaah!"

                         [ to be continued ]