Candy Among the Christians
Download 1.
Download Title, "An Offer Not To Be Refused"
Candice Genron
9:00 AM, Wed, August 1st, 2001
Waking Up, Getting Up
Candy was roused from her sleep by the insistent noise of the phone. She didn't
know which was worse her dreams or the reality of the last few days. Her dreams
were pretty bad. Very bad nightmares actually. Men leering at her naked body.
Arrests by the police for prostitution followed by molestation in a squad car.
Phones and phone calls. Her husband sprawled in his Bentley with blood all
over. Flashbulbs going off. Phone calls. Yesterday's funeral with the
piercing probing news media. She had trouble telling reality from nightmares.
OK OK I will answer the fucking phone. Hello. "This is 2nd Evangelical Academy.
May we speak to Candice Genron?" Why do you want to talk to her? "Rev Payne
wants to talk to her about the admission of her girls, classes start next week."
OK, I am Candice Genron. "Rev Payne will meet with you at 10AM. Do not be late
he is a very busy man." OK.
What the fuck was that all about. Yea I know we were going to transfer the
girls to 2nd Evangelical. Alex was always into the damn Evangelicals. Gave
them lots of money. Where the hell are the girls, are they up yet. Now that
Genron Energy was bust and he had killed himself I bet they are going to tell us
to fuck off. Not that there is any money to pay tuition anyway. Or for that
matter money for anything. Yesterday afternoon their supposedly loyal lawyer
had a great time telling her how broke she was. Nothing, NaDa, Fucking A Zero.
He was so nice telling her he would bill her anyway for his services just so he
could write the bills off as bad debts. That evening their banker called and
said their line of credit was poop. All credit and debit cards were frozen.
They needed to be out of the house next week. She was shit-out-of-luck
back-on-the-street-again-without-a-dime after 12 years of sweet living. Alex
had the right idea. Blow his fucking brains out.
Holy Shit, nine fucking thirty AM. Got to run. Well we'll try and keep up
appearances at least for today. Can't tell what will come up. One good swig of
Martell VSOP while I pee. Run the brush through three times and pull the
natural blond, medium length hair back and secure it with a barette. Another
swig while I put the toothpaste on the toothbrush. Now brush the smell of the
good stuff away. Stomach burns, ooophs there it goes into the toilet. DRY
HEAVES SUCK. I guess I'm not as young as I used to be. OK rinse out the mouth,
brush the hair, put on the nice pink suit, white frilly blouse, white pantyhose,
pink shoes. Don't you look demure Candy. One final swig. Into the garage, the
Jag is still there, I wonder how long. Up Bunker Hill to I-10. Luck is on my
side, almost no traffic. I may make it, 9:58 AM, Loop 610 mile-and-a-half
ahead. Exit, around and about. Down the feeder road. SHIT I have forgotten
just how big this God-Damned 2nd Evangelical complex is. The few times I have
gone to church with Alex here I was always half snockered. OK the school is on
the far side.
"Hello, could you tell me where Rev. Payne's office is? Elevator to third
floor? Down the Hall? Thank you!". OK only 5 minutes late. Boy a long hall,
here it is. Only 7 minutes late. "Dr Payne is waiting to see you, go right in"
Nice office for a school principal, nice secretary! Pretty but demure. A bit
of a schoolgirl about her. Can't be more than nineteen. I wonder if he is
balling her. Alex chose a school for the girls well. A lot of money in this
school. The oil and energy business enriched quite a few simple country boys
like Alex. All of them didn't want to leave their roots and become 'Piscies and
Methodists. Well so much for St. John's and St. Michael's and St. Thomas. It
wouldn't have made a difference in the end anyhow because I can no longer afford
it anyway. What is it, back to lap dancing?
Rev. Payne
10:07 AM, August 1st, 2001
Interview
Maximilian P. Payne was tall, perhaps six foot four, thin and even in his office
kept his charcoal gray suit jacket on. Of course considering how low the air
conditioning in the room had been set, this was not all that foolish. He had
never met the famous Mrs. Candice Genron before although he had seen her picture
in the news, rather frequently of late. As she walked in he was impressed. The
electronic and print media did a poor job of capturing her. Alex had been a
good friend and essential in the building up of 2nd Evangelical Academy that had
occurred over the last decade. But they had never socialized. They moved in
very different circles. He at the top of the world, opera, symphony, charitable
balls, Rodeo, the baseball team and their new stadium. Nothing but the best.
His wife, widow now, had the body of the best. Shady past but no surgical
modifications. All natural. Alex must have loved ploughing her furrow. And
now this babe and her bastard bitch daughters were his responsibility. Well
they might as well learned the discipline here that Alex had never given them.
Alex had left them in his hands. He would have to step into Alex's shoes. And
other things as well.
Max thought, What am I but a humble Christian educator who has been lucky.
Been able to build. Still building. The type of education I promote is not
popular. It is for the few. Most will kids will unluckily go to third rate
public schools. Even the best of the public schools in the priciest
neighborhoods are laced with drugs and sex. Nobody who was anybody in this the
fourth largest city in America wasted their kids in a public school. Then there
were the elite private schools, five of them. Theoretically religious but
really hotbeds of secular liberalism. You paid $20k+ a year for the same drugs
and sex they could get for nothing in the public schools. They all thought we
were a bunch of hicks and rubes. Accused of being child-abusing primitives.
Then there were the Catholics. Strake, St. Thomas, St. Agnes, the sanctified
rolled off the tongue. He shuddered. Papists, louts, jocks, geeks,
goody-goodies. On the other hand he felt like the Polish Army facing the
Wehrmacht. Yah they were good and they knew it. But they were beyond the pale.
No self respecting Protestant Fundamentalists would send their daughter to a
Catholic girls school. All full of the Pope and Social Activism. When they
came out they weren't a fit wife for anybody but a wimp. Well Alex had hated
the Papists as much as he did and the millions Alex had funneled surreptitiously
into 2nd Evangelical had made all the difference in the world. Now he had to
deal with the famous Mrs. Genron, all pointed tits, rounded ass and pink suit of
her. But loyalties ran deep. And she and her daughters were souls to save. It
wasn't going to be easy but it could be accomplished if we were careful. And we
had planned and prepared for this day.
"Mrs. Genron, our meeting was set for 10:00 AM. It is now 10:07 AM. I am
displeased. This will not happen again."
Blab, Blab, Blab, Blab, Blab. Damnation! Does this woman have a brain in her
head! Her blouse is half unbuttoned and I swear I smell liquor on her breath.
Now she is crying, her boobs are half falling out and her skirt is hiked up most
of the way to her crotch. I wonder how much of this is an act. Probably a mix
of talent, more brains than anyone gives here credit for, and some grief and
concern for the future. If anybody needed discipline it was her. I understand
her daughters are even worse. Well they will all get the disciplining they
needed. And for her it would start today.
"Stop Woman. Quiet. Listen to me." Hitting the DICL button I asked my
secretary to send in Elsbeth Strikt, Ph.D., head of the English Dept and Dean of
Humanities in the high school division of the Girls Academy. Since Science and
Math are not big in fundamentalist schools that meant she was really the one in
charge of academics. Tall, thin, acerbic, Dr. Strikt's PhD was in English from
Columbia. She would already be a full professor at an Ivy League institution if
it wasn't for her politically-incorrect Evangelical fundamentalism, her
pronounced anti-Feminist stance and her sado-masochistic streak. Unmarried,
probably a closet lesbian. She certainly didn't enjoy sex. But Elsbeth fit in
at 2nd Evangelical so well, kept high academic standards, kept the parents happy
and enforced the rigorous, rigid discipline that I so insist on. Elsbeth was
superb at dispensing chastisement, and taking it as well. Anybody who sends
their daughter here is willing for discipline to replace drugs and sex. The
affluent fundamentalists of this the largest city in the South did not want
sluts for daughters. Sons they tended to send out into the world. Here at 2nd
Evangelical we didn't even have a boys high school. But the girls high school
program was full. Nobody with half a brain in this town wanted a women's libber
and whore for a daughter. Or a wife, either.
"Mrs. Genron, be silent while Dr. Strikt and I outline the situation to you."
Now was the time to lay out as much of Alex's and my plan as was prudent for
Candy to know at this time. "Mrs. Genron, I knew your husband rather well and
in the last few days before his untimely leaving us we discussed the situation
several times. With the collapse of Genron Energy the only thing holding him to
this earth was his concern for you and Kim and Ashley. When I assured him that
I would personally take responsibility for you and your girls, all that tethered
him to this earthly soil was severed. I am very sorry for your grief."
At the works, "personally take responsibility" Candice raised her head, looked
me in the eye and I noticed her pupils constricting. She said in a surprisingly
cold tone of voice "You will provide for the girls and I? How much?" I do
believe that a cold reptilian brain lurks in that luscious body.
"Since there are a great number of legal complications emanating from the fall
of Genron, there was no way that Alex could pass any money on to you. The
government would be on it in a Yankee minute. It is probably that they would
even seize any meager income you might produce or assets you might mobilize.
The political climate right now is that of an Alabama lynch mob. As you
probably know, one quarter of the pension funds in America right now are poorer
because of Alex."
This brought forth renewed vigorous sobs from the blonde and further
dishevelment of clothing. I presume this was to enhance her remaining assets.
I continued "However, 2nd Evangelical has survived Genron's collapse rather
handily since Alex always insisted that we liquidate any equities that were
donated to us. Any direct transfer is of course out of the question. However,
we did discuss an option that we both felt was viable." She lifted up her head
again. "And I might add, given your character, or rather lack of character,
desirable. You see, Mrs. Genron, Alex was always quite frank with me. In fact
very frank. He told me about your career as an "exotic dancer" and your arrests.
He took you out of the gutter back when you were barely 18 and he was very
concerned that without your guiding hand, you should fall back into the gutter.
And he gave us access to all information. Actually, since his company set up
our information system, we probably know more about you than you do.
Everything, finances, history, medical records. I know who Kim's actual father
was. And Amy's. I probably know more about your menstrual history than you do.
I can even access your last mammogram at the Methodist and print out a picture
of your cervix."
At this Mrs. Genron gave a bit of a gasp and her knees snapped together denying
me an increasingly arousing view. She turned red and lowered her head. I
added, "You know you are going to need a cervical cone biopsy pretty soon. The
promiscuity of your early years has left you with a pre-cancerous lesion of the
uterine cervix." The blond gagged.
Rev. Payne
10:30 AM, August 1st, 2001
An Offer
Dr. Strikt intervened in this increasingly gynecologic conversation. "After
your marriage you did make some effort to improve your education, Candy. You
got a degree, a fairly worthless one from our local Baptist university. But you
then went on and got a master's from the best private university in the area.
Perhaps your husband donating ten million to the English dept there had
something to do with it. In any case you are unemployable because of your lack
of teaching experience, and above all because of your notoriety. Even if you
changed your name you would still be instantly recognizable. Any chairman that
hired you would soon be hearing from the board of trustees as the howls from
defrauded Genron investors mounted. However, we may have a place for you here
at 2nd Evangelical because of the past generosity of your husband."
For the first time in days Candy saw light at the end of the tunnel.
However, Dr. Strikt had some news Mrs. Genron was not going to like. "Candy, I
must be frank. Your personal character is not appropriate for someone I would
want on my staff. Similarly, the deportment of your daughters has brought
anxiety to the women who will be teaching them later this month. We are very
strict in our standards here at 2nd Evangelical. In fact we are the strictest
in the state of Texas and perhaps, excepting a smaller school or two in the
Southeast, the strictest in the South. However, Rev. Payne has assured me that
you will be absolutely obedient to my commands. You and your daughters have a
long way to go."
The look that Mrs. Genron gave Dr. Strikt reminded me of watching the
interactions between a snake and a toad. And the toad was a horned toad. I
figured it was time to resume control of the discussion. "Mrs. Genron, if you
are agreeable we will take you on as a high school English teacher. The terms
of your employment will be unusually generous for a novice high school English
teacher. However, the conditions of your employment will also be highly
unusual. Let me go through them." I placed a document in her hands.
First, this covenant will remain secret. Disclosure will result in termination
and forfeiture of all your assets. We will support civil action to transfer the
care of your daughters to your stepfather.
Second, you and your daughters will assume your maiden name, Butz.
Third, 2nd Evangelical will provide you with housing and transportation. The
nature of these shall be determined by your supervisor Dr. Elsbeth Strikt. A
credit card, billed to the school, will also be provided under similar
supervision.
Fourth, you will be paid the salary of $45,000 a year by 2nd Evangelical Girls
Academy. Your supervisor will be Dr. Elsbeth Strikt.
Fifth, you and your daughters shall be accessible at all times to Dr. Strikt and
she shall supervise your and their deportment and discipline.
"Sign here I said." Without hesitation, without I suspect thinking through all
of the implications of what she was signing, Candy signed. There was a grim,
set expression on Elsbeth Srikt's face. Dr. Strikt took Candy's face in her
hands and said "Do you know what you are agreeing to, you are to be totally
under my command!" Candy didn't like it. Candy didn't like Dr. Elsbeth. But
Candy knew better than Dr. Strikt what the situation was. She suspected that I,
M.P. Payne knew exactly what her situation was. That was probably why I had a
wry smile on my face. This was going to be interesting.
I picked up the line to my secretary. "Make two copies of the contract that is
coming your way. Place the original in the files, give one to Ms. Butz and one
to Dr. Strikt. Dr. Elsbeth will show our new employee around the school." I
turned to the former Mrs. Genron. "Candice, take the rings off the fourth
finger of your left hand. Put them on my desk." I turned next to my tall,
thin, dark haired Dean "Dr. Strikt, Candice is in your hands. Begin her
orientation."
