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Chapter 10: Customer Feedback
Freddie sat down at his laptop and clipped the web cam to the top of the screen. He preferred dealing with clients face to face but he just couldn’t face the trip to Kushtia and the Kalinin had been happy for them to meet electronically. Kushtia might be a primitive society, Freddie thought, but they were happy enough to use technology where it suited them. He had asked Harry to sit in, just in case there were any problems that they needed to go fix.
The video conferencing window flicked open. Freddie found himself staring at the slightly out-of-focus, bearded, face of the Kushtian president.
“Kalinin,” Freddie said. “You’re looking well.”
“Well, thank you Freddie.
“I wanted to make sure you were happy with your purchases.”
“Indeed Freddie, indeed. These are a very good solution to my problem. They are having the desired effect; keeping my son amused. And they have had a good effect on his wives as well. You know how it is, a little more competition…”
“I thought you were concerned about harem politics, Kalinin,” Freddie said.
“Of course, of course. But I don’t mind if the politics remain inside the seragla.” A pair of pudgy fingers reached towards the Kalinin’s web cam. He swivelled it so that it was pointing out across the room. “Perhaps you remember Victoria?”
Freddie grunted. It was best to be polite but he couldn’t be expected to keep track of all these women, he felt. He vaguely remembered her, one of Larry’s early contributions to the business, he thought. On the far side of the room, the Kalinin’s son was sprawled on a couch, enjoying the favours of a woman whose head was buried in his lap. Between the couch and the camera, a girl dressed in a shimmering black silk version of Kushtian traditional costume had a girl trussed cruelly and wriggling at her feet. Freddie at least recalled that the helpless girl was one of the ones that had just been shipped.
“She can be such a bully,” the amusement in the Kalinin’s voice was evident. “Poor Madeleine! I am not sure what she has done to cause offence but she will soon learn that there is a hierarchy here in the seragla that must be respected.”
The Kalinin’s son reached forward to stroke the hair of the girl that was busily fellating him. As she lifted her head in response, Freddie saw it was one of the others that he’d just shipped. Harry peered over his shoulder, “That’s Krysta,” he said. “That’s good. Connie will be pleased. She said that Krysta was finding that sort of thing difficult.”
Freddie smiled. It was surprising how soon their charges overcame their reluctance to do things that they thought difficult.
Behind the Kalinin, over by the wall, Freddie could see another figure, a woman naked except for her veil, her arms shackled to a ring set in the wall high above her head. She was struggling with the futile desperation that Freddie so often saw in their more resilient guests. As she shook her head in frustration her veil swung clear of her face for a moment and Freddie saw her mouth filled not with the traditional Kushtian moaungf but a bright red ball gag. Sad, Freddie thought, to see the old ways going. Celia, almost as if she sensed she was being observed, growled behind her gag and scowled at the camera.
The Kalinin leant towards the screen cam and adopted a confidential tone, “Of course we cannot avoid harem politics but this way keeps it in the family, so to speak.”
As the Kalinin sat back, Freddie felt able to ask about Penny. “And how are things working out with Ms Trating? I must apologise about the confusion there.”
“No need, Freddie, no need. You must not worry so much about these matters of detail.” Freddie had often been accused of getting too involved with the detail of his business but even so he found it hard to believe that whether one of his shipments was male or female was a detail. The Kalinin continued, “She is what she wishes to be. That is sufficient for us. She is like hijra or pavaiyaa in India, there is a tradition of such things there. Not here perhaps in Kushtia, such things were frowned on by the Russians but human nature is what it is.”
“And your son’s view of this?”
“He seems unconcerned. That is at is should be. For myself, I am happy for him to be enjoying the favours of his wives and concubines in what ever way. He seems as happy to fuck Penny as any of the others; as content for her to fellate him as the rest. It keeps him distracted from other, more disruptive issues.”
“But Penny, I think, was not in any respect homosexual. I think she was simply a transvestite.”
“I am sure you are right, Freddie. But, of course, once one gives oneself up to life in the seragla not everything will turn out as you desire. All of the girls here have had to adapt to their new lives in one way or another, Penny has had a few more challenges than the others perhaps but he is coping.” Freddie saw the Kalinin turn his head. “Ah, here he comes now.”
The Kalinin reached back to the web cam and twisted it around. Freddie saw a figure push back the curtains on the far side of the room and enter.
Penny appeared looking for all the world as though she had stepped off the poster for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Of course the sleek black evening gown and elbow length gloves were made to look a little odd by the veil she wore pulled across her face. Even so, Holly Golightly would no doubt have approved.
The Kalinin nodded towards Penny, “I indulge myself a little here and also I indulge our friend. I met my first wife in 1962. Penny wishes to recreate that look and who am I to interfere?” He leant confidentially close to the web-cam. “My son knows nothing of the time. Some of the truly great movies! My wife and I spent many happy hours in the theatre. Of course, it was in my father’s palace but there were some moments of privacy nevertheless. ”
Freddie relaxed. The Kalinin seemed genuinely unconcerned by Penny’s gender. Indeed, if anything it seemed to have turned out better than the Kalinin had expected. That was the funny thing about customers; you never really knew how they would react to things. Freddie leant forward towards the web cam. “Well,” he said, “I’m glad things have worked out. I must confess, that I thought it might have been difficult; Penny being a man and all.”
The Kalinin grinned looked over his shoulder and smiled as Penny picked up a tray of sweet meats and brought them to his side. He nodded to Freddie. “Never mind,” he said. “nobody’s perfect.”
< THE END >
(With friendly apologies to the folks at the “Tales of the Veils” web site – which is of course nothing like Eastern Promise, but gave me the idea for this story.)
© Freddie Clegg 2009
All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or reposted without permission.
All characters fictitious
E-mail: freddie_clegg@yahoo.com Web Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freddies_tales/
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