Andy and the Lies

CHAPTER THREE

  

            Andy was woken up by Cleo, when she entered the room, and she then stepped over to him. Her hands went down, and took the band that was around his genital sack off saying “It’s been disconnected from the computer, along with the rest of your lingerie.”

            It was a long time later when Andy heard the front door open and close, he heard a woman say. “I will see him first then we can have a talk.” Then there were footsteps walking up the stairs, and the door was pushed open even wider. A young blond woman rushed through the door, and stood in front of him “So this is the sad pervert, that messed with Brenda and let her down. Likes to fuck girls on the side, and watching others get punished on film and in books. You’re a fucking disgrace, and I see you are excited at the sight of me dressed as I am.” He felt ashamed that he had an erection, but she was stunning in the tight leather cat suit.

            “So you think you can get your leg over me; well I can assure you, I am here to give you pain, and hurt you, I’m not here to give you satisfaction.” With those harsh words going around in his mind, the woman stepped closer and grabbed his erection, and screwed it around. He still had the gag in his mouth, and he screamed at the top of his voice through it, and nearly passed out.  She saw his eyes start to turn upwards, and let go thinking that she might have gone a little too far. But she herself had been told by Brenda and Cleo, that Andy was experienced, it was when she spoke to them on the phone. “That’s right you scream you masochist, but you will feel a lot more pain before the week is ended. So you want to be a girl, and that’s why you dress like that? Well girls have a very high threshold to pain, so that they can go through childbirth, but the whore that conceived you; should have had an abortion; only a whore conceives a whore.”

            At the mention of his mother being disrespected, Andy shouted through the gag and more tears started to fall.  He started pulling on the bonds that held him, trying to get at this woman, his wrists were going red and one started to bleed. The woman that was tormenting him, and giving him pain, stepped back in shock at his reaction. “Stop that you fucking stupid fool.” Cleo shouted, but it went on deaf ears. Cleo put the camera on the tripod, still switched on and facing where Andy was hanging. Cleo shouted “You will do as I tell you, you fucking pervert.” She picked up the cane and went behind him, and then he felt pain, thwack, thwack, thwack, across his back. He screamed through the gag, thwack, thwack, thwack, as another three took him over the shoulders.

            The blonde woman walked out of sight, and he heard her say “Give me that cane” Then the beating stopped. He was now hanging down by his wrists, and the blood was running down his arms, and there were tears running down his face. When the blonde woman walked back in front of him, she laughed when she saw the tears saying “That’s right you cry, you filthy piece of dog shit, take that ridicules gag from his mouth.”

            As soon as his mouth was free of the gag Andy asked “Please why are you hurting me, I have done nothing wrong?”

            The woman slapped Andy across the cheek “Gag the little shit, until he knows that he can only speak, when he is spoken to or allowed to speak.” As Andy was being gagged he noticed that Cleo was once again filming all that was happening.

            Two women and two men with a stretcher came into the room, and one of the women had a doctor’s bag. She opened the bag and took out a syringe, and stuck it in his arm; within a few seconds he felt his eyes go heavy and sleep.

            Andy had no idea how long he had been asleep, but when he woke up he was strapped across a leather bench, with his ass up in the air and his arms were strapped to the floor. He hadn’t got a clue where he was, and it was putting fear in to him, how did he get here, and why is he here.

            He heard footsteps, and it was as if they were walking down stairs “Good the little fucking pervert is awake.” It was the voice of the woman and he feared her, she loved giving him pain, and smiled while doing it. She was now stood in front of him, and in less clothes now, than she was when he saw her the first time; ‘close your eyes he was telling himself. Andy screwed his eyes tight so that he never had to see her; maybe this was just a nightmare. If he opened them she would be gone, and he would be at home in bed’ his eyes slowly opened and she was still there. He pulled at his bonds and was screaming through the gag. 

           “It is a good job we put the gag in his mouth Fiona, so that now we cannot hear his lies; that’s all he ever does is lie. He lied to Brenda about being queer, and he lied to me about not wanting to dress in girl’s clothes, and I found him outside my house dressed only in his lingerie. I have it on the film off of the surveillance cameras, what a little sissy boy. The best man told Brenda and me over six months ago, that Andy was a perverted little queer. He was also seen with other girls, so he might just be bi sexual, but after shagging boys or men, there was no way that he would ever touch my Brenda. I was then told by someone close to him, that he went to see a Mistress somewhere to get a daily dose of punishment, look at his back, those marks were there when I first stripped him.”

            Andy couldn’t believe all he was hearing, Cleo was stitching him up good and proper.  Fiona said “I am going to have a lot of fun with you boy, and I have never had one as young as you before. I am looking forward to hearing you scream with pain, but not right away you pervert.” It was all getting too much for Andy, and he was really scared now, as he could hear no mercy in her voice; and the tears started to fall like rivers down his face. “It’s no good crying you little shit bag, I have seen grown men cry after they have asked me to give them pain, but I don’t take any notice, because they don’t really mean it. I will start you off with the flogger, and over the next two weeks we will work our way to the cat.” Andy watched Fiona walk away from him, and when she stepped in front of him again, she had a whip of leather strips in her hand. “This is the flogger, and I am going to give you a thrashing with it” after saying that, she walked out of sight. Cleo was now in front of Andy and sitting on a chair, and again the camera pointing at him. Zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap, zap; on every stroke Andy was screaming into the gag, and now he was in fear for his life. Unseen by him, his shoulders were now red, from the force that Fiona had been striking him “Did you like that queer?” Andy never answered he was in too much pain, and he felt another blow to his buttocks, zap, but he shook his head from side to side. “Do you want me to stop queer fucking pervert?” Andy nodded his head, and Fiona laughed saying “Well tough shit, I’m not going to.” There was another six blows to his buttocks, and Andy could see through his tears, Cleo was laughing as she filmed. He then felt six to the small of his back and then he lost count, but the blows kept raining down on his body. How long it went on for he had no idea, but there was pain on pain and his back was now burning as if alight, but he was not crying any more, as he just didn’t care. This woman was out to give him pain, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

               Fiona walked to his front, and after taking hold of his hair, she pulled his head up so that he was facing her, and she said “See you are getting used to the pain again, and tomorrow you will have some of the same. You will be placed in the dog cage tonight, with your hands cuffed behind your back; your gag will be taken out of your mouth, but no sound will come from your mouth. You will eat like a dog, and drink like a dog; if I hear any sounds from your mouth other than a doggy noise, you will get double the punishment. Do you understand?” Andy nodded his head.

             A man walked over, and he started to un-strap Andy from the bench, then as the others including Cleo, walked out of the basement, the man dragged him over to what looked like an iron cage. His hands were cuffed behind him, and he was told to stand inside it, and then kneel down, and a steel door was closed over his head.

             Andy lay down on the concrete floor and closed his eyes; he was not tired he just wanted a little peace. How long he was like that he had no idea, but one of the women walked down and placed two bowels in the front compartments. One was full of water and the other had chunks of meat in; and the woman said “Eat the food like a dog, it is real meat and not dog food.” He looked at her for a moment, and then closed his eyes; and again he must have dozed off.

             He was woken up by Cleo stood close to the cage, and she had the camera pointing at him; “Come on dog eat your food.” Andy never moved, and she shouted at him “Come on eat your food you filthy fucking animal, Brenda wants to see you do it; she wants to see you eat like a dog.” Still he never moved. “I’ll get you fucking moving you little cunt.” She sat the camera down facing the cage on a tripod, and then she walked over to a corner. When she came back she had a cane in her hand, and Cleo started to prod him through the bars with the end. On several occasions she missed, and she took a chunk of skin from his arms, and in several of these places the blood was running. Still he would not move, he just closed his eyes and tried to get her out of his mind, and then he felt her grab his hair and start pulling, and she was now banging his head against the side of the cage, “Come on feed yourself dog, stick your head in the bowels and eat.” Her arm slipped, and he took advantage of the situation and bit her flesh, and she screamed but he would not let her go, the more she struggled the more he hung on. Cleo was screaming at the top of her voice, and the sound was horrendous. The door to the basement was thrown open, and Fiona came running down, and as she ran in he let her go. The two women were behind her and Cleo said “I was just stroking him like a dog, and he bit me, I want him punished with something harder tomorrow.”

            Fiona walked across to the cage, and looked at the red marks on his body and the cane lying on the floor. “What have you got to say for yourself, are you not sorry that you bit her?”

            Andy was on his side and after saying “Woof, woof” He closed his eyes once more, and rested his head with a smile on his face.

             “The little bastard is making a fool of you Fiona; he should be punished now for wasting food and not answering.”

            Fiona knew what had happened, she had been upstairs watching it on CCTV but said “It was stupid of you putting your hand in a dogs cage Cleo, especially when it has not been trained. He did answer, I told him only to speak like a dog, and that is all he has done” Then to one of the women she said “Take our guest up the stairs” As she picked up the cane, and took it over to the corner of the basement. Then as she walked up the steps she said to the other woman “See to his wounds, he will not bite you, will you Andy?”

            Andy just looked at her, and shook his head from side to side.

            The girl put some cream on her hand and rubbed the abrasions, and as she did the last one she said “You must eat your food Andy or you will die.” Andy once again looked at her and closed his eyes, and again rested his head on the floor. Moments later he heard her walking up the stairs, and he began to cry once more. His body was a mass of pain, and he hardly slept during the night.

            Upstairs the women were all sitting in armchairs talking and drinking tea. “Then Fiona asked; now tell me all about it Cleo, how has this boy got to where he is and why?”

            They were all drinking their tea and Cleo answered “The two of them were childhood sweethearts, and he asked her to marry him when he was seventeen. I always thought he was a nice boy, respectful with very good manners, and would have given it my blessing, when and if Brenda had named the day. But three months ago she came back in a foul mood, and she cried all night, but would not tell me why. After that Brenda’s aptitude changed, and when I confronted her, she told me about the girl. The girl that had been seen by Jean Simmons leaving Andy’s flat, and in the early morning and on two occasions. That Jean Simmons only told Brenda, as she is a very good friend of Brenda’s, and Brenda wanted revenge for being hurt.”

            “Then Andy was fired for sexual harassment; strangely enough, it was that Jean Simmons that he tried it on with. She stayed a little longer and left her job, and by all accounts the finger was being pointed at her. She told Brenda, that she had to leave because of the humiliation that Andy had caused her. When we brought the subject up with Andy, he smiled and answered, she got what she deserved. Then when Brenda said the girl left because she had been humiliated; he was again indifferent, saying, am I supposed to worry, I don’t think so? I said to Andy, I thought you were going to a tribunal about unfair dismissal, and he answered by saying, his solicitor had stopped it before it went to court.”  

            “Could the girl be a relation Cleo?”

            “He lives on his own in a flat, and has no relations, except a father and stepmother and even they threw him out. Brenda heard that he tried it on with his stepmother and that was that. That friend of hers Jean Simmons told her, her sister lives next door to the father.”

            “Who told you that he was a masochist, and why is he dressed like he is?”

            “Brenda was told that he was into pain by someone, and she also told me that he was into dressing as a girl. It was all confirmed one night a week ago, when he turned up on my doorstep dressed as he is now; how could I let my girl marry someone like that? She has been seeing a boy called Dave, and it’s been for the past three months, then as soon as she comes off this farce of a honeymoon. She will then have her divorce papers, and then I think she will marry him.”

     “I watched as he cried, like the baby that he is last night, after the ordeal and show that Brenda put on.” Fiona then asked

“What ordeal” and Cleo attached the camera to the TV and played a little of the film back.

            “That is heavy” one of the woman remarked “What must he have thought watching his new wife do that with someone else. You still don’t know what the present or surprise was then Cleo?”

            “No, and that’s another thing that Brenda wants to know, but I doubt that it will upset her. I mean, he is unemployable and broke; that Dave has a good job and prospects as a model.”

             “Well the girls will be here in the morning, and then we will have some fun with him down stairs”                                

Cleo asked Fiona. “What is it you have for him tomorrow?”

            “I am not sure but I will leave that tender bum alone, I have other ways to inflict pain and humiliation. He is young and it will be easy to do, I am bringing in some students of domination tomorrow, and that will throw him. Some of them know who he is, and will be as shocked to see him as he will be to see them. Now I must go to bed, and I will see you tomorrow, and it will be an hour before the students arrive, so that I can get him ready.”

            The morning came and Fiona went straight down the stairs to Andy. She walked over to the cage, and looked at Andy, and saw the food still in the bowels “You think you are too good to eat out of a bowel? Well let me tell you, I have had better masochists here, and they have all bowed to my will and in the end begged for mercy; but as you are here to be punished begging will be of no use.” The big man came across and opened the cage, then he roughly pulled Andy out; and as he did so, Andy’s back that was still painful, rubbed against the metal sides of the cage and he almost fainted. The man held him up, as the other women walked down to the basement followed by Cleo. As Cleo walked past him, he growled like a dog and leapt forward with his mouth open; Cleo screamed and fell over, putting a smile on Andy’s face.

            She picked herself up and said “You fucking little cunt” and picked up a cane that was close by, and struck him across the face. Andy screamed, and Fiona looked as Cleo was lifting the cane once more, and she brought it down on his back, thwack, thwack, thwack, and once again he screamed with the pain. “I’ll fucking cut you to shreds, you fucking asshole, thwack, thwack, thwack, Andy was screaming on every stroke. It had all happened so fast that Fiona had no time to stop the strokes, but as Cleo brought her arm up once more, Fiona snatched the cane from her hand. But that was not going to stop her she kicked Andy in the stomach shouting “I’ll fucking rip you to pieces you queer fucking sad bastard.”

            The two women pulled her away from Andy, and Fiona said “Take her up stairs I will be there shortly.” Andy had dropped out of the man’s hands and was wriggling on the floor, and pressing his face against the concrete, just to try and stop the pain. Fiona could see the pain in his face, and couldn’t for the life of her imagine the pain he was in. She looked at his back and saw the stripe going from top to bottom, then as the man picked him back up, she then saw where the first stroke had took him. It was from the corner of his mouth right up to the corner of his eye, and although the skin was not cut, it still looked nasty.

            One of the women walked down the stairs, and took from her bag some cream, and walked over to Andy “For fucks sake Fiona, look what she has done to him. There was no need for that, she almost took his eye out; you had better fucking control her.” Then as she was talking, she gently rubbed cream into the stripe.

            When the woman left him Fiona walked across and said “That was a stupid thing to do; you might like pain, but it is for me to give it to you. It was then that the other woman walked down and told Fiona, that Cleo was up stairs drinking coffee.

             “You had better get things ready, and you know what to do.” Andy looked across, and noticed that the camera was again on.

There was a table was brought into the room with other instruments, a funnel, pipe and bucket. Come on we only have a short while before the students arrive. The women released Andy from his bonds, and walked him to the table; he was strapped down with his legs in the stirrups. His legs were strapped and spread wide almost to the point of hurting him. One of the women pulled a pin, and the bottom half of his body was suspended, the other woman took the butt plug from his rear, and not to gently either. The pipe was then fitted into his rear, and pushed a considerable way in and fear was in his eyes. Fiona looked at him and told him “It is nothing to worry about dog; we are just cleaning your pipes.” It was an hour later when it was all over, and Andy noted that all the way through the ordeal, Cleo had put it all on film.

            There was a knock on the basement door, and Fiona went to answer it; Andy was still on the table unable to move. The look of shock and fear was on his face for all to see, when the four nineteen year old girls walked in. Three of them he knew, because they were from the same block of flats that he had lived in. He felt his face go red, as the three shouted in unison “Its Andy.”

            Fiona told the girls to be quiet and take notice “This boy as you know is Andy, and he likes dressing as a girl.” Fiona looked between Andy’s legs and informed the girls “Andy as you see cannot get his dick hard, so you must be doing something wrong.” To make her point she picked up the end by the foreskin and shook it about. Fiona then moved to the top of his body saying “Look he even has breasts.” Then emphasized the point; by running her finger around them. Fiona looked at the women saying, “Would you sit him up to face his audience.” Andy’s face went red once more. The two women came either side of the table, and one of them pulled more pins, and the table tilted forward until he was still in the same position, but now he was facing the four girls. “I want each one of you girls to walk around and feel his breasts, and compare them to your own.” All the girls stepped forward and in turn fondled Andy’s breasts, and all the time the camera was recording.

            “I see Fiona told the girls that Andy’s prick is still soft, so I think the best thing for you to do, would be to take your clothes off.” They all looked at her in disbelief, and then smiled when she added “Don’t be shy, I mean to say, Andy isn’t.” The girls started to take their clothes off, and once they were naked turned and faced Andy, who by this time had a hard and erect penis. “Now that has done the trick, he likes looking at your naked bodies, but please do inform me, for a girl what is missing?”

            The answers came fast “Make up” one girl shouted, another shouted “Lipstick, and a girl’s long hair.”

            “Now we are getting there, behind you on the table are all the things you need, and it is time for the real looks that Andy needs. I would like to see a pretty girl appear before me, so if you would oblige me and do the honours.”

            The girls stepped over to the table and picked up pieces of makeup, and then walked back to Andy. Fiona told them that he would not need blusher, as he is naturally doing it himself, and all the girls laughed.

            “While you are carrying out Andy’s transformation, I will inform you why this is happening. Andy here was to marry his childhood sweetheart after eighteen months of courting, but he just could not wait; not only did he have wondering eyes and hands, but also a wondering dick. He humiliated his sweetheart by shagging another girl in public, and had the cheek to have his photo taken while doing it.” As Fiona said that, she noticed the questioning look on Andy’s face, then she almost thought that she saw him laugh into the gag. He had the same girl stay at his place, and then leave Andy’s flat the following morning, and once again Photos were taken of the incident. This hurt his childhood sweetheart, so in return she is hurting him, and her wishes are for you to do the same. He knows that every time you see him on the street from now on, that you will know his perverted secret of being a girl.” ‘The thought of what Fiona had just told them hit him, and he realized that he would have to move away from the village. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, but there was no way he would show these girls that Fiona had hurt him.’ “You girls all wrote to me seeking the knowledge of domination, humiliation and discipline, and today you are getting a practical lesson.”

            Once the girls had finished, Fiona came to the front and looked “Yes she really is pretty; I thought he would make a nice girl.” Cleo was at his front, and filming all that was taking place. Then looking at Andy, Fiona said “I am able to make the next scene not happen, but you have to tell me the truth, and I will accept only one answer. But first I have to show you a film just in from Spain, slaves bring in the plasma screen.” Once it was set up with the computer Fiona went to the keyboard and pressed a few keys.

            Brenda’s face showed on the screen, and she announced “Welcome to the honeymoon news from Spain. Hello Andy, I’m glad you’re not here, I have had a lovely time on our honeymoon so far” and the girls chuckled. “The person that I am with is all man, as you saw him with me in your room on my wedding night, he’s not a perverted queer like you; Dave wears men’s clothes. I’ll bet you’re having a nice time being surrounded by all those girls; have they made your face up yet, like you asked me to do, but I refused” and once again there was chuckling. “Having all those girls caring for your needs must be a great turn on, but I know what is coming next, and you will know what it’s like to be fucked. Since I have been here, this is the first time that I have been out of bed and put any clothes on. Your best man just likes to love, and as they say, why take the groom, when you can take the best man? I have already applied for a divorce on the marriage not being consummated; I carried that out before I left, stating that I found out that you were homosexual.” Andy’s tears started to fall and he wished he had never set eyes on her, and then she really did shake him, by stating that she was going to marry the best man when they got back. But as Fiona was watching him, she saw what looked like laugh. “Well let’s face it after seeing your little dick, and having this big one inside of me, I know that I have made the right choice. Well I must go now, because I can hear him calling me for another session, and she stood up dropping her robe. Then still in front of the camera and still naked she goaded him more; just look at what your little dick is missing. Dave hasn’t missed a thing; he has been feeling and poking my body for the last three months. Remember the night he came and you were up stairs in the spare room; well we had a session that night, and had a good laugh at you being up stairs. He watched you run all the way to my place dressed in your lingerie.” By this time Andy’s erection had gone limp, and he could hear the girls laughing, but was unable to see them through the tears. Fiona stepped back towards Andy, and just one look told her that he had been hurt badly by what Brenda had said.

            “Look at Andy girls he has messed up the entire make up, and the work that you have done.” The girl’s were now hysterical with laughter. “Now come on Andy, tell us how you hurt your childhood sweetheart by sleeping with another girl. Tell us all how you like watching films of sadism and domination and other perverted acts.”

            “It’s all lies, and I have never been unfaithful.”

            “Are you calling Brenda and her mother liars?”

            “If the hat fits they had better wear it, and the only perverts are the ones tormenting me.”

            “Fiona shouted why you sarcastic transvestite! I’ll….”

            Cleo stopped Fiona as she was about to walk forward, and whispered in her ear, then Fiona asked “What was the piss-pot present that you were going to give Brenda?”

            “That is my secret, but Dave, if he worked twenty years, still could not give her the same, and for the first time he smiled; no I will change that to he will never give her the same. God you really are a sad bunch of women, and I am better out of a marriage with the evil filthy lying bitch Brenda. I said I will have my revenge and her and her filth slut and perverted mother are dead people walking.”

            “What do you mean by that asshole” Cleo asked? Then she jumped at Andy dragging her nails down his body, and once she stepped back, she was hysterically laughing at the blood dripping from the cuts. And it was then that Andy through his screams and pain, noticed a wet patch at Cleo’s groin, where she had pissed herself. The girls had jumped away from him, as if he had the plague; Fiona pushed her to one side.

Then again the woman walked over and looked at his cuts, and from her pocket she took the cream. There were three deep cuts, and the woman covered them with cream. She then stepped back, “I will die before I leave here, I have already lost the will to live” Andy told them.

“With a bit of luck, that is exactly what will happen” Cleo shouted back at him. But it was lost on Andy, his pain had taken over all his senses and he was now crying like a baby.

             “Now they were all the wrong answers” and Fiona nodded her head, and the woman behind him, put a ball gag in his mouth. The table was then laid flat once more, and he felt even more exposed and helpless. Fiona pointed saying “On the table behind you girls, there is a selection of two way strap on phalluses, and I would like each one of you to put one on, they are all battery operated but do not switch them on.”  Once they had all fitted one on and faced Fiona she looked at them saying “See this girl pointing at Andy, well she is a virgin and that must be corrected.” The girls smiled and then looked at each other, as Fiona added “First girl please.

            A girl stepped over and Andy could see the phallus; it looked all of nine inches. He was trying to fight the restraints, and screaming through the gag, but it was just a gurgle once more. Fiona pulled the girl between Andy’s legs saying “You other girls cannot see there, come and stand around Andy.” Cleo had stood on a chair so that she could film all that was happening, and what the girls were about to do, and Andy’s reaction; as Fiona rubbed lubricating jelly on the strap on. When it was done, the first girl moved forward, and she pressed the end of the strap on to his anus, and Fiona reached down below the girl’s waist and turned the vibrator on. As the vibrations went both ways, Andy could feel it as well and was screaming, and trying to pull away.

            The girl got closer, and in doing so pushed the end right in, and Andy shouted some more through the gag. Then the girl got into momentum and started to move the sex toy in and out, and as fast as she could. This went on for an age, before the girl brought herself to a climax. Without delay another girl took her place, and Andy’s shame went on until all the girls had climaxed. After all the girl’s had finished Fiona asked “Anyone for seconds?” No one answered “In that case it’s time for Andy to be satisfied.”

            Without being told, the two women put the table upright once more, and Andy’s right arm was released. “Right Andy show the girl’s that you are a man, and play with yourself to a climax.” The tears were flowing once more and the girls laughed as Fiona shouted “Stop crying you big baby.” He put his hand down to his erect penis and played with it, and because of all that taken place, it only took a few second to shoot his load all over the floor. Fiona said, “No wonder Brenda took the best man on honeymoon, Andy would not last the pace.” The girls all burst out laughing, and Andy was now beyond being hurt, Cleo was still pointing the camera at him so that it was all documented. His head just fell on his chest and he was now openly sobbing; the tears were like rivers running down his body. Even the girls thought that they had gone a little too far, and stopped laughing. Fiona could see that he was now a broken boy, and even she had her doubts about him being all Brenda had told her. Fiona snapped “Turn that damn camera off, that’s taking filming too far; girls get dressed and go up stairs.”

            The women came across and unfastened Andy’s restraints, then almost carried Andy that was still sobbing back to the cage. They too got cleaned and packed away, all the items that were used and walked out of the basement. Fiona followed the girls up and spoke to the three of them. “I know what I said downstairs, but what happened today goes no further than this house.”

     They all answered in unison “Yes Mistress Fiona.”

     Then one of the girls asked “Will Andy be all right Mistress Fiona?” The other girl’s were looking at her with shock on their faces.

     “That is something else you must learn; compassion, and yes love, he will be fine.”As she answered Fiona was unsure.