Next day, at exactly 2 PM, I rang the door bell at the address I had been given and was admitted by a girl of about my age. Except for the leather collar that fit snugly around her throat, she was completely nude with small, firm breasts and shaven pubes. It was all I could do meet her gaze and refrain from staring at her body. “Hi,” I said. “I’m Jim Woodruff, Mistress Charlotte’s new apprentice. I think Mistress is expecting me.

“Yes she is,” the girl replied as she took my coat. “My name is Lisa. Mistress assigned me to greet you and get you started. Please come with me.”

She led me into small, sparsely furnished parlour with solid-looking armchair, a couple of sturdy wooden chairs, a plush rug and several empty wicker baskets. “Please get completely undressed,” she said, “including your watch and and any jewelry, and put your clothes in one of those baskets. All of us apprentices go naked most of the time. Then kneel on the rug, facing the arm chair, relax and settle your breathing. I’ll help you take the correct posture, and then let Mistress know you are ready.” She smiled warmly at me, but did not turn away. I felt acutely self-conscious, but understood that this was my first test. I stripped rapidly, putting my things in the basket that Lisa pointed to, and knelt facing the chair as instructed. Lisa walked in front of me, used her foot to move my knees further apart and placed my hands, palm-up, on top of my thighs. Then she walked around behind me, pulled my shoulders back gently, and used her knee to straighten my spine. She gave some instructions about the position of my head, and about my breathing and bade me relax and wait, keeping my eyes closed. Then she went away.

I was alone for about five minutes, just breathing and getting used to being naked. Then I heard footsteps out in the hall, entering the room. Re­sisting the temptation to peek, I kept my eyes shut tight.

I heard the armchair rustle slightly as the person who came in sat down in front of me. Then nothing for a few more minutes. It was all I could do to stay blind like that, but knew I had to until told otherwise.

Finally, the command came: “Open your eyes!” I did so, and saw a handsome woman, about my mother’s age, sitting in front of me and watching me take her in. “Welcome James Woodruff,” she said at last. “Tell me why you are here.”

“I hope to be accepted as your apprentice, Ma’am,” I answered. “I hope to be trained as a geisho, skilled in giving pleasure and teaching it.”

“Have you any idea what that training entails, boy? Did your mother explain what you are asking for?”

“Not really, Ma’am. She wanted to leave that up to you. She just told me to trust you, and made it clear that it was you, not her, who would be my teacher. She did not wish to interfere in your role.”

“All right then. Take a chair, make yourself comfortable and let me explain what will happen. I have accepted you as a probationer. You may call me ‘Mistress’ now. You will live here, like Lisa whom you just met, receiving instruction, doing chores to earn your keep and being evaluated for obedience and potential. The work will not be easy, and you will be punished for your mistakes. Your bottom will soon learn the difference between a pleasure-spanking and a real one. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Mistress. Very clear,” I answered. I felt my cock rise and thicken slightly as she was speaking, but could do nothing to cover myself. I could tell she noticed, because she looked at it and smiled a little. But she made no comment, and went on:

“You will get room and board and a little pocket money — for bus fare and so forth. You will have one day off each week, to be arranged between us. You will learn a number of home maintenance skills whose relevance may not be clear to you. They actually have several purposes which you will come to understand. Their main purpose is simply to pay me for training and feeding you. If I am not satisfied with your work, you will be dismissed for no other reason.”

“You will be trained both by me and by my consort Mitchell, who is also submissive to me, but on a very different basis. His status is much higher than yours. You will call him ‘Sir’ and obey him as you do me, and you will serve us both. You will attend classes at the Guild School and get practice in what you learn there. Under Mitchell’s or my supervision, you will also get to practice with Lisa, and with two other apprentices of mine, named Joe and Gayle, who are not here today.”

“When you are ready, I will have you assist me with outside clients doing the kind of work that you’ll eventually be paid for, once you are qualified and licensed. For now, this work is just part of your training and part of the way you will pay me for it.”

“I will give you a contract form to take home and go over with your mother. Then bring it back here; we will both sign it; and I will give you a copy. That will make our relationship official. I will keep a copy too, and a third copy will be filed at guild headquarters — for your protection and mine. It covers our relationship and our work with clients under their insurance.”

“Any questions?”

“Yes, Mistress. One question: I am very interested in learning the geisho trade and qualifying for the work. However, as I told you, one of my purposes in this is to put myself through university, and pay my tuition there. How would that work while I am training with you?”

“Short answer: It won’t. You will need a year of full-time training to make a decent income as a part-time geisho while you’re going to school What I suggest is that you request a year’s deferment on your admission to university and spend this summer holiday and the next school year working with me. From her conversation with me, I think your mom already told you this. A year from now, you should be able to pass the Guild’s journeyman exam and then use the following summer to set yourself up with a qualified master geisho or geisha for regular part-time work. Both your mom and I can give you names to contact.”

“Anything else?”

“No, Mistress. No other questions.”

“Very well then. Before I send you home with that contract to review, let me give you some idea of what you’ll be doing here. Most geishi have a specialty of some kind. Mine is sexuality — especially the ‘kinky’ stuff: spanking, bondage, all varieties of BDSM as a mode of pleasure. Your mom knows that, and she sent you to me based on the results of that Porn test she gave you. Having seen those results, I must say that you show promise in my field and could go far with me. On the other hand, as we get into it, you may well find that some other branch of geisho work attracts you more — in which case, I will help you find another teacher when needed. Right now, once you sign that contract, you are a probationer. You will remain so for about three months. Once I accept as a full apprentice, I will have your interests at heart, and will do all I can to further your career.”

“But even if your field is to be kinky Sex, a qualified geisho must know a great deal more — at least the rudiments of half a dozen other fields, each a potential specialty in its own right.”

“First is an overview of the field called ‘hedonics,’ the skills, technology and marketing of pleasure.” Mostly at school, you will get brief introductions to a dozen or more fields which make the difference between pleasure and pain or discomfort. This part of the course is handled as a reading assignment, with classroom discussion and an individual project agreed with your hedonics instructor and myself.”

“Second is a practical introduction to party consulting and facilitating — a very common type of work that we do.” This is done through reading and discussion, accompanied by field work. You will be required to attend a number of parties as an outside observer — introduced, or introducing yourself as a geisho trainee. Afterwards, you will write a professional review of the party, focusing on what fell flat or worked poorly, and how it could have been handled better.”

“Third is another practical field that we call ‘escort duty’ — the most common type of job in our business. You are paid to accompany someone for an evening, a whole day, a weekend, or even longer — to a concert, a party, an occasion of some kind. Partly, you will be what they call ‘arm candy.’ You’ll need to look good, have flawless manners and and generally ornament or enhance the status of the person you are with. You’ll get a lot of practice in this: with my husband and I, with the other apprentices, and with total strangers, some paying me for your services and complaining to me if you screw up. Expect measured, just, corporal punishment — not BDSM play! — for your failings and mistakes.”

“The fourth area is Sex — both vanilla and tutti frutti. I will say nothing about that training now except to say that its purpose is to stretch your limits and teach some basic skills — like how to lick a Pussy or suck a cock. You will have the usual safe words: ‘red light’ to stop., ‘yellow light to ease off and check verbally.’ But you will not use these unless you must. Especially with myself and my husband (whom you will meet shortly), you have to trust that we know what we are doing. You will have to accept that all forms of friendly, safe, consensual Sex are good in themselves, not in need of further justification. You must be aware that not everyone — not even all your clients — will feel the same way; and you will learn to be careful around such people. But as a geisho, that is your professional belief and stance.”

“Finally, there are three purely intellectual areas of study to round out your education as a geisho. One area is the philosophy of pleasure; another is the history of our profession and its variants, in Japan and elsewhere; last is the neuroscience of pleasure and motivation — what we now know of them. These subjects are handled through reading and classroom discussion, and will help to make you a professional in our field.

“As you can see, we will be keeping you busy. There’s no way you could handle a course load at university while you are doing all this.”

“Now I am going to introduce you to my consort Mitchell — ‘sir’ to you until he tells you otherwise. He’ll give you a bit of a workout, and then we’ll send you home with that contract to review with your mother, and/or a lawyer if you want to. Basically, it gives you the legal status of an indentured apprentice — once you pass probation — which means that you do what I tell you and can’t quit without paying a forfeit. In return, I undertake to teach and train you to professional standards as judged (if it comes to that, which it won’t) by a jury of my colleagues. It’s a standard arrangement. If you fail the Guild Exam the first and second time around, I am required to take you back and continue your apprenticeship until you pass. If you fail the third time, you’re out.”

“Your mom signed this contract once upon a time, I did, and so has everyone else in the Guild. By all means read it over carefully and discuss it with her, because it will control your life for the next year or so, until you graduate as a journeyman. Now excuse me for a moment.”

She left the room and came back a few minutes later with a man about her own age. “This is my lifemate and partner, she introduced him. His name is Mitchell Vance. He is submissive to me, but you can think of him as Master Mitch, because to you that’s what he is. You will call him ‘sir,’ and obey him as you would me.”

“Mitch, this is Jim Woodruff — our new apprentice once he signs the contract. Why don’t you get him started . . . give him a taste of what to expect.”

I stood up and we shook hands. Then he stepped back and began to undress, putting his clothes in a basket, as I had done before. I stared as he did so, more shocked than at anything that had happened thus far. Mistress Charlotte sat back and simply watched it happen. When he was as nude as I was, he sat down on the other wooden chair and motioned me to kneel before him. I did so, taking the same position as before. “If you consent,” he said, “I’m going to spank you now. Would you like to learn what Adult pleasure-spanking is like?”

“Very much sir, if it pleases you.”

“Then come over my lap!”

I started to do so, but he quickly pulled me around to his other side, showing me that he was left handed. I went over and he patted my bum caressingly, as if to welcome and reassure me. Then he reached over, took the arm hanging against his knee and pulled it up behind my back, making me almost helpless. Transferring that arm to his right hand, he stroked my bottom gently with his left and kept that up long past what I expected. Feeling myself surrender to him, I exhaled a long sighing breath. Then he took a fistful of one bottom-cheek and squeezed it, still quite gently, as if to tell me that I was exactly where I belonged, and that he was in full control. And then he began to spank, starting lightly but working faster and more crisply as he felt my body respond.

His slaps stung but they felt delicious, and I felt the cheeks begin to warm and tingle. He went on and on, with a rhythm that seemed inevitable. The rhythmic spanks became my world, and I forgot that Mistress was watching us. I forgot everything. Completely filled by the sensations, I forgot myself. I forgot that I was being spanked.

The playful discipline went on and on. At some point it changed; it became much more painful but still felt good somehow. Dimly, I knew he was now using an implement of some kind — perhaps a paddle or a hairbrush. The strokes were stinging, but I wanted them . . . felt myself lift my bottom slightly off his lap as if to offer them for further pain. I began to sob, to weep, while feeling very happy. It made no sense, but there it was. Though it was really painful now, I could have stayed there forever, happy to suffer and know I was loved and cared for!

Suddenly he stopped and pushed me off his lap. I slid to the floor and lay there, still weeping quietly. Slowly I remembered who I was and what was happening. I looked around; I looked at Mistress Charlotte. I looked at Master Mitch who had just spanked me. He smiled warmly, and pointed at his soft cock. “Thank me,” he said.

Instantly I knew what I was supposed to do, and so I did it — without thinking. I got up on my knees, put my head between his thighs, kissed his cock and began to suckle it — not just thanking him, but worshipping.

Then he stopped me. “Enough for now,” he said.

Now Mistress Charlotte applauded briefly and smiled. “Very good. I could see you enjoyed that.”

I began to speak, but she shook her head and stopped me, putting one finger to her lips. “No talking now,” she said. “Get dressed. You’ve had enough for one day.”

While I did so, Mitch went and got my coat and also a large envelope with the unsigned contract form. He held the coat for me, then handed me the envelope. When was I ready to go, they both smiled and said good bye. When I tried to answer and thank them, Mistress silenced me again. “See you tomorrow,” she said. “Same time. Two o’clock.” She let me out the door and closed it behind me. I walked away, wondering about the strange land where I had just been.

On the way home I felt at peace, with my bottom tingling pleasantly. I thought about the contract in my hand, knowing that I would soon get to do with someone else what Master Mitch had just done with me, and feeling happy at the prospect.