Little House Lewd: Chapter 5
By the time she was back at her desk she was hot with shame and all too aware of the cold metal pressing into her. All afternoon the students were quiet, all of them studying, but every time she looked up from her own books she felt like she had only barely missed Clarence laughing at her. He was always looking at his book, but something about his face was mischievous.
It was strange that she was so tired at four o’clock, but the second day was over. The first week would be half gone at noon tomorrow.
“Students, you may put away your books. School is dismissed for the day,” she announced.
While she helped Ruby wrap her scarf, Clarence came up to them.
“Miss Ingalls can I speak with you once everyone is gone?” Clarence asked.
She did not like the innocent look on his grinning face.
“Aren’t you going to walk home with Tommy and me?” Ruby asked him.
He ruffled her hair a bit. “Nah, not today sprout. I’ll not be long though. Tell Pa I’m having a talk with the teacher about my lessons and I’ll be home soon.”
Once the last student had left, Laura turned to him expectantly. “Did you have a question about a lesson?”
Clarence grinned at her, his freckled face the picture of boyish innocence. “I’ve got questions, sure, but not about the lessons. I’m curious to know why Uncle Lou needed to go with you to the outhouse. You seem plenty capable of going by yourself.”
Laura felt herself turning red with embarrassment and anger. She wanted to deny the accusation, but there was nothing she could think of to say that would not be a lie.
“What goes on between the teacher and head of the school board is of no concern to the students,” she said primly, the fluster evident in her voice. She turned quickly with the expectation that he would know the conversation was over.
“I s’pose I’ll just have to assume the worst then. It’s a real shame, but I cant keep from my folks and the Harrison’s that their children are being exposed to such things,” Clarence mused offhandedly, slowly walking towards the door. “It was hard to get a teacher to come all the way out here, but I guess an education isn’t that important anyway.”
With a flare of furious indignation Laura whirled on him.
“What business is it of yours I’d like to know!” she demanded. “Do you think any woman wants to come out to a wasteland such as this and be treated the way I have? Only 3 days I’ve been in this forsaken little place and unspeakable things have already happened to me and I fear will only get worse. And now here you are threatening me like this! What in the devil do you want from me then? Do you take after your uncle and expect some depraved deal to keep this secret?”
The startled look on Clarence’s face plainly showed that he had not expected such an outburst from his tiny teacher. He looked sheepish for a moment and rubbed the back of his head.
“You’re making depraved deals?” he questioned, looking at her from under his curly hair.
Exasperated, Laura dropped into the chair at her desk. “What must I do to keep you from telling the parents?”
“For a start, I still want to know why Uncle Lou took you to the outhouse,” Clarence answered brightly, taking up a half seated position on the corner of her desk.
Laura’s face burned at having to disclose such a horrible secret to her own student regardless that he was a year older than her.
“In order to keep me safe from being defiled by any of the men in this settlement Mr. Brewster has decided I need to be kept in a chastity device during my tenure,” she explained, glossing over some of the details as cleanly as she could manage. “He keeps the key for it on his person so that it can’t be taken from me and unlocked against my will. He went with me to the latrine so that he could unlock the device and I could relieve myself. That’s the whole of the situation.”
Clarence looked at her with an expression that both did and did not believe her. He was too clever to be fooled by an outright lie, but she hoped that she had been convincing enough twisting the truth.
“So I’m to believe that my own uncle decided to ‘lock you up’ to keep you safe with no other reason to do so? You didn’t do anything to make him think to do it?” Clarence questioned. “I don’t believe that would add up to any of the parents. It’s more believable that he caught the new teacher doing something immoral and thought to nip such behavior in the bud before the dear sweet children of his brother and neighbors were exposed.”
Laura could hardly believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t decide if he was being serious, or only telling her exactly what he would tell the parents if she didn’t strike a bargain with him. Either way, she was not being given a choice.
“What do you want from me to keep this between us?” Laura asked, defeated.
Clarence made a show of rubbing his beardless chin and thinking hard. “Well, it’s such a big thing to keep to one’s self. It would be a task every day to keep this secret, so I believe a favor after school a few days every week would be a fair exchange for the mental anguish I’ll be experiencing.”
Laura wanted to roll her eyes, but did not want to give Clarence the satisfaction. “What kind of favors, Clarence?”
“As you might imagine being a young man I’ve got needs, and nowhere to relieve them out here in such desolate lands. Living in such close quarters at home I’ve not even been able to make use of my own right hand,” he replied saucily, smirking at her.
“I’ve already told you I am protected from such activities. Even if I had the key, I would not consider-”
Clarence cut her off, holding up his hands. “Hold your horses! I wasn’t meaning coupling like that. I ain’t never done it and I’m not looking to just yet either. I just wanna look or touch, and I’ve heard of women using their hands or mouths; that’s what I’m asking for.”
She sat there dumbstruck, staring openly at him as if he had asked her to grow a second head. She had never heard of doing things with hands or mouths and could not wrap her mind around how any such thing could be done.
“Even if I wanted to, I haven’t any idea what those things are in the first place!” she exclaimed.
His whole demeanor brightened as he slid across the desk so that he sat directly in front of her, leaning back on his arms and looking down his reclined body at her.
“Teachers are lifelong learners aren’t they? You’ll learn in no time! Go ahead and open up my pants and we can start figuring it out together,” he replied jovially.
“Absolutely not!” Laura cried indignantly, pushing her chair away. “I’m expected back at the Brewster’s shanty any time now, and if I’m not back I’m sure Mr. Brewster will come looking for me. Do you want your uncle to find us in a position like you’re suggesting?”
Clarence considered this for a moment and sat up.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that,” he said reasonably. “Tonight you can tell him you’re tutoring me after school a few days a week, and I’ll tell my parents the same. Seeing as this is my last chance for schooling and I was behind anyhow, it should be believable enough. Then no one will come looking for either of us.”
“And what if I cannot keep up this bargain, what then?” she asked.
Clarence leaned forward so that their faces were very close. His brown eyes were half lidded, face smug. Darkly, he murmured, “You should really do your best to hold your end of the deal.”
He left her in the schoolhouse with a grin, slamming the door so hard the window rattled in its pane.
In despair, Laura could not bring herself to stand. Her mind spun with this new awful turn of events.
“Oh, Pa… I can’t…”
It was whimpering; she was ashamed when she heard it. No one else had heard. All around her was the empty schoolhouse within the empty prairie. She wanted to stay there, alone, not go back to the mean house or return here in the morning to the anxious school day. But the sun was setting, and she must get on her way back to the shanty before it set.