My Halloween Costume Part 2B - One Drop Shop

[imreadonly2]

Here is part 2b. Please let me know in the comments if you would like me to continue with this story, and what you like.

“Trick or treat,” I said. “I want my candy,” I said, staring at the dangling, hypnotic pendant. “I want… my adventure.”

“Den dat what you git, white girl,” the old black woman at the cart sniped. “Makin’ money sellin’ us black folks, while jucin’ yourself, wonderin’ what it be like. Tonight you KNOW what it be like, ha-ha!’

The decision made, Bella seemed anxious to get me away from the cackling African crone before I changed my mind. “Let’s go, Katherine. Right this way… right out the door.”

At the door she paused, and put the necklace around my neck. The boarded pirate clerk didn’t seem to notice us, but I noticed the sudden transformation of light, sounds, sights, and smells as I found myself in Antebellum New Orleans.

Stepping through the front door, we encountered a beautiful mahogany carriage, with two white horse and a black liveryman who looked like he was dressed to stand on someone’ lawn. The emblem on the carriage was beautiful italic R, which I recognized as my family crest.

“Is this how I got here?” I asked. Where are we going?”

“Shhh!” Bella said, shushing me like I was a child. Turning to the left I heard voices around the corner.

“Six hundred… do I hear seven hundred. Damn it, gentleman this little bitch has already dropped 3 pups. Look at her and she’ll get knocked up. I know I wouldn’t mind taking her out for a ride. Do I hear 6 and a quarter? Six and a Quarter?”

Looking at the wall in front of me, I saw a poster.

WENCHES FOR SALE
Fine Breeding Stock!
Auction begins at 3PM
Pen Inspection Begins 2PM sharp. Mix business with pleasure.

Pattersons
Sugar & Cotton
Slave Trading, & Breeding

“I want to watch the auction,” I said. “It’s my family auction, right?”
“Later, Bella said dismissively. “First, we need to establish with fine people of New Orleans who you are, and from whence you came. We shall establish your legal status in the building across the street.”
“There is no building across the street,” I said, glad to be right instead of being bossed about. “Those are fake doors. The other side of that wall is the flume for the Pirate ride.”
Smiling, Bella walked across the cobblestone street and stopped at one of the faux doors. In its previous incarnation, it had been a house, but now a cursive plaque read:

123 Royal Street
One Drop Shop

Bella gently used the gold knocker to announce our arrival. An opening in the door slid open, and pair of black eyes peered out at us.

“She’s here,” she said cryptically.

The little pass door slid open, and a moment later I heard the door unbolt several times and then open.

Still expecting to walk off the street and into a flume of water, I entered carefully. Much to my surprise, I found myself standing in a gigantic 3 story rotunda with a chandelier worth any price they might care to charge for it. The effect was particularly baffling, since from the street he building was only 2 stories tall.

A jovial Irishman, with just a hint of a brogue, crossed the rotunda to greet us. “Bella! Katherine! So glad you could make it. Right on time, too. The assessors are almost here.”

I blinked twice as I looked at him. Watcher had been my father’s attorney, until my father decided it was more useful to install him as a magistrate judge overseeing our corporate offices. I had been young when he was still alive, and he had been useful to sweep a few of my drunk driving accidents into the ‘civil action’ folder, where the injured could be paid off with barely an inconvenience to me.

I stuck on the words, “When he was alive.” Old Watcher had died years ago. I hadn’t gone to the funeral, but as he was practically our family pet I did have one of my maids send a card, I believe.

Belle was missing, Watcher was dead, and we were standing in a 3-story rotunda in a 2-story building, in antebellum New Orleans. I fingered the necklace around my neck.

I had nothing to fear. I could stop this anytime I wanted.

Bella looked at me, “Come now, Katherine. Aren’t you a tad curious about how this will play out?”

I was indeed. Turning, I let Watcher explain the plot.

“You see, Katherine, since your father died, your stepmother has made something of a kerfuffle. You’re the oldest surviving heir, and the will leaves everything to you. However, your stepmother’s son Sebastian is the oldest surviving MALE heir, and is claiming full rights to the Patterson Plantation and businesses, even though under the Napoleonic Code the estate should be split. To complicate matters further, your mother produced this letter, which confuses matters greatly.”

I knew what the letter said before I opened it. Somewhere down the line, my grandfather had fathered several white children with one of his wenches when he was in Barbados. They were raised white, and returned to New Orleans, where they begat and begat and begat until eventually I was born.

The letter was 200 years newer, but it was the same letter in my family papers. The buried letter. The letter none of us talked about. It wouldn’t do to have the Pattersons, the premium flesh peddlers in New Orleans, to have a black sheep in their closet.

Curious, I’d had a DNA test done. The results were shocking. I was 12% black, which meant that there was more than one dalliance in my family tree. Apparently, the Patterson men, (and women) made free use of the inventory.

“There’s nothing to worry about, my dear. As the judge, I will sign the papers certifying you are white. We can then be done with this foolishness. To make sure there is no question, I have brought in Colonel Lakewood, an expert from the assessor’s office. Your bother Sebastian insisted on being present, which should make the results unimpeachable.”

“What do you mean, “an assessor?” I protested, not liking the sound of this at all. “What exactly are they assessing?”

“Why you, my dear. They will need to ensure that you are entirely white, or to be more specific, don’t violate the one drop rule. Any girl 1/16th black is legally black, and slave.”

I blanched as Bella smiled. 1/16th! As I struggled to do the math in my head, Bella came to my aid. “That’s 6 and ¼ percent black, Katherine,” she said, whispering the terrifying benchmark in my ear. Not a lot, but more than enough to make you black, in the eyes of the law.”

“True, but I don’t think we need to make a Supreme Court case out of this,” Judge Watcher said. “After all, I’ve known Katherine since the day she was born. I will vouch for her, as will my clerk, Billy, and Colonel Lakewood. The purpose of tonight’s visit is to get the forms filled out, and put the seal on them, so we can proceed with the divvying up of her father’s property.”

“I respectfully disagree,” a voice from across the rotunda said. It took me a moment to place the tall, good looking young man with the blonde curly hair. I had see him before, or at least his portrait, in our family’s dining room. I guessed him to be about 24. What an odd thing it is to meet your long-deceased ancestors.

“Hello, Sebastian,” Judge Watcher said. I was just explaining to Katherine and Bella that there was no need bind ourself to a load of formal procedures, not in this case. In fact, if I can get Lakewood to agree, I might just go into the library, and sign the papers that will dismiss this nonsense, and establish your sister’s birthright once and for all.”

“HALF sister, and I must object,” Sebastian said. “Do I have no say in this matter? I’m the one this little tart is stealing from.”

“I’m not a tart, and I’m not stealing anything,” I said. “Furthermore, your tone is totally unacceptable.”

“My TONE?” Sebastian chortled. “Indeed. This little pickaninny wants to steal half my estate, and dear old Judge Watcher will let her, because he used to play poker with her father. I assure you Watcher, if we don’t do this business properly, I’ll take this case to the appellate court, and have you removed from the bench.”

Now it was Judge Watcher’s turn to blanche. “There’s no need for threats, Sebastian. All I’m saying is Lakewood and I reviewed the document, and found it to be scant reason to enslave such a fine lady, and an outstanding member of our community. Isn’t that right, Lakewood?”

My confusion grew as my Colonel Lakewood entered the room. I knew Benjamin quite well, as he was an old friend of my father, now long gone. But I had no idea how this present incarnation of him fit into the story that was rapidly evolving in front of me.

Lakewood was trailed by a teenager, who I recognized as one of our stable lads. 18, short and skinny, I had great fun teasing him as I rubbed my bottom in his face as I mounted my horse.

“Ah, good Lakewood! I was just telling our friend Sebastian here that you made a legal assessment of the paperwork, and agree with me that there is nothing to this one drop business.”

“Indeed, I do,” Lakewood said. “But Sebastian pointed out that as a party to this matter, he is well within his rights to demand a physical inspection of the goods in question, to verify that accusation is false. One drop isn’t much, you know,”

I looked to Bella, who smiled as she mouthed out “1/16th” to tease me, and she cinched her fingers into a tiny drop.

“Is this truly necessary?” Judge Watcher protested.

“It is,” Sebastian said flatly. “In fact, under the law, I demand it.” Sebastian turned to Billy and nodded. Billy raced out of the room, returning a moment later with a woven wicker basket. It looked a bit like a laundry basket, but the strands of cotton inside betrayed its origins in the field.

Sebastian kicked the basket across the floor, causing it to slide until it hit my ankles.

“Take off all your clothes,” Sebastian commanded. “Every stitch. Put them in basket. The four of us need to examine you, and examine you we shall.”

“You can’t mean… all my clothes. I’ll be naked!” I stammered.

“I do mean it, my dear. My apologies, but Sebastian is correct on this point. Regrettably, before the certification forms are complete, Sebastian is fully in his rights to demand a full, head-to-toe, tip-to-tail examination of your person. For that examination to be complete, you must undress.”

“Everything off,” Sebastian repeated.

“Everything,” Billy said, grinning up at her like the little urchin he was, before letting out a long, slow whistle.

I nervously fingered the around my throat. Did I really want to go through with this?

“She needs to keep the necklace on,” Bella stated.

“That’s fine,” Sebastian said. It’s the sort of cheap voodoo trinket the darkies wear. But all the rest must come off.”

“Yes,” Judge Watcher said sadly. “It must, and it shall.”

Judge watcher reached into his jacked and extracted a beautifully carved wooden handle, rapped with a thin leather cord. There was an eagle at the top of the handle, and a beautifully carved fleur-de-lis on the side. At first, I thought it was a jump rope, but when he shook it out it was clear that leather was dangling free from the top, and the leather tapered into a wicked looking five-finger lash.

Billy, grinning broadly, whistled again.

“If we have to do this, could we do it somewhere more… private?” I asked.

Colonel Lakewood spoke. “The library is crowded with the finest people, as is the gallery. I am afraid, my dear, that this is as private as it gets.”

Weary of the delay, Judge Watcher ran the lash through his impatient fingers. I gawked at him, but fortunately Bella came to my rescue.

“This won’t take but a moment, your honor,” she assured him, as she untied the stays on my dress. Corsets and silk take much longer to put on then take off. “Billy, could you help with her shoes?”

Billy didn’t have to be asked twice, and quickly knelt before me to unlace my shoes. I had used him to take off my riding boots, having a bit of fun by giving him a good kick. But now he was the one who was grinning.

Bella was correct. The stripping itself didn’t take long at all.

“Very nice,” Colonel Lakewood said as my pink nipples came into view.

To my shock, it was Billy who pulled down my drawers, revealing my trim but full black bush to the men whose job it was to legally assess my whiteness.

In short order, all my clothes were placed in the basket, and Billy took the basket out of the room to parts unknown. I tried to cover myself, but Judge Watcher, his manner changed, was not having it.

“Hands on your head, Katherine,” he said, once again fingering the lash. “We need to see the goods.”

The phrase, “the goods” startled me, for up until this moment he had been treating me like a lady, and a family friend. Indeed, he seemed quite protective of me. Now his eyes – as well as the eyes of Lakewood and even Bella – ran freely over my naked body as they walked in circles around me, assessing my wares.

“Shall we adjourn to the library for the examination, Katherine?” Colonel Lakewood said, offering me his arm. The marble floor was freezing cold on my feet, but I took his arm as he escorted me like a proper lady into the library. Indeed, if I wasn’t entirely naked, I would have felt quite elegant.

[Diver]

Please continue, I’ve been missing your Halloween stories

[Master-Geass]

I nervously fingered the around my throat. Did I really want to go through with this?

It seems you forgot a word here.

I'm looking forward to more.

[jeepster]

Yes! Please keep this story going!