There Arose Such a Clatter: Tales from the Naughty List

by C.M. Nascosta

There was no choice a woman could make that wouldn’t she be condemned for by someone,

PREACH

“Hmmm. Quite the curiosity, aren’t you. You smell like a good girl. You taste like a good girl . . . but you’d make very fine Naughty List material. Very interesting, sweetling. What a happy accident this was . . . for me.”

The poetic embellishment sounded ridiculous even to his ears, and he nearly made himself laugh at the absurd epitaph, but the girl was listening at rapt attention.