Miss Blywistle Flouts the Rules (M/f) chapt 1-17
Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2019 5:34 am
Miss Blywistle Flouts the Rules, Chapter 1
“Come,” I answered in response to the knock at my office door.
“Adelaide Blywistle to see you, Headmaster,” said my ultra-efficient secretary.
“Send her in,” I replied.
“Ah, Miss Blywistle, so good to see you,” I said as my secretary closed the door behind her. I was not merely speaking figuratively. Adelaide was a very beautiful girl. It was always good to see her.
“Good morning Headmaster Taskmaster,” she replied shyly. I should mention that Taskmaster is indeed my surname, as strange as that sounds when paired with my title. My parents, thinking they were being clever, gave me the first name “Stern.” This unfortunate name, Stern Taskmaster, became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Please be seated,” I said. “What brings you here?”
“A note from one of my teachers,” she said nervously, handing it to me.
“Ah, trigonometry,” I said, starting to read the note. “Lovely subject. Hmmm ... What’s this? It simply cannot be. Miss Blywistle, pray tell, what is the cosine of theta if theta is seven pi divided by six?”
I waited patiently while she stammered nervously. “sss…sss… square root of three divided by two, sir.”
“That’s evidently what you wrote on your exam too. It greatly upset your teacher, and rightly so. Miss Blywistle, the cosine of seven pi over six is NEGATIVE square root of three divided by two. What say you to that?”
“It … it seems like a small mistake,” she said after wincing at the rising tone of my voice. “I will do better. I promise!”
“A small mistake, you say? That’s interesting. Miss Blywistle, bridges have collapsed because a careless engineer forgot a negative sign. Civilizations have been brought to the brink of ruin because of misplaced decimal points. There is no such thing as a small mistake in mathematics. This is bad, young lady, very bad. I’m afraid a punishment is in order. We simply cannot have this.”
“Please, sir, I will try harder. I don’t want to be punished again.”
“That’s correct,” I replied. “You made another grave error just last week, isn’t that so? Remind me again of the egregious error you made.” It was really her memory I wanted to refresh.
“I … I … I forgot to bring a pencil with me to Latin class.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” I said slowly shaking my head. “You forgot to bring a pencil to Latin class. Please quote to me rule #103.”
She closed her eyes as if searching through the files in her head. “Rule #103 … there shall be no gazing out of the window while the teacher is …”
“No, no, no! That’s rule #84. Think, Miss Blywistle, think!”
“Oh … oh yes, rule #103 … you shall attend each class with the appropriate materials …”
“Yes! Very good Miss Blywistle! Now tell me what punishment you were given that day for attending class without the appropriate materials.”
“You confiscated my shoes, and I had to attend classes all day in my stocking feet.”
“How was that as a punishment?”
“It wasn’t too bad, as far as punishments go. The floor tiles were cold on my feet, and my tights got pretty dusty by the end of the day. Being shoeless, I had to ask Elspeth Oxslayer to give me a piggy-back ride when I had to cross the Quad. There was a lot of snow on the ground.”
“And here you are again, barely a week later, having left off a negative sign on this exam question. I’m starting to think you enjoy having to come see me.”
“Oh, no sir!”
“Am I to take this as you DON’T enjoy seeing me?” I said while arching my eyebrow severely.
“Oh … y-y-y-yes, I enjoy seeing you sir, … I meant to say …”
“Relax, Miss Blywistle, I know what you meant. However, we must nip these misbehaviors in the bud. IN THE BUD. If we simply ignore a forgotten pencil here, a missing negative sign there, well, before we know it, you’ll be murdering faculty members and burning our hallowed institution to the ground.”
“Oh, no sir! I would never do anything like that!”
“Let us hope not! But I must do more than hope. As headmaster of Despair Boarding School for Girls, it is my duty to ensure the girls in my care do not become murdering psychopaths. Now, we must proceed with your punishment.”
Without saying a word, she reached down and pulled off the shoe from each foot. She sadly handed her shoes to me.
“May I go now, sir?”
“Not just yet,” I said as I stood and walked to the cabinet across the room. I unlocked it and placed her shoes in the cabinet and removed a pair of leg irons. They closely resembled a pair of handcuffs, although the chain between the shackles was longer. Her eyes widened as I approached her.
“Oh no, not the ankle shackles!” she said, obviously very frightened. “I’ve seen those on other girls a few times. I hardly think my error deserves …”
“It’s my job to decide on punishment, my dear.”
“But I already gave you my shoes!”
I knelt in front of her. “This is the second time you’ve been sent to my office. I’m afraid the punishment this time must be slightly more severe. Present your feet, please.”
She reluctantly placed her stockinged feet against my lap, and I locked the shackles around her delicate ankles.
“You see, they’re not so bad. You’ll be able to walk almost normally. You’ll even get excused from physical education class, since you won’t be able to change into your gym clothes now. Now to mention the fact that running will be quite impossible.”
“Oh, I’m sure Ms Butchcoff will think of some way to make me exercise,” she said sadly, “even with chained ankles.”
“I’m sure you’ll agree that this punishment is fairly mild. I’ve even altered the shackles so that they are now padded for comfort. Before I added the padding, they had an annoying way of wearing holes in girls' tights.”
I neglected to tell her that the padding also served another purpose: preventing slender ankles and small feet from slipping out.
“I won’t even be able to get a piggy-back ride now, not with my ankles like this! There’s still snow on the Quad!”
“I’m sure, judging from her size, Elspeth Oxslayer can just fling you over her shoulder and carry you with no problem.”
I helped her stand and handed her her backpack. “You had better be off to class. We don’t want to add tardiness to your list of offenses. Come back to my office after school and I’ll remove your shackles and return your shoes.”
She sadly shuffled off through the outer office and toward the hallway.
“Oh, Miss Blywistle!” I called out.
“Yes, sir?”
“What’s the tangent of one-fourth pi?”
“One, sir. Positive one.”
“That’s my girl!”
She smiled weakly and continued on her way. Her cute stockinged feet made almost no sound on the floor tiles, but the rattle of the chain between her ankles more than made up for it.
I closed my office door and sighed. It was a good feeling knowing I was helping another young lady on her way to becoming a responsible adult. I took my responsibility to these girls very seriously. Adelaide has probably learned her lesson and will need no further escalation of corrective measures. If I’m wrong, well, my punishment cabinet is far from empty.
To be continued ...