Carolyn finished filling the nursing bottles and lined them up on the shelf of the small refrigerator. The food and water dishes had been cleaned and the meat and kibble prepared for the next meal. She looked around the room to make sure she had not forgotten anything. Jason was a tyrant at times. She had known the feel of his dog whips more than once, and she had no desire to experience the pain again. His sadistic desire to degrade and cause pain to women had frightened her for awhile but she had become mentally numb to the many things about Royal Benson Kennels which revolted her. It was easier that way. He no longer frightened her, but she tried to avoid giving him any possible cause to do it again.
"Come on, you lazy broad," Mario growled from the row of cages, "If I gotta work, so do you."
It was getting harder and harder lately to ignore Mario's crude cutting comments. If he didn't stop it, one of these days she would sic the dogs on him. They were fanatically devoted to her and one word would be all it would take. Just then she heard the electric purr of the outer door and knew Jason had returned to the lab to begin the day's work. She turned to him and awaited orders.
Jason walked directly to the metal cupboard and removed a small black notebook from the shelf of dog breeding books. He picked up a Veterinarian's Guide To Canine Matings in the other hand, a large thick volume with unmistakable signs of long use. Carolyn watched and waited without speaking. He laid these upon the long center counter, pursed his lips as if wondering what he had forgotten, then with an almost inaudible 'oh yes' he crossed to the small safe which stood in the far corner of the room. She watched him squat on his sparemeated haunches and flip the dial impatiently. When it clicked open, he reached in and brought out a beautifully tooled leather covered book. This too he placed upon the center counter after locking the safe door securely behind him. He looked at the three items he had placed there, nodded his head curtly to himself, then turned to Carolyn.
"Are you ready to begin?" he asked brusquely.
"I… guess so." Not knowing exactly what he had in mind.
"Then let us make it as brief and concise as possible," he began, "I don't wish to waste unnecessary time with you."
He began shuffling through the notebook.
"Well, you're not exactly the soul of charm yourself!" Carolyn blurted before she thought. But Jason only raised his head for a second or two and looked at her as if she had two heads, obviously a freak of nature. Women had always found his continental charm appealing, the older more mature women with experience in the things that counted in the world. He tipped his head back slightly and looked down his aquiline nose at this girl who had the nerve to disagree with him.
Carolyn knew she had erred and that Jason would find a way to make her sorry. She lowered her eyes. She hated his guts but she needed his money. It would only be a few months before she had enough to start over. She swallowed her hate and tried to make subtle amends.
"Sorry, Jason." She said in a quiet submissive voice. "I didn't sleep well last night and… and I have a headache."
He only looked at her.
"Let's get on with the lessons, or whatever it was you wanted to show me today. I'll be alright. My… headache is getting better." She kept her eyes lowered and her voice soft, hoping it wouldn't reveal the steelheaded revulsion she had felt for the man since the first few days of her stay at Royal Benson Kennels. She didn't look up but she knew his dark eyes were boring into her. She waited.
"Very well," he said curtly.
He sat down on the high stool which stood beside the counter, thumbed through the notebook to the page he sought and ran the pencil in his hand down the page. Then he looked up.
"Alright, Carolyn." He began, "As I mentioned to you last night, show season begins shortly and I shall be gone a good deal of the time on weekends – Friday through Monday usually – and I want to be certain that you have the procedures firmly and clearly in your mind. We cannot make mistakes in our special training section. A mistake… could mean disaster both to our customer and to us. If a dog isn't properly trained, he might become excited or angered and injure the buyer. One mistake is the end of a hundred thousand dollar business. I want you to understand how important the proper training can be!"
"I think I understand," Carolyn said quietly. "Even more important, I understand that if I do not train them right that I would probably be the first casualty."
Jason smirked. He tapped an idle finger on the counter and stared directly into her eyes.
"Yes… I think you do understand. It would be a shame to see one of those plump breasts of yours in the angry teeth of one of my boys! Or worse…!!!"
"I will do my work." Carolyn was fighting her temper.
"See that you do." Jason glanced at the notebook in his hands. "Now, I think the main thing to do is to take an hour or so and run over the entire procedure from beginning to end. I shall ask you questions. You shall answer them precisely and in detail. If you hesitate, I shall assume you are unsure of yourself and we shall have to see that you… study a little harder."
"Yes, Jason." Bite your tongue, she thought, don't say it. Don't even think it. He has the mind of a devil. Sometimes I think he can even see what I'm thinking.
"At what age do you begin training the dogs?" he started the quiz in his sterile clinical tone.
"The pups are started with the initial bottle training when the bitch first begins to wean them."
"Tell me the procedures."
"I fill the double nursing bottles with body temperature milk, sweetened with honey or sugar, and feed each pup for five minutes. The bottle must contain both the milk mixture and the second solution – soluble alum, cayenne and saline solution. The nipple is to be thrust firmly into the animal's mouth and every pup must actually nurse at the nipple for five minutes each day. The nursing bottle will be given to the pups until they are approximately six months old before they are transferred to breasts and… and… to a man."
"Surely you are not still embarrassed at the word penis, Carolyn," Jason said coldly, "Not with your avid appetite for them?"
"… before they are transferred to breasts or the penis." Carolyn's eyes narrowed but she retained control of her facial features. She would not let him rile her today, she absolutely would not.
"And why are they kept on the bottle so long? Why and how are they transferred to the human body?" his frozen smile taunted her.
She took a deep breath and continued.
"The pups are kept on a rigid nursing schedule to insure that they do not lose the ability to suck. Animals that are weaned forget the throat action necessary to actually suck and, as adults, can only be trained to lick. They are eventually transferred to the human body, male or female, by the same means. We squeeze milk from the rubber nipple on the… portion of the body to which the dog is to be transferred and allow him to lick it off, gradually inducing the breast… or the penis… into his mouth with the same sucking reaction that he has done all his life. As a pup, the animal has had many unpleasant, almost painful experiences with the double nipple and the cayenne solution so he is thoroughly trained never to entirely close his mouth and teeth over the organ or gland. If there is any indication that he is about to do so, he is touched with the electric cattle prod and reminded… but this rarely happens."