I shifted my weight a tiny bit. My neck muscles weren't really feeling tired yet in the neck trainer, but the enforced immobility did get to me after a time, and I was beginning to have difficulty focusing on my reading. Maverick, sitting on the bed with his back against the wall, his hand absently rubbing my ankle, looked up. "Am I bothering you?"
I couldn't shake my head, but I managed a gutteral "Uh-uh," with a smile. I couldn't see the clock on the desk, so I pointed toward it.
Maverick looked to the clock. "Just over an hour."
I shrugged slightly and held up ten fingers, so Maverick would tell me when another ten minutes had passed.
We were both startled by a knock at the door. A mostly-suppressed laugh on the other side of the door sounded like Larry's. Maverick called out, "Come in."
The door opened, and Leo leaned in, stopping in the doorway, looking as if he were striving mightily to prevent a huge grin from breaking out on his face.
My eyes suddenly shot wide open. I pointed at Leo, and tried to lever myself upward with one hand. I flailed my arms in confusion for a moment, my body trying to do twenty things at once. At last I gripped the handholds with both hands and pushed myself upward, and was able to gasp out, "You got one!!" I unhooked the trainer with a trembling hand, and at last sat forward. "Right?"
Behind Leo, Larry burst out, "I told you he'd know!" Both boys started laughing delightedly.
Maverick was already off the bed, his jaw hanging open. "What, you mean you're sold already?"
Leo shook his head. "I met with them today and we worked out some details. I said I wanted to think about it tonight, so they're coming back tomorrow. But I already know it's what I want!"
I bounced off the bed and threw my arms around Leo. Gripping him tightly, I said excitedly, "This is so cool! Oh, you said 'They.' Is some company buying you or something?" I let go of Leo and backed up, wanting to see his face and hear every word.
Leo shook his head again. "A Fraternity, at the university. Delta Rho. The senior boys put on a show every year, and this year they thought up one where they needed a Hanging Boy! Several of them just got access to their trust funds, at least that's what it sounded like, and they pooled enough money together. And they want me!!" Leo was bouncing in place on the floor, his fists pumping.
I hugged Leo again, and kissed him. "So are you the Assassin?"
"No! They wrote their own script. It's really cute. I'll show it to you later. They picked me out of the picture book for it." He giggled, "They told the Dean I looked 'cute and studious.' "
Maverick wrinkled his nose. " 'Studious'? They want that for a hanging??"
Leo laughed. "I said I'll tell you later. But I wanted to ask — would you guys come with me tomorrow when I meet with them again?" He looked back and forth between Maverick and me.
I frowned uncertainly. "We can do that?"
Leo nodded emphatically. "Oh, sure! A lot of the boys take their roommates to the negotiation, if they're still alive. And I asked the Dean if you could come too, and he said that's fine! And I know if I forget to ask something, you'll remember it for me." He was looking at me when he said this. I suspected that Leo wanted me in particular, but knew I probably wouldn't come without Maverick.
I looked at Maverick. He nodded and said, "I was hoping I could go to one soon. You know it'll help when our own turn comes."
I turned back to Leo, grinning. "Sure. What time?"
"They're coming at one. Is that okay? We can have lunch together and then go to the Dean's office."
I nodded. "We don't have anything. It wouldn't last past three, right? We've got a class then."
Leo spread his arms out to hug both Maverick and me. "I'm so glad you can be there!"
Larry said, "Let's all wear shades. We'll look scary. That's the way to negotiate." We all laughed.
We arranged ourselves in the conference room as the Dean had suggested — Leo alone sitting at the table, along one of the long sides, with Larry, Maverick and me in chairs behind him, facing four empty chairs on the other side as we awaited the arrival of the fraternity boys. Dean Porter, waiting with them at the head of the table, had answered my question, telling me that Larry, Maverick and I were allowed to speak, but that we should bear in mind that it was Leo's hanging being discussed, and that we must defer to his wishes on any point of negotiation. I felt that that went without saying.
My own father had once sat in this same room, across from Marshall, and managed to persuade him to put on a show for Andrew. And, as usual when I was reminded of Marshall, I was awestruck for a few seconds.
Larry sat with his arms folded, showing the Dean a mock pout. "I still think you should let us wear the shades, Sir."
The Dean gave him a small smile. "Frightening the customer has not been found to be an ideal strategy." We laughed, stopping suddenly as the intercom buzzed.
The Dean leaned toward it, "Yes, Tina?"
The voice of the Dean's secretary, issued through the speaker. "Our clients from Delta Rho are here."
"Show them in, please."
The four of us stood politely, as did the Dean. Tina ushered four slightly nervous but determined-looking boys into the conference room: a tamarin, a raccoon, a muskox, and a burro. I realized suddenly I had lost track of what boys my age were wearing now. Each of the fraternity boys wore a bright-colored long-sleeved shirt in self-stripe, over black or dark-brown slacks. They wore red scarves over their turned up collars, knotted loosely in front. Or maybe that isn't a universal current style. Yes... this is how they dress when they're officially representing the fraternity.
Of course, we were wearing our Academy uniforms. Only Leo had made any special preparations, having stopped by the hairdresser, asking them to make him look more "cute and studious," if they could somehow figure out what that entailed. They had succeeded in some way I couldn't quite define.
The fraternity boys all looked a little surprised at seeing so many Academy boys in the room. One of them, the dark-haired raccoon, spoke for the others, saying to the Dean, "I recognize Cleon," tilting his head in Leo's direction, "But who are the others?"
The Dean genially gestured the boys to seats, and Leo and the rest of us then sat as well. The Dean introduced the clients. "Shakir, Grover, Henley, Lindley..." he gestured from left to right, "Maverick, Wynn, and Larry are here as Cleon's guests. They will not be direct participants in the meeting, but I'm permitting them to offer Cleon advice when he feels the need."
All of the fraternity boys looked miffed in varying degrees. Grover, the raccoon who'd spoken earlier, muttered, "I had no idea buying a slave was so complicated."
The Dean offered placatingly, "We have no intention to make it complicated, and it needn't be. I'm sure you understand that we take pride in offering exactly the right boy for the hanging needs of any customer. We're very meticulous in ensuring that there is indeed a perfect match between our clients and the slave they purchase."
I felt Larry stirring next to me, and suspected the Dean had saved Larry from blurting out that the boys were free to shop elsewhere for a Hanging Boy. I was sure the boys knew there was no other place they could obtain a Hanging Boy of anywhere near the quality they could find here. It was clear to me, though, that insulting the customer was no better strategy than frightening them.
The Dean indicated several sets of papers in front of him. "I have copies of the sale contract here, in case our meeting is successful. I assume you have read the copies of the contract I gave you yesterday. Do you have any questions about the terms of the conditional slave sale?"
Shakir frowned. "About that. The way it sounds to me, he's not exactly... well, really our slave, is he?"
The Dean gave him a brief head shake. "Oh, quite the contrary. By law, Cleon will indeed be your slave. With only a few reasonable limitations, you are free to treat him as your property, obviously including ending his life at a time of your choosing, provided it is within one month of the signing of the contract, as well as skinning him afterwards. The limitations exist mainly to protect the interests of the Hanging Academy. A representative of the Academy will be on hand to ensure that the terms of the contract are observed." I choked back a laugh. A really big representative, I thought. "The slave's death must be by hanging, of course. Obviously, if you had any objection to that requirement, you wouldn't be here. The slave's chosen assistant will prepare him on-site for his hanging, including all adjustments of the noose, and our own equipment must be used, which we will provide at no additional charge. No photographic or video record of his hanging is permitted. And no physical injury which would adversely impact his ability to perform during a hanging will be allowed. Cleon has trained for three years to give you the best hanging show available anywhere, and I am sure you would not wish for that training to go to waste — and the Academy would never want one of its graduates to put on a substandard show. But of course, few slave owners of any kind choose to injure one of their slaves to the point that the slave is unable to perform his duties.
"As with any slave, you may whip him should he fail to follow an order, though I'm sure that will never be necessary — Cleon will be very happy to meet any of your needs." He looked toward Leo, who smiled and nodded.
The Dean continued, "Do you have any additional questions you wanted to ask?"
Grover continued speaking for the group. "You've kind of answered them. But we can ask Cleon some things, right?"
The Dean made a gesture of offering Leo to them. "Of course."
Grover turned to Leo. "Anyway, Cleon, you read the script, right?"
Leo smiled. "Leo, please. Slave Leo." Leo had discussed some ideas with us; one conclusion we had reached was that Leo should encourage the fraternity boys to address him that way. It would help seal the deal if he got them to act as if they already had bought him. "And I loved the script! There's just one thing though..."
Lindley's face suddenly clouded up. Leo evidently noticed as well, as he looked toward Lindley. "Oh, you wrote it?"
Lindley's eyes sprang wide open in surprise, clearly not aware of Hanging Boys' abilities to read people. "Uh, yeah. Well, me and Henley." Beside him, Henley nodded.
Leo gave them both a placating gesture. "Oh, don't worry. I wasn't about to say I wanted to change anything. It sounds fine. But you've got to understand, I've been studying our standard scripts for over a year, and this one is just suddenly coming at me new. And I think it's going to require some rehearsal time. When did you want to do this?"
Grover answered. "Two weeks from tomorrow. Is that okay?"
I bit down on a smile. I could tell the fraternity boys had expected to dominate the meeting. Now, following the Dean's speech, Leo's assertiveness seemed to have wrested control from them. In any case, it would never be easy for a customer to throw weight around in this room, as they tried to work out a deal for a slave who had the unique privilege of vetoing the purchase.
Leo nodded. "That would be fine, but in that case, I'd want to be on-site for the last two days before that, so I can have some practice sessions with the boys who'd be involved onstage. I'd hate for all of us to try to wing it. This will be a lot of fun as long as we all know what we're doing."
The fraternity boys looked back and forth among themselves, and individually nodded.
Leo nodded as well, and went on, "My roommate, Larry, is going to be my assistant. So he'll need to rehearse with us too." He reached blindly behind him, and Larry automatically took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "And... oh, how many people do you have for that first scene?"
Grover answered, "We're going to use all the senior boys for that. Ten, altogether."
"Okay. It wouldn't hurt to have a couple more, then. Would you mind if Wynn and Maverick were in it?" He gestured with his head to remind the boys who we were. "They wouldn't necessarily need speaking lines, but having the group be a little bigger will help."
I held my breath. Oh please, please let me be there! I hadn't imagined I'd get to see Leo's hanging.
Grover frowned and looked at the Dean. "Would that cost extra?"
The Dean shook his head emphatically. "Not at all! Everything you need for the hanging is included in the purchase price of the slave. We often send additional students out to participate as extras in the hanging performance. They, of course, remain the property of the Hanging Academy, and would return to us immediately following the performance. You may or may not allow them to stay for the post-hanging party, as you choose."
Grover looked again at his fraternity brothers, and nodded. "They can come."
Leo beamed at him. "Great. That means a lot to me."
I was startled as Maverick suddenly spoke up. "Could one more person come?" I managed to keep a neutral expression. We had all agreed beforehand to act as if any suggestion made by any of us was a purely standard request, but I had no idea where Maverick was going with this.
The fraternity boys all frowned at Maverick. Grover spoke again. "Who?"
Maverick reached ahead and stroked Leo's shoulder. "Leo's brother is a student at the college. Could he come?"
Smoothly taking up the idea, concealing the sudden excitement that I could read in him, Leo said, "...and be onstage in that first scene?"
I was sure that Leo could now read the fraternity boys' expressions as well as I could. Leo then proved it by holding up his hand. "Listen, I'm sure this is seeming like a lot more hassle than you thought. But any boy you buy here is going to need an assistant, as the Dean said, and any boy is going to want his closest friends there, and any boy is going to want at least one family member there." I nodded to myself. Leo had indeed read the fraternity boys' thoughts: that perhaps this boy wanted too many things, and that they might get a better deal if they picked a different one. It was important that they believe that all of this was perfectly normal, whether it was or not.
Leo continued, "My brother's name is Emil Stiller. Any of you know him?" He looked at the fraternity boys, who looked blankly back at him and shook their heads.
Leo shrugged. "Well, anyway, I'll give you his phone number. And look, I'm really thinking how to make your show better. Wouldn't fourteen boys onstage for that first scene be better than ten?"
All of the fraternity brothers reluctantly nodded. Their instincts were clearly to say no, but they couldn't find a reason to.
Leo sat back and smiled. "Just one more thing, I guess. What about sex?"
The fraternity brothers seemed puzzled. Grover asked, "What about it?"
"Well, who should I be expecting to have sex with, beforehand?"
This was something that was taking the boys genuinely by surprise. Grover said, "We really were just thinking of the show."
Leo leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "That's fine, really. But sex is another thing I've been... specially trained for." Without obvious transition, Leo's voice was becoming huskier, more seductive. "Like my hanging abilities, that's something you wouldn't want to see go to waste, right?"
I knew that had to be working — it was working on me. I had to restrain myself from wrapping my arms around Leo from behind. Across the table, the fraternity boys suddenly breathed slightly faster, their faces flushed, and they started squirming in their seats, helpless to stop the small twitching in their hips. Henley said, "Well, I wouldn't mind..." His friends on either side of him breathed "Uh-huh..." and they all suddenly laughed self-consciously.
In that same voice, Leo purred, "If the four of you are the ones buying me, I'd love to spend some time alone with each of you. If you want."
Unable to speak for the moment, all four boys nodded, wide-eyed.
The Dean broke into the growing silence. "Is everything agreeable then?"
Each of the fraternity boys seemed to shake himself out of a spell. They looked back and forth among themselves, all finding the others were nodding eagerly.
The Dean smiled beatifically. Gently pushing the contracts toward them, he asked "Will that be check or credit card?"
As soon as the fraternity boys had left the room, Leo spun and threw his arms around Maverick. "You remembered about my brother! I never thought they'd let him set foot in that snooty fraternity!"
Maverick returning his hug, shrugged. "I was just thinking, they'd already agreed to all these extra people, after you'd made such a great argument for it. One more shouldn't matter."
"Well, it matters to me! Thank you so much!"
I tapped Leo on the shoulder. "Let's go pick out a costume for you."
Leo shook his head. "They'll have those for us. We'll all need to look like students."
I shook my head in turn. "Not for that. What about when you, ahh, errr..., entertain them before the show?"
Leo brought his hand up to his mouth. "Oh, that's right! Let's get me something really hot!"
Larry laughed and kissed his roommate. "Let me be the judge of that." He patted Leo on the shoulder. "Go with Wynn and find something. Then come back to our room and spring it on me. I need to ask the Dean something."