A WORTHY CAUSE by Joe Whatever "I don't know why you waste your time on such a worthless cause, Melody," the dapper man said as he thoughtfully stroked his beard. "Since the War started it's been impossible to get people to focus on slavery," the young woman explained. "My abolitionist group is starved for funds." "The war is about saving the Union," he replied. "That's the attitude we're fighting," she replied, with a sigh. "It's all so silly. No one's paying any attention to ME!" Although his 19-year-old ward's vanity amused him, Robert still had grave doubts. "You and your friends will be punished as if you were slaves...and people will pay to watch?" "The tickets are sold out," she said, brightly. "We had to move it to a bigger venue!" "And who is going to 'whup' you?" he asked. "A slave who escaped through the Underground railroad volunteered. He has quite a bit of experience as an overseer, and he was so eager to help." "I'm sure," he said, wryly. "You realize you and your girlfriends are white, don't you my dear?" "That's just the point," she said. "In the South a girl with 1/32 slave blood can still be treated as slave. Girls like me are whipped every day. In fact, the punishment will be a re-enactment of the punishment given to an octoroon slave girl who tried to pass for white -- 30 strokes of the razor strap, bare bottom." Her guardian stopped stroking his beard. "Did you say bare?" Melody smiled and handed her guardian an engraved print of a naked young woman strung up by her wrists, looking nervously over her shoulder while a cruel master raised a wicked strap high in the air. "You'll be NAKED?" Robert said. "No, no, no. I can't permit that." "We HAVE to be realistic!" Melody exclaimed. "All three of us -- Melissa, Jennifer, and me -- will be naked as the day we were born, with our toes just barely touching the ground." "Melissa and Jennifer?" the old man gasped. "Totally naked? They'll be absolutely naked? With their hands tied up over their heads?" "Yes, Uncle," Melody said. The young woman dropped her voice into a whisper. "You know, it's wicked of me to say this.... But I suspect some men (and even a few of the women) may attend for reasons wholly unrelated to their moral betterment." "Melissa and Jennifer will be totally naked?" he repeated, as if still trying to grasp the idea. "Birthday bare?" "And you'll have a front row seat," Melody said sweetly as she placed the ticket into his hand. Melody's guardian considered the matter. When her father had joined the militia, Melody had been left in his care. The decision was his alone. He looked at the picture and stroked his beard. "Well...it is a worthy cause," he said, thoughtfully. Edited by C. Lakewood