Good Wife University (GWU)
bi bobbi jo


Chapter Twenty-five -- Communications 301


Gwen woke Katy early and shuttled her back to Virginia Beach so
she could be interviewed by Detective Wilkins and make a sworn
statement about what she saw.  Everyone else got to sleep in.  By
nine, the junior class had finished their showers and was
entering the dining room.  Maria stopped in the doorway and
gasped, slapping her hands over her mouth.  "That's Felicia!"

"Who?" Jennifer asked.

"My cousin, Felicia.  How...  Oh, geez.  I can't go in there
with her."

"Why not?" Wendy asked.

"She'll...  She'd tell everyone.  And I'm naked."

"You've been naked for six weeks," Debbie laughed at her.  "And
it looks like your cousin's already been in trouble."  All four
of the new women at the table were wearing cuffs on their wrists
and ankles connected to metal collars by short chains.

"She'll be a lot more embarrassed than you are," Wendy noted.

"And didn't you say it was another cousin of yours who talked
you into coming here?" Jennifer asked.  "What was her name?"

"Consuela," Maria answered.

"Well Consuela already knows what goes on here.  She spent
twelve weeks doing the same things you're doing.  You and she and
all of the rest of us will forever have a special bond, a secret
past that we shared," Debbie said philosophically.  "So why don't
you just go up to her and embarrass her.  Take charge."

"Yeah," Maria smiled walking toward the table.  "Hey, Felicia,"
she called out as she got close.  "You put on a little weight, I
see, eh, chica?"

The cousin looked surprised, then terrified, then just
embarrassed.  She tried to cover herself with her hands and
earned some more teasing from her cousin.  "Want me to cover
your titties and pussy?" Maria asked evilly, walking around her
cousin to fondle the helpless girl.  "What's the matter?  Can't
talk?"

The girl looked around, terrified.  She squirmed, trying to pull
away from Maria or shrug off her cousin's hands.  "Relax,
chica," Maria chuckled, moving her hand's to Felicia's shoulders
to try to massage away some of the tension.  "We'll see each
other again and again.  No way to avoid it.  Finish your
breakfast."

When Maria joined her classmates, she grinned.  "It _was_ better
when I took charge."

After breakfast, they assembled in the classroom with all the
computers, the classroom where they had assembled the first day
after they arrived, a change from the printed schedule that was
announced during breakfast.  It was already an hour past the
time their first class should have started.  They all waited for
Kim and Kaitlyn.

Instead, a black woman stepped to the front of the room.  A
_very_ black woman, coal black.  Physically, she was a classic
Negress with the full cheeks, high cheekbones, full lips, and
thick brows that showed full southern African heritage.  She was
dressed in khaki like Tina had been for their first week.

"Hi, guys," she greeted them.  "I'm Mitwanna, the African name
my mother gave me, but I go by Wanda.  I'm a substitute and I'm
new at teaching this class but, well..  Here's the deal.  Did
you notice our freshmen class?  Well, you may have noticed that
women of color aren't exactly well represented here at GWU. 
There was some prejudice and discrimination early in its history
just like the rest of the country and that didn't change quickly. 
Because you only find out about it by word of mouth, it took a
while to integrate."

She smiled, "And Maria, you and your cousin Consuela and now
Felicia are adding another ethnicity that was lacking until very
recently.  You're our first three Hispanic students.  Believe it
or not, the Asians from Okinawa, Japan, and Korea were students
early on because they married into the families of military men
and were brought back as war brides.  Old conventional
mothers-in-law sent their Asian daughters-in-law to GWU to learn
to be American wives."

"So back to how I got here," she sighed.  "You may have noticed
our freshman class contained a majority of women of color, three
black, two Hispanic, and an Asian, Thai, I think.  There's one
white girl who's already feeling like a minority and one, well,
OK two white girls but one is blind.  She's only the second blind
student we've ever had.  It's going to be an interesting class."

"So what happened is that my 'sisters', meaning the black girls,
well..  They thought that they could get over on me because our
skin's the same color.  Wrong!" she laughed.  "We talked about it
-- the staff, that is -- and we decided we'd change things around
a bit to change their minds.  We're all pink inside as dirty old
men would say and we all bleed red.  So they're now in attitude
adjustment mode."

"Why are they all chained up?" Maria asked bravely.

"Oh, we had a mass escape attempt last night," Wanda laughed. 
"It was quite a job to get them all back here without anybody
getting hurt.  And that's part of the reason for all the hard
feelings.  You see, only the white girl and the blind girl
stayed behind so they're the only two not being punished.  It
has nothing to do with skin color but it may take us a week to
convince their class of that."

Wanda took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  Her expression
changed completely.  Very seriously, she told the class, "And now
I have some very bad news.  It's...  Well, in forty years, there
hasn ever been a rape during a session, but..  This isn't easy. 
Kim was raped by her husband."

She paused for a long time to let that piece of information sink
in before continuing.  "I don't know if she'll be able to
continue with the class or not.  We're about to get into the
heavy stuff, bondage and all that.  We, the staff, don't know
how she will handle it psychologically and emotionally so we're
getting some expert help.  The reason Kaitlyn isn't here was
because she witnessed the rape."

"Are they all right?" Laura asked.

"It looks like it," Wanda replied evenly.  "I got a call this
morning.  It's not decided for sure yet but Kim has said that she
wants to come back.  You guys are her support network.  If she
comes back, she'll be treated pretty much like a regular student
except for some of the anal stuff."

"She was pretty sore," Darlene nodded.

"That's an understatement," Wanda told them.  "Her anus and
rectum were torn badly.  She had stitches taken inside her
bottom Sunday night while you coming back here.  Her anal play is
over for the next four to six weeks."

"Geez, what'd Roger do to her?" Maria gasped.

"No lubrication and violent entry," Wanda said, shaking her head.

She waited until the murmurs subsided before she continued. 
"She'll get a few privileges like a padded seat while you're
stuck on hard wood.  And when the husbands meet on Tuesday
night, all the men will get another safe, sane, and consensual
lecture.  And now we have to get to work.  The BDSM classes
scheduled for today have been put off until tomorrow and both
today's and tomorrow's communication classes are going to be
combined today. That's because they're easier to make up if Kim
comes back and when Kaitlyn makes it back."

"And now, on with the show.  How many ways of communicating can
you name?  Maria?"

"Speaking?" she offered.

"Right.  Verbal.  Oral communications.  But some has a greater
impact.  Can you say your A-B-C's without singing?  So even with
verbal communications, there are variables.  It's easier to
remember the words to a song than to remember words that are just
spoken.  Let me..."

Wanda skillfully led a lengthy discussion on various verbal
communications and they talked about verbal communications
skills, observing not just what was said but how it was said. 
They illustrated misunderstandings that were easily passed along
when verbal communications were used by playing 'rumor' in the
group.  They all laughed at how garbled the messages had become
by the time they were passed down the line.  Another exercise
consisted of Darlene turning her back to the chalkboard and
trying to give instructions to Debbie on how to draw a simple
figure without seeing what Debbie was doing.  The results were
hilarious.

"OK, verbal communications is one method and we've seen how poor
a means of communicating it can be.  We'll work on improving our
verbal communications a little later.  So what is another way we
communicate?" Wanda asked.

Jennifer picked the obvious.  "Non-verbal."

"Very good," Wanda grinned.  "So let's try a little exercise,
ah, Jennifer, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Very good.  You can no longer speak.  If you do, I will use
this on you," Wanda said, picking up a wicked looking riding crop
like the one Tina carried their first week.  "Now, I will also
use it if you fail to obey my nonverbal communications promptly
and correctly.  Ready?"

Jennifer caught herself just before she said "OK" and nodded
instead.  Wanda grinned.  It was working!  She had never taught
this class before and didn't have much time to prepare after
helping to handle the mass escape attempt late last night.  She
was at least as scared as any of the students but now she was
gaining confidence.

She put the tip of the crop under Jennifer's chin and lifted up
until the tall young woman was looking right into her eyes. 
Then she pointed down with the crop and looked down at the floor. 
The message was unmistakable.  Jennifer knelt before her.

"This little demonstration is usually done right after the
introductory class on bondage and discipline," Wanda told the
class as she circled Jennifer's nipples with the loose flapper on
the end of the crop, then lowered it to tap gently between
Jennifer's thighs, prompting her to spread her legs.  For ten
minutes, Wanda directed Jennifer's actions with the crop,
letting her know where to place her hands and correcting her
posture.

"As you can see, nonverbal communications can be quite
effective," Wanda said to the students.  "I'm sure you all saw
me communicating messages to Jennifer.  What other communication
was going on?"  She looked around, smiling.  "I saw Jennifer's
face say, 'Please don't hit me' and 'I'm scared' and 'This is
humiliating' among other messages.  Did anyone else see her
communicating?"

She then looked down and Jennifer and said, "You can get up now."
And as Jennifer got up, she opened her arms, smiled, and added,
"Kiss and a hug."

Jennifer felt so relieved that the barely blushed when Wanda
enfolded her nude body and they Frenched each other for a
moment.

"Do I taste like chocolate?" Wanda teased.

"No.  Minty mouthwash," Jennifer giggled.

"Am I the first Afro' gal you've ever kissed?"

"Yes."

"How was it?"

"Not bad."

"Want to do it again?"

Now Jennifer really blushed and as she did, Wanda almost
shouted, "See the body language?  OK, ah, Laura.  What did she
do?"

So they talked about body language and other eye contact and the
many variations of non-verbal communications.  Kaitlyn came in as
they role played through several exercises and she soon
commented, "I wish I'd already done this for that first weekend. 
I was really queasy about playing 'vamp' for Bruce."  They were
backed up to doors, raising one leg seductively, and 'making
eyes' at each other to try to look sexy.  And they did, just
before they burst into giggles.

"So there are visual signals," Wanda went on, leading the
discussions.  "Which will be a challenge for our blind freshman. 
What other kinds of visual signals do we send and receive?  Think
about it.  When you look at someone, how do you size them up?"

"Clothes?" Wendy suggested.

"Good.  What else?"

"Hair?" Kaitlyn though out loud.

"Sure," Wanda agreed.  "Let me show you a picture."  She dimmed
the room's lights with a remote control and a projector cast an
image on the white wall.  "Tell me about this person."

"Dyke," they all agreed, looking at the slide of a slender woman
with a short, masculine hairdo, small breasts, tight jeans, and
leather vest with her thumbs stuck under a wide leather belt. 
She looked vaguely familiar to many of the students.

"So you've made a judgement," Wanda grinned.  "How about this
one?"  It was hard to recognize that it was the same woman with
soft brown shoulder-length curls cascading over her shoulders and
a navy pinstripe suit with a knee length skirt and heels.  The
discussion continued.  The briefcase she carried and the pen
behind her ear were visual clues.

"Her name's Sylvia," Wanda told everyone.  "A GWU graduate, a
model, and an actress.  She's darned good if you ask me.  You've
seen her in television ad's, magazines, catalogs, and a few
movies but I doubt you'll see her in any starring roles because
she's totally devoted to her husband and kids.  But she's always
in demand because of her versatility and competence.  Now tell me
about this woman."

And they discussed slides of Sylvia dressed as a hooker, as an
ordinary maid, as a sexy maid, a librarian, a homeless bag lady,
a fitness instructor (one of her movie parts), a housewife with
kids (from a TV advertisement), a firefighter (she really is a
volunteer fireman and was an extra in 'Backdraft'), a
cheerleader, and a stripper, and chorus girl.

"So clothes make the woman," Wanda concluded.  "You can project
an image with how you dress.  You _always_ project an image
whether you intend to or not.  If you're in a frumpy bathrobe and
fuzzy slippers with your hair in curlers when hubby gets home,
you've sent him a signal.  But if you're in a short silk kimono
robe and high heels, the signal's a bit different.  And we'll be
talking a lot about using clothing and looks in the next six
weeks.  But for now, let's go to the kitchen, get some coffee,
take a break, and then we'll work on some other ways of
communicating."

Once everyone had some fruit and their beverage of choice, Wanda
brought out folders containing graded copies of the love letters
that each of the women had written.  It was easier for those who
were married.  They wrote the letters to their husbands based on
the outline in the back of John Grey's book, 'Men are from Mars,
Women are from Venus.'  They were encouraged to mail them and
were provided stamped envelopes.  They also had to write an
explicitly erotic letter describing a fantasy they would like to
fulfill.  The single girls had similar assignments except that
their letters were to fantasy partners.

The most embarrassing assignments were the letters to each other. 
At least they were embarrassing when they started, especially
when they were ordered to read them aloud to the whole group. 
There were lots of blushes and giggles to begin with, but then
they began to openly share some of their fears and joys, details
of what turned them on or off physically and emotionally, and
their hopes for the future.

"We'll spend more time talking as a group every morning and
evening," Wanda informed them.  "But I would encourage you to
share with each other one-on-one as well.  But we're talking
about written communications and they can be powerful and very
clear.  If Darlene had just shown that drawing to Debbie this
morning, she could easily have reproduced that egg with a
diamond in it.  If picture-words were allowed, the drawing would
have been more accurate.  Every time we buy an appliance, a car,
computer, or any other machine, there are step by step
instructions for how to use them, fix them, clean them, or
whatever.  Illustrations clarify instructions."

"Well, the same it true in a marriage.  Darlene, how often do
you write to your husband?"

"Never," she replied.  "Until our assignments."

"Do you have a calendar at home where you write down
appointments and schedules?  Dates when the kids have activities
and things like that?"

"No," Darlene admitted.

"Every family needs an anchor like a master calendar," Wanda
told them.  "Especially if you have kids.  It's a suggestion in
every one of the books on organizing your life that I've ever
read.  It not only helps you..."  And on they went.  "... Why not
send love letters to your husband?  Why not put notes in the
kid's lunches to remind them that you love them as well as to
remind them that they need to get bring home the permission form
for the class trip?  Why not?"

"And we're just covering the basics," Wanda concluded as the
sophomores started preparing the dining room for lunch.  She got
serious for a moment and told them, "Some lessons don't stick. 
This will probably be one of them.  We need reminders and
reinforcement.  For you married ladies, when things start
getting rough again in six months or six years, remember this --
'WorldwideMarriage Encounter.'  If you think what we're doing is
intense,then go on a Marriage Encounter weekend
<http://marriages.org/history.html> with your husband.  It'll
change your life."

"But more on that later.  Now I have some new assignments. 
Ready?"

A mixture of groans and giggles came from the eight naked women. 
"OK, your homework assignment is another self examination.  I
want a paper describing the image you think you projected before
you came here and then another paper describing the image you
want to project.  Each should be at least two."

It was time for exercise class and Wanda joined the advanced
group.  Chris reminded them that vigorous exercise just before
lunch was often beneficial because it suppressed the appetite so
they didn't need as much food to feel full.  They showered as a
group, no longer bashful about washing backs and backsides.  And,
as usual, dinner at noon was spectacular.  Then it was back to
work in the same classroom they started in that morning.

"How many of you are on line at home or work?" Wanda asked the
class.  Not surprisingly, everyone but Laura raised her hand.
"Do you ever send e-mail to yourself?  To your husband?"

The afternoon was spent on communications technology; radio, TV,
computers and the Internet, and the telephone.  They spent hours
talking about 'phone sex' and everyone was given a homework
assignment that consisted of phone sex with their husbands.  The
single women would receive calls from some of the boy toys for
their homework.

"Sounds like fun," Kaitlyn giggled.

It was.