Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For by Sara Pascoe

Author:Sara Pascoe [Pascoe, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780993574740
Publisher: Trindles and Green, Ltd
Published: 2017-01-29T16:00:00+00:00

Raya and Bryony clomped on their wooden clogs through the archway into the second room, a vast octagon. Beams of light, like gentle blue-tinged spotlights, shined from a circle of skylights in the domed ceiling high above their heads. Steam made the whole thing look soft. Women were lying on a large stone platform in the centre of the room, right under the shafts of light. Attendants and servants worked on the women, scrubbing, kneading, flipping them over and doing it all over again, like so many blobs of dough.

Oscar had followed them in. He hunched by their feet, ears flat against his head.

‘Maybe this is too much moisture for me after all.’ His tail twitched and he eyed the door.

Bryony sat on the edge of the stone platform and patted the space beside her. ‘Come on, I’ve seen you take a warm bath at home.’

‘That’s true.’ He could hardly keep his eyes open, he looked so tired, but managed to jump up. There was a familiarity between them Raya hadn’t noticed before. Bryony scratched him under his chin.

Raya looked around for an empty spot on the marble slab. Bryony lay face down on hers. Children played and larked about nearby. There was a collective hum from the conversations, punctuated by laughter that ricocheted against the marble surfaces.

Some of the attendants appeared to be private servants. Women were getting waxed and plucked, their hair dyed. This was civilized. One of the attendants started working on Bryony, soaping her up all over her back.

An attendant not much older than Raya encouraged her onto a space as a woman vacated it. The young woman started soaping Raya’s back when Oscar jumped up next to her. The attendant asked Raya if she wanted them to wash the cat for her. He was filthy, matted and reeked. ‘Oh, why not?’ Oscar told Raya. She nodded to the attendant, then another young woman wrapped him in a cloth and took him away. Raya sank into the experience. It was wonderful. After soaping her up, the attendant put on a rough mitt and started rubbing. It felt like something between a loofa and sandpaper. Her slight gasps just made the attendant giggle without letting up. Raya soon got used to it. She certainly could use it after her adventures in filth.

* * *

‘Look at the poor thing. I bet she’s worried about that son of hers,’ a pretty woman said. She was in her late thirties with long dark hair, like most of the women. She was talking to a younger version of herself, probably her daughter, who looked not much older than Raya.

‘Go on, give her some hope,’ the mum said and nodded towards an older woman who was having her hair coloured.

The daughter smirked, waved away her servant and hopped off the slab. She strutted, absolutely starkers in front of the older woman, who didn’t look particularly worried about anything. Meanwhile, the mother got off the slab and walked behind her daughter with two servants in tow.

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