Nice Day Out In The Quarry

The master and mistress lovespending time in their quarry – watching the work slaves scrubbing rocks under the hot, Gynarchy sun. It makes for a nice, relaxing day out:

Points to note about this scene:

·       The elderly male slave, who is down on his knees in the quarry dirt scrubbing rocks, must surely be older than the combined ages of the master and mistress (and possibly also including the uniformed taskmistress!). Yet he is the one having to do all the manual hard labour – despite being well past ‘retirement’ age, whilst his youngers relax and watch on. And rightly so, for a slave must be made to work all his life; he can never retire. This slave shall in all probability die of old age whilst scrubbing rocks!

·       The master and mistress are clothed in their best finery, in complete contrast to the raggedy-assed slave. But that, of course, is deliberate, since the slave’s bent-over back must be kept bare for the whip!

·       Also deliberate is the mistress’s seemingly incongruous footwear – the scuzziest pair of hobnailed boots she could find. But she has chosen wisely, for it can be a treacherous business walking around the quarry; lots of loose stones and rocks to trip over, if one isn’t careful. And her dainty, feminine feet surely need all the protection they can get?

·       It must be immensely thirsty work for the slave, but he is forbidden from drinking even from the bucket of dirty water beneath his sweating face. That water is strictly for the rocks! And, just to rub it in even further, the amused master-sir has brought a cup of refreshing coffee with him to the quarry. Ha! Ha! I expect he will drink it heartily in front of the kneeling slave, just to exacerbate the latter’s raging thirst!

·       If it’s a thirst for the whip the slave has, on the other hand, then his cup truly runneth over! For the uniformed taskmistress is clearly a firm believer in the efficacy of the whip to instill obedience and hard work in an elderly slave man. She how she shouts at him and berates him in front of her guests, whilst threatening him with her sturdy whip’s mighty sting!

·       Yes, this slave is well and truly surrounded by people who are his betters, not his friends. They mean him harm, for their own delectation, and all he can do to defend himself is attempt to work even harder; to please them by cleaning the dirty rocks diligently in their superior, gloating presence. Not that they are likely to be satisfied with his efforts. He is sure to miss a bit – and they are sure to find it and fake outrage at his slavish incompetence! Ha! Ha! He can’t win; what a whipped loser!