Midori was delightful. She was witty and entertaining to the audience, She spoke of the difference between service and tasks or "assignments". She told of how she is a big supporter of assigning tasks that create a sense of anticipation for the next scene between partners. "You want to get inside your sub's head, feed their mind, body and soul with your assignments."

She smiled wickedly, "It could be something as simple as having your subbie carve a plug out of ginger, to something as elaborate as having him or her create their own bondage implements."Keep in mind you don't want to make your sub frustrated with the assignment, engage their mind - spark a fire within. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the results! For instance, before class began, I gave Stella an assignment. She was to fashion a punishment implement of her own design to be used upon her. I challenged her with applying a childhood memory to her design." Midori looked toward the wings and motioned for me to join her on stage. "What have you made my dear?"

I was nervous, but walked right up to her. I was dressed in a black patent bra, a white lace thong, black patent garter belt with black lace stockings and black stilettos. It was a costume that Tom assured me would be perfect for the stage. Judging from the murmurs in the crowd, he was either right on the mark, or way off. I held out my homemade implement. I had gone out into the courtyard of the establishment, and cut a long thin branch off one of the maple trees. The branch started out about the thickness of a fishing rod at the thick end, and tapered off to the thickness of a pencil's lead.

Midori took it from my hand. "Hmmm" She said as she sliced it back and forth through the air. Murmurs came from the audience again. "So," Midori began, as she looked at me, "Tell me why you created this particular switch"

Licking my lips, I explained. "In my childhood, my grandfather something like this he had fashioned from a switch he cut off a tree in his backyard. We called it the 'whammy'. My cousins and I felt that switch whenever we would misbehave. The 'whammy' has good memories too. After our punishment, he would sit on a stoop with us and cut up fresh pears for us to nibble on as he talked to us and told us he loved us even though we were sometimes bad."

Midori smiled at me. "So you see; although for her the switch is a tool for punishment, it is also a tool of love." She handed the switch back to me and instructed me to choose someone out of the audience to use it on me. I slowly walked down the stairs at the front of the stage. I glanced at the mayor, but did not want to put him on the spot. I noticed a kindly gentleman sitting in the crowd. He had a twinkle in his eye and he reminded me much of my grandfather. I presented the switch to him with a little curtsy. He took it as his grin widened. He led the way back to the stage and I followed him.

"Stand here with your back to the audience" he directed, and I did. "Bend over and grab your ankles" I did, twisting slightly to peer back at him. "You've been bad." came his voice.

"Yes Sir" I breathlessly replied.

"What do bad girls get?" he asked.

"Bad girls get punished" I groaned out.

"Yes, they do." he said. "I'll give you twenty strokes, count them out."

"Yes Sir."

He applied the twenty strokes and the effect was astounding. As I counted out the strokes my childhood and my submissive womanhood melded into one, escalating the experience in my mind. Normally, I do not cry during a scene, but I started crying halfway through. When he was done, he sat on the stairs with me and held me until my sniffles stopped. The audience applauded as Midori explained the parallels created in a subs mind when childhood experiences are brought into the mix. "After all, for most of us, our roots in submission or dominance began in childhood."

My punisher went back to his seat and I joined Midori back on the stage. She gave me a hug and sent me offstage, where I hurried over to Tom to get ready for Master Z's fire play demo. Midori then spoke of effective topping, and how important it is to get to know your bottom's psyche. That you need to get to know your sub's desires and dreams. How effective topping correlates to the assignment she had just demonstrated.

Midori bowed to the audience amid much applause. Many of the audience members were talking excitedly amongst themselves, no doubt eager to apply what they had just learned. Some of them had taken a few notes.

Master stepped onto the wings and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. He was preparing to announce Master Z's fire play demo and although I knew him to be a confident man, he seemed distracted for some reason.

"Is everything ok Sir?" I asked him.