Inch By Inch, Second By Second, I Gave Up My Freedom

being of that age, of that social extraction, of that education, I was cornered by that kind of man, that character, that form of education, "you are the bitch in the equation". "Someone has to be the bitch, or nothing gets done", I told him. The part that no one told me, was that when shit starts, when shit happens, size matters. He stood over me, stared at me. "being a bitch will get you nowhere".

For the first time in my life a man got to me, unnerved me. "Leave your personal life out of here, leave the bitch home". And that was the beginning. For a million reasons unknown to me, I stayed to confront him, assert myself over him. Teach him that he couldn't call me a bitch.

I had all the latitude to carry out my duties. But he boxed me in, kept me quiet. One slip and he exerted his authority. Day in day out. His words were careful, within the bounds of the 'manual'. When 'my day' came I wasn't expecting it. I walked away with his name pinned on me. It was the one thing I never expected.

And I'm sick and tired of explaining it. Fuck, I'm his Mrs.