Free Moonlighting: A Thanksgiving Story by Vicki Blue

Chapter One:
    “Again, please.”
    Charlotte Tetter
called on the last reserve of her patience as she guided six-year-old Nick
Kramer back to the middle of the stage.
    “Again?” The
child’s tone was sullen, not that she could blame him. Like the rest of his
classmates, Nick had the attention span of a gnat, and Charlotte wondered why
the school chose the last day of school before fall break to have its
Thanksgiving pageant. It was impossible to get kids to focus on anything so
close to a holiday, especially lines for a play.
    “I promise this
is the last time,” she said, forcing a smile as she adjusted the feather in his
headdress.  “Just try to remember to hand the basket of corn to Lydia, not drop
it on her foot.”
    Nick picked up
the basket and walked over to a little girl dressed as a pilgrim. “I bring you
corn for the feast,” he said. “Later we will teach you to grow your own.”
    “Thank you,”
Lydia said, taking it. “We are pleased to have found friends among your
people.”
    Charlotte
clapped. “Good job!” she said, relieved. “Remember to remind your parents that
we have rehearsal again on Wednesday.”
    The chorus of
“ok’s” erupted from the kids as they began to remove the costumes and hang them
on the hooks by the stage. Charlotte gathered up her books and papers, eager to
be off. She loved her students and enjoyed her job as a teacher at the
exclusive private school. She felt lucky to have it; when she’d graduated from
college there were few jobs to be had due to hiring freezes. Her dream of
teaching foreign language to high school students seemed to evaporate, at least
until economic conditions improved. The position as first grade teacher for
Falmont Academy had just been posted when she applied, and for three
nail-biting weeks she’d waited to hear back from them as they interviewed
applicants. Getting hired had taken a load of worries off her mind. She just
wished the pay were better. When she’d moved to Falmont, she’d not realized
that it would be so expensive. It was a beautiful community, but rent was
higher here. For months she’d clipped coupons and scrimped on things she
wanted. But soon she realized that she had no choice. If she were to make ends
meet she’d have to find a second source of income.
    The school
frowned on teachers taking second jobs, and in her contract it stipulated that
staff was forbidden from waiting tables on weekends or taking other positions
that might have them serving parents or students in some menial service job
deemed below the task of teaching Falmont students. Knowing how the school
prized image made Charlotte even more mindful of keeping a secret she feared
would cause problems. She had found a second source of income - a good source.
She had begun writing fetish erotica.
    It had come
naturally for her. Charlotte could not remember when her fascinated with
spanking had started, but it had followed her doggedly through adolescence. In
college she’d written fan fiction featuring spanking as a theme. It was just for
fun and she wrote anonymously on a number of boards. But one of her stories got
so much praise that she tweaked it a bit by changing the characters and
expanding the plot before sending it to a publisher of erotica. She didn’t hear
anything for three weeks and had nearly forgotten it when she’d gotten a letter
and a check for the story. The money had arrived at a good time for her.
Charlotte’s car was in the shop and the money helped make the needed repairs.
The publisher’s letter expressed interest in other stories so she continued to
write under the same pen name - Brita Sinclair.
    It had been with
some reluctance that she’d approached Moonlight Books about resuming her
sideline writing career. She spoke directly with the owner of the small
company, who assured her that controls were in place to protect identity of the
writers. For the last few months, Charlotte had come home from helping first
graders with