Josie and Clemmie

I’m featuring passages from two writers, one famous, one obscure, both describing eerily similar scenes of a willful, authoritarian young woman laying down the law to her soon-to-be husband.

The first is from a short story called “Walter” by a gifted writer pseudonymed “Eosuchus.” You can find his blog here, along with a sampling of his short femdom fiction (though not “Walter,” which bears a 1997 copyright by Permian Systems). I’ve trimmed the passage slightly for space.

The second excerpt is from Clemmie, a 1958 paperback original by the late, great mystery-thriller novelist John D. MacDonald, author of the well-known Travis McGee series and a particular favorite of mine.

Wouldn’t it be delicious to have Clemmie and Josie meet and compare dominant notes? Or, alternatively, the men under their thumbs, Walter and Fitz?

Josie (from “Walter” by Eosuchus):

Josie [Brooks] knew she had work yet to do, before [Walter] would be worth marrying. She had a very clear picture of the kind of marriage she wanted. She would the Queen of that household, also the Judge and the CEO.

"You're going to be my lovely husband, Walter. You'll do what I want and you'll obey me in everything. I will take good care of you, my darling, but you will submit to me and serve me in all things… [You’ll] change your name when we're married… Yes, your male pride is gonna take a beating." She giggled and pouted those big red lips at him. "That's not the only thing that's going to get a beating, either," she said slyly and moved across the room and sat beside him, crossing her legs and smoothing her skirt… “You come here now and get over my knee. You know what I have to do."

"Josie, please." He was sweating.

"Walter, you are just making it worse for yourself. If we're late for the restaurant because you refuse to accept your punishment then I shall be very angry indeed."

Clemmie (from Clemmie by John D. MacDonald)

Clemmie stretched and leaned back and smiled at him. “It’s time I was married, Fitz. And you’ll do nicely. You can have a lovely time being Clemmie’s husband. But you won’t own me. If I want to go out, I’ll go out. And if I want to go on a trip, I’ll go on a trip alone. You’ll have no complaint coming, and no complaint to make. And you’re going to try in every way you can to keep me from being bored, because you’re going to learn that when I’m bored, I’m not pleasant to you. That will be a very simple conditioned reflex for you to acquire. And we will live precisely the way I want us to live, and there will never be any complaints, because you never had it so good. And if from time to time, you happen to feel any cute little horns sprouting, it’s because you’ve been boring and stuffy and tiresome. As you have the last few days.”

“Are you trying to admit what you did this afternoon?”

She got up quickly and walked over to him and stood with her hands on her hips, her face tilted up. “Now, you see, you’ve made me angry, dear, and that’s another thing. That’s a thing to be especially avoided. You’ll have to learn that…”

In keeping with 1950s American mores, MacDonald has this male character finally break free from Clemmie’s clutches (after she tosses him a soiled pair of her nylons and lectures him in the finer points of hand-washing them) and reassert his manhood, albeit shakily.

Eosuchus has no such qualms about female supremacy. Josie Brooks utterly triumphs over poor, broken Walter, as is made clear in the last seven words of the story: “…he bent before her in complete submission.”

Both highly recommended.