Read Theodora for Free Online Page B

wiped away the tears before Menander could see the little sister and punish her for weakness. She looked at Theodora. ‘What did you do?’
    ‘Nothing. I was perfect. I’ve been perfect all day.’ She shook her head. ‘Damn him, he probably just wants a back to smack.’ She was whispering just loudly enough for the other girls to hear. ‘Wrinkled old eunuch, he doesn’t have anything else to beat.’
    The other girls were picking up their robes, rubbing down their cramped muscles, laughing at Theodora’s gall in the face of what was surely yet another beating from their master.
    Comito and Anastasia waited by the door until Menander turned from the wardrobe mistress and shouted at them too, ‘You girls – fuck off! Your sister’s clever enough to mock me when she thinks I’m not listening, you think she’s so stupid she can’t get home by herself? A mouth that big won’t frighten away any Huns in the Mese? Piss off now, before I make you stay and repeat the routine. I saw those tears Ana, you could do with some extra training.’
    Comito shrugged an apology at Theodora and, putting her arm around Anastasia, pulled the younger girl away.
    What Theodora should have done next was quite plain. Asked to stay after rehearsal, certain to be punished for yet another infraction of Menander’s infamous company rules, or for a more specific weakness in action or line, she should have knelt before the teacher, kissed his foot, begged forgiveness and then meekly taken whatever punishment he handed out. Any one of the other girls knew the routine, all of them would have followed the form, knowing that the sooner they begged forgiveness, the sooner Menander would let it go, hand out thebeating or the extra practice, and she could then go home, eat and rest before another long day’s rehearsal and the show booked for the next evening. But not Theodora. She stood, left hand on her hip, lifting her right foot back and behind her head with the help of her right hand. When she had her foot in what she believed to be the perfect position, she took her right hand away, and reaching out with both arms, addressed Menander.
    ‘Great teacher, revered eunuch.’ She slowly lowered the right leg, bringing the left up into the mirror position before continuing. ‘What now? What terrible sin have I committed?’ She lowered the left leg even more slowly, delicately lifting her short skirt, parting her legs and, agonisingly slowly, lowered herself to the floor in perfect splits. ‘What – could I – possibly – have done wrong – now?’
    Menander stared at her. Then he sat down and waited five minutes, ten, fifteen, until he was sure she must be in excruciating pain, though only the finest beads of sweat on her brow told him he was right. Theodora had learned all his lessons well, and the one in which she had most skill was in hiding everything but her art.
    Eventually he relented. ‘The left foot is sickled, the little toe sticks out and spoils the whole leg line. The first finger on your right hand is just out of joint with the others, your left eyebrow is slightly higher than the other, it mars the symmetry of your face.’
    Theodora let out a groaning laugh and shook her head. ‘Mother of God, I just can’t please you, can I?’
    ‘You could try shutting up for a moment.’
    But she wasn’t listening. ‘I’ve been so damn good today. I worked hard all week, all month, you know I did. Even you weren’t shouting at me quite so much.’
    ‘Then I was mistaken, your mouth is still too wide.’
    ‘I’ve been working harder than ever before.’
    ‘You need to. You’re not as perfect as you think.’
    Theodora looked at him and then smiled, raising herself, even slower this time, directly from the splits without bending either leg. ‘Or perhaps you’re not as good a teacher?’
    ‘Maybe. That’s why I asked you to stay.’
    Theodora was not expecting this, she’d been waiting for a blow, a slap, for her teacher to