As precisely as a haiku, she poured the tea into each delicate cup. She set down the teapot, decorated with a dragon motif. She passed a cup to each of the six other women sitting in the circle of her living room and lifted her own cup in a gesture of toasting her friends. And then she spoke.
“Please enjoy. This tea was first prepared for her Majesty, Empress Virginia on the occasion of the birth of the heir to her throne. It was blended to rejuvenate her, so that she could be even stronger after producing her daughter. This allowed for many more years of her reign and ample time to teach the crown princess how to rule with power and compassion.
But that isn’t the topic for our salon today. We are to take up the matter of equal rights for men. While they have been gradually progressing in their social abilities, and we certainly love our sons and consorts, their generally aggressive nature and inability to use words to express their feelings has been considered justification to limit their rights to own property, make contracts and vote in our assemblies.
Their aggressive tendencies have been curbed through special education which doesn’t over-stimulate their brains. Competitive sports are taboo and every boy is thoroughly trained in the fine arts. The smoking of marijuana and a vegetarian diet, both instituted at puberty rites, have also played an important role in the pacification of male aggression.”
. . . to be continued
-by Terra Rafael
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