In a quiet corner of a provincial museum, Evelyn discovers a meticulously preserved 1950s classroom. Desks stand aligned, rules are unbending, and a crook-handled cane rests with menace on the teacher's desk. When the enigmatic Miss Hartley offers her a hands-on lesson in history, Evelyn must decide how far she's willing to surrender to her deepest longings. Custodian of the Cane is a tale combining discipline, ritual... and desire.

Act 1 – Echoes of Discipline

The Living Museum of Yesteryear was a tapestry, each exhibit a thread woven with meticulous care to transport visitors to another time. These whispers and echoes of the past were not merely remembered, but breathed and lived. The air was thick with the scent of aged parchment and the faintest must of relics, as if the walls held memories of generations.

Evelyn wandered through the corridors, her tummy fluttering with a mix of curiosity and something else. Something closer to a thrill of anticipation. A miner’s cottage, a bathtub before a coal fire, a butcher’s shop with an apple-cheeked actor behind the counter. Each of these scenes provoked only passing smiles. But then she turned a corner and stopped.

When an old birthday custom is revived in a very off-limits location, two students at Marlebridge College find themselves unexpectedly observed, and even more unexpectedly instructed. What begins as a cheeky tradition ends with a lesson neither of them saw coming. After all, some traditions are best upheld under expert supervision...

It was 9:30pm when Edie Carlton ushered Lorna Bell from the bottom of the rear dormitory staircase and into the shadows behind the hydrangeas.

“Come on,” Edie whispered urgently, her eyes gleaming with mischief. “If we’re going to do it, it has to be tonight. Otherwise we'd have to wait another twelve months!”