pajamas. And these were cotton! What was going on? If Flora had
dressed him without waking him, he really had been exhausted!
He eased the door open and listened. Nothing. Then a door thumped,
very close. He froze, listening to footsteps in the hall – they
sounded like women’s heels. He peered out and saw Flora carrying a
tray, walking away down the hall. At least, it LOOKED like Flora. She
at least, was dressed normally. Normal that is, for this household. She
wore a black and white French maid’s uniform that looked suspiciously
like latex, and skyscraper-heeled pumps of very shiny black patent
leather. He watched her delicious legs recede down the staircase, then
glanced across the hall, and stepped quickly to the opposite door.
No sound came from inside.
“Mandy!” he hissed, not wanting to alert Flora. Nothing.
He tapped the door, very softly. Nothing. He opened the door as
quietly as he could. When he had the door almost all the way open, he
saw Mandy, lying asleep on the bed amid still more ordinary cotton
bedclothes – odd! A tray with a pitcher of water and a glass on it sat
on the bedside table.
When a soft voice said, “Shh! Don’t wake her!” behind him, he nearly
jumped out of his skin! He whirled to see Flora standing, her shoes
held in her hand, behind him. She reached past him to shut the door
quietly before she began her tirade. “Now just what do you think you’re
doing out of bed?” she hissed.
Jason opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted. “You should be
resting, you’ve had a very tough night! Now you get back in there and
lie down while I get your breakfast ready. It hasn’t been but a few
hours, and already you’re panting at her door like a rutting bull!”
Jason opened his mouth to protest that he’d only wanted to check on
her, to see how she was doing, but Flora stuffed the shiny toe of one
stilleto-heeled shoe in his mouth, stifling him.
“You’re supposed to be recovering from yesterday’s session,” she
continued, herding him toward his room, “and here you’re up and
roaming around the house!”
Jason looked sheepish at her school-marmish tone, and removed the shoe
from his mouth. She took hold of his ear and dragged him, like an errant
schoolboy, to his bedroom.
“But WHAT the hell is going on around here?” managed Jason after the
door was closed. “I thought you and Mandy were nuts about rubber, even
more than I am, and here I wake up in pajamas and sheets, no sign of
that imperious ass Dodds around, and the maid running the household!”
He grinned at her, as he waited for her answer.
She smiled in return for just a moment, destroying the firm matronly
look she had been attempting, then looked worried. She sat on the edge
of the bed, patting the comforter next to her, indicating where he could
sit. “You shouldn’t be so hard on Dodds, love, he’s really very good to
us. And don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy what we did yesterday.”
She blushed as she said this, and looked down as she continued.
“Anyway, Mandy is pretty drained from the whole thing, and she needs a
lot of rest. I’ve looked around the grounds, and Dodds really has left,
I think. He left a note in the kitchen with some suggestions for her
care. He really loves her, you know, in his own way. I think he even
took a liking to you, and I didn’t know he went for boys.”
It was Jason’s turn to blush. She continued on.
“That’s why you woke up in regular bedclothes. Mr. D reminded us that
it’s possible to overdo it – get “burned out” is how he put it, he said
we should all give it a rest.”
…End of the part82. To be continued..