It took a few minutes to reorient myself after waking up the next morning.
At first I thought I was inside a girls dress, so surrounded was I by pink
and white lace. Then recollection of where I was flooded my memory. I
laughed to myself thinking what would happen if my friends saw where I was
staying.
When getting dressed, I had to decide whether or not I should wear the
panties Charlotte had bought me. Remembering my mom’s admonition, I decided
not to. I’d strictly wear my boys underwear.
I was alone at the breakfast table. Evidently, Charlotte had already left
for work, and Lei was still sleeping. I was supposed to report to NYU that
morning so I ate quickly, washed up and was out the door before 9 AM. I
walked over to the University and signed in to begin my research project. It
was exciting to be among the college students taking summer classes; I felt
grown up and important. The professor I was to work with was kind and I felt
lucky to work with him. We discussed the line of research I would be
pursuing. He was confident I could make much progress on my own. In any
event, he would be traveling a lot during the summer, but I could contact
him through email any I time I needed help. Walking back to Charlotte’s
apartment later that afternoon, I felt like I was on cloud nine.
When I approached Charlotte’s building, I wondered what Linda would be
doing. Should I knock on her door? That thought made me nervous. On the
other hand, if I didn’t contact her I would hate myself for wasting a good
opportunity to get to know a pretty girl. I decided that I would say hi to
her soon, though not this day. I let myself back in the apartment with
the key Charlotte had given me. I was surprised to see Ethel in the kitchen.
“Hi,” I said, “what are you doing here?”
“Charlotte asked me to watch over you sons!”
“Yes, but,..”
“Well its a good thing you’ve come home before her, since if she ever saw
the way you left this place she’d throw an absolute fit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come. First stop is your bedroom,” and she took off toward it expecting me
to follow.
“How did you know this one was mine?” I asked.
“I saw your clothes in the drawers, and the new panties Charlotte bought
you. You didn’t wear them did you?”
I couldn’t believe she had gone through my drawers. “What do you mean?” I
was apoplectic, “you looked in my drawers?”
“I’m trying to take stock of the situation, until you learn the rules. You
know, Charlotte expects you to not only keep the room clean, but also the
inside of the drawers. She’s liable to inspect them anytime herself.”
“She never said anything about that!”
Ethel stopped to look at me, and smiled. “Don’t be so upset! Charlotte
prides herself on having an orderly home. You couldn’t possibly have known
about it; you’ve only just arrived! Luckily, I’m here to help you, so then
Charlotte will never notice there were any problems.”
“I don’t see how the inside of my drawer could be a problem. How did you
know I didn’t wear the panties?”
“I counted them. Charlotte specifically asked me to see if you were wearing
them, since she’s anxious to find out how you like them.”
“Why does she want to know how I like them?”
“I guess its because she’s concerned about you. But perhaps you should ask
her yourself!”
I didn’t want to mention that my mom and dad forbade me to wear them, so I
just said, “actually I forgot about them this morning. I planned to start
wearing them tomorrow.”
“Good, Charlotte will be pleased. Now I’m going to teach you how to make
your bed.” Ethel proceeded to show me how to make hospital corners with the
sheets, how to arrange the comforter, the pillows and even the dolly. She
had me do it once myself, then pointed out my mistakes and had me do it
again. To my eye it looked perfect, but she made me do it yet again. After
the third time, I said, “I can’t do it anymore. I’m tired. It looks perfect
to me!”
“No its not perfect. Charlotte will immediately notice the defects. Come try
it again.” She gave me a stern look and I obeyed.
This time she intervened at several strategic points so it came out to her
satisfaction. “Isn’t that nice? Can’t you see the difference?” To me it
seemed incredibly unimportant: I never made my bed at home. I sat down on
it after it was done and Ethel said, “no time to relax! Up, up. Take a look
around, is everything in its place?” Some of my clothes I had left on the
dresser top, and she made me put them back in the drawer. But before that we
had to go through each drawer one by one to make sure they were perfectly
neat. In the drawer with my new panties, Ethel said, “why don’t you put one
of these on now; it will please Charlotte.” While it may have been a
question it sounded like a command, and I resigned myself to taking the path
of least resistance. My mom and dad were very far away, what else could I
do. “OK, it won’t take me but a moment to change.”
She left the room, and I took off my pants and underpants and sat on the
bed. Suddenly, I felt homesick; if only my mom and dad were not so far away,
I wouldn’t have to be dealing with Charlotte and Ethel. Thinking it would
spite my parents, I took a pink panty out of the drawer and put it on, and
then redressed in my pants and opened the door. “All done,” I called, and
Ethel came back into the room. “Just like I would have bet,” she said,
pointing to my underwear lying on the carpet. “That goes in the hamper.
Remember, that no matter what you do, keep the room neat.”
“Yes,” I grumbled, “but what about Lei?” thinking that surely her room would
already look like a cyclone had struck it.
“What about Lei?” Ethel asked and she offered to let me inspect her room. It
was perfect.
“But I bet her drawers are a mess!”
“Take a look,” Ethel said.
Opening her top dresser drawer I saw her bras and panties arranged in
perfect order. It was hard to believe that she’d had a sudden conversion,
so I said, “did you help her straighten them?”
“Let me say that we did have a little discussion about it this morning, and
she agreed it was a good idea to keep things neat.”
I supposed it was no big deal for Lei. She’d be gone in a few days, so there
was no reason to complain.
I thought then that I’d be able to sit down and do some reading before
dinner, but Ethel informed me that now we were going to start making dinner
for Charlotte. “She comes back about six. I’ll show you how to make a salad,
while I rustle up some chicken. Generally, every day there will be some
other chores to do: vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, the laundry
and so forth.”
“So Charlotte wants me to be a slave,” I thought to myself.
I ended up making the salad with Ethel directing me at every turn. How to
slice cucumbers, how to dice carrots, wash the lettuce and on and on. Since
it was for Charlotte it had to be exactly how she liked it. “She’s like the
friggin queen,” I said under my breath.
Just as I was done, I could hear the sound of keys rattling in the door, and
Ethel rushed out of the kitchen to greet Charlotte. She called after me to
come join her and I left the kitchen thinking, “Jesus, what a big deal, the
queen has arrived.”
Charlotte was carrying some packages and Ethel directed me to fetch them and
put them down on the table. I was really getting resentful of her attitude.
It seemed like both she and Charlotte were fully capable of carrying the
packages themselves. Nonetheless, without voicing a complaint, I took the
packages from her hand and carried them to the coffee table.
“Smells good,” Charlotte said, and Ethel told her the menu, mentioning that
I’d made the salad. Charlotte sat down in the living room while Ethel went
to the bar to make her a drink. “Greg, let me show you how to make
Charlotte’s martini. She has one every night when she comes home.”
Now, I’m to be a bartender as well! I shook my head in amazement.
“But before that, first put her shoes on the floor just inside her bedroom.”
I could see Charlotte taking off her black heels and laying them to the side
of the sofa. “But I’m not allowed in her room,” I said facetiously.
Without missing a beat, Ethel said, “you just have to reach them in, I’m
sure you can do that.”
I gathered up Charlotte’s heels and carried them to where Ethel mentioned.
They were still warm from her feet and slightly damp.
When I came back, Charlotte was sitting comfortably on the sofa sipping her
drink and acting oblivious to me. You’d think she was Queen Elizabeth I
thought. Anyway, it looked like I could excuse myself to go to my room to
read a little until dinner, so I started to slip away.
Halfway across the living room, Ethel said, “Greg come set the table,
dinner’s almost ready. Let me show you how.”
I almost cursed aloud, but still followed Ethel into the kitchen. Obviously
I could forget about doing any reading until after dinner. Ethel showed me
where the silverware was kept, the plates and glasses and everything else
and told me to set the table for three. “Lei said she be back later.”
While I busied myself with arranging the table, Ethel sat down next to
Charlotte and began talking about something or other. It seemed to me that
she ought to be setting the table herself. I felt resentful.
When I was done I went over to Ethel to say so, and then heard myself
saying, “is there anything else?”
Charlotte said, “come sit down and tell me what you did today.”
Feeling more than a little bit flattered, I sat down near her and began
relating the story of meeting the professor and the excitement of being
around college kids. Charlotte listened politely, and then when I was just
beginning to talk about my research problem, she said, “Are you wearing the
panties? How do they feel?”
The sudden change in topic surprised me and I felt foolish for trying to
talk about the research program. “They’re OK, I guess, I hadn’t given it
any thought.” My tone was a bit aggressive and I felt more than a little
uncomfortable being reminded that I was wearing the panties my mom and dad
thought I shouldn’t be wearing.
“What color? the white ones?”
What a strange question, I thought. “No, I think I put on a pink one. Look,
why is it so important?”
Charlotte didn’t appear to hear me. “I see Ethel has been helping you get
adjusted to the apartment. Have you run across any problems?”
How about not dumping all the house chores on me, I thought. “No, everything
is great,” I lied. I couldn’t imagine voicing my complaint to her. That
would just be inviting some speech about how hard she’s working for me, or
some such BS. Perhaps I should complain about Ethel going through my
drawers, but that would have to wait until Ethel wasn’t in the room.
A buzzer went off and Ethel announced it was dinner time. It turned out
that she had made quite a nice supper. When it was over, Ethel signaled me
to clear the table, while Charlotte disappeared to her bedroom. When I was
done with the table, Ethel instructed me to wash the dishes. They were
stacked up high and included many pots she had used to cook in. I though she
was going to help me, but as soon as I started washing she left me alone in
the kitchen. I’m not that skillful at dishwashing and I fumed at the
thought of spending an hour on the job. That was almost how long it did take
until finally I was done. I was tired and irritable. “What if this happens
every damn night?,” I thought to myself.
Ethel came back in the kitchen to see how I had done. She inspected some of
the pots and then pulled out one that she said I had to wash again, “its not
perfectly clean,” and she pointed to some tiny bits of food which had stuck
to the side.
I said, “why do I have to do all the dishes?”
Ethel’s face which had had her usual smile, became dark. “Because I cooked
the dinner and Charlotte has had a long stressful day at work. It seems the
least you can do!”
But I’ve been working for a couple of hours straight! I thought, and my
research is just as stressful!
“Shall I tell Charlotte you don’t wish to help?” she asked with a warning
tone.
“No, its not that I don’t want to help, its just like I’ve been doing chores
for two hours!”
“Greg, had you taken care of your room properly, it would have only been an
hour. Anyway, once you learn the routine, you’ll get through your jobs more
quickly.”
She seemed like she was trying to be understanding, so I said, “I’m
sorry,”, even though I didn’t really feel it.
“Good. When your done, you’ll take out the vacuum cleaner and run it over
the dining room floor.”
“Yes, Ethel,” I said. “Then can I go and read?”
“Yes, but first, Charlotte would like to talk to you again.”
When I was done, I saw Charlotte sitting in the living room in an elegant
gold and silver robe with an Aztec design on it. I stood near her saying,
“Ethel said you wanted to talk to me.”
“Yes, please come sit down.”
I sat on the sofa a few feet from her.
She continued, “It looks to me like your fitting in well with the routine
around here, which I am sure is more than a little different from your
home. I’m afraid that I’m a cleanliness nut and must have a well ordered and
spotless apartment.”
I made a slight smile signifying that what she had said was certainly an
understatement.
“Anyway, I want to let you know some other details about the routine.
Mainly, on Wednesday nights my women’s circle comes to visit and I’ll need
you to help out with the meal and afterwards. The preparations start early
and I’ll need you home no later than 3:30 to begin helping Ethel. When
they’re here, I’d like you to help serve the dinner and clean up. Normally,
you can retire to your bedroom when out discussion starts. Understand?”
“Unh huh,” I said as gracelessly as I could. I saw Charlotte’s eyes widen
slightly, but then relax again.
“Splendid, Greg. I think this is really turning out lovely. Now what are you
going to do tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
“Visit a friend? That lovely girl who lives in the building?”
“No, I haven’t yet contacted her.”
“Well you ought to. She seemed like such a lovely girl.”
“I just want to do some reading tonight.”
“OK, dear, good night!” and she positioned her head as if I was to give her
a kiss on the cheek.
Surprised, I leaned over and gave her a tiny peck, and said, “Good night,”
even though it was way too early for my bed time.