| Mandm |
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| Part 30.020 ‑ Training |
This story is a complete work of fiction. Whilst some research effort has been made, nothing should be taken as factual, in particular anything to do with medical, legal, technical, political, social, educational or religious issues. Any opinions expressed are those of the characters, not necessarily the author's.
Editing here
Add references to tennis court
That afternoon, Kitty had another flipping good thought. "We ought to get training for life‑guarding and resuscitation if we're offering swimming. Maybe we should in any case after what happened to Xanthe and Zoe." They asked Pete if he knew anyone nearby who did lifeguard training, "I don't think so, there's nowhere close that would need one, even our lake isn't available for any public swimming."
Molly asked Kitty "Didn't you say that Lenny was a lifeguard trainer?" "Hardly nearby" was Kitty's reply. Midge: "We could fund him to come here, put him up for a couple of weeks. What do you think?" A quick glance between Kitty and Chloe, "We'd love to see him again, but it's been quite a few years. No idea what he's up to." "Send him an email, if he's married or something we can fund her as well. We'd really like to meet him."
A few days later, after several emails were exchanged, between them they arranged that Lenny and his wife Jasmine would come, also Holden, Harper, Jarrah and Elandra, Holden would fund the 'extras', Lenny and Jasmine would stay in the building, the others would stay in the nearby hotel for a night then do a tour of England 'Also Wales and Scotland if we can', returning to the local hotel for the last night.
Their flight arrival time was shortly after six in the morning, Pete drove Kitty and Chloe in the minibus to the airport to meet them. Having parked, Pete, Kitty and Chloe walked to the arrivals hall where they had to wait for quite a while, they'd allowed plenty of time to get there in case there were any hold‑ups on the way. As usual, there was quite a crowd waiting for the arrivals. The girls wanted to see their visitors as soon as possible, so as passengers started emerging, Pete hoisted Chloe up onto his shoulders so she could see over the crowd, which also meant that the arrivals could see her.
When she saw them, Chloe waved to attract their attention, and gesticulated towards the main exit, Pete put Chloe down and the two girls rushed to intercept their six visitors.
Kitty and Chloe gave each of them the usual hug, including the slightly surprised Jasmine, who remarked "Well, Lenny did warn me about you two."
Having introduced Pete, they made their way to the minibus, where Pete opened the rear emergency door and lifted their cases in as the group took their seats, Lenny and Jasmine in a double with Kitty in the single beside them, Holden and Harper sat together, Chloe in the single beside them, Jarrah and Elandra chose to sit in the back row.
During the trip back, Kitty handed out five SIM cards for the visitors' phones (Elandra didn't have a phone), also the appropriate tool to extract the SIM card drawer. Kitty told them that, as they'd previously discussed, they would have the use of their car during their visit, a copy of the insurance certificate they'd organised would be in the glovebox of the car when they picked it up. The certificate had on it the names of Lenny, Holden and Jarrah - they'd been assured that none of the lady visitors wanted to drive during their stay. On the certificate they'd written the number for the breakdown service that covered the car, but always "If you are in any sort of trouble, or for any other reason, please do ring us."
Pete first drove to the hotel. After making sure that Holden, Harper, Jarrah and Elandra were booked in all right and saying they'd be back to pick them up in about an hour to take them for lunch, Pete drove Lenny, Jasmine, Kitty and Chloe to the building.
Although on the way from the airport Kitty and Chloe had told the visitors a little about the way the girls usually dressed and behaved, they did repeat the warning, also saying that the girls would probably be very interested in the newcomers. If any did anything to them they didn't like, just say 'no' to them, and they would stop, though the girls would take no notice if it was amongst themselves. Always, they could take Lenny and Jasmine away from the other girls if they preferred, although he'd have to put up with the way they were dressed while he was giving them their lifeguard training.
Arriving at the building, Midge and Molly were at the front door to meet them. After their initial greetings (and inevitable hugs), Midge and Molly, carrying Lenny and Jasmine's suitcases, led them up the two flights of stairs to the small dormitory on the second floor, which was once again arranged as it had been for Lillian and Dee's stay.
"Give Kitty a ring when you're ready, we'll come here for you." When Lenny said they could meet at the front door, Midge replied "Please, we'd rather escort you." Lenny nodded, "All right."
A few minutes after Lenny phoned Kitty ‑ "We're ready", Kitty and Chloe went to the room where they found the door open and Lenny and Jasmine waiting inside. Jasmine told them "When we opened the door, there were two young ladies coming out of the room the other side, I don't know what they were wearing, but it showed more than it hid. One of them said 'I don't think we're supposed to see you yet' then something about Molly, but I didn't catch it, they ran to the stairs, both giggling." Chloe said "Well, we did warn you about what you might see." From Kitty: "You're lucky they had anything on at all. We'll introduce you later."
A few minutes afterwards, they were in the minibus on their way to the hotel to pick up the others, the four girls had put on clean dresses and their necklaces. Arriving at the hotel, Kitty and Chloe introduced Midge and Molly to Holden, Harper, Jarrah and Elandra. Midge and Molly immediately went to Elandra, each held one of her hands, they were looking at her but didn't say anything. Kitty and Chloe had to go to the twins to bring them out of the near trance they and Elandra seemed to be in to get them to the minibus.
Pete drove them to George's. Once in the foyer, Molly hurled herself at George (luckily he'd braced himself) then somewhat less violently at Charlotte. Midge introduced the visitors to Daniel, Audrey, Samuel and Natalie, who had been waiting in the foyer for them. Hands were shaken, cheeks were kissed. Molly resumed her place beside Elandra, then George and Charlotte welcomed them all and led them into the dining area, Charlotte and Pete went into the kitchen.
As he usually did for Midge, their table was placed in the centre of the dining area. It was set with four seats along each side and three at each end, Midge had asked for this arrangement to give the best chance for everyone to be able to talk to anyone else (George had said a round table with fourteen places wasn't really practical.) They sat themselves at the table, it seemed that Midge and Molly both wanted to be beside Elandra, they sat at one end with Elandra between them. Round from Midge were Natalie, Harper, Audrey and Jasmin, at the other end were Chloe, Lenny and Kitty (somehow Kitty and Chloe had shepherded Lenny to sit between them), then on the last side were Samuel, Holden, Daniel and Jarrah. Jasmine, with a smile on her face, told Lenny "Behave yourself with those two, won't you?" A somewhat red‑faced Lenny nodded, he might have been heard as he muttered "It's not me that needs telling."
Lauren and Sophie brought menus, and after placing them round, Sophie kissed Molly then Midge, Lauren did the same to Kitty and Chloe. Sophie's questioning look towards Midge was responded to by a slight shake of the head, the two waitresses laughingly skipped away, to return moments later each with a jug of water, which they proceeded to pour into the water glasses. Sophie did lean across Molly to reach Elandra's glass, just brushing the jug across Molly's breasts after Elandra's glass was filled. If anyone else noticed this, they chose to ignore it, though both Molly and Elandra were smiling afterwards. The two waitresses returned a minute later with full water jugs that they placed on the table.
As conversation started, Holden commented that there were no prices on the menu. Midge told him "They always do this for us when we dine here. We want our guests to have whatever they want without being influenced by the price."
No one said anything about this being the only table in the restaurant set without wine glasses.
After a little while, George came round to take their orders, this took quite a few minutes as several asked about items on the menu. George was happy to explain anything about any item, ingredients, how it was prepared and cooked. He took the orders from Harper, Jasmine and Elandra first, in each case standing behind them so he could look at the menu with them, see anything they pointed to, explain anything. Then it was Audrey and Natalie, followed by Jarrah, Holden, Lenny, Daniel, Samuel and finally the four girls.
After he'd gone, Harper asked "Does he have a recorder or something? He didn't write anything down." Midge told her "He's good. He remembers everything, even with anyone changing their minds. The waitresses will know who ordered what when they bring the meals out." Daniel added "Midge and Molly originally financed George and Charlotte here." To which Midge added "Only after Samuel and Daniel vetted them to see if it could work. They've done extremely well."
Sophie came out moments later, she carried a tray with some cutlery on it, she went round and adjusted the cutlery in front of some of the diners as needed for their orders. When finished, she managed to kiss Molly again as she left. Daniel, smiling, said "The waitresses are all old schoolfriends of the girls."
Some minutes later, George came out followed by Charlotte, Sophie and Lauren. George had four plates, one balanced on each arm and one in each hand, as did Charlotte and Lauren. Sophie had one plate in each hand, she placed the starters she was carrying for Harper and Jasmine, then took plates from Charlotte, Lauren and George, putting them down in the same order that George had taken their orders. As usual, this was done quickly and efficiently, as usual the four girls did get their faces rubbed by Sophie, probably not noticed by any of the others. Though maybe by Elandra and Lenny, but neither said anything.
All conversation stopped as they started eating, until Harper remarked "This is excellent." All the visitors gave murmurs of agreement, even the normally expressionless Jarrah said "It's good."
Shortly after they'd all finished, George, Sophie and Lauren came out again. Sophie picked the first empty plate up giving it to Lauren, for the rest she put the cutlery onto Lauren's plate and made a pile of the plates on George's hands. No one had left any food. With George saying "A few minutes", the three went back to the kitchen.
Conversation resumed. It seemed Natalie and Harper were getting on very well, as were Jarrah and Daniel, somehow Daniel seemed to open up the normally almost taciturn Jarrah. Audrey, Jasmine, Kitty and Chloe were chatting, Lenny was being quiet, maybe a little embarrassed, since much of their conversation seemed to be about him. Holden and Samuel were also talking, it seemed to be about their work, so likely frowned upon by either of their wives if they heard them.
Molly, Elandra and Midge weren't talking, at least out loud. The twins were gently leaning on Elandra, each holding one of Elandra's hands in their laps. All three were expressionless, but dropped their hands and smiled as George and the waitresses arrived.
Silence resumed as the main courses were brought round, just thankyous and comments on how good the starter was. While they ate, nobody talked apart from some appreciative words, conversation only resumed when people had finished. This time most had left something on their plate. When George and the waitresses came to collect their plates, everyone said it was fabulous, just too much.
It was deserts next, with similar comments afterwards. When George and the waitresses came to clear the desert dishes, George asked "Coffee or tea in the lounge?" Midge thanked him, and stood up. Audrey attracted Daniel's attention, then tapped her watch. Daniel nodded to her, then he said to the table "Well, I'm afraid we've got to go back to the office, I'll have to say my goodbyes." As they all stood, he and Audrey went round and shook hands with the guests, followed momentarily by Samuel and Natalie, "Sorry, us too, we'll hopefully see you all again." The others followed George into the lounge, where, once settled, he took their orders.
Midge and Molly sat either side of Elandra on one settee, Kitty and Chloe sat on another with Jarrah, then Jasmine and Lenny in a third, Holden and Harper a fourth. Soon all were sipping from cups of coffee.
Holden remarked on how good the restaurant was, how lucky they were to have it there. Elandra told him "Luck had nothing to do with it, Molly‑Midge knew it would work." Jasmine, the only one who was surprised by Elandra's name for the twins, asked "What do you mean?" Elandra smiled to her, "She told me." "But you never actually spoke to each other." Lenny said to Jasmine "Those three seem able to communicate without talking, and I have no idea how they do it."
Maybe trying to change the subject, Kitty said to them "We'll take you back to the building after we've done here. Now, we have warned you a little about our girls, we four as well for that matter. We tend to dress and behave somewhat unconventionally …" Jasmine interjected "You can say that again." Kitty smiled, and continued "Oh, yes, you saw a couple of them. If any of you feel uncomfortable about their dress, we can take you somewhere, er, safe. Same goes for behaviour. If they try something with you that you don't like, they'll stop if you ask them. But amongst themselves, they'll probably take no notice, but again, if you don't like it, we'll take you away from them. No one will ever do anything to hurt you.
"They'll probably be very interested in all of you, particularly the men. So ladies, please don't blame your men if the girls are interested in them. And if the men ogle the girls, don't worry, there'd something wrong with them if they didn't." Midge added "Be assured, no one will hurt any of you, just don't get in a fight with Kitty." Harper asked "You don't mean she still attacks Chloe?" Chloe: "Me and anyone else who gives her the excuse." Seeing the look on Harper's face, Midge said "Don't worry, it's all in fun, and there's no stopping her. Everyone loves a fight with Kitty. Especially Chloe." Harper just shook her head.
After they'd finished their coffee, Midge suggested they go to the building, "Let's get it over with." So they went out of the lounge, George met them to say goodbye to them. They all thanked him, Harper added "Wonderful meal, possibly the best I've ever had, so thank you." George, maybe a little embarrassed, "It's all Charlotte." "Well, thank her for me, but it's also the presentation and service." George smiled and shook her hand, as he did with the other visitors. He got kisses from the four girls ‑ Midge had to drag Molly off him. Pete led them to the minibus.
Back at the building, Midge said to them "If we take you upstairs to just see where we are, maybe have a cup of tea? All the girls want to meet you. I can see you're tired, maybe use the lift, we're on the top floor. Kitty?"
Kitty led Harper, Holden, Jarrah and Elandra to the lift, the others took the stairs. Reaching the top of the stairs, they found Kitty fending off the crowd of girls surrounding the visitors. Molly clapped her hands, "Space!"
Midge apologised, "Sorry, they do like people. Let's sit down on some settees, we'll tell you a bit about the set‑up here."
They settled into the usual settees, Jasmine and Lenny in one, the next with Harper, Holden and Midge, Kitty Elandra and Jarrah in the third, Molly and Chloe in the fourth.
Once settled, Isha came up to Midge, "Hello, Isha, what can we do for you?" "Can I make you all some tea?" Harper replied "Yes from me." There were murmurs from the others, Isha asked if anyone wanted sugar, and with no takers, she ran off to the kitchen.
When she'd gone, Ann came to Midge and said "As you asked, I got all the girls to put on dresses, but …" She tailed off. "But what?" from Midge. "Sadie, she's put on her own dress." "Where is she?" "The far side, she's reading a book." "All right, thank you, Ann. And well done for getting them all to do it." Then to the guests, Midge said "This is Ann. She's one of the more sensible ones around here, she's very good at organising the girls for whatever needs doing, so we tend to put on her for such tasks. I'd guess she would have had a lot of trouble getting them to dress properly." Ann smiled, nodded, and walked away.
Harper asked the question "What is it with the girls and dressing? You gave us the warning, but what's it all about?" Jasmine added "Yes, Lenny and I saw a couple of girls earlier, to say 'skimpy' is something of an understatement."
Midge just said "Kitty?" Kitty started to explain.
"I don't know how much Daniel's told you, but I'll give you the potted history. As you know, while Chloe and I were in Australia, our school burnt down, and after we returned we set this building up as a school, we had forty‑six girls as pupils. We found out that about twenty‑seven of those had been sterilised …" ‑ Elandra moved her hand to hold Kitty's ‑ "… and we later found some who'd left the convert earlier that were the same.
"The schooling went very well, we stopped it as a school when we could do no more for them. Over the next few months, all of the girls who were normal, well, hadn't been mutilated, left to go on with new lives, but the rest of us carried on living in the building. Now we come to the bit which you might not like, Daniel and the others certainly didn't. Midge, stop me if necessary.
"For a while Midge and Molly had been dreaming up what happened next. We converted the building into what we called a club." Another pause, then "An adiult club."
The only one who reacted was Harper, who put her hand to her mouth, but didn't say anything. Kitty looked at Midge, who nodded to her.
"One or two of the similarly afflicted girls who'd previously left the convent joined us. We set up the building as it is now. It was called a club mostly because that was the original planning permission for the building, it was really more like a theatre. Without going into too much detail, Midge and Molly would put on an act that many would find very shocking. The audience, we called them members, came as couples, each couple had a private viewing booth, each booth had a hostess. When the acts were finished, if the couples wanted to, they could stay the night. Many of the couples learnt new ways to enjoy each other. Oh, no couple would ever see any other couple, there was strict privacy. I say 'was' because a few weeks ago we ended as a club.
"We all still like to dress provocatively."
Midge: "Thank you Kitty. If any of you have any questions, we'll try to answer them, but some questions we won't answer."
The visitors all seemed a little stunned, and in the silence Isha arrived with another girl, each was carrying a tray with mugs of tea on them, they placed the tea onto the coffee tables in front of the settees. Midge introduced the girl, "This is Xanthe. She's one of the ones involved in our lake accident, so she's at least partly to blame for your being here." Jasmine asked "Aren't you one of the two we saw earlier?" "Yes, but …" ‑ she stage whispered ‑ "… don't tell Molly, we weren't supposed to be seen by you." Then, in a more normal voice, as if to change the subject, "The tea should be all right, Kitty didn't make it."
Naturally, Kitty jumped up and went for Xanthe, within a couple of seconds they were wrestling on a mat that was nearby. Isha sat down in Kitty's place beside Elandra to watch, without thinking she took hold of Elandra's hand. After a second Elandra reacted by crying out, then putting her other hand on Isha's forehead, Isha slumped against Elandra.
Hearing Elandra's initial cry, Kitty and Xanthe stopped fighting and joined the others looking at Elandra and Isha. After a few seconds, Elandra took her hand away, she sat back, tears streaming down her face. Midge and Molly both stood up and went to Elandra, Midge picked up the unconscious Isha. Molly sat where Isha had been beside Elandra, she leant towards her until their foreheads touched, both closed their eyes.
Maybe twenty seconds later, the two opened their eyes, Elandra said "Thank you" to Molly, then to the others "Sorry about that, but the poor girl." When Jasmine asked "What's the matter?" Elandra shook her head, Molly answered for her. "Please, she's not going to tell you. Best to drop the subject." Then, quietly to Elandra, "Maybe you shouldn't look into any of the others, they've all had upsetting pasts." Elandra looked down and shook her head.
Molly stood up and went back to her place beside Chloe, Midge put the still unconscious Isha back beside Elandra who touched Isha's forehead with a finger. Isha woke and, apparently unaware she'd been unconscious, promptly asked "Fight over? That was quick." She got up, took Xanthe's hand, and the two picked up the empty trays and carried them back to the kitchen.
Chloe asked Midge "Show them Sadie? A bit of light relief?" Midge grinned, then to the guests "We'll get Sadie over, her dress is beyond unconventional. If you don't like it, tell us and we'll stop her." Molly called out "Sadie?"
They saw a girl on the far side of the room stand and place the book she'd been reading on the coffee table in front of her. She turned and walked unhurriedly towards them. As she got nearer, the reactions started. Lenny gulped quite loudly, Jasmine said "Wow!" followed by "Wow, wow, wow." Holden: "My god!", Harper's eyes seemed to double in size, her mouth dropped open. Elandra smiled, Jarrah took Elandra's hand, but didn't say anything, just continued looking at Sadie.
Sadie stopped a few feet from the settees and waited. Midge said to her "I think they'd all like to see your dress, could you show them, please?" Sadie walked to the end settee where Jasmine and Lenny were sitting. The two just looked at her as she slowly rotated, giving them plenty of time to see her from every angle, Lenny just staring, Jasmine slowly shaking her head, but with her eyes fixed on Sadie.
Sadie paused for a few seconds after she was back facing them, then moved to stand in front of Harper and Holden. Harper managed to ask "Is that really what it looks like?" Sadie leant forward, took Harper's hand and placed it on her tummy so that Harper could feel Sadie's skin. Harper moved her hand a bit, using her fingers to feel one of the threads that made up the spider's web dress. Sadie stayed completely still while Harper's hand moved down. Sadie continued to stand motionless as Harper moved her hand to Sadie's chest. Harper seemed to realise what she was doing and snatched her hand back. Sadie waited a couple of seconds, and, still without expression, slowly revolved until she'd completed a full turn.
Now she walked along to stand in front of Elandra and Jarrah, and did her slow turn. Back facing the front, Elandra smiled to her and said "You are truly beautiful." Sadie bent forward and gave Elandra a kiss full on the mouth, held it for several seconds, then stood back. Midge said "Thank you, Sadie", Sadie turned and walked slowly away, the staring watchers saw her pick up her book and settle back in her chair.
Chloe all this while had been smiling, "Impressive, isn't she, our resident part‑time somewhat unorthodox goth. Drink your tea, it'll get cold."
There was silence while they drank their tea, then Harper whispered something in Holden's ear, Holden nodded, and said "I think we're all rather tired, perhaps we should go to the hotel now." Midge looked worried, "It's not that you've been upset, is it?" Holden shook his head, "No, it's just a long flight from Sydney to London, and of course the jet lag, inside we're in the small hours." As something of a quiet afterthought "Even with Sadie waking us up."
Having got assurances from Harper, "Just amazed", and from Holden, "Daniel had told me something, so I suppose not entirely unexpected", they stood up. Kitty asked "You're all right to drive the car to the hotel? Or we could ferry it there and Pete could drive you?" Holden replied "No, as I said, Sadie certainly got me awake, it should last until we get to the hotel." Kitty got her phone out, after a brief conversation on it, she turned to Holden, "Pete's bringing the car to the front door, he'll have the satnav set for the hotel."
Lenny and Jasmine said their goodbyes to Harper, Holden, Elandra and Jarrah, and "Enjoy your holiday." Harper did make a remark to the two, "I hope they're not too much for you one way and another." Midge and Molly went with the departees in the lift, Kitty and Chloe ran down the stairs and were picking themselves up at the bottom as the group walked past to the front door, Midge and Molly ignored them, Harper stopped to help them up. Outside the front door was the car, Pete had opened all the doors. With Harper having given final hugs to Midge, Molly, Chloe and Kitty, they drove off.
Midge asked Pete "Petrol?" Pete replied "Full tank." "Thank you."
Back upstairs they found a group of girls around Lenny and Jasmine, Xanthe sitting beside Jasmine, the others sitting or kneeling on the floor in front of them. They seemed to be talking about swimming.
Other girls around the floor were reverting more to type. Midge went to Jasmine and Lenny "Are you all right? We'll take you somewhere safer if you prefer." Jasmine shook her head "Thank you, but I think we'll have to get used to them." "Okay, but let us know if anything's wrong or upsetting.
"We'll have tea here a bit later rather than go out, we generally find one meal at George's in a day is quite enough. Probably just sandwiches. No, Xanthe." Jasmine looked questioningly at Midge, who explained "Xanthe would have said something about Kitty making them, hoping for another fight."
Kitty and Chloe went to the settee next to Jasmine and Lenny's, Molly and Midge to the next, they were just watching what was going on.
A little later, Jasmine said "Sorry, girls, I think we need a nap, I'm shattered." Midge asked Jasmine "Are you all right? Do you need anything?" "No, thank you, we're fine, maybe an hour or so." Midge nodded, "It'll probably be teatime then, come up when you're ready. Kitty, I expect they'll be all right, but go with them to make sure they find their room."
Kitty took them down the flight of stairs to the dormitory floor and led them to their room. Jasmine thanked her, then asked "You said something about showing couples how to enjoy themselves, them learning new ways. What did you mean?" Kitty smiled, "Midge and Molly as part of the show would demonstrate all sorts of things, very often people don't really know what they actually have, nor how to get the best for their partner or for themselves."
By this time Lenny, probably a little embarrassed by the talk, had gone into the room. Jasmine asked Kitty "If we wanted, could you still do that? Help us?" Kitty smiled again, "I'm sure we could, in fact we'd love to." A pause, then "Maybe not Chloe or me because of our history with Lenny, but certainly Midge and Molly.
"We would still go by the club rules, privacy, no one outside these walls will know anything that happens, and no one does anything they don't want to, 'no means no' are absolutes for everyone."
Jasmine thanked Kitty, then "Maybe I could ask you in a day or so?" "Yes, of course, just be certain you both really want it, things would get very intimate, although again, we would stop immediately if you wanted. Is it right if I tell them about this conversation? It won't go beyond Chloe and the twins unless you want someone else." "Yes, of course. Thank you"
Kitty then told Jasmine they could come up any time after their rest, they'd make them sandwiches whenever, it was no trouble at all.
A few hours later, they'd had their tea, and were sitting on the top floor. Midge said to them "There are other residents who live in cottages in the grounds, we'd like you to meet them, we don't want anyone thinking there's anyone around who shouldn't be. Kitty, could you get Doc and Emma?"
Kitty took out her phone and had a quiet conversation, then "They'll be a few minutes. Doc is a very good doctor, Emma a nurse."
Midge: "We'll take you to see the others after you've met Doc, you'll be able to see some of the grounds as well."
Ten minutes later, Doc and Emma arrived, they walked with arms round each other's waist towards the group. Midge got up to do the introductions, Jasmine and Lenny stood, they shook hands. Doc said "Pleased to meet you, I'll be very interested to see if you do the same methods we've been taught."
After they'd chatted for a few minutes, Doc and Emma left them, Doc's parting comment "We'll see you tomorrow." When they'd left, Midge said "If anyone is ill or hurt, there's no better pair to deal with them.
"Right, if you're ready?" They got up, Midge led them to the stairs. Kitty said to them "We all normally use the stairs, helps keep us fit. If you like, we can use the lift instead, just ask if we're together, or use it when you're on your own. Chloe, barely audibly, "Just don't ask me to use it."
A few minutes later they arrived at Dee and Lillian's cottage, Midge opened the front door, "Anyone at home?" They heard Lillian's voice call out, "Sitting room." Midge led Jasmine and Lenny through, followed by Molly, Chloe and Kitty. As they went through, Lillian and Dee got up from the settee they were sitting in, Midge introduced them all. After the usual greetings, Jasmine, smiling, said "There seem to be other occupants here." She'd seen two small faces peering out from behind the settee. Kitty and Chloe went round and picked up the two, Lillian introduced them, "These are Milly and Kyle. Say hello to our guests." Both responded with a "Hello", Jasmine smilingly walked to them, held out her hand to Milly who took it, Jasmine said "How do you do?" Lenny, grinning, went to Kyle and copied what Jasmine had done, both little ones said "Pleased to meet you" then turned their heads away, struggled to get down from Kitty and Chloe, then ran from the room.
Lillian said "They're a bit shy, they'll come round when they're more used to you being here. Can I offer you a cup of tea or something?" Midge declined, "We've just had our tea, and we're going to Jane's after here, we want them to try the shortbread, but another time." Lillian laughed, "Yes, I can understand that." After a little more talk, and asking if they could get involved with Lenny's training, the six left them.
Midge did point out Doc and Emma's cottage, "They won't want you knocking on their door, if you want them for anything, ask one of us or any of the girls, they'll ring them for you. Oh, Pete as well, of course."
On the way to Roy and Jane's cottage, Jasmine remarked "It's a lovely round here, is this all part of your grounds?" Midge replied "Yes, and much of the woodland there. You're welcome to explore, the boundaries are obvious." Molly added "But please don't go where you can be seen from the road." Jasmine looked questioningly at her, but Molly didn't expand, in any case they'd reached Roy and Jane's cottage.
The front door had been open, as they approached Jane was just coming to it. "Saw you coming. You must be Jasmine and Lenny, we've heard a lot about you. I'm Jane." As she led them into the sitting room, Roy was standing up, "Hello, I'm Roy, very pleased to meet you. Please, sit yourselves down." Seeing Jasmine and Lenny looking at just two chairs and one settee, Kitty told them "The settee, we usually sit on the floor."
After a few pleasantries, Jane offered them tea, this time Kitty said "Yes please." Molly asked "Any shortbread?" Jane laughed, "I know that's the only reason you ever come here." She went out of the sitting room before anyone could respond, Kitty followed her to the kitchen. While they were gone, Roy answered the visitors' questions about the estate, its extent, some of its history.
When Kitty and Jane returned, they were each carrying a tray, Jane's had mugs of tea that she took round, she was followed by Kitty, whose tray had a dinner plate with a pile of Jane's shortbread biscuits and some tea plates. They each took a tea plate and a biscuit from the pile, except Molly, who took two. Inevitably, all of them took a second after they'd finished their first.
Half an hour later they returned to the building, where, having got to the top floor, Jasmine and Lenny said they'd like to retire. Midge said to them "You can have your breakfast with us up here, or we can bring you whatever you like to your room. Oh, breakfast can sometimes get a little wild, as can any meal for that matter. If you want it in your room, give Kitty a ring, if you want to join us, any time around half eight or nine, that's our usual time, but later if you want."
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All the girls had gathered near the boathouse, Lenny wanted to demonstrate how to swim to help someone in trouble in the water, but he started with resuscitation.
He asked for six volunteers, every girl with the exception of the twins, Kitty, and Chloe stepped forward, soon there was quite a bit of pushing and shoving as well as a lot of laughter. Molly clapped her hands, they all stopped. Midge said "Girls, this is serious, we're dealing with saving lives here, I don't want any frivolity. Now, you six on the end, get into pairs."
With the six girls paired off, Lenny started. "Firstly check for a pulse." He showed them how to do this, placing two fingers on the neck, "You may have to search a little to find it. If you can't, or it's weak or irregular, act as if there isn't one. We'll start assuming this. I'm going to show you how to try to resuscitate someone by demonstrating with Jasmine." Jasmine lay down, he knelt down beside her. He tipped her head back "To make sure her airways are clear."
Lenny started working on her, he counted out loud for thirty chest compressions, pinched her nose and breathed into her mouth, then he repeated the cycle. He told them that he wasn't pressing as hard as they needed to, it would be quite painful, bruising of the chest was expected if it was hard enough. He also told them to check for a pulse every few cycles, if they got a good pulse they could dispense with the chest compressions, just do the breaths. But, again, check the pulse periodically, if it stops or goes bad again, go back to compressions as well as breaths.
After he'd done a few cycles, he said that if they were successful, and the patient started breathing without help, they should put them into the recovery position, again, he explained what he was doing as he demonstrated on Jasmine. "Put the near arm at right angles to the body … move their other hand over to their cheek nearest to you … raise their far knee and use it to pull them onto their side keeping their hand under the cheek … make sure their airways are unobstructed. Continue to check they are breathing until medical help arrives."
He then went to one of the pairs of girls, "Your names?" "I'm Paula, she's Deborah." "Okay, just you two at the moment, Deborah, you lay down, Paula, let's see you have a go."
With both of them grinning, Deborah did lay down on her back, Paula hitched the skirt of her dress up so she could put one knee either side of Deborah. Lenny said "It's usually done from the side, but that should work. Now, hold your hands as I did, you press on the victim's right side of their breastbone …" ‑ a yelp from Deborah ‑ "… no, not on her breast … yes. Now, quite quickly, but at a brisk constant rate, press-press-press … yes, keep going like that until you've done thirty." Lenny waited until Paula had done maybe thirty‑three, "You weren't counting. Stop the pressing, take a good breath, pinch the victim's nose, put your mouth over hers ‑ oh, put your hair to one side so it doesn't get in the way. The idea is to expel your lungs and fill hers … that's not bad, now back to pumping, but keep count."
This time Paula did count, and after the thirty, she pinched Deborah's nose, put her mouth into position, breathed out, but held her mouth there, the two were suddenly embracing and kissing.
Molly immediately went to the pair, she grasped Paula either side of her ribs, lifted her bodily, did a rapid three‑quarter turn and released Paula, throwing her some thirty feet or so, well out into the lake. Molly completed her turn, picked up Deborah and did exactly the same thing again.
There was stunned silence except for Isha, she yelped and ran to Kitty, trying to hide behind her from the twins.
The two in the lake floundered their way to the shore, crawled out on hands and knees, and just stayed there, bedraggled, water dripping from their hair and dresses, clearly not daring to get any closer to the others.
Midge, quite loudly to all of them, "You were told, this is serious, you will do this properly. Now, you two, back here, start again, this time behave."
The two stood up, and walked quite cautiously back to where they were, both shivering, maybe from the cold, but possibly out of fear. The twins moved to where Kitty and Isha were, Midge hugged the still visibly shaking Isha, Molly whispered something in her ear which seemed to calm her down a bit.
The session continued, the other two pairs also practising the method, taking it in turns as to who was the victim and who was doing the resuscitation, Lenny going between the pairs to help them perfect what they were doing.
When he was satisfied with them he told them they could stop. The twins went to him, "Probably enough for now, maybe we should break for lunch."
Kitty made the announcement, "All right girls, inside, could someone make some sandwiches for lunch?" It was clear they were all still wary of doing anything that might annoy the twins, no one said anything about Kitty making sandwiches.
Back on the top floor, a buffet soon appeared on one of the tables, sandwiches, quiches, salad. There were plates and some cutlery on the other, a trolly was brought out with mugs of tea.
None of the girls took anything from the tables until Lenny, Jasmine, the twins, Kitty and Chloe had taken some, they sat in the same group of settees they'd been in before, Chloe sitting next to Kitty. The other girls, in almost complete silence, went to help themselves. When Deborah and Paula had got theirs, they sat as far away from the twins as they could.
Eventually conversation amongst the girls could be heard, even a little quiet laughter. When there was sufficient noise so that others wouldn't hear them, Kitty said to Molly, "You've really scared them. Me too." "And me" from Chloe. Alternating every few words, the twins said "We are glad" "it happened, it" "made them all" "realise how important" "this is. We" "wouldn't hurt them." Jasmine asked "How could you throw them like that? It looked so easy for you."
Kitty asked "Can I tell her?" Midge nodded. Kitty said to Jasmine "Lenny knows this already, the twins have quite amazing speed and strength, I'd say unique except Elandra suggested there might be others like them. And if they'd wanted to hurt the girls, they'd be hurt. Molly knew exactly what she was doing. You may have noticed, they landed well away from the shore where the water is pretty deep, neither was near the slipway, and Deborah well away from Paula. Both are quite good swimmers. No chance of getting hurt."
Chloe added "That's the first time either has done anything like that with any of the girls. Bet they behave in future." After a few seconds, Kitty suggested to Midge and Molly, "Maybe do a 'forgive and forget' talk?" Midge, smiling, nodded, "Yes, we'll say something to them all after they've finished eating." Kitty nodded and called out "Isha". Isha got up from where she was, she'd been talking with Paula and Deborah. She started running, but as she neared the group, she slowed and walked to Kitty, looking warily towards the twins. Kitty said to her "Isha, could you spread the word, we want to talk to everyone after we've all finished eating?" Isha ran away and over the next few minutes went to the various groups of girls, there were a few anxious looks towards the twins.
Half an hour later, Midge called out "All right, girls, gather round." Soon there was a semicircle of girls sat in front of the settee that Midge and Molly were sitting on, there was dead silence.
Midge started "We are sorry we had to do that, we are not sorry we did do it. You all know why we did it, you all know if we hadn't, all of you would have messed about like those two, am I right?"
A few of the girls did nod, there were some murmurs of agreement.
"All right, then. You know that most of the time you all do pretty much whatever you want, behave however you like. But it is particularly disrespectful to Lenny and his family, who came here on a twenty‑five hour flight all the way from Australia, to teach you how to save lives. We all should have these skills, we don't know when they might come in useful, non‑swimmers as well. Remember, it might be after some accident where water wasn't involved, it could be in town, a someone gets knocked over, bangs his or her head, a heart attack even, they need to be kept alive until paramedics get to them. I know you would want to help.
"Now, I think we'll do no more this afternoon, we'll resume tomorrow morning. Paula, Deborah, stay, the rest of you can do whatever you like."
When the crowd had dispersed, leaving Paula and Deborah standing in front of the twins, both looking maybe a little frightened, Midge smiled and told them "Girls, you were unlucky to be the first to try resuscitation. I am quite sure any of the rest would have behaved exactly the same, we felt we needed to show how serious we take this. I don't think either of you was hurt at all?" Two head shakes, Deborah did manage "No, not hurt, just very shocked, and frightened flying through the air."
"Good, now, come here. The twins both stood up and held their arms out, they gave Deborah and Paula a good hug and a kiss. Then Molly said "Join us in our bedroom tonight, we'll kick Kitty and Chloe out." Midge: "Help you recover from the shock." Molly: "Now, bugger off."
Deborah and Paula were both smiling as they walked hand-in-hand back to where they'd been, they were soon being questioned by others, quite quickly the general noise level went up to nearer normal.
Next morning Lenny gets all of them practising resuscitation, in the afternoon they start rescuing swimmers.
3 types, unconscious, cooperative, panicky
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Some weeks later, Daniel phoned Midge to tell them that planning permission had been granted, they were free to go ahead. When she announced this to the girls, there were the usual cheers and mobbing of the four, they only stopped when Molly yelled "Nothing will happen if you don't let us get things started."
Samuel was asked to release money to conform with Benny's payments for the building modifications, also for Rachel's dresses. Rachel needed to measure all the girls, she and Holly went to the building on a Sunday so they wouldn't have to close the shop when it would normally be open. It seemed the girls wanted to be ready for her, they generally behaved themselves, Molly had given them the warning that Rachel might just walk out if they didn't.
When the two had finished measuring, they went down to the office, and over coffee discussed timescales and some details. "What about the pattern?" from Rachel. Chloe went to a cupboard and brought out a carpet sample, "This is what we have decided on for the carpet." Rachel asked "Can we borrow it? Holly can do a search for something."
Three days later found them in Rachel's shop, Holly showed them a sample of material laid over the carpet swatch, it was an excellent match in colours and pattern, though obviously smaller. "Perfect" all four girls said together. Laughing at them, Holly asked "Have you considered shoes?" Kitty replied "We'd thought lightweight white trainers, neat, casual." Holly nodded, "Maybe put in laces the same colour as the lace trim and flower petals?" "Never thought of that" from Kitty. Chloe muttered "So, she's not that clever, doesn't think of everything" to which Midge immediately, and quite firmly, said "Kitty, NO."
Chloe and Kitty both looked disappointed, Kitty just said "Later." Then "Let's see Henrietta when we're done here." Chloe muttered "Dammit, that's another good idea." Midge once again firmly said "NO."
After making sure they were all agreed on what Rachel was doing for them, they went to the shoe shop and asked Henrietta about trainers for all their girls. Henrietta said "Holly thought you might be in here for something. When can I measure you all?" Midge replied "Any time you like, we're completely free." Kitty asked "Could you come now? You can come with us in the minibus, Pete can run you back when you're finished." This time, Midge said "Chloe, NO." Henrietta frowned, "What's that about?" "Oh, Kitty and Chloe have been looking for any excuse to have a punch‑up. I think they're excited about what we're doing."
After Henrietta had had a word with her colleague, she said that yes, she could come straight away. Midge immediately phoned Ann, the others heard "Hello, we're coming in with Henrietta to measure the girls' feet. Please ask everyone to be on the top floor and dressed properly." Midge listened for a moment, laughed, and said "No, dresses. … Thank you, see you shortly." Turning to the others, she said "The word 'properly' means different things to different people. I think it will be safe for you."
Two weeks later, Benny started work. He thought the work itself wouldn't take more than a couple of weeks, another week for decorating, then the carpet and stage floor fitters would want a week after that. "The garage will be done at the same time."
During one of the frequent discussions the four had, Kitty suggested they should get some guests in, both training for the girls and as a test for the whole guest house in terms of facilities, eating and so on. The others agreed, then the obvious question was who?
Midge suggested Daniel, Audrey, Samuel and Natalie. Molly suggested Jack and Jenny. And Chloe asked "What about Babs, Gloria and Graham?"
They spent quite a while discussing the possibilities. There were problems that they could see with them all. After a minute or so of silence, Kitty said "Maurice and Conner." A brief pause, then "And Red." Silence for a few seconds, then Midge said "As couples, they would all work well, but Kitty, are you sure about Red?" "Yes" was her immediate response. "I'd very much like to see how they're getting on."
A little more discussion, Midge said "I think this could work. We do a long weekend for them. We want to test out Monday, we want several days to see how our girls cope. So, invite them for a Friday night, they depart the following Wednesday, that way they won't leave with a bad impression of the food if the meals failed on the Monday. We do it the first time that George can do three couples for Friday dinner through to Tuesday dinner, then we invite those three couples. And we'll ask Charlotte about meals for Monday. Agreed?"
Before anyone else could say anything, Chloe asked "Do we actually know that Maurice and Conner are married? They only said they'd got engaged, and we've not heard anything. Benny's not mentioned it, and I would have half expected to have been invited."
Midge got on the phone, the others heard "Yes, hello, Benny … No, nothing wrong. This may seem a funny question, but did Maurice and Conner get married? … Oh, are they? So, if we invited them to be trial guests here for a few days, you and Maisy would be all right with it? … No, no charge, this is to test what we are doing, see how our girls cope, something of a training run. … Yes, we thought so. … No, I think we'd rather invite them directly, lots of details to sort. … Oh, not sure, just a mo."
She turned to the others, "Do we have contact info for them?" After three head‑shakes, she was back on the phone, "No we don't. I'll put Kitty on, she holds all our contacts." Midge passed her phone to Kitty, "Hello, Benny. Yes, phone numbers and email addresses please, Maurice first? … And Conner? … Yes, got those, thank you. …" Kitty turned to Midge, "Was there anything else?" When Midge shook her head, into the phone Kitty said "No that's it, thank you. … 'Bye."
Midge was about to say something, Kitty held up a finger, "Wait one, mustn't get the numbers confused." She tossed Midge's phone back to her, got her own out, and twenty seconds later, "Right they're in the system."
Midge nodded, then "Benny says they aren't married, they're living together as partners, so we can treat them as married. Benny does think our doing a trial run is a very good idea. Right, when we know the dates, I'll email them all." Kitty asked "Can I do Red?" Midge nodded, "Of course."
Meanwhile, Rachel and Holly had delivered a batch of dresses, she'd done one for each of them. She said she would do the other two for them all when they'd tried on the first. "I'm not too sure we got the measurements quite right, they were fidgeting and giggling most of the time when we put tape measures on them." She also delivered the trainers from the shoe shop, the laces were a dark pink, the same as some of the flower petals on the dresses and the lace edgings.
The girls all put their dresses and trainers on as soon as they were brought to the top floor. Midge told them not to tear them or modify them in any way, they were to remain looking as they were. There was a lot of play, seeing how the dresses moved.
Midge and Molly, after they'd done their own playing, told the girls to come to them so that Kitty, Chloe and they could check on the fits. With much smoothing of hands over dresses, they didn't find anything wrong. While they were doing this, Isha ran off, she came back a minute later, she went to Kitty and pinned a piece of cloth just under Kitty's embroidered name. Isha immediately ran off, howling with laughter, ten seconds later Kitty was chasing after her. When she caught up to her, Kitty grabbed one of her wrists, one of her ankles, spun her round in the air and hurled her onto a settee, with enough force that the settee was pushed back on its castors, Isha left lying on it in a crumpled heap.
Kitty walked back to where most of the girls were standing, all looking in amazement at her. That simply wasn't how Kitty would treat anyone, let alone someone much smaller than she was. Then they saw the cloth pinned to Kitty's dress. On it was embroidered a black silhouette of a witch astride a broom, underneath embroidered in the same dark pink lettering as her name on her dress, 'The wild wicked witch'.
After a minute or so, a couple of girls went to where Isha was, they helped her to her feet. Isha was soon half walking, half being carried, back to where Kitty was standing, Isha was totally incapable of doing anything but laugh. Kitty and Isha were immediately hugging each other, now both laughing.
It seemed that Kitty's apparent violence was quite carefully controlled, there was never any intention of hurting Isha. Eventually, Isha managed to explain that she'd asked Holly to do the embroidered cloth when she was being measured, and Holly had passed it to Isha when they were delivering the dresses, Isha being one of those who'd volunteered to help bring the dresses up.
Midge sent out emails to Conner and Maurice, outlining what they were doing, and specifying the dates for their stay, also offering to pick them up if they couldn't easily get to the building. Meanwhile Kitty, away from everyone, phoned Red. They had quite a long conversation, after which Kitty emailed him with the dates and the pickup offer. She returned to the others with a slight smile on her face, they didn't ask her about her conversation, they could tell she wouldn't want to talk about it. She just said "Yes, they're coming."
Kitty suggested to Midge that they should get George to have a talk to the girls about waitressing, most hadn't been to a restaurant other than to George's on one of their playing lunches, when nothing about the proceedings was anything like normal. Between them, they arranged for George to come to the building one Monday. When Pete, accompanied by Kitty and Chloe, went to fetch him, they found that Charlotte, Sophie and Lauren were waiting with him. Sophie said "Charlotte doesn't trust your girls around George, nor George around your girls, so we've come to chaperone him." Charlotte, smiling, "Actually, with so many, we thought we could each take a smaller number, easier to talk to them."
George, possibly a little embarrassed, said "I asked if they could help, it will be a lot easier than me on my own." Charlotte added "In spite of all the temptations your girls put in George's way, I do trust him. Well, maybe. Possibly except for Molly, about her I'm not so sure." The two hugged each other.
Arriving at the building, as they went through the glass door, Molly hurled herself at George. Luckily Pete had followed him in, managed to stop him falling backwards. Releasing him, Molly gave Charlotte a hug and a kiss, "Glad you've come as well, or I might have run off with George." Laughing at her, Charlotte said "I don't think he would survive you for very long." "Probably not."
Meanwhile, Sophie and Lauren were being welcomed by the crowd of girls who had gathered for their training session. After a few minutes, Midge clapped her hands, "Alll right, let's not waste George's time."
George said "Perhaps I can address you all, then we could do some trials? "The girls sat themselves in a group on the floor, all facing George.
"All right" he started. "First rule, never be rude to a customer, never answer back, never lose your temper. The customer is always right, even if he, or she, is wrong. If they have a complaint or seem unreasonable, wait until they stop talking, or shouting, then politely ask them if they'd like to speak with your manager. If they say 'yes', don't say anything, just come and fetch me. If they say 'no', if you can easily deal with whatever it is, do so, if not, politely excuse yourself, come and see me.
"And if anyone lays a finger on you in any sort of anger, you are entitled to scream and run to me, though you will have to accept that some people are touchers, some in a nice way, often as part of a thankyou, sometimes inappropriately. If inappropriate is the case, just back away, make it clear by your actions that their advances are unwelcome. If it becomes persistent, come to me.
"However, the vast majority of people are very reasonable, I've only given you the warnings because they can happen. I expect you've all heard about Sophie's experience, that was a one in a million occurrence to be hurt like she was."
He continued "You are all inexperienced as waitresses, so I'll run through some generalities, then how I want you to do your job. Firstly, your customer. Everyone is an individual, but they tend to fall into certain types from our point of view.
"Some like to be fawned over, they want you stood near them so you are at their beck and call, they expect you to come to them by a glance in your direction, maybe just a raised finger. They will be impatient, and will expect total subservience. They are often showing off to a companion or companions, to show their importance. I'm afraid that you have to suck up to them.
"Others don't want you stood over them, if they want something, they will look at you and indicate, maybe by a nod or a raised eyebrow, with or without the finger.
"There are the shyer ones, 'I don't want to bother anyone, even though I would like another drink'. These need a bit of help, particularly if you see them playing with an empty glass. Go to them, wait until they look up at you, politely ask them if they would like something. And do make time for these, even if there are more demanding customers trying to hog you, every customer is just as important as every other customer.
"Perhaps the most difficult are the first ones I spoke of, the show‑offs, particularly if you are already dealing with another customer and they call you while you are walking by. Best way to manage them is if there's another waitress who sees this happening, she comes and serves him, leaving you to carry on with your first task. It is very annoying for a customer if he or she sees their waitress being side‑tracked. If there isn't another waitress available, politely say something like 'I'll just pass this on and be back to you directly'.
"I've made it all sound a lot more difficult than it is, though I'm not saying it's always easy. However, for the sort of guests you'll be dealing with, I don't think you'll have any such problems."
Editing here
Previous section, 30C010
Next section,
30.030
Introduction
Mods to building:
| • | Reception area |
| • | Breakfast dining area ‑ use current downstairs dining room? All one table, may want separate tables; |
| • | Guest lounge; |
| • | Theatre; |
Decor, external appearance, glass entrance door? Flower beds? Roy a gardener? Couple of girls do gardening? (In inappropriate dress?)
Possible employment Min Max
Chef(s) & waitress(es) for George and Charlotte 2 4
Staff for hotel 2 6
Assistant for Jack and/or Graham (long distance) 1 2
Assistant for Daniel and/or Samuel 1 2
Ann back to Chemists 1 1
Reopen cafe that closed soon after Charlotte & Sofie left 3 4
Total 10 19
The four to have holiday in Australia, David captain on way out, Tony on way back? Sit in economy so four together, other flight staff recognise Kitty and Chloe; Meet Holden, Harper, Lenny (now married), Jarrah and Elandra (married to each other) twins and Elandra have long silent discussions;