Wednesday, 17 June 2009
It is morning-I am up. I must be going for a record-- I have not had on a stitch (not counting shoes) since Sunday afternoon... that's what? --two and a half days, and will be three and a half by tomorrow. It's just been too pleasant. And Daddy is still away-- Mother got a call from him last night that he had driven down to the house in Lewes last night to pick up things for the boat and drove right back up to his brother's house in NJ. He asked if Jessy or I wanted to come along and I think at least I was in bed by then and Mother said we were just having too nice a time here to be disturbed. I am sure he knew what that meant.
Mother is full of happy thoughts and happy comments and cute little smiles, as though she likes being queen of a house full of naked girls. Yesterday she was in a bikini all day-- her blue-and-white striped one. She honestly looks about 20 in a bikini. (She's 27 and has had two babies.) Together we have all been gardening, raking, sweeping, even doing a bit of painting like round beyond the garage. Little J.J. (age 3-1/2) is the only male-- and may I say the only one of us who doesn't work. He's built a sand village in the side yard, bordered by the tall grass along the water, the tall grass and shrubs along the preserve, the garage and the garden wall. It's probably fifty feet on a side and is pretty well planned-- there are a few houses (stacks of bricks) and roads between them all and the place is cluttered with trucks and cars. Lisa and Jessy sometimes go over there and help him. He is grateful for the help, rather like a young king (or prince in this case) newly proud of his own domains. No one challenges his authority over Sandtown and so he remains placated.
The surprise this week is that Jessy's friend Josie came over. Mother of course for the door, having put on her cover-up shirt, and gave Josie fair warning. 'Oh,' Josie said, 'well if she doesn't mind--!'
Jessy appeared on the mezzanine above her-- naked of course. 'Come on up!' she said-- and thus the situation was resolved. Next I saw of them they were both skipping-- I mean really SKIPPING-- out the back door, and I went out with Lisa later and joined them. So Josie has become the very first one of our friends to take up with us as we are. I expected her to be concerned about sunburn but she was actually not very white at all. --hmm! Wonder why? We were all very clinical with each other as far as sharing the sun lotion and had a very pleasant afternoon together. Mother rang her little bell for tea on the terraces and we all attended-- four of us this time-- none of us dressed at all. Mother had this sly little smile on the whole time. She secretly envies us, but she won't indulge it herself. I'm sure she thinks it is not her place. So she only encourages us in our indulgence instead.
Many people have asked me about that and have said it is odd that our parents do not do as we do. I am sure they have their own reasons for asking. I am sure too that many of them do not believe it is how it is for us. But our parents are very proper and responsible. I'm not saying other people's aren't-- though that may be true-- but our parents do not have a need to indulge every little whim that pops into their heads without caring about the consequences. In fact you could say that caring about the consequences is exactly what both my parents do best. Daddy teaches us that we are girls and ladies first, and one should never burden or obligate a lady. If he does not know how we would take to his being naked with us, he will not insist that we do, and of course he would be concerned about how we would come to accept all men based on his example (and I mean in terms of behaviour). And anyway he has no need or desire to be naked like we are.
Mother is something else entirely, a perfectly beautiful young woman with needs and desires not much different than those Jessy and I have. The difference is of course that she is married. She feels awkward revealing too much of herself after she has been 'known' (for lack of a better word) by our father. She considers that inappropriate. And of course, as in the Bible, a parent should not be naked in front of her own child, in this case Lisa and J.J. It's just a little awkward thinking that the children can see where they came from! Of course in the case of Jessy and me, those two conditions do not exist-- we are still 'children' in every good sense of the word and at least in one way our bodies can have no effect on the rest of our family. (I do have a suspicion-- perhaps more than a mere suspicion-- that Mother is much less prudish in private with our father, but I really think that shouldn't be something I think about or discuss too often. They are happy as they are and that's all that should matter to a child or stepchild.)
As for Josie... well I shall say that she has taken to it very easily. She and Jessy disappeared into her room, the door was not even fully closed, as we all knew who was in the house at the time, and not five minutes later the two of them emerged, giggling quietly, and trotted down the stairs to the big parlour. In another moment I had looked out my window and seen them going through the garden for the side yard. Jessy even remembered to bring the other chaise for Josie. That meant they expected me to join them... so I did. We sunned and swam and sunned and swam some more all afternoon. By tea-time Josie was as at-ease as we ever are, not even flinching when she saw Mother bringing the tea things to the terrace. 'How are you girls enjoying the day?' Mother asked us all.
'It's lovely,' Jessy said. 'Are there biscuits?'
Mother set down the tray as we all drew out chairs. 'There are, but I was going to heat them up first.'
'Heat them up?' wondered Jessy.
'Well, it's not too hot,' Mother said. 'But you girls have had nothing but sun over there.'
We all agreed the biscuits did not have to be heated up and took our places. Mother returned with the biscuits on a tray and leaned in to set them down. Josie looked up then. 'Thank you, Mrs C--,' she said sweetly.
Mother smiled right back at her. 'You are very welcome, Josie. Do you girls mind if J.J. and I join you?'
I saw Josie glance at me then. Jessy did not hesitate. 'Mother! Do you have to ask?'
Mother giggled and turned to get the other chair. Then we all six of us were seated under the umbrella having (hot) tea and biscuits, chatting about our impressions of the day.
Josie would have to go home for dinner. Very reluctantly she moped up stairs after Jessy. They were up there till Josie's mother pulled in to the front yard. Mother called up to remind them. In her cute shorts and tank-top Josie hurried out along the front gallery and down the stairs, Jessy following her naked, and in the foyer they said good-byes. I said mine from the mezzanine. Mother, in her blue-and-white bikini and cover-up shirt, stepped in at the last moment. 'I'll get that,' she said, and interposed herself between Jessy and the front door. That was a good thing-- Jessy might have got it herself, and what would Josie's mother have thought then?
Mother waved cheerfully out the front door as Josie got in to the car with her mother and they drove away. The electric gate closed. Then she shut the door. 'Well, you two had quite a day,' she said wryly at us.
Jessy only shrugged and turned to come up stairs. 'It was nice that she came over. I did invite her, you know.'
Mother smiled. 'I'm sure.'
Jessy stopped halfway up the stairs. 'Is it all right if she comes over tomorrow?'
Mother made that face again. 'Have you already invited her?'
I did not see but Jessy must have nodded then.
'Very well. Your father comes home tomorrow night or Friday. Just so you know, now.'
'Yes, Mother, of course.' And she started up the stairs again. Later in the evening I happened to pop in her room and she was sitting in her bed with her knees up and the laptop propped on her legs, typing furiously. Seeing me she looked up, and then I could guess the content of her typing. 'Do you think the rest of the club would ever.--? You know.'
I laughed. 'Do you really think they should?'
She shrugged. 'We have to have a pool party before we go,' she said. 'It has to be Friday, when he gets here with the boat.'
I nodded. 'I think we had better not. Not this soon.'
She nodded at once as though that was a perfectly reasonable response, and then she typed more, as furiously as ever. She attacks the keyboard, not hard, but so quickly you swear the picture's running in fast-motion. 'Josie agrees,' she said after a moment. 'But she's looking forward to coming over again.'
I smiled. 'She's always welcome,' I said. 'Just be careful whom you extend invitations to.'
She nodded, typing again. 'I'll always ask Mother first, you know.' Then she looked up. 'And you.'
'Me?'
She typed and then looked up again. 'You know best,' she said. 'And you know me-- I would be like this all the time.'
I giggled. I am sure she would-- and thank God there were no boys there, for her pose was certainly too immodest to have kept them them at bay! But Jessy is like that-- she always feels she has nothing to hide. And so I am glad she consults me. In a way I am her protector, and that makes me happy to be so trusted. There is nothing in the world that could make me betray her trust in me.
...
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
17 June 2009
16 June 2009
YG Naked at home
Monday, 15 June 2009
I stayed up VERY late last night and got up late today... about 10.30. Normally I am up by 8.00 on any day I have off. For school I have been getting up at 6.15... but that's over with for a whole three months! In England at HOH we had only about 6 weeks. So this is one reason to be happy I am back in America.
I did not have a shower, just washed up and sauntered down stairs without putting on anything. No one seemed to be about. Daddy has gone up to NJ to get the boat ready to bring down and Mother was out in the yard with little J.J. I sat at the table and fixed a (very small) dish of Special K and then carried it out to the side deck off the kitchen. There under the umbrella I sat savouring the sunny day. I was nearly done when on the gentle southerly breeze two familiar, happy voices. I looked up over the railing. Jessy and Lisa were coming along the path through the tall grass and the shrubs from the softball field.
At once I envied them. They had got up well before I had and had been having a pleasantly childlike romp round the yard and lawn and the empty field adjacent to our house and the softball field beyond. It had been too early for anyone to have come down the road and the farmer south of us has not come up this far yet this season. They'd had the whole two dozen acres to themselves.
Lisa looked up and saw me from the yard. 'Hi,' she called.
'Hi, yourself,' I said. 'What are you two up to?'
Lisa shrugged, that cute gesture she makes so theatrically, lifting and letting go her whole body. In the next second she saw a rabbit and turned to follow it across the gravel towards the bushes. Jessy stopped in the very centre of the yard, standing there staring up at me, hands at her sides, hair loose, like Lisa completely unadorned. 'Coming down?' she asked in a soft voice.
I nodded and stood up with the empty dish. 'Let me put this away. I'll join you out back.'
She nodded and then absently turned left, towards the front of the house, and wandered off. Expecting where she would be I went out the front door, pulling it closed securely behind me. Directly before me was the driveway and the gate in the 7-ft wall and then the lane leading straight on to the road. There was no traffic out there. The houses in the little development the other side of our wall were quiet. Above, the sun was brilliant and hot, and the air inside the privacy wall was stiff and humid. We've had so much rain, off and on, that it never lifts. It's like a sauna.
I stepped down the steps to the gravel and crossed to the edge of the lawn. Jessy shuffled round the south side of the house, on the grass to spare her bare feet. Then Lisa galloped out from beyond her, going over the driveway and out across the lawn like a little pixie revelling in the freedom of being as-one with nature. I smiled at her. I knew what she felt like. I felt like that too.
Jessy approached, swaying gracefully as a lazy lioness. The breeze caught her hair and blew it up the back of her head. In that one moment it looked like a mane. I may have said this before but Jessy is a Leo, the one noted for sweet tenderness and unlimited generosity and yet also a tendency to pamper herself, to be a little self-indulgent, and hardly ever is that more obvious than when she is naked. Sometimes I imagine that she, much more than I, could be completely comfortable showing up at school in perhaps her high-heeled gold sandals and a long royal-blue silk cape, and nothing else, and be perfectly comfortable like that. Everyone would stare, of course, the boys would absolutely lose control, and yet she would remain above it all, serene and stately as a princess and entirely comfortable with being the centre of attention. The most beautiful thing about Jessy is that if she were ever able to actually do that, it wouldn't seem naughty at all. With her it is not sexual-- she's not trying to 'exert her sexuality' as someone has suggested. She's too innocent for that. I don't mean she is innocent in that she is naive-- she is somewhat naive, because there is so much she knows nothing about-- but that she is just not guilty. A naughty mind would read something sexual or egotistical in nearly everything she does, but that would be an inaccurate and inappropriate assumption. And if you assumed that you would look like a fool. Jessy would level eyes at you and make a childish little smirk and then turn aside, lifting her chin to see something much nicer that's farther above you. To her she's only being herself. And though she is complex in some ways, in other ways she is much simpler than most people assume. If she's naked, she wants to be naked. She likes it, she's comfortable, it's just something she felt like doing for her own reasons. That's all there is to it. Read more into it than that, assume it's just her secret desire to be taken down and ravaged, assume, worst of all, that she wants YOU to do that, and you'll be dead wrong. And it'll be a dead cert you'll never get the least piece of her, in any way at all.
Lisa bounded across the lawn, running straight past the gate without even a glance to see if anyone might have been coming up the lane. She squealed and suddenly pirouetted on her toes, but she was going too fast and spun round to land on her bottom in the grass. 'You twit!' I laughed out loud.
She giggled, rolling right over onto her tummy and then, with all the aplomb in the world, put down her elbow and propped her chin in her hand to look at us. 'Let's lie out right here!'
I laughed. 'Right there in the grass?'
'Yes!' She rolled over and returned to the exact same position about three feet away. 'It's like carpet.'
'No, thank you,' Jessy said, and we were strolling off the driveway and out across the lawn towards the other end of the house. 'I'll take my towel and chair, thank you.'
Lisa would not be left behind. 'Okay.'
Round the north side of the house our two chaises still rested, just outside the shade of the trees along the edge of the property. Lisa ran pst us and up the steps to the garden to bring back another chair for herself. But she never lies still for long. She's another Leo, impetuous, sweet-natured, eager to DO anything. But she has learnt from Jessy and me and has been gradually growing into manners and restraint. Maybe even more than Jessy she will be a proper princess, the 'triple threat' as Mother has called it, beautiful, intelligent and virtuous all at once. In about ten or twelve years boys will be seeking dragons to slay just to earn her good favour.
And what about me? I never say much about myself. I really don't feel comfortable saying I am generous, or sweet-natured, or innocent-- though I'm sure I am all those things. And it is true that, though I've always felt refreshingly stimulated by being naked, it wasn't till we moved to this house last summer and Jessy dared me to dive into the pool with her that I thought about sauntering round the house naked like this. Now it's nearly second nature-- I mean really, because sometimes I will descend for supper or turn to open the front door for visitors and forget I should have something on. I really am very comfortable like this, and I find it sad that no one else except my own family would ever appreciate it as I do. Even Stephen, who is a very, very good sort of guy, would have to yield to his baser nature. Maybe it is true what people tell me, that any guy would. And so maybe it is best that we three little princesses remain as we do, pure and protected inside our privacy wall, in our faery-tale castle by the sea. We just won't survive in the so-called real world.
It's 9.00 in the evening and I haven't got had on a thing all day. After a lovely afternoon of picking flowers, sweeping the garden walks, swimming in the pool, and lying out-- plenty of that-- we had supper together. Since Daddy was not home Mother did not make us get dressed and so only she and little J.J. had anything on at all. After little J.J.'s bath we are all going to watch 'Harry Potter' down stairs. If the weather is nice tomorrow I hope to do the same thing. It's true all good things must have an end-- Jessy and I must report to the ice-cream parlour before the weekend but we wouldn't have been able to do this next week anyway. For now we shall savour it as much as we can.
...
I stayed up VERY late last night and got up late today... about 10.30. Normally I am up by 8.00 on any day I have off. For school I have been getting up at 6.15... but that's over with for a whole three months! In England at HOH we had only about 6 weeks. So this is one reason to be happy I am back in America.
I did not have a shower, just washed up and sauntered down stairs without putting on anything. No one seemed to be about. Daddy has gone up to NJ to get the boat ready to bring down and Mother was out in the yard with little J.J. I sat at the table and fixed a (very small) dish of Special K and then carried it out to the side deck off the kitchen. There under the umbrella I sat savouring the sunny day. I was nearly done when on the gentle southerly breeze two familiar, happy voices. I looked up over the railing. Jessy and Lisa were coming along the path through the tall grass and the shrubs from the softball field.
At once I envied them. They had got up well before I had and had been having a pleasantly childlike romp round the yard and lawn and the empty field adjacent to our house and the softball field beyond. It had been too early for anyone to have come down the road and the farmer south of us has not come up this far yet this season. They'd had the whole two dozen acres to themselves.
Lisa looked up and saw me from the yard. 'Hi,' she called.
'Hi, yourself,' I said. 'What are you two up to?'
Lisa shrugged, that cute gesture she makes so theatrically, lifting and letting go her whole body. In the next second she saw a rabbit and turned to follow it across the gravel towards the bushes. Jessy stopped in the very centre of the yard, standing there staring up at me, hands at her sides, hair loose, like Lisa completely unadorned. 'Coming down?' she asked in a soft voice.
I nodded and stood up with the empty dish. 'Let me put this away. I'll join you out back.'
She nodded and then absently turned left, towards the front of the house, and wandered off. Expecting where she would be I went out the front door, pulling it closed securely behind me. Directly before me was the driveway and the gate in the 7-ft wall and then the lane leading straight on to the road. There was no traffic out there. The houses in the little development the other side of our wall were quiet. Above, the sun was brilliant and hot, and the air inside the privacy wall was stiff and humid. We've had so much rain, off and on, that it never lifts. It's like a sauna.
I stepped down the steps to the gravel and crossed to the edge of the lawn. Jessy shuffled round the south side of the house, on the grass to spare her bare feet. Then Lisa galloped out from beyond her, going over the driveway and out across the lawn like a little pixie revelling in the freedom of being as-one with nature. I smiled at her. I knew what she felt like. I felt like that too.
Jessy approached, swaying gracefully as a lazy lioness. The breeze caught her hair and blew it up the back of her head. In that one moment it looked like a mane. I may have said this before but Jessy is a Leo, the one noted for sweet tenderness and unlimited generosity and yet also a tendency to pamper herself, to be a little self-indulgent, and hardly ever is that more obvious than when she is naked. Sometimes I imagine that she, much more than I, could be completely comfortable showing up at school in perhaps her high-heeled gold sandals and a long royal-blue silk cape, and nothing else, and be perfectly comfortable like that. Everyone would stare, of course, the boys would absolutely lose control, and yet she would remain above it all, serene and stately as a princess and entirely comfortable with being the centre of attention. The most beautiful thing about Jessy is that if she were ever able to actually do that, it wouldn't seem naughty at all. With her it is not sexual-- she's not trying to 'exert her sexuality' as someone has suggested. She's too innocent for that. I don't mean she is innocent in that she is naive-- she is somewhat naive, because there is so much she knows nothing about-- but that she is just not guilty. A naughty mind would read something sexual or egotistical in nearly everything she does, but that would be an inaccurate and inappropriate assumption. And if you assumed that you would look like a fool. Jessy would level eyes at you and make a childish little smirk and then turn aside, lifting her chin to see something much nicer that's farther above you. To her she's only being herself. And though she is complex in some ways, in other ways she is much simpler than most people assume. If she's naked, she wants to be naked. She likes it, she's comfortable, it's just something she felt like doing for her own reasons. That's all there is to it. Read more into it than that, assume it's just her secret desire to be taken down and ravaged, assume, worst of all, that she wants YOU to do that, and you'll be dead wrong. And it'll be a dead cert you'll never get the least piece of her, in any way at all.
Lisa bounded across the lawn, running straight past the gate without even a glance to see if anyone might have been coming up the lane. She squealed and suddenly pirouetted on her toes, but she was going too fast and spun round to land on her bottom in the grass. 'You twit!' I laughed out loud.
She giggled, rolling right over onto her tummy and then, with all the aplomb in the world, put down her elbow and propped her chin in her hand to look at us. 'Let's lie out right here!'
I laughed. 'Right there in the grass?'
'Yes!' She rolled over and returned to the exact same position about three feet away. 'It's like carpet.'
'No, thank you,' Jessy said, and we were strolling off the driveway and out across the lawn towards the other end of the house. 'I'll take my towel and chair, thank you.'
Lisa would not be left behind. 'Okay.'
Round the north side of the house our two chaises still rested, just outside the shade of the trees along the edge of the property. Lisa ran pst us and up the steps to the garden to bring back another chair for herself. But she never lies still for long. She's another Leo, impetuous, sweet-natured, eager to DO anything. But she has learnt from Jessy and me and has been gradually growing into manners and restraint. Maybe even more than Jessy she will be a proper princess, the 'triple threat' as Mother has called it, beautiful, intelligent and virtuous all at once. In about ten or twelve years boys will be seeking dragons to slay just to earn her good favour.
And what about me? I never say much about myself. I really don't feel comfortable saying I am generous, or sweet-natured, or innocent-- though I'm sure I am all those things. And it is true that, though I've always felt refreshingly stimulated by being naked, it wasn't till we moved to this house last summer and Jessy dared me to dive into the pool with her that I thought about sauntering round the house naked like this. Now it's nearly second nature-- I mean really, because sometimes I will descend for supper or turn to open the front door for visitors and forget I should have something on. I really am very comfortable like this, and I find it sad that no one else except my own family would ever appreciate it as I do. Even Stephen, who is a very, very good sort of guy, would have to yield to his baser nature. Maybe it is true what people tell me, that any guy would. And so maybe it is best that we three little princesses remain as we do, pure and protected inside our privacy wall, in our faery-tale castle by the sea. We just won't survive in the so-called real world.
It's 9.00 in the evening and I haven't got had on a thing all day. After a lovely afternoon of picking flowers, sweeping the garden walks, swimming in the pool, and lying out-- plenty of that-- we had supper together. Since Daddy was not home Mother did not make us get dressed and so only she and little J.J. had anything on at all. After little J.J.'s bath we are all going to watch 'Harry Potter' down stairs. If the weather is nice tomorrow I hope to do the same thing. It's true all good things must have an end-- Jessy and I must report to the ice-cream parlour before the weekend but we wouldn't have been able to do this next week anyway. For now we shall savour it as much as we can.
...
31 May 2009
Such is the gentle life.
Whitsunday, 31 May 2009
As we are back in the US again we must become used to American ways all over again, and one of them is the way the church here celebrates Whitsunday as 'Pentecost' and emphasises the colour red. Jessy and I would be unswayed however and with Lisa we all wore white. We each have a new soft cotton dress, and I wore my white sandals. Of course at church half the people teased us-- 'You forgot to wear red!' --none of the poor dears knowing that we really were commemorating the day, only in a different way. There were two baptisms as this is a traditional day for it, but, unusually, one was an adult-- a mother and a the newborn (actually about 2 months old). Then there was the usual reception with tea and doughnuts and all, which Daddy and Mother wanted to stay for since it meant we did not have to go out for pancakes.
At home I rang Dottie at the ice-cream parlour up in New Jersey, because I promised to, just to find out how she was doing. So by the time I was ready to go outside the cloudiness and drizzle had cleared up. I put away the dress and sandals and in my underthings went into Jessy's room, where she was complaining about not being able to go all bare outside. After some comforting I got her to come out with Lisa and me anyway. I went out in my panties too, to not let Jessy feel left out, but she was still a little miffed that my panties were white. Hers could not be-- she of course had worn a slip with her white dress to church.
And little Lisa went bare, such as she is prone to do. She doesn't have these problems!
We did not merely lie out but did a bit of straightening-up round the yard, as the recent rains have cluttered the side yard with sticks from the trees and so on. We rearranged some potted plants round the bottom of the steps from the upper garden and finally dragged our chaises down to the lawn to settle in. The sun was very bright, even intense, which was what we wanted. Jessy and I imposed on Lisa to put the lotion on our backs. She never minds this-- she considers it an honour. Of course I put it all over her too. She giggles when you rub lotion onto her bottom. I always make sure to tickle her because that's sort of called-for when she is only 5 and prone to giggling.
When we moved the chaises down we sort of set them up a little closer to the water. The walled garden is very formal and solid, with plenty of rip and even a spare little beach between the easternmost wall and the water of the Bay. But the yards to either side just sort of roll down in a series of shallow terraces till a fringe of grass is separating the area we maintain from a short dune and then the sand and the water. The fringe of grass is never trimmed and so provides a kind of screen between the fishermen's eyes and where we lie. I have never felt uncomfortable lying there. I am quite sure none of them would ever even think to look for us with binoculars and as I said I don't think they would see us. So last summer we gradually came to make this our usual sunning zone. Because of the wall we are out of sight from the first storey if anyone should happen to come over-- although we'd still have the problem of sneaking back into the house!
I nodded off-- too many late nights online I am sure! --and had a very bizarre dream about these horrible steel frames which rolled on a track and you put scrap metal into them to burn so that they would move together, which was the end. And some terrorist group was using them as an execution device. One prisoner I had become friendly with and I remember reaching out and holding his hand in farewell, saying, 'I love you, brother!' And he said, 'I am safe now.- --meaning he was in God's hands. He knew I would be the last friendly human being he would see on this earth. And I woke up shaking.
Jessy was out of her chaise and wandering down along the fringe of grass. There were boats out-- I wondered how modest she would be, but none of the boats seemed close enough to worry about. As I watched she said down cross-legged in the grass and toyed with a small stick. She was bored. She would rather have been naked. Lisa was long gone by this time-- she never lies long but wanders round the yard too, sometimes doing some questionably modest things herself-- once last summer we found her on the other side of the house exploring the construction site that would become the ballfield... and naked, but for her sneakers which she put on 'to be safe'. I got up and strolled down to where Jessy sat. 'What's wrong?'
She shrugged. I watched her toy with the stick for a bit and then she looked up at me. 'We're not going to be able to do this at the Shore,' she said.
Both of us are intending to work at the ice-cream parlour this summer. We'll be staying in our old house, the little house Daddy built on the beach when he and Mommy were first married. It's cosy, but of course the beach there is very popular with even unsavoury characters and there's no opportunity do do as we do here. I folded my legs under me and sat down. 'I know,' I said. 'But we'll be back often. Dottie's giving us a very lenient schedule.'
'I know....' She leaned back on her hands and stretched out her legs. 'I didn't think I would love here, and now I do.'
I smiled at her. 'Because of this?'
She shrugged. In that pose it looked very cute. 'Yes.... And the house. And the quiet. And because of Daddy.'
'Daddy?'
'He loves it here,' she said. 'He's busy all the time. He scarcely even works now. And now with the ballfield....'
I knew what she meant. Daddy drives over on the tractor and mows the whole outfield and surrounding yard as well as our own. You would think someone like him would be content to hire someone-- but the only paid people who do our yard are for cleaning the pool and trimming the trees with that tall thing on the arm. He actually enjoys driving round in circles on that tractor, often with little JJ on the 'copilot seat' (which is a seat with a seatbelt he bolted to the fender beside his seat in his lap) or in the trailer with Lisa. We see very few visitors here, being so far away from all our usual acquaintance. And we did not go away for New Year's and scarcely have gone anywhere since. I feel as Jessy does-- that when we are working up in New Jersey this summer I will miss this place terribly. It's become a home in more than a physical sense.
Little Lisa came running-- I mean really running, full tilt-- round the front corner of the house and down the whole yard to where we sat. 'You guys!' she said. And she skidded to a halt and slid in on her side beside us in the grass. 'What are you doing?'
'Talking,' Jessy told her.
'Ha-ha-ha. Is it girl talk?'
I turned at her. 'What if it is? You're a girl.'
'Ha. Yes I am.' And she shrugged, as though unsure of that. But really there isn't much we refuse to talk about in front of her. What she doesn't get doesn't matter. 'So are you going steady with Stephen?'
I smiled at her. So did Jessy. 'That's not exactly what we were talking about, you know. But, for your information, no, I'm not.'
'Ohhh. Did he ask you?'
'No.'
She nodded, understanding that. 'Does he have another girlfriend?'
I laughed. 'No.'
'Then why hasn't he asked you?'
Lisa is adorable when she gets like this. The first reason is because she has about half of Mother's Anglican Australian accent-- she uses words like 'hasn't' well and never seems to say anything that's not well said, meaning articulately pronounced. The other thing is that she's uncommonly persistent. She doesn't actually nag and she never really becomes a nuisance-- if you just tell her you'd rather stop talking about this she will respect that and stop. But she will ask everything that comes into her mind and she asks it because she really does want to know the answer. She is clearly the precocious product of a brilliant and charming mother, a mature and worldly father, and two older sisters who converse with her like an equal. She is the epitome of the 'triple threat' and will be absolutely terrifying to puerile boys (and the men they grow up to be) some day.
(The 'triple threat' is what Mother calls the concept of being good-looking, intelligent, and virtuous, to the point where most men are completely stymied. Invariably they can accept two out of three. It's that third one that drives them nuts. But, as Mother says, it's what all decent and intelligent men really want. It only falls to the men to figure that out, appreciate it for what it is, and then lift themselves out of the gutter to deserve you. Invariably they can do two out of three. It's that third one that they give up on.)
We got up and with Lisa holding each of our hands strolled back along the lawn towards the chaises. When we were halfway there Daddy came round the corner with the tractor and JJ on the 'copilot seat'. Seeing us he hit the horn and raced the tractor towards us. Lisa giggled, let go of our hands, and ran off towards the trees squealing as though she were being chased. Daddy stopped the tractor and then she approached him, warily, standing a few yards away and hooking her fingers in front of herself and twirlling on her heels like she does when she's being bashful. Before we got there Daddy had put JJ down and the two of them ran hand-in-hand up the garden steps to the house.
'What is it?' I called.
'Nothing,' he said. 'Tea. That's all.'
We both nodded. Jessy paced off towards the steps, not saying anything. I stopped beside Daddy in the idling tractor.
'What's with her?' he asked me.
'She's just being pensive,' I said. 'She says she will miss being here this summer.'
'Well, I don't expect you two to be gone all the time.'
'No,' I said, 'I don't expect us to either.'
'I would miss you,' he said.
I smiled at that. The house at the beach is his house-- he can come and go as he likes. What he was saying is that he would prefer to be here, or at Lewes. He has become gentry-- I hid a laugh at the notion of my father the ex-performer taking the peace of his own 'vine and fig tree'. This is his house and the husbandry of it is what he loves best. So-- is that what we have come to? We are gentry? My father has land, tenants in houses, even a tenant farmer and gardener, so that must mean I am a gentleman's daughter. Well-- there might be worse things to be.
...
As we are back in the US again we must become used to American ways all over again, and one of them is the way the church here celebrates Whitsunday as 'Pentecost' and emphasises the colour red. Jessy and I would be unswayed however and with Lisa we all wore white. We each have a new soft cotton dress, and I wore my white sandals. Of course at church half the people teased us-- 'You forgot to wear red!' --none of the poor dears knowing that we really were commemorating the day, only in a different way. There were two baptisms as this is a traditional day for it, but, unusually, one was an adult-- a mother and a the newborn (actually about 2 months old). Then there was the usual reception with tea and doughnuts and all, which Daddy and Mother wanted to stay for since it meant we did not have to go out for pancakes.
At home I rang Dottie at the ice-cream parlour up in New Jersey, because I promised to, just to find out how she was doing. So by the time I was ready to go outside the cloudiness and drizzle had cleared up. I put away the dress and sandals and in my underthings went into Jessy's room, where she was complaining about not being able to go all bare outside. After some comforting I got her to come out with Lisa and me anyway. I went out in my panties too, to not let Jessy feel left out, but she was still a little miffed that my panties were white. Hers could not be-- she of course had worn a slip with her white dress to church.
And little Lisa went bare, such as she is prone to do. She doesn't have these problems!
We did not merely lie out but did a bit of straightening-up round the yard, as the recent rains have cluttered the side yard with sticks from the trees and so on. We rearranged some potted plants round the bottom of the steps from the upper garden and finally dragged our chaises down to the lawn to settle in. The sun was very bright, even intense, which was what we wanted. Jessy and I imposed on Lisa to put the lotion on our backs. She never minds this-- she considers it an honour. Of course I put it all over her too. She giggles when you rub lotion onto her bottom. I always make sure to tickle her because that's sort of called-for when she is only 5 and prone to giggling.
When we moved the chaises down we sort of set them up a little closer to the water. The walled garden is very formal and solid, with plenty of rip and even a spare little beach between the easternmost wall and the water of the Bay. But the yards to either side just sort of roll down in a series of shallow terraces till a fringe of grass is separating the area we maintain from a short dune and then the sand and the water. The fringe of grass is never trimmed and so provides a kind of screen between the fishermen's eyes and where we lie. I have never felt uncomfortable lying there. I am quite sure none of them would ever even think to look for us with binoculars and as I said I don't think they would see us. So last summer we gradually came to make this our usual sunning zone. Because of the wall we are out of sight from the first storey if anyone should happen to come over-- although we'd still have the problem of sneaking back into the house!
I nodded off-- too many late nights online I am sure! --and had a very bizarre dream about these horrible steel frames which rolled on a track and you put scrap metal into them to burn so that they would move together, which was the end. And some terrorist group was using them as an execution device. One prisoner I had become friendly with and I remember reaching out and holding his hand in farewell, saying, 'I love you, brother!' And he said, 'I am safe now.- --meaning he was in God's hands. He knew I would be the last friendly human being he would see on this earth. And I woke up shaking.
Jessy was out of her chaise and wandering down along the fringe of grass. There were boats out-- I wondered how modest she would be, but none of the boats seemed close enough to worry about. As I watched she said down cross-legged in the grass and toyed with a small stick. She was bored. She would rather have been naked. Lisa was long gone by this time-- she never lies long but wanders round the yard too, sometimes doing some questionably modest things herself-- once last summer we found her on the other side of the house exploring the construction site that would become the ballfield... and naked, but for her sneakers which she put on 'to be safe'. I got up and strolled down to where Jessy sat. 'What's wrong?'
She shrugged. I watched her toy with the stick for a bit and then she looked up at me. 'We're not going to be able to do this at the Shore,' she said.
Both of us are intending to work at the ice-cream parlour this summer. We'll be staying in our old house, the little house Daddy built on the beach when he and Mommy were first married. It's cosy, but of course the beach there is very popular with even unsavoury characters and there's no opportunity do do as we do here. I folded my legs under me and sat down. 'I know,' I said. 'But we'll be back often. Dottie's giving us a very lenient schedule.'
'I know....' She leaned back on her hands and stretched out her legs. 'I didn't think I would love here, and now I do.'
I smiled at her. 'Because of this?'
She shrugged. In that pose it looked very cute. 'Yes.... And the house. And the quiet. And because of Daddy.'
'Daddy?'
'He loves it here,' she said. 'He's busy all the time. He scarcely even works now. And now with the ballfield....'
I knew what she meant. Daddy drives over on the tractor and mows the whole outfield and surrounding yard as well as our own. You would think someone like him would be content to hire someone-- but the only paid people who do our yard are for cleaning the pool and trimming the trees with that tall thing on the arm. He actually enjoys driving round in circles on that tractor, often with little JJ on the 'copilot seat' (which is a seat with a seatbelt he bolted to the fender beside his seat in his lap) or in the trailer with Lisa. We see very few visitors here, being so far away from all our usual acquaintance. And we did not go away for New Year's and scarcely have gone anywhere since. I feel as Jessy does-- that when we are working up in New Jersey this summer I will miss this place terribly. It's become a home in more than a physical sense.
Little Lisa came running-- I mean really running, full tilt-- round the front corner of the house and down the whole yard to where we sat. 'You guys!' she said. And she skidded to a halt and slid in on her side beside us in the grass. 'What are you doing?'
'Talking,' Jessy told her.
'Ha-ha-ha. Is it girl talk?'
I turned at her. 'What if it is? You're a girl.'
'Ha. Yes I am.' And she shrugged, as though unsure of that. But really there isn't much we refuse to talk about in front of her. What she doesn't get doesn't matter. 'So are you going steady with Stephen?'
I smiled at her. So did Jessy. 'That's not exactly what we were talking about, you know. But, for your information, no, I'm not.'
'Ohhh. Did he ask you?'
'No.'
She nodded, understanding that. 'Does he have another girlfriend?'
I laughed. 'No.'
'Then why hasn't he asked you?'
Lisa is adorable when she gets like this. The first reason is because she has about half of Mother's Anglican Australian accent-- she uses words like 'hasn't' well and never seems to say anything that's not well said, meaning articulately pronounced. The other thing is that she's uncommonly persistent. She doesn't actually nag and she never really becomes a nuisance-- if you just tell her you'd rather stop talking about this she will respect that and stop. But she will ask everything that comes into her mind and she asks it because she really does want to know the answer. She is clearly the precocious product of a brilliant and charming mother, a mature and worldly father, and two older sisters who converse with her like an equal. She is the epitome of the 'triple threat' and will be absolutely terrifying to puerile boys (and the men they grow up to be) some day.
(The 'triple threat' is what Mother calls the concept of being good-looking, intelligent, and virtuous, to the point where most men are completely stymied. Invariably they can accept two out of three. It's that third one that drives them nuts. But, as Mother says, it's what all decent and intelligent men really want. It only falls to the men to figure that out, appreciate it for what it is, and then lift themselves out of the gutter to deserve you. Invariably they can do two out of three. It's that third one that they give up on.)
We got up and with Lisa holding each of our hands strolled back along the lawn towards the chaises. When we were halfway there Daddy came round the corner with the tractor and JJ on the 'copilot seat'. Seeing us he hit the horn and raced the tractor towards us. Lisa giggled, let go of our hands, and ran off towards the trees squealing as though she were being chased. Daddy stopped the tractor and then she approached him, warily, standing a few yards away and hooking her fingers in front of herself and twirlling on her heels like she does when she's being bashful. Before we got there Daddy had put JJ down and the two of them ran hand-in-hand up the garden steps to the house.
'What is it?' I called.
'Nothing,' he said. 'Tea. That's all.'
We both nodded. Jessy paced off towards the steps, not saying anything. I stopped beside Daddy in the idling tractor.
'What's with her?' he asked me.
'She's just being pensive,' I said. 'She says she will miss being here this summer.'
'Well, I don't expect you two to be gone all the time.'
'No,' I said, 'I don't expect us to either.'
'I would miss you,' he said.
I smiled at that. The house at the beach is his house-- he can come and go as he likes. What he was saying is that he would prefer to be here, or at Lewes. He has become gentry-- I hid a laugh at the notion of my father the ex-performer taking the peace of his own 'vine and fig tree'. This is his house and the husbandry of it is what he loves best. So-- is that what we have come to? We are gentry? My father has land, tenants in houses, even a tenant farmer and gardener, so that must mean I am a gentleman's daughter. Well-- there might be worse things to be.
...
26 May 2009
Memorial Day weekend
Saturday & Sunday
With Dottie, Jessy and I opened on Saturday for waffles and pancakes, closed at 11.00, and got out of there by about 11.30. It was warm and sunny and Jessy and I returned to the house for our swimsuits and took blankets down to the beach. There we basked pretty much all day. We met a few nice girls from some other part of New Jersey who lay near us. Also some guys came by whilst we were standing ankle-deep in the water, and we talked to them for a bit. They were insistent that we join them at some kind of party tonight but we had to work and so were able to get out of it. Daddy and Mother and the little ones got down this afternoon and the first we knew they were here was when Mother, in a beautiful blue-and-white bikini, came down and tapped my shoulder where we stood at the water. 'Surprise!' she giggled.
And she might have pushed us in, but the water was too cold. We all hugged and Jessy and I started to tell her about the last two days but there was too much to talk about. She and Daddy had taken Lisa and JJ over to see the Ladybugs game-- I told her then that during dinner at the prom I had got a message on the phone that they had won-- and so she was happy to hear (from Jessy of course) about the 'developments'. Apparently someone had rung the house for Jessy too but she had not got name or message. This is all exciting news for Mother, naturally.
We closed the parlour at 11.00 and walked back along the beach in our Colonial clothes, carrying our shoes and stockings. Jessy wanted to dip her feet. I didn't. For some reason I have been feeling very humble and modest-- and not because of the parlour or the clothes, which actually make me feel a little too provocative. Things have happened and I am not quite comfortable with what's been going on. I feel like I shouldn't be this person, that I may be getting away from myself, and that I just want to go back to the way it once was, when Jessy and I were just nice little girls without people paying so much attention to us. I don't know if that's appropriate but it's just a thought I have been having.
Back at the house we got out of our Colonial clothes and turned in. To be truly authentic you don't wear panties under this gear-- elastic-waisted panties really don't show up before 1920. Neither Jessy nor I do, even working in the parlour (unless it's necessary, you know). So we have been sleeping naked in our beds, in the same room, which is NOT that weird since we are sisters (and please don't go anywhere else with that). In the middle of the night I found myself awake, facing a 7.00 shift without going to church in the morning, and I went down stairs for a cup of tea to settle myself. I put on no lights, only the stove and the kettle and the little light under the cabinets, but apparently I was obvious because next I knew Daddy was ducking his head in. 'Are you all right?'
I turned round, standing at the stove, and blushed a little-- not because I was naked but because I was up in the middle of the night. 'I couldn't sleep,' I told him.
He nodded. The kettle was about to whistle and I turned it off and poured into my cup. 'All right,' he whispered. 'You're on in the morning, right?'
I nodded, watching as I swirlled the tea bag round in the cup. 'I'll be fine.'
'Okay. Good night.'
'Good night, Daddy.'
He left. I took my tea out to the front parlour, which faces the ocean, and sat there in the dark sipping my tea. It was hot and we had left a few windows open for the breeze. When I finished the cup I folded some pillows under my shoulder and sighed, staring into space for a while....
'Hey,' she said, 'get up. I can't believe you're down here. What happened to you?'
It was daylight and she was poking my arm, and I was still on the couch, curled up naked with the pillows. 'Oh,' I said. And I got up and got dressed for the morning shift.
...
With Dottie, Jessy and I opened on Saturday for waffles and pancakes, closed at 11.00, and got out of there by about 11.30. It was warm and sunny and Jessy and I returned to the house for our swimsuits and took blankets down to the beach. There we basked pretty much all day. We met a few nice girls from some other part of New Jersey who lay near us. Also some guys came by whilst we were standing ankle-deep in the water, and we talked to them for a bit. They were insistent that we join them at some kind of party tonight but we had to work and so were able to get out of it. Daddy and Mother and the little ones got down this afternoon and the first we knew they were here was when Mother, in a beautiful blue-and-white bikini, came down and tapped my shoulder where we stood at the water. 'Surprise!' she giggled.
And she might have pushed us in, but the water was too cold. We all hugged and Jessy and I started to tell her about the last two days but there was too much to talk about. She and Daddy had taken Lisa and JJ over to see the Ladybugs game-- I told her then that during dinner at the prom I had got a message on the phone that they had won-- and so she was happy to hear (from Jessy of course) about the 'developments'. Apparently someone had rung the house for Jessy too but she had not got name or message. This is all exciting news for Mother, naturally.
We closed the parlour at 11.00 and walked back along the beach in our Colonial clothes, carrying our shoes and stockings. Jessy wanted to dip her feet. I didn't. For some reason I have been feeling very humble and modest-- and not because of the parlour or the clothes, which actually make me feel a little too provocative. Things have happened and I am not quite comfortable with what's been going on. I feel like I shouldn't be this person, that I may be getting away from myself, and that I just want to go back to the way it once was, when Jessy and I were just nice little girls without people paying so much attention to us. I don't know if that's appropriate but it's just a thought I have been having.
Back at the house we got out of our Colonial clothes and turned in. To be truly authentic you don't wear panties under this gear-- elastic-waisted panties really don't show up before 1920. Neither Jessy nor I do, even working in the parlour (unless it's necessary, you know). So we have been sleeping naked in our beds, in the same room, which is NOT that weird since we are sisters (and please don't go anywhere else with that). In the middle of the night I found myself awake, facing a 7.00 shift without going to church in the morning, and I went down stairs for a cup of tea to settle myself. I put on no lights, only the stove and the kettle and the little light under the cabinets, but apparently I was obvious because next I knew Daddy was ducking his head in. 'Are you all right?'
I turned round, standing at the stove, and blushed a little-- not because I was naked but because I was up in the middle of the night. 'I couldn't sleep,' I told him.
He nodded. The kettle was about to whistle and I turned it off and poured into my cup. 'All right,' he whispered. 'You're on in the morning, right?'
I nodded, watching as I swirlled the tea bag round in the cup. 'I'll be fine.'
'Okay. Good night.'
'Good night, Daddy.'
He left. I took my tea out to the front parlour, which faces the ocean, and sat there in the dark sipping my tea. It was hot and we had left a few windows open for the breeze. When I finished the cup I folded some pillows under my shoulder and sighed, staring into space for a while....
'Hey,' she said, 'get up. I can't believe you're down here. What happened to you?'
It was daylight and she was poking my arm, and I was still on the couch, curled up naked with the pillows. 'Oh,' I said. And I got up and got dressed for the morning shift.
...
Coming right up
Friday, May 22nd
We arrived at the beach house at about 3.05. Roger had driven well but avoiding the ferry in the dead of night he was left with mainly back roads, especially though New Jersey. He carried up our bags and checked over the house for us and ensured that we set the alarm again, and then he took the car over to his own place on the mainland for the night. Jessy had wanted to get changed in the car, or at least to get out of her gown, but I dissuaded her and now we got out of everything and let down our hair and turned in, in the attic bedroom that was once our regular room when we were much littler.
We had set no alarm and I got up at about ten. It was sunny and bright, already very warm, and without putting on anything I went down stairs and put on tea for myself. Jessy remained in bed past noon. I typed up the bit about the prom then. My mobile phone had about six messages, all from people asking how it had gone. I answered a few of them by telling them to read the blog when I got back! --well,that's what it's there for. The closer friends got a short text message-- 'It was fun. Jessy says there are developments. Talk when we get back.' They all know we are here for the weekend and will likely be here all summer. I hope to invite some people here for the odd weekend or so as the season progresses.
I rang Dottie, who is the manager this year, and in mid-afternoon Jessy and I got dressed and walked down the street in our Colonial-era costumes to the ice cream parlour. Dottie was already there, in her pale green bedjacket and dull tan work skirt. I had on my rose-pink ensemble and Jessy her navy-blue bodice and pale-blue skirt. Everyone here wears costume, even the kitchen staff in their work shirts and sailor slops (loose short pants). Dottie went over the schedule for the weekend and we sorted our inventory and got ready for 5.00. Normally the hours are 7.00 till 11.00 in the morning for pancakes and waffles, and 7.00 till 11.00 at night for ice cream. That's it. The girls all like it because they can hold down a real job, working one shift or the other, and still have valuable beach time. During the day sometimes some of them work the day shift in the bookstore next door. That's a job I want-- I prefer literature to serving food, you know.
Today we opened at 5.00, according to the sign and our advertisements. It was not slow, as people arriving at the shore for the weekend often expect some little treat for their having arrived here. Dottie made sure she introduced us both to everyone she knew. It has been over two years since Jessy and I last worked here and few of them recognised us. Dottie's younger daughter, going into her second year at university, worked with us. We made a good team and all went well, and we closed at 9.00 pm and cleaned up.
I cannot even look at this building, or think about it, or especially work here without thinking of Mommy. This was her pride and joy, the very dream she always had as a little girl, running her own shop, a happy place where people crave to come and enjoy sweet treats and an unique atmosphere. Then when Mother was our au pair and nanny she worked here too, lending it even more colour with her cute accent and her old-fashioned manners and aristocratic pretensions. And though it was always somewhat theatrical, Mother made it even more like acting, a four-hour improvisational show, in which nothing is modern and everything is like a veiled joke. Like, she would complain about the menu-- 'Orange juice! No, of course there is none of that! We have not got a ship in from Barbados in weeks! I do apologise. I can offer you some weak tea-- how will that be instead?' And all the while there would be four gallons of orange juice in the 'fridge, you know. But the customer would get weak orange pekoe tea, and he would laugh, and consider it part of the fun.
Dottie is less theatrical herself, but she always encourages it in the rest and mainly from Mother's teaching has got really good at being able to instruct the wait staff in period-accurate comments. For example a 1700s-style ice cream parlour would seem like a contradiction-- but the French had ice cream in Louis XIV's time and it was always considered a delicious delicacy-- and so our higher-than-average prices are justified. We always put a fine point on its being a kind of anachronism-- 'Ice!' Mother used to exclaim. 'We have got ice! And this being July! Can you imagine!' I mean how would they have ice here in 1740? --it would have been dug out of a river in winter and stored under ground packed in hay, and there are no basements here on a barrier island and hardly any hay-- you know. But it is part of the fun that this place doesn't seem to exist at all.
The costumes, though, are a big part of the fun, and hardly as expensive as you might think. We take advantage of commercial makers of these clothes, but they are always authentically hand-stitched and correct in design and sensible in material, mostly cotton, some linen, little wool and always summer weight, and NO manmade fibres. Without air-conditioning it's actually quite comfortable. You sweat, but you have got powder on and everything near your skin is lightweight cotton and breathes well enough. My biggest complaint is my stockings sliding down when my legs get sweaty. Jessy rolls hers right down on top of her shoes-- you're not supposed to show an ankle anyway. And then there is the bonnet-- I have half a dozen, one bought, one made by Mother and the rest by me, and though they are all well-used now I still love them. You must never show too much hair either-- it was considered heinous flirting if you did. So Jessy's hair, which never stays in place, is always falling out one side or the other, and we tease her by calling her 'hussy' and 'trollop' and so on. This draws attention from the patrons which is the effect it should have. Even as girls in swimsuit tops and short shorts are coming through the place for ice cream, we get noticed for a glimpse of stocking.
And the best part of all is that guys, especially younger guys, absolutely rave over girls dressed like this. The dresses are nothing if not exquisitely feminine, with things tied and cinched here and there and subtle pleats and darts to accentuate the shape underneath. And of course, in the mid-1700s style was to show off as much bare chest as God-fearing women should dare to. The stays wrap round your ribs and lace up at the sides in an effort to make your upper body sort of like a cylinder, which really means that if you have got anything at all up front it's lifted up and out and very nearly has to be restrained! If your waist is well-defined then, too, the result is pretty dramatic-- it's an excellent look for anyone who has got anything of a figure at all, and if you haven't got one it will make you look like you do. I only wish other girls believed me. The eye attention from the opposite sex could almost be enough to bring this stuff back into fashion all over!
...
We arrived at the beach house at about 3.05. Roger had driven well but avoiding the ferry in the dead of night he was left with mainly back roads, especially though New Jersey. He carried up our bags and checked over the house for us and ensured that we set the alarm again, and then he took the car over to his own place on the mainland for the night. Jessy had wanted to get changed in the car, or at least to get out of her gown, but I dissuaded her and now we got out of everything and let down our hair and turned in, in the attic bedroom that was once our regular room when we were much littler.
We had set no alarm and I got up at about ten. It was sunny and bright, already very warm, and without putting on anything I went down stairs and put on tea for myself. Jessy remained in bed past noon. I typed up the bit about the prom then. My mobile phone had about six messages, all from people asking how it had gone. I answered a few of them by telling them to read the blog when I got back! --well,that's what it's there for. The closer friends got a short text message-- 'It was fun. Jessy says there are developments. Talk when we get back.' They all know we are here for the weekend and will likely be here all summer. I hope to invite some people here for the odd weekend or so as the season progresses.
I rang Dottie, who is the manager this year, and in mid-afternoon Jessy and I got dressed and walked down the street in our Colonial-era costumes to the ice cream parlour. Dottie was already there, in her pale green bedjacket and dull tan work skirt. I had on my rose-pink ensemble and Jessy her navy-blue bodice and pale-blue skirt. Everyone here wears costume, even the kitchen staff in their work shirts and sailor slops (loose short pants). Dottie went over the schedule for the weekend and we sorted our inventory and got ready for 5.00. Normally the hours are 7.00 till 11.00 in the morning for pancakes and waffles, and 7.00 till 11.00 at night for ice cream. That's it. The girls all like it because they can hold down a real job, working one shift or the other, and still have valuable beach time. During the day sometimes some of them work the day shift in the bookstore next door. That's a job I want-- I prefer literature to serving food, you know.
Today we opened at 5.00, according to the sign and our advertisements. It was not slow, as people arriving at the shore for the weekend often expect some little treat for their having arrived here. Dottie made sure she introduced us both to everyone she knew. It has been over two years since Jessy and I last worked here and few of them recognised us. Dottie's younger daughter, going into her second year at university, worked with us. We made a good team and all went well, and we closed at 9.00 pm and cleaned up.
I cannot even look at this building, or think about it, or especially work here without thinking of Mommy. This was her pride and joy, the very dream she always had as a little girl, running her own shop, a happy place where people crave to come and enjoy sweet treats and an unique atmosphere. Then when Mother was our au pair and nanny she worked here too, lending it even more colour with her cute accent and her old-fashioned manners and aristocratic pretensions. And though it was always somewhat theatrical, Mother made it even more like acting, a four-hour improvisational show, in which nothing is modern and everything is like a veiled joke. Like, she would complain about the menu-- 'Orange juice! No, of course there is none of that! We have not got a ship in from Barbados in weeks! I do apologise. I can offer you some weak tea-- how will that be instead?' And all the while there would be four gallons of orange juice in the 'fridge, you know. But the customer would get weak orange pekoe tea, and he would laugh, and consider it part of the fun.
Dottie is less theatrical herself, but she always encourages it in the rest and mainly from Mother's teaching has got really good at being able to instruct the wait staff in period-accurate comments. For example a 1700s-style ice cream parlour would seem like a contradiction-- but the French had ice cream in Louis XIV's time and it was always considered a delicious delicacy-- and so our higher-than-average prices are justified. We always put a fine point on its being a kind of anachronism-- 'Ice!' Mother used to exclaim. 'We have got ice! And this being July! Can you imagine!' I mean how would they have ice here in 1740? --it would have been dug out of a river in winter and stored under ground packed in hay, and there are no basements here on a barrier island and hardly any hay-- you know. But it is part of the fun that this place doesn't seem to exist at all.
The costumes, though, are a big part of the fun, and hardly as expensive as you might think. We take advantage of commercial makers of these clothes, but they are always authentically hand-stitched and correct in design and sensible in material, mostly cotton, some linen, little wool and always summer weight, and NO manmade fibres. Without air-conditioning it's actually quite comfortable. You sweat, but you have got powder on and everything near your skin is lightweight cotton and breathes well enough. My biggest complaint is my stockings sliding down when my legs get sweaty. Jessy rolls hers right down on top of her shoes-- you're not supposed to show an ankle anyway. And then there is the bonnet-- I have half a dozen, one bought, one made by Mother and the rest by me, and though they are all well-used now I still love them. You must never show too much hair either-- it was considered heinous flirting if you did. So Jessy's hair, which never stays in place, is always falling out one side or the other, and we tease her by calling her 'hussy' and 'trollop' and so on. This draws attention from the patrons which is the effect it should have. Even as girls in swimsuit tops and short shorts are coming through the place for ice cream, we get noticed for a glimpse of stocking.
And the best part of all is that guys, especially younger guys, absolutely rave over girls dressed like this. The dresses are nothing if not exquisitely feminine, with things tied and cinched here and there and subtle pleats and darts to accentuate the shape underneath. And of course, in the mid-1700s style was to show off as much bare chest as God-fearing women should dare to. The stays wrap round your ribs and lace up at the sides in an effort to make your upper body sort of like a cylinder, which really means that if you have got anything at all up front it's lifted up and out and very nearly has to be restrained! If your waist is well-defined then, too, the result is pretty dramatic-- it's an excellent look for anyone who has got anything of a figure at all, and if you haven't got one it will make you look like you do. I only wish other girls believed me. The eye attention from the opposite sex could almost be enough to bring this stuff back into fashion all over!
...
15 November 2008
Naked gardening
Saturday 15 November 2008
The weather is still nice and I am still naked. We got up earlier than usual, had toast and tea on the back terrace, and set to work with Mother on the gardens, pulling weeds, raking a bit, sweeping up, even little J.J. who had a broom and a trowel and worked pretty hard... warm and happy enough in his Pull-Up pants and work boots and, for a while, a t-shirt. Mother was in a cute black sleeveless t-shirt and denim shorts and of course the kneepads. The three of us girls, Lisa, Jessy and me, wore aprons and sneakers and that's pretty much it.
Of course Daddy was gone away to Lewes again for work with the new band. They have pretty much given over trying to wait for sources of income and have gone off for part-time jobs to support themselves, meaning Saturdays and one or two days in the week available for studio work. This frustrates Daddy because once he gets excited about a project he doesn't like to stop, and now he would be idle three or four days a week now if not the new project with Jessy and me.... Anyway he was away pretty much all day, which left the three of us feeling comfortable enough to not get dressed.
Mother was a pretty efficient taskmaster ('taskmistress'?) and kept us all working through lunch. It was really only the damage done by blowing leaves and so forth, and we got some of the beds covered with this heavy green plastic for the winter which will help keep them soft and damp. We got started late enough in the morning that we did not break for tea, and then Mother rang the pizza place for sandwiches and let us play in the garden while she went out to the front door to pay for them. She really does not mind our being naked as long as we are able to actually function in the family. She insists that we are modest about it, and we are.
When we were sitting round the table on the terrace having our sandwiches she made a not-so-subtle gesture at Jessy that only got us all to look over at Jessy, who saw the gesture last of all. Jessy had been sitting there slouched way down on the chair with her sandwich paper on her tummy and her legs apart underneath... not a very modest pose for anyone and she was certainly showing a lot more than anyone ever should! Lisa stared. Mother frowned. Jessy blushed and brought her legs back together. I hid a laugh.
Then again, you know, any mother or stepmother would not want her daughter sitting like that, clothed or not. This is what I mean when I say Jessy is so innocent. She really does not think about anything inappropriate.
I just love her to death, you know.
We worked most of the afternoon, and then those of us who are under six got weary. Jessy tucked in J.J. for a nap and I took Lisa up to her room. 'I don't want to put pyjamas on,' she said.
I laughed. 'Who was going to make you put on pyjamas for a nap?'
'I usually have to when I sleep.'
I smiled, patting her back as I steered her in to her room. 'This is just a nap,' I said, 'because you worked so hard. This doesn't count.'
She dove on the bed, naked, dirty, probably sticky from the garden stuff, and curled right up in the centre of it. 'I don't want any covers on,' she said.
'It will get cold,' I told her. 'No use being all bare if we're going to be stupid about it, and catch cold.' I prised the sheets out from under her and draped one sheet over her body. 'Now rest well, and we'll all have a nice shower together before supper.'
She nodded eagerly, her head against the pillow, and I pulled her door closed most of the way and made sure the gallery lights were out before going down for tea.
Just before five Daddy came home, pretending to be angry about having laid up the boat so early (though there was a hurricane coming that week and it was only sensible). 'We should be out sailing!' he called up the stair hall. 'Girls! Let's get the boat out!'
I laughed, leaning over the mezzanine railing to him. 'You are nuts!'
He looked up, not having heard my bare feet on the floor above him. 'Ah-hah, I see you guys get to enjoy the nice weather, but what about me?'
Jessy was at the front stair hall and leaned over to call down the steps, 'We worked all day, Daddy! What did you do?'
'Hah!' he laughed. 'I worked too! And it seems like some of us had more fun working outside than I had inside!'
We all laughed.
Now I've done typing this and have to shower with my sisters (as promised) and be dressed for dinner!
...
The weather is still nice and I am still naked. We got up earlier than usual, had toast and tea on the back terrace, and set to work with Mother on the gardens, pulling weeds, raking a bit, sweeping up, even little J.J. who had a broom and a trowel and worked pretty hard... warm and happy enough in his Pull-Up pants and work boots and, for a while, a t-shirt. Mother was in a cute black sleeveless t-shirt and denim shorts and of course the kneepads. The three of us girls, Lisa, Jessy and me, wore aprons and sneakers and that's pretty much it.
Of course Daddy was gone away to Lewes again for work with the new band. They have pretty much given over trying to wait for sources of income and have gone off for part-time jobs to support themselves, meaning Saturdays and one or two days in the week available for studio work. This frustrates Daddy because once he gets excited about a project he doesn't like to stop, and now he would be idle three or four days a week now if not the new project with Jessy and me.... Anyway he was away pretty much all day, which left the three of us feeling comfortable enough to not get dressed.
Mother was a pretty efficient taskmaster ('taskmistress'?) and kept us all working through lunch. It was really only the damage done by blowing leaves and so forth, and we got some of the beds covered with this heavy green plastic for the winter which will help keep them soft and damp. We got started late enough in the morning that we did not break for tea, and then Mother rang the pizza place for sandwiches and let us play in the garden while she went out to the front door to pay for them. She really does not mind our being naked as long as we are able to actually function in the family. She insists that we are modest about it, and we are.
When we were sitting round the table on the terrace having our sandwiches she made a not-so-subtle gesture at Jessy that only got us all to look over at Jessy, who saw the gesture last of all. Jessy had been sitting there slouched way down on the chair with her sandwich paper on her tummy and her legs apart underneath... not a very modest pose for anyone and she was certainly showing a lot more than anyone ever should! Lisa stared. Mother frowned. Jessy blushed and brought her legs back together. I hid a laugh.
Then again, you know, any mother or stepmother would not want her daughter sitting like that, clothed or not. This is what I mean when I say Jessy is so innocent. She really does not think about anything inappropriate.
I just love her to death, you know.
We worked most of the afternoon, and then those of us who are under six got weary. Jessy tucked in J.J. for a nap and I took Lisa up to her room. 'I don't want to put pyjamas on,' she said.
I laughed. 'Who was going to make you put on pyjamas for a nap?'
'I usually have to when I sleep.'
I smiled, patting her back as I steered her in to her room. 'This is just a nap,' I said, 'because you worked so hard. This doesn't count.'
She dove on the bed, naked, dirty, probably sticky from the garden stuff, and curled right up in the centre of it. 'I don't want any covers on,' she said.
'It will get cold,' I told her. 'No use being all bare if we're going to be stupid about it, and catch cold.' I prised the sheets out from under her and draped one sheet over her body. 'Now rest well, and we'll all have a nice shower together before supper.'
She nodded eagerly, her head against the pillow, and I pulled her door closed most of the way and made sure the gallery lights were out before going down for tea.
Just before five Daddy came home, pretending to be angry about having laid up the boat so early (though there was a hurricane coming that week and it was only sensible). 'We should be out sailing!' he called up the stair hall. 'Girls! Let's get the boat out!'
I laughed, leaning over the mezzanine railing to him. 'You are nuts!'
He looked up, not having heard my bare feet on the floor above him. 'Ah-hah, I see you guys get to enjoy the nice weather, but what about me?'
Jessy was at the front stair hall and leaned over to call down the steps, 'We worked all day, Daddy! What did you do?'
'Hah!' he laughed. 'I worked too! And it seems like some of us had more fun working outside than I had inside!'
We all laughed.
Now I've done typing this and have to shower with my sisters (as promised) and be dressed for dinner!
...
19 October 2008
Stuff I did on Saturday
Saturday evening 18 October 2008
Well, I ended up having a pleasant evening after all. Daddy and I left for the boat at like 9.00 which was an hour after we'd hoped. We pulled on the winter cover, which is large but easy to handle since it just goes over the main boom and zippers down in front of the mainmast and aft of the mizzen mast, so you can stand up in the cockpit and work underneath it. We loaded all the sails and cushions into the big van, cleared out the galley lockers, and emptied the freshwater tanks to run through a little (nontoxic) antifreeze. We also straightened up all the lines, lowered the anchor and chain to the ground (to air) and checked that the cradle blocking will survive the cold winter that's promised (or threatened). It was a lot of work but we were steadily busy. Though we were dirty we did stop at IHOP in New Castle for supper, as we so often do on our way home from New Jersey. When we got home I went right in for a savoury warm shower and then napped till about 8.30, then went online till Jessy got home.
Jessy and her friends went to a teens' dance at the firehouse in Accomac, something that gets held every once in a while by the church to which one of her friends belongs. It did not go late and by 9.30 she had rung to ask Mother if she and Josie and Anna could come back here for snacks, for an hour or so before they all went home. So they all arrived at like 10.00 in their pretty dance dresses and makeup and shoes. Jessy suggested we play Apples To Apples, which my ex-boyfriend Henry had given us in England. It's the British version but it's not much different than the American one which I have played also. I had a nice little fire going by then and suggested that we all sit at my little round table to play.
Before we got started I left them in my room and went down stairs to collect a tray with cans of Dr Pepper and cookies, which I did not send up in the dumbwaiter but carried through to the side stairs myself. So I appeared in my nice floppy grey sweatshirt and navy-blue panties and socks, what I put on after my shower. I don't think Josie or Anna actually cared. They know me and I'm comfortable, you know. Now that may seem a little risky as this is my first full day, but I have never had any problems like that. I'm just glad I'm this close to being predictable.
With my doors closed we were able to keep quiet and keep warm and keep from waking little Lisa. It did mean I wouldn't be able to hear her if she called to me, so once I got up and looked in on her from the gallery. She remained fast asleep-- the sweet sleep of a good little girl. I returned with a smile that they all saw. 'How is she?' Jessy wondered.
'She's fine,' I said softly, and sat again.
The others looked at me. Finally Josie said, 'I think it's sweet that you look out for her.'
'Well why shouldn't I?' I said. 'She is my sister.'
They all smiled at me again. 'Janine's like her other mother,' Jessy said, and drew a card to start the next round. 'We had our nanny and Lisa has Janine.'
'Yes,' I said, looking at her. We have discussed this together before but never with anyone else. 'Well-- she has both of us.'
Jessy smiled at me, then turned over the car on the table: 'Extraordinary'. I wanted to put down 'Jessy'.
...
Well, I ended up having a pleasant evening after all. Daddy and I left for the boat at like 9.00 which was an hour after we'd hoped. We pulled on the winter cover, which is large but easy to handle since it just goes over the main boom and zippers down in front of the mainmast and aft of the mizzen mast, so you can stand up in the cockpit and work underneath it. We loaded all the sails and cushions into the big van, cleared out the galley lockers, and emptied the freshwater tanks to run through a little (nontoxic) antifreeze. We also straightened up all the lines, lowered the anchor and chain to the ground (to air) and checked that the cradle blocking will survive the cold winter that's promised (or threatened). It was a lot of work but we were steadily busy. Though we were dirty we did stop at IHOP in New Castle for supper, as we so often do on our way home from New Jersey. When we got home I went right in for a savoury warm shower and then napped till about 8.30, then went online till Jessy got home.
Jessy and her friends went to a teens' dance at the firehouse in Accomac, something that gets held every once in a while by the church to which one of her friends belongs. It did not go late and by 9.30 she had rung to ask Mother if she and Josie and Anna could come back here for snacks, for an hour or so before they all went home. So they all arrived at like 10.00 in their pretty dance dresses and makeup and shoes. Jessy suggested we play Apples To Apples, which my ex-boyfriend Henry had given us in England. It's the British version but it's not much different than the American one which I have played also. I had a nice little fire going by then and suggested that we all sit at my little round table to play.
Before we got started I left them in my room and went down stairs to collect a tray with cans of Dr Pepper and cookies, which I did not send up in the dumbwaiter but carried through to the side stairs myself. So I appeared in my nice floppy grey sweatshirt and navy-blue panties and socks, what I put on after my shower. I don't think Josie or Anna actually cared. They know me and I'm comfortable, you know. Now that may seem a little risky as this is my first full day, but I have never had any problems like that. I'm just glad I'm this close to being predictable.
With my doors closed we were able to keep quiet and keep warm and keep from waking little Lisa. It did mean I wouldn't be able to hear her if she called to me, so once I got up and looked in on her from the gallery. She remained fast asleep-- the sweet sleep of a good little girl. I returned with a smile that they all saw. 'How is she?' Jessy wondered.
'She's fine,' I said softly, and sat again.
The others looked at me. Finally Josie said, 'I think it's sweet that you look out for her.'
'Well why shouldn't I?' I said. 'She is my sister.'
They all smiled at me again. 'Janine's like her other mother,' Jessy said, and drew a card to start the next round. 'We had our nanny and Lisa has Janine.'
'Yes,' I said, looking at her. We have discussed this together before but never with anyone else. 'Well-- she has both of us.'
Jessy smiled at me, then turned over the car on the table: 'Extraordinary'. I wanted to put down 'Jessy'.
...
13 October 2008
Over the bridge and far away (part II)
Saturday 11 October 2008
Jessy and I have been planning on a day to visit the mall in Virginia Beach and as the week unfolded we ended up inviting cute little Rachel (Jessy's 10th-grade class president) to join us. Daddy, ever protective, would not allow just anyone to drive us the long way over the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and into the wilds of VB and so arranged that Roger would chauffeur us in the green Cadillac. We did not get under way till after 1.00, when Rachel finally rang and said she was done her chores. ('Chores?' Princess Jessy said on the phone. 'Chores? Could you describe what a "chores" looks like?')
Going over the bridge there is a bit too much wind to stand up and squeal out the roof window (we've tried), but with that open and the back windows down we were full of the cool sea breeze even sitting across the back seat. The sun was just a little over to the right and brilliant-- it looked like the kind of day you'd want to throw your arms round and hang onto forever. Rachel was thrilled. She'd never been to the mall in VB before.
Lynnhaven was busy as ever. Roger stopped at the kerb and came round to open the door for us, and I alighted, then Rachel, then Princess Jessy. We were all dressed casually, in jeans and t-shirts, though neatly and cleverly. Naturally people turned and looked at us like we were starlets. (I admit that this is one reason I love having Roger drive us.) I tossed my head and happened to remember the Aeropostale store was not far away, so I just said, 'Oh, hullo, dears, here it is!' and led them off to the doors. Jessy had to ring Roger with her phone to give him an idea of where and when to meet us. Well sometimes image is more important than logistics!
At AE we all bought bras. This is really my favourite place to buy them. I am lucky-- I can lift them right off the rack and know the fit beforehand. Jessy is still developing (sorry) and she and Rachel went into a dressing room together. Jessy said that Rachel was trying one on over her own bra till she turned round. I didn't have to ask-- I knew Jessy would have been all bare from the waist, trying it on and toying with the fit, almost as casual if she'd been trying it on right in the store. She simply has the kind of personal confidence that doesn't allow fear. She'd never do something like that of course-- try on a bra in the store, or a swimsuit, or really anything more than outerwear, because she is after all a lady. But it's not from fear or embarrassment. A lady is a lady because it is how she shows respect for others, and also for herself. Whether or not she feels comfortable doing this or that, she is ever aware of the comfort of other people too.
I don't think anyone seeing Jessy trying on a bra would ever feel uncomfortable about it, at least not because it's such an unpleasant sight. But there are many kinds of discomfort and a lady is always aware of them all.
As for Rachel I think she deserved a little shaking-up. We love her and it'll be good for her to wake up just a little. Maybe that's part of being a lady too.
I hate to say it but we felt like stars all day. We sat at a table for pizza ($3.00 a slice. Go figure) and at the next table were two eager children and their exhausted mother, all of whom seemed to stare at us as though we were someone they should have known. I really don't know why we seem to get this. We're not Haylie and Hilary's characters in 'Material Girls' --we're not that stupid or obvious, even if we are somewhat cheerful and animated. People have said that I am a good role model for younger people, and maybe they are right because I constantly find younger people, especially girls but also boys, paying attention to me. The little girl at that other table kept looking at me as though I were... Taylor Swift. 'Hi,' I finally said to her.
'Hi,' she said softly, shyly.
'What did you get today?'
She shrugged. 'We've been shoe shopping,' the young-looking mother said. 'I think I've been in every store here.'
'Yes, but it's fun, isn't it?' I said, and smiled at the little girl.
She nodded but wouldn't say anything else. When we got up to go we all said good-bye to them as though they'd been our supper companions. Later Rachel reported that a pair of 9th-grade girls from our school were lurking a few dozen steps behind us as though they didn't want us to see them there. We all giggled. Well maybe they'd have something to tell everyone else about come Monday.
All in I bought three new bras (one can never have too many), two pairs of opaque tights, a bundle of six pairs of socks, two pairs of soft cotton sleep shorts for the price of one, and a packet of three coconut-scented sachets for my wardrobe... at AE; and besides that there were the food, drinks, a book, the Taylor Swift CD, a black t-shirt, a pair of plain black canvas Vans slip-ons, padded insoles for my Timberland deck shoes, a short grey denim miniskirt, two different VS scents, and a super cool black wool beret. The other girls got some stuff too. Roger swung up like a Godsend to rescue us from the burden of all these purchases, getting out of the car to open the door and then offering to pop the boot (okay, trunk) lid. 'No, thank you,' we said, for we wanted to sort through all our stuff on the ride home. It was nearly dark though and Rachel and Jessy fell asleep on each other's shoulders before we were over the bridge.
...
Jessy and I have been planning on a day to visit the mall in Virginia Beach and as the week unfolded we ended up inviting cute little Rachel (Jessy's 10th-grade class president) to join us. Daddy, ever protective, would not allow just anyone to drive us the long way over the Bay Bridge-Tunnel and into the wilds of VB and so arranged that Roger would chauffeur us in the green Cadillac. We did not get under way till after 1.00, when Rachel finally rang and said she was done her chores. ('Chores?' Princess Jessy said on the phone. 'Chores? Could you describe what a "chores" looks like?')
Going over the bridge there is a bit too much wind to stand up and squeal out the roof window (we've tried), but with that open and the back windows down we were full of the cool sea breeze even sitting across the back seat. The sun was just a little over to the right and brilliant-- it looked like the kind of day you'd want to throw your arms round and hang onto forever. Rachel was thrilled. She'd never been to the mall in VB before.
Lynnhaven was busy as ever. Roger stopped at the kerb and came round to open the door for us, and I alighted, then Rachel, then Princess Jessy. We were all dressed casually, in jeans and t-shirts, though neatly and cleverly. Naturally people turned and looked at us like we were starlets. (I admit that this is one reason I love having Roger drive us.) I tossed my head and happened to remember the Aeropostale store was not far away, so I just said, 'Oh, hullo, dears, here it is!' and led them off to the doors. Jessy had to ring Roger with her phone to give him an idea of where and when to meet us. Well sometimes image is more important than logistics!
At AE we all bought bras. This is really my favourite place to buy them. I am lucky-- I can lift them right off the rack and know the fit beforehand. Jessy is still developing (sorry) and she and Rachel went into a dressing room together. Jessy said that Rachel was trying one on over her own bra till she turned round. I didn't have to ask-- I knew Jessy would have been all bare from the waist, trying it on and toying with the fit, almost as casual if she'd been trying it on right in the store. She simply has the kind of personal confidence that doesn't allow fear. She'd never do something like that of course-- try on a bra in the store, or a swimsuit, or really anything more than outerwear, because she is after all a lady. But it's not from fear or embarrassment. A lady is a lady because it is how she shows respect for others, and also for herself. Whether or not she feels comfortable doing this or that, she is ever aware of the comfort of other people too.
I don't think anyone seeing Jessy trying on a bra would ever feel uncomfortable about it, at least not because it's such an unpleasant sight. But there are many kinds of discomfort and a lady is always aware of them all.
As for Rachel I think she deserved a little shaking-up. We love her and it'll be good for her to wake up just a little. Maybe that's part of being a lady too.
I hate to say it but we felt like stars all day. We sat at a table for pizza ($3.00 a slice. Go figure) and at the next table were two eager children and their exhausted mother, all of whom seemed to stare at us as though we were someone they should have known. I really don't know why we seem to get this. We're not Haylie and Hilary's characters in 'Material Girls' --we're not that stupid or obvious, even if we are somewhat cheerful and animated. People have said that I am a good role model for younger people, and maybe they are right because I constantly find younger people, especially girls but also boys, paying attention to me. The little girl at that other table kept looking at me as though I were... Taylor Swift. 'Hi,' I finally said to her.
'Hi,' she said softly, shyly.
'What did you get today?'
She shrugged. 'We've been shoe shopping,' the young-looking mother said. 'I think I've been in every store here.'
'Yes, but it's fun, isn't it?' I said, and smiled at the little girl.
She nodded but wouldn't say anything else. When we got up to go we all said good-bye to them as though they'd been our supper companions. Later Rachel reported that a pair of 9th-grade girls from our school were lurking a few dozen steps behind us as though they didn't want us to see them there. We all giggled. Well maybe they'd have something to tell everyone else about come Monday.
All in I bought three new bras (one can never have too many), two pairs of opaque tights, a bundle of six pairs of socks, two pairs of soft cotton sleep shorts for the price of one, and a packet of three coconut-scented sachets for my wardrobe... at AE; and besides that there were the food, drinks, a book, the Taylor Swift CD, a black t-shirt, a pair of plain black canvas Vans slip-ons, padded insoles for my Timberland deck shoes, a short grey denim miniskirt, two different VS scents, and a super cool black wool beret. The other girls got some stuff too. Roger swung up like a Godsend to rescue us from the burden of all these purchases, getting out of the car to open the door and then offering to pop the boot (okay, trunk) lid. 'No, thank you,' we said, for we wanted to sort through all our stuff on the ride home. It was nearly dark though and Rachel and Jessy fell asleep on each other's shoulders before we were over the bridge.
...
07 September 2008
The morning after
Sunday 7 September 2008
The day dawned cool and clear with a very gentle breeze, the perfect aftermath of a storm. I would know about the dawn-- I think I was up for it. Even before my shower I wandered up stairs to the tower to look at the wall we had destroyed to get at the leak. The floor and wall are still damp but the caulking Daddy had put in will hold for good. All that remains is to clean up the mess and rebuild the wall.
Outside the water has subsided and the lane is all clear, so Daddy got the minivan out of the garage and we went to Eucharist at St James'. When we got home Daddy asked me to clean up after the leak mess-- which serves me right for asking about it. I got all the windows of the tower opened up and a fan running, but it was still hot and muggy and I ended up getting out of everything but my panties (small surprise there) and crawling round in the syrupy plaster goo with a brush and dustpan and finally a vacuum. By the time I descended I was in need of another shower. And there was still more to be done.
I went outside to find out what everyone else was doing and only happened to glance up at the house. Daddy had got out the long ladder, carried it up to the south roof above his and Mother's room, and was up at the top of it, peering in under the 4th-storey window that had leaked yesterday. I held my breath-- he is usually not one for heights at all, but this is his house which he adores and he'd not going to let a stupid fear keep him from protecting it. Even as I watched him from down on the lawn he poked hard at the leak area and rattling the ladder. Worried, I called up. 'Are you all right?'
He mumbled something that the brisk sea breeze carried away. Then he withdrew another blade from his tool bag and probed under the windowsill again. I knew that mumble-- it was not a time to ask him stupid questions.
Jessy was alone in the garage yard with a bamboo rake, supposedly straightening out the red gravel and smoothing out the sand that will never be all gone. But you know Her Highness isn't much for manual labour and by the time I got to her she was only meandering aimlessly with the rake half dragging behind her and looking up past the kitchen to watch Daddy up on the ladder. She had on the bottom of her flowery red swimsuit, a plain white tanktop, a bandanna tied round her head and her loosely-tied hiking boots. 'Hey,' she said, 'what's up with you?'
I was still undressed as I had been working, with my hair all a sweaty mess and white wet-plaster blotches on my knees and elbows and feet and even the bottom of the black cotton panties. 'Hey,' I said. 'Is this supposed to be work?'
She made a face and leaned jauntily on the rake. 'There's another one of these things in the garage.'
I nodded. 'Right, and I do one thing and then half of your thing as well.'
She shrugged. 'So?'
But I did get out the other rake and, working together as we often do so well, we got most of the garage yard sorted out.
Soon Daddy came down and next we knew he was at the corner of the gate and calling to us. 'I need you guys out here,' he said as he neared. 'With the rakes. Janine, you might as well get little more decent, of course.'
'But she's never decent,' Jessy teased me.
We laughed.
I did go up into the house, putting on only a plain pale-blue shirt which I tied up at the ribs instead of buttoning and my hiking boots that are like Jessy's. Well, it was hot, you know. I found Jessy outside the gate at the unfinished house nearest ours, on the other side of the foundation which will be our chapel, halfheartedly raking sand out of the red gravel driveway. Daddy had directed us to check over all the driveways and rake back the sand and soil, and for the afternoon we progressed down the north side of the lane which had taken the most beating from wind and rain. Before long we were only fifty yards or so from the main road. Cars went by-- I do not think they saw us nor cared what I had on. Daddy drove down with the little tractor and met us at the fourth house, whose damage was nearly nothing. 'This doesn't look too bad now,' he said.
We both leaned on our rakes then. We'd been raking for about two hours. I was totalled. 'It looks better than we do,' I said.
Daddy laughed. 'Well, I didn't bring the trailer, so you can walk back.'
I nodded, blowing hair out of my face, and Jessy and I shouldered up our rakes like returning soldiers and marched back to the house. With some help from Lisa and J.J., Mother had swept the whole back garden, skimmed the pool and now had tea and ladyfingers waiting. She loves this place as much as Daddy does. We sat on the back terrace and toasted ourselves on a busy day. Daddy decided that there was nothing keeping us from going to school in the morning and that Roger had said he'd be down in the morning with the green car. Lisa was ecstatic about that. School is still new to her. Before supper I had a shower and after supper I had a nap. Somehow I'm supposed to have got my reading for American History II and the odd-numbered chapter exercises in Geometry done. Don't these teachers know there was a hurricane?
...
The day dawned cool and clear with a very gentle breeze, the perfect aftermath of a storm. I would know about the dawn-- I think I was up for it. Even before my shower I wandered up stairs to the tower to look at the wall we had destroyed to get at the leak. The floor and wall are still damp but the caulking Daddy had put in will hold for good. All that remains is to clean up the mess and rebuild the wall.
Outside the water has subsided and the lane is all clear, so Daddy got the minivan out of the garage and we went to Eucharist at St James'. When we got home Daddy asked me to clean up after the leak mess-- which serves me right for asking about it. I got all the windows of the tower opened up and a fan running, but it was still hot and muggy and I ended up getting out of everything but my panties (small surprise there) and crawling round in the syrupy plaster goo with a brush and dustpan and finally a vacuum. By the time I descended I was in need of another shower. And there was still more to be done.
I went outside to find out what everyone else was doing and only happened to glance up at the house. Daddy had got out the long ladder, carried it up to the south roof above his and Mother's room, and was up at the top of it, peering in under the 4th-storey window that had leaked yesterday. I held my breath-- he is usually not one for heights at all, but this is his house which he adores and he'd not going to let a stupid fear keep him from protecting it. Even as I watched him from down on the lawn he poked hard at the leak area and rattling the ladder. Worried, I called up. 'Are you all right?'
He mumbled something that the brisk sea breeze carried away. Then he withdrew another blade from his tool bag and probed under the windowsill again. I knew that mumble-- it was not a time to ask him stupid questions.
Jessy was alone in the garage yard with a bamboo rake, supposedly straightening out the red gravel and smoothing out the sand that will never be all gone. But you know Her Highness isn't much for manual labour and by the time I got to her she was only meandering aimlessly with the rake half dragging behind her and looking up past the kitchen to watch Daddy up on the ladder. She had on the bottom of her flowery red swimsuit, a plain white tanktop, a bandanna tied round her head and her loosely-tied hiking boots. 'Hey,' she said, 'what's up with you?'
I was still undressed as I had been working, with my hair all a sweaty mess and white wet-plaster blotches on my knees and elbows and feet and even the bottom of the black cotton panties. 'Hey,' I said. 'Is this supposed to be work?'
She made a face and leaned jauntily on the rake. 'There's another one of these things in the garage.'
I nodded. 'Right, and I do one thing and then half of your thing as well.'
She shrugged. 'So?'
But I did get out the other rake and, working together as we often do so well, we got most of the garage yard sorted out.
Soon Daddy came down and next we knew he was at the corner of the gate and calling to us. 'I need you guys out here,' he said as he neared. 'With the rakes. Janine, you might as well get little more decent, of course.'
'But she's never decent,' Jessy teased me.
We laughed.
I did go up into the house, putting on only a plain pale-blue shirt which I tied up at the ribs instead of buttoning and my hiking boots that are like Jessy's. Well, it was hot, you know. I found Jessy outside the gate at the unfinished house nearest ours, on the other side of the foundation which will be our chapel, halfheartedly raking sand out of the red gravel driveway. Daddy had directed us to check over all the driveways and rake back the sand and soil, and for the afternoon we progressed down the north side of the lane which had taken the most beating from wind and rain. Before long we were only fifty yards or so from the main road. Cars went by-- I do not think they saw us nor cared what I had on. Daddy drove down with the little tractor and met us at the fourth house, whose damage was nearly nothing. 'This doesn't look too bad now,' he said.
We both leaned on our rakes then. We'd been raking for about two hours. I was totalled. 'It looks better than we do,' I said.
Daddy laughed. 'Well, I didn't bring the trailer, so you can walk back.'
I nodded, blowing hair out of my face, and Jessy and I shouldered up our rakes like returning soldiers and marched back to the house. With some help from Lisa and J.J., Mother had swept the whole back garden, skimmed the pool and now had tea and ladyfingers waiting. She loves this place as much as Daddy does. We sat on the back terrace and toasted ourselves on a busy day. Daddy decided that there was nothing keeping us from going to school in the morning and that Roger had said he'd be down in the morning with the green car. Lisa was ecstatic about that. School is still new to her. Before supper I had a shower and after supper I had a nap. Somehow I'm supposed to have got my reading for American History II and the odd-numbered chapter exercises in Geometry done. Don't these teachers know there was a hurricane?
...
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