44. Servants
1388 Words
After dinner, I go back up to the office with Dipak. We stare at the mess.
"Most of these are for the hallway right outside here, right?"
"Yes."
"Let's just line them up out there if that's where they will end up. That'll be a start."
"Dipak, you 3 should pick which of these 2 you want out there and which go to your parents. Everyone is in the same spot, but they have different poses. So it won't matter if you 3 are posed differently. Which do you like for the hallway?"
"What do you think, sweetheart?"
"They're both good. You're strong and fearless in both."
He kisses my head.
"That one makes me want to get my mouth fucked."
"That's the one we'll keep in the hallway then. Summon Tre and Tye... And Bud."
"You 2 need to figure out which of those you want in the hallway?"
Tre rubs his eyes.
"Guard. Summon Asa." I pat the table beside me for Tre. "We'll let your mom pick which one she wants."
Tye smiles. "Which one should I pick for the hallway?"
I point to one where he has his hands on the balcony wall, and he has red eyes. "That makes my underwear want to fall off."
"That one for the hallway."
Asa comes in with Bud.
Dipak hands him the painting of himself. "Give that to mom."
"Oh she'll love this."
"DO I GET A PAINTING FINALLY?"
I smile. "You have to pick. 1 for the hallway. 1 for you to keep. I think they are equally good. I can't pick."
"YOU ARE SO CUTE TRE." Tre rubs his eyes. "I LOVE THEM." She starts sobbing.
"Which one for the hallway though?"
"This is mine."
Dipak nods and carries the other one to the hallway. Then he pulls paintings of me and Tre out.
"We should put the kissing ones in the morning room. No one goes in there but people who already know."
Then we send for my parents again and Tre's parents.
Tre's mom runs in. "Another for me? Oh, you are so sweet together."
Momma comes in all rushed. "Oh they are adorable." They pick their favorites.
"Just me is left."
Momma's eyebrows shoot up. "Those are mine. I made you."
Daddy rubs his eyes. "We're already running out of wall space."
"I HAVE AN ENTIRE CASTLE."
The boys pull them out and start lining everything up. Including the extras I had with each of them.
Momma picks up one of me and Tre. We were having some juice at a little table. Smiling at each other. "Servant. This one to the dining room."
Tye's mom comes in. "It's like an art show in here."
Tye hands her the painting of him alone and she starts crying. "I love you so much. This is just amazing." She hugs him about 20 times.
"Servant, these 3 to the ballroom." Everyone looks at momma.
Daddy shakes his head. "She's decorating her castle now."
Dipak picks up 2 of me alone. "I want these. One for each side of the window behind my desk."
"Asa, what should we do with the ones where the boys are catching her? We got 3 of them. I already moved the dancing ones to the ballroom."
"You should put them in the kitchen dining room."
Tye's mom perks up. "I want this one for the hall by our entrance. You can tell how much adore each other in it."
"Servant this one to the entry. These 3 to the dining room by the kitchen."
Daddy picks another. "I forgot my other office."
"These people are going to be horrible when I start having babies. Going to baby paintings everywhere."
Tye's mom smiles. "How many do you want?"
"100."
Tre starts yelling and the other 2 start coughing. "I THOUGHT I HAD YOU DOWN TO 20?"
"20 pregnancies Tre... 6 babies each one. That's 120 babies. I will settle for 100 though."
"NO BABIES!"
"I FORGOT THE SERVANTS. THEY NEED CLOTHES FOR THE BALL TOO. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO MATCH AT ALL."
"NO BABIES FOR A LONG TIME SIR."
I run out. "MARY... MARY! SERVANT GET ALL THE SERVANTS TO THE BALLROOM."
Mary runs in and up onto the stage with me. "What happened, little miss?"
"I forgot their clothes, Mary. They need clothes for the ball. And how many servants do we bring? They need dresses."
"Use the servants dress they have on now in your colors. Instead of white, it would be black. That grayish, greenish, blue color would be red. Same outfit just different colors."
"That works for every day, but they need to be fancy for the ball. I should get them jewelry too. How many do I need?"
"No jewelry. You need 15. It's 1 per table. Plus 1 for each additional royalty at the table. So your mom and dad will get 2 and so will you and Tye. Every other table gets one."
"If you were from Nayel castle, did you attend ball events?"
I get a few "No" and a bunch of people shaking their heads.
"Could we bring extra? Say, 15 regular and 3 extra for training? They need to learn."
"Yea, that would be fine."
"We have a ball to attend in a little over a week. I need 15 people to be servants there. You must have done these events before." 15 of my servants come closer. "Good. Now I need 3 from Nayel castle. You will be training." 3 walk up. "Thank you. You 18 will be attending the ball. I need you to stay here. The rest of you are free to go. Thank you for responding so quickly."
Dipak wraps his arms around me. "What are we doing?"
Mary says quietly. "Ball gowns and jewelry for the servants."
"No, sweetheart."
"Well, they can't go in a regular servant dress. It's a ball, Dipak."
"Not a gown with jewelry though. That's to much."
Mary nods. "They really shouldn't wear jewelry at all. They would probably be accused of stealing it or servants from other houses would try to take it. It's not safe for them."
"Fine. But I'm still dressing them up."
"Matching."
"What?"
"All servants from a castle must be matching. So if you put them in a gown, you have to put them all in the same gown. And they have to keep an apron on. So they can be easily identified."
"Can it be the apron that ties around the waist and has nothing up top?"
"Yes, that's fine as long as they all have the same style."
"Can they have the floor length dress part with poof under it?"
"As long as they are all the same."
"And tight on top."
"Again, as long as they are all the same."
I look back at the 18 servants. "You will all be fitted for a dress either tomorrow or the next day. I need to design it first. This dress needs to be kept in good shape. It will be yours for formal events only."
They all start jumping up and down.
"Also the morning of the ball. You all need to take a bath and have your hair done. I will show a few of you how I want it done. Then they can take over making sure everyone has nice hair." They all start hugging each other and crying.
"Are you absolutely sure about the jewelry? Even a bracelet or ring? It would make them happy. It could be fake. Made to appear real."
"The only way you could do that is if it had your name somewhere on it. Carved into the metal. That way everyone would know whose servant it is."
"I will design a necklace to go with the dress. They will all be identical, and they will have my name engraved on them. This is to make sure you don't get lost. I guess? Thank you all for volunteering to help us out with the ball. And please remember to pay attention to when the dress fittings will be. I'm guessing 1 or 2 days, unless our dressmaker has a breakdown."
Dipak goes for the door. "Yanin might be able to help. They're going to the ball too though. I'll ask him. Hopefully he's still here."
- Writer
