Allow Me To Serve

Chapter One The New Tenants For rent: 2 BDR Apt. Over detached garage. Kitchen, Small Balcony, Quiet neighborhood, Near Campus. 1,000 sq. ft. The ad ran for three weeks in June and I don’t know how many phone calls I got and just plain lookee-lou students that dropped in unannounced. Three co-eds showed up, all with feathers clipped in their hair and vacant looks in their eyes, (I could already hear it: “Oops. Sorry the rent was late. Forgot again.”), not to mention two rich boys living on daddy and mommy’s money in between school years that wanted to score a party pad. (“Dude! Let’s rock!”) I had just about decided that with most of the students going back home the pickings were so slim I would have to rent to one of them or some other irresponsible i***t. Then a married couple phoned for an appointment and turned up on time. It was the laughing couple from the South Coast coffee bar. They were quiet and serious now, best friends and lovers; that’s how I saw them as they wandered from room to room. He was a college professor and she a free-lance magazine writer. But the way they treated each other with such respect, so much in tune to their mate, made me jealous. I’d never seen anything like that, much less experienced it, and I wanted a piece of their magic. Their names were Stephanie and Daniel Taylor. They moved in that weekend. Three months later I hung naked in their living room. I didn’t see much of them just after the move in, but I did notice several large footlockers that they wouldn’t let the muscle-bound movers touch, taking each up themselves. It was different with the cage. Ah, yes, the cage! Very tall, ornate, round and so heavy it took four men to haul it up the creaking wooden stairs. While they carefully angled it inside, one of the movers asked why Daniel and Stephanie owned it. With a laugh Daniel shouted from below he locked Stephanie in there when he needed a good night’s sleep. The muscle men laughed too and then, since it was the last thing to go inside, they left. The apartment lights stayed on well into the night as my new tenants unpacked. Late that night, from my back bedroom window I spied Stephanie in a blue, light bathrobe as she drew the curtains. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I saw a small choke collar with a tiny ring on her neck. And that was it. Daniel and Stephanie kept to themselves as summer turned to fall and the college year began. They dropped off their checks; either stuck in my kitchen door jam or brought inside if I was puttering at the sink. Just a quick “Hello” from them and an equally quick “thanks” from me. Their checks were always hand printed with my name, Marlene Bettencourt. It was nice seeing my maiden name again. The divorce was final at the start of last summer and my ex-husband of ten years, married out of high school, left me with a mortgage I couldn’t handle on my sales office assistant wages. Neat. So I fixed up the apartment over the garage as he had always promised to do and hoped for decent tenants. Stephanie and Daniel were a dream come true. I got some breathing space from the bank and a regular, if silent, endorsement of my new life. My new life, but little did I know it hadn’t even started yet! That ‘new’ life began one early evening when Daniel and Stephanie strode by the kitchen on the driveway toward the street. They both carried well-stuffed, dark gym bags and were dressed in matching leather dusters, dark cowboy hats and boots. Daniel’s heels clicked on the concrete while Stephanie’s were quiet on the central grass portion of the driveway. They were smiling and their arms were curled around each other’s waist. Suddenly, I felt that pang again. Lovers and best friends. Drawn like a moth to a dark flame, I poked my head out the kitchen door, while they stood at the curb, waiting for someone. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I wanted to talk to them, get to know them better. Since the divorce, hell, even before it, I had no social life. It was work, come home, eat and sleep. There had to be more! I wanted to get out too! Get out and enjoy life like Daniel and Stephanie. Maybe I could start with a curbside encounter with them. But what excuse would I give for just “meeting” them there? Uh, trash. Yeah, that was it. Take out the trash! I grabbed the half-full barrel by the kitchen door and, with it balanced on my tiny hip, half-carried, half-dragged it down to the street. Daniel noticed my struggle and came back to help me. He grabbed a handle and frowned a little the emptiness of the barrel. “Isn’t trash picked up three days from now?” Stephanie asked. “Uh, yes, it is,” I said. “I guess I just wanted to get a head start.” I lightly clapped and rubbed my hands, like I had just finished a huge job. I glanced at their clothes. “You two sure look nice.” Who was I kidding? They looked hot! Aside from the dusters, hats and boots, they both wore tight jeans and form fitting dark t-shirts. Daniel’s chest was broad, his stomach washboard flat, while Stephanie’s hips and breasts, oohwee! “We’re going to a party,” Daniel said. “Really?” I said and worked hard at casual interest. “Is it a college faculty thing?” “Oh, no,” Daniel said. “Just a few friends we made since moving here. Kind of quiet.” Stephanie gave a half-smile. “Well, mostly.” “We have interesting discussions,” Daniel quickly said. “Discussions?” I said. “About what?” Stephanie laughed. “You’d be surprised.” A red SUV drove up. A dark-haired man with wide shoulders sat behind the wheel. A young, light blonde woman hopped out on the passenger side and kissed them both—and not just pecks on the cheeks. “Uh, have a good time,” I said. “We will!” Stephanie said emphatically from the back seat. They sped away and Daniel called back with a laugh. “Don’t wait up for us.” Wait up? Ha! That’s just what I did. In my bedroom I surfed cable movies for hours. But when ten o’clock Friday night turned into Saturday morning and stretched into two a.m., I wondered if it was worth it to wait up. Finally, at a quarter to three, just after I turned off my television and bedroom lights, Daniel and Stephanie returned. It was well worth the wait. The dark-haired man and blonde woman accompanied them. The blonde stayed close to Stephanie and seemed rigid in her straight, almost stiff walk. Stephanie wrapped her arm around the blonde’s shoulders, craned her head up and said something. The light haired beauty burst out in a laugh of relief and her shoulders relaxed. They quickly climbed the apartment’s stairs. Daniel and the dark-haired man trailed behind, and a little further behind strode a much younger man. In fact, their leisurely pace seemed deliberate to allow the ladies plenty of time to get inside. All three men stopped at the bottom of the stairs and Daniel studied the dark-haired man’s hands as they quickly moved in tight, jerky movements. I squinted and discovered that he kept retying a short piece of rope into different kinds of knots. After a last, intricate knot, he handed the rope to Daniel with a “You try it” gesture. Daniel’s fingers weren’t as sure. He fumbled and started again a few times. In the carriage light, set next to the garage door, I could see his lips were pinched, his total concentration. At one point the young man sought to try it too but Daniel waved him off. At last he finished. The young man bent over and inspected the knot. He picked at it here and there. The dark-haired man nodded approval. “Hey! What’re you three waiting for down there?” Stephanie yelled from inside. “An engraved invitation?” Daniel and the dark-haired man bounded up the stairs. Daniel hit the door at full speed. “What’re you trying to do? Wake up the whole neighborhood?” “They’re going to wake up soon e –” Stephanie was cut off and it wasn’t from the front door closing. It remained open, and, as I leaned near the window screen, my ears strained to catch something more. I don’t know how long I stayed there. A minute? Five? Nope, nothing else drifted out from the apartment. I started to turn away. But, I’d been caught! Down below, the young man stared right at me. I froze. Maybe in the dark he couldn’t really see me. But I could see him a whole lot better now. Young, yes. Handsome, very. Around my age, late twenties. Short, maybe light-brown hair. Aquiline nose. Firm mouth. He pinned me like a cat that spies a shaking bird in a tree. Daniel stuck his head outside. “Russ, c’mon!” Russ turned and, while he said something to Daniel, I scurried away from the window. My heart pounded. At last I heard Russ slowly climb the stairs, caught a glimpse of him as he met Daniel at the door, and then disappeared inside. More of the apartment’s lights snapped on, but not all of them. Through the thin curtains the bright lights I could see a silhouette of Stephanie. Daniel moved around her and pulled her head back a couple of times. He paid particular attention to her arms and brought them over her head. They stayed that way as he wrapped something around her waist and then pulled it up between her legs. He shoved something in her mouth. The dark-haired man did most of the same to the other woman, but left her mouth alone, and both women’s silhouettes stood side by side. Russ kind of flitted between the two, helping with a rope here and there. The men moved from one to the other, their hands in the women’s hair, on their breasts, between their legs. First Stephanie, then the other woman seemed to shake, then their heads hung limp. Their knees buckled but Daniel slapped Stephanie’s breasts and she forced herself to straighten up. Russ slapped the blonde’s ass with an explosion and a resulting yell from the woman I could clearly hear all the way to my room. Forced back to attention, the women were left alone for a while, but then all three men took up positions behind them. A single arm from each was upraised, and then swung forward like lightning at the women. Several cracks resounded and both women arched their backs. The blonde cried out again, but then Russ appeared to shove something in her mouth too. He took up position again and, once more, all the men’s arms swung forward. They didn’t hit the women with their hands, but whatever it was made them toss their heads back. The scene went on a long time, until the men backed away and sat near the window, their indistinct heads the only thing I could make out of them. But Stephanie and the blonde stayed rooted to their spots for a long time, arms overhead, heads down. Silent and still. Like me. Dawn arrived and I remained paralyzed. Late in the afternoon Stephanie knocked on the kitchen door. I didn’t go down, not even after repeated knocks and her calling my name. She wanted to confront me, wanted to know why I spied on them last night, but I wasn’t about to let on that I saw anything. Then I remembered the rent was due today; that’s why she came around. But just in case I quietly descended the stairs, afraid that she or Daniel lay in wait. On the bottom step I halted and listened for any noise from outside. All was quiet. I shook my head. This was stupid and paranoid. They both had jobs. Daniel was probably preparing lectures and Stephanie was most likely hunched over a computer to meet a deadline. Besides, this was my house! Why should I be afraid of going around where I want? I could even go up to their apartment. After all, I owned that too. Who cares what Stephanie and Daniel did up there? As long as they didn’t break the law, stayed quiet and paid their rent on time what did I care about their lifestyle? And exactly what kind of lifestyle was that? Oh, c’mon! I said to myself. Don’t act stupid. I wasn’t the most experienced person, but the clues were there. The leather dusters, the knot tying lesson. How Stephanie and the other woman were made to stand at attention, like they were...