The Longest Day

CAUTION: Intimations of buggery ahead….

 

“You been in there, right? Top floor?”

“Ah…it’s been years-and honestly-those days? Not much in the way of memories…”

“Well, it’s a long hallway and I’m at this end…” to make his point he did a chopping motion in the air and held his hand on edge. “Y’see? And Colleen’s room is halfway down-more than that actually-just a door up from the loo. Right there.” He pointed through the window and up the hill to the rambling ramshackle of a boarding house overlooking the few standing structures that still defined Wichymeade as a town on some old maps. “The one with the purple curtains”, he continued to point.

Glennon’s shrug was equal parts “I see”, “I don’t get it” and “get on with it.”

“Anyways” he shrugs getting on with it, “I’m creeping down the hall to do my night’s business and I hear this…hum. More like a moan.”

“A moan?”

“Like, ‘Mmmmmmmm’.”

“That could be a moan”, then shrugging. “Or a hum. And it’s coming from….”

“You got it. Right! Colleen’s room. And it’s getting louder as I get closer-which of course makes sense-and I get there, again, on my way to the loo…just passing by, and I see Dennehy-of course I think it was Dennehy. Never seen him from that particular angle.”

“What angle was that?”

“He was laying over Colleen’s lap-like a naughty baby-stark naked from what I could see…”

“Naked!?”

“Completely!”

“Facing which way?”

“Away from me.”

“Oh dear.”

“Right. And that’s not the worst of it. Colleen was pushing a cucumber into his bottom.”

“What? A cucumber?”

“Had to be”, he answered struggling to remember the details.

Glennon sipped his coffee. “Why don’t people shut their doors when they’re on about something like that?” Then, after a pause as he tried to envision the calamity, “You’re sure it was a cucumber?”

“And not a….”

“Zucchini, let’s say.”

“Would have had to be a small zucchini…”

“And the sound you heard, the ‘mmmmmmmmm…”

“That was coming out of him.”

“I don’t doubt it. Was there lights on in the room?”

“See, that’s the thing what gets me wondering if it were a dream or not. It seemed to be sunlight leaking in around the curtains…”

“But it was night.”

“Exactly!”

“Were you soused?”

“No more, no less.”

“Sampling any of Dixon’s latest”, he asked pantomiming puffing on a joint.

“My credit’s no good with him no more.”

“Did you speak with either of them?”

“No, not speak. But when Colleen noticed me at the door, she gave me a look.”

“What kinda look?”

“You know.”

“I’m sure I don’t.”

“Like I had come upon them playing bridge or something. Chess maybe. Like ‘nothing to see here, best be off.’ As if she wasn’t jamming a zucchini up me mate’s behind.”

“I thought you said it was a cucumber!”

“It was, what did I say?”

“Zucchini.”

“No. Had to be a cucumber. Of produce, I guess I could see a carrot…a banana, of course…”

“Candlestick.”

“Oh, yes. Forgot you were an altar boy.”

“Shush!” hissed Glennon clapping him on the shoulder. “What you do then? After she spied you?”

“What ya think? Bypassed the loo completely. Down the stairs and out into the yard. Did my business behind a tree and went over to Sadies.”

“Ah Sadie. She’s always good for a piece of day old pie and a cuppa that hideous coffee of hers.”

“Ghastly stuff!”

“You really have to work to make coffee that bad.”

“Then I come over here soon’s June Bug opened. Did you see Dennehy this morning at the dock?”

“No. But his boat leaves early so I wouldn’t, typically.”

The sharp double toot of a steam whistle cut the heavy air.

“That’s me”, said Glennon, drinking off the rest of his cup. “I’m off. Salmon to be caught.”

“You need a hand?”

“No, we’re full today. Why? Don’t you have a train?”

“No I do not! Fools threw a wheel down the bottom of the lake.”

“So you have nothing today.”

“Nope.”

Standing Glennon patted him on the shoulder and headed for the door. “You should set a bit. Stay down here and get your thoughts in order. And oh”, he paused hand on the push bar “on the off chance, pass on the salad if she tosses one for dinner.”

The door closed and he was alone at the counter.

“Junie? Would you give me a wee,” he held his fingers up a scant smidge apart for emphasis “tiny bit a’ schnapps please?”

“I will not, Kevin Duffy!”

“You won’t?”

“It’s not an hour past sunup and you yourownself told me to never serve you before noon.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Yes you did. So unless you want a good, sound spank you’ll have another coffee and be happy about it!”

“What?”

She stood in front of him with the pot. “D’ye want another cup?”

“What…else? The other thing…? What did you say? Besides coffee?”

“Are ye daft as well as deaf? No alkyhol till noon. Now, ‘nother coffee?”

“Uh…no. No thank you.”

He pushed away, leaving more coin on the counter than was necessary.

“See ye at noon then”, she called at his back.

Outside the sun burning from over the lake warmed his back and threw his shadow well up the hill. He set out, trudging after it as if underwater, up toward the boarding house.

 

 

The Norwegians-Part 4

(Continued from The Norwegians – Part 3)

Standing, with her left pressing down on the small of Jessica’s back, Angie delivered smack after smack of varying force-some cupping and loving, some flat handed and loud. It seemed that Jessica’s writhing had very little to do with the severity of the smacks and indeed, when one wasn’t delivered the girl wriggled backward and upward-seeking the hand. Which always came back with a deliciously resounding “SWAT”, and the answering mewl.

Rolling against the pinioning hand, Jessica slid onto her hip and began answering the smacks with subtle-then less so-leg movements. Angie delighted in the sounds and the show that the girl’s cycling movements were giving her.

“You are wriggling a lot for just a hand spanking….

“I can’t help it….”

“When was the last time you were spanked?” In the pause for the conversation, Jessica still undulated her hips and moved her legs alluringly as if treading water while holding onto a dock.

“I…don’t know…I had to be 11 or so….”

“Your dad?”

“No my mom…”

“What was that like?”

“Nothing like this…”she blurted with half a giggle happily admitting to enjoying something she wasn’t looking forward to.

“That’s good, I guess.”

“Very…” she breathed into the bed. Every smack vibrated downward between her legs and settled there. She understood now the feeling she had when seeing Carrie the receptionist spread out over Dr. Greene’s knees. It wasn’t embarrassment, it wasn’t fear…it was this particular lust that she didn’t really understand until just now.

Angie sat on the bed facing Jessica’s feet and wrapped her arm tightly around her waist. And continued.

“OW! OW! OW!”

“Do you want more?”

“Yes! I want more. Jesus, yes!”

“Hairbrush time?”

“Yes!”

Angie reached across the girl’s heaving back for the brush. At the very touch of the cool wood to her warm bottom Jessica bucked forward.

“Easy, girl”, Angie cooed and brought the paddle lightly down, the resounding “SWAT!” louder and firmer than anything previous. Answering, Jessica’s cries changed in timbre from light and girlish to something deeper and more guttural. What didn’t change was her bottom’s reaching-upward and upward seeking the blows, reveling in the heat and buzz they brought.

But as skillful and attentive as she was, Angie was not above getting lost in the moment. She wondered at the heaving buttocks blossoming from pale and smooth through pink and to a deeper red. She concentrated on the bottom of the cheeks and the confluence of bum and legs where she knew her charge was vibrating at every blow. She paused in her tattoo and lay her hand on the pulsing warmth that rivaled what she felt coming from between her own legs.

“Are you crying?”

“A little.”

“Are you OK?”

“Oh yes….I’m really, really ok.”

“More?”

“Some.”

Angie moved more quickly now-her movements, if not frenzied yet, certainly not calmly deliberate as they had been. Her spanks were lighter and lingered where they landed-riding the light waves the rising and falling of her cheeks.

Pulling her more closely to her, she slid  her hand up under Jess’ belly and through the dense patch that had seemed so parched and wiry just moments ago to find it wet and slippery. Boldly seeking the swelling flower between her legs Angie slipped a probing finger inside. Jessica yelped when touched there.

“Oh girl”, said Angie. “I’d say you are adequately punished….”

“Mmmmm…I’m not done, am I?”

“I think I have something to make your bottom feel better…would you like that?” Not waiting for an answer she uncoiled her arm and scampered into the en suite off the back of the room where she could watch in the mirror the as Jessica subtly ground her pelvis into the bed.

Angie undressed with the speed and carelessness of a child rushing to jump into a pool. She tossed her top over a chair and stepped on and out of her pants that were tied up with her blue silk underpants-carefully chosen and heedlessly discarded. Leaving her bra to fall with the rest of the pile she snatched a bottle of lotion from the makeup table and fairly skipped back to the bed. When she sat next to her this time Jessica could feel the cool bare skin against her own hot, heaving flesh. She imagined that blonde skin would always be cooling and dry.

“I almost came….” she whined into the duvet.

“Almost? I’m losing my touch…”

“I’m still buzzing…” She emphasized by pushing her hip hard into her-like a cat craving attention. “You have to do something….”

“More spanking?” Angie asked, lightly kneading lotion into her warm right buttock.

“That would be something….”

“Or…”she said allowing her fingers to wander off of her bum and rub her finger gently over her glistening labia, “I could put my head between your legs and put my tongue to you. Might that work?”

“Oh god…”

Angie gave her a quick slap on the bum. “Roll over!” When she did her tiny tormentor melted at the hungry, yearning glow of her eyes behind the tears and redness. She couldn’t resist falling onto her and opening her mouth for a kiss that was nowhere near the tentative reaching of a little while ago. Jessica opened her mouth and welcomed her tongue deeply, longingly as if to swallow it whole.

But Angie would not give it up-she had plans for it. She pulled back and opened Jessica’s knees. The girl’s most intimate spot opened like a peeled plumb glowing in the sunshine burning through the windows. Jess dropped her head and hissed between her teeth as Angie’s tongue slid slowly down the inside of her thigh then slowly inside of her.

(Continuing…)

Happy Bloomsday!

“Be interesting someday get a pass through Hancock to see the brewery. Regular world in itself, Vats of porter, wonderful. Rats get in too. Drink themselves bloated as big as a collie floating. Dead drunk on the porter. Drink till they puke again like christians. Imagine drinking that! Rats: vats. Well of course if we knew all the things…”

-James Joyce, Ulysses

Celebrate as you will. Myself, I’ll steer clear of the porter. Did run into a charmer at the pub yesterday though-where we all huddled out of the storm. Extolled the virtues of stouts. Almost had me with the eyes; but I’ll still with the IPA’s because, as we know, bitter is better.

The Norwegians – Part 3

(Continued from The Norwegians-Part 2)

Jessica had never exited an elevator directly into an apartment before and for a moment she thought they were on the roof. When the doors opened she blinked at the sun shining directly through the floor to ceiling windows that made up the west wall of the penthouse as she seemed to float above the rivers, bridges and stadiums of downtown. Angie veered directly to the right to step behind a bar and pull a bottle of the same imported water she was drinking at Dish out of the small refrigerator.

“Jesus, girl!”

“Yeah-something huh?” She poured two glasses as Jessica stepped down into a large area dotted with a couple of couches, scattered cushions and chairs that she sidestepped keeping her eyes on the city below. Angie handed her a glass and watched her sip it; both mesmerized by the views.

“This is your place?”

“Yep!”

“How….?”

“Shhh…later.” Angie said, floating close as they watched a tow boat push a barge of coal down the river looking like a toy in the stream from up here. They weren’t touching but Jessica could feel her heat.

“This way”, Angie motioned only-still not touching but seeming to create air flows that carried them to a glass walled room. Angie mentioned that it was a spare room but she could have said play room, Jess wasn’t sure. It was definitely a bedroom that shared the outside wall of windows. Glass block and bamboo screen panels separated it from the rest of the penthouse.

“Sometimes guests want to sleep with the city view…watching the lights come up, then go down…You can judge the time of night by the cars crossing the bridges…” Angie was close now-right behind-speaking softly near her ear. The remembered word “liaisons” floated through her head. Then she saw the hairbrush on the night stand and the tiny buzzing inside her popped up a notch. Angie’s eyes followed hers.

“Ah yes,” the little blonde said brightly. “The reason for the visit. You have to get undressed.”

“Undressed!? Why…”

“I’m going to spank you, silly.”

“Yes, but…I could just lift my skirt. You know…bend over and…”

“I was undressed when you were groping me this morning.”

“I wasn’t groping…”

“Google groping-see what it says…”

“You had a robe on!”

“You want a robe? I can get you a robe.”

Jessica pursed her mouth to answer then stopped and sighed. Not a resigned sigh…more anxious. Reflexively she lifted her hand to her temple and rubbed.

“Here now”, said Angie softly taking her hand away from her head. “Stop that would you?” She held her face in her hands and rubbed at the dark furrows between Jessica’s eyes as if they were smudges to be rubbed away. “Your face is going to stay like that.” She was rewarded with a sad little smile.

“I’m sorry…I think…”

“Bad idea.”

“Yeah-but I think I gave you the wrong…maybe the wrong…”

“The wrong ‘wrong’ or just the wrong…?” Angie teased.

“Look…I’m not…”

The little blonde cocked her head aside again with the curious puppy look. Her blue eyes twinkled. “Not what?” she asked brightly.

Jessica bit her lip frustrated that she, who spent a fair amount of time touching naked people in the most intimate ways, could be so embarrassed by words. How she had massaged this particular person’s bottom not five hours earlier and would have kissed it had they not been interrupted and now couldn’t speak to her. She didn’t realize that she was backing toward the bed until she felt it against her legs and sat.

”I’m not….” She stumbled again and swallowed.

“Norwegian?” asked Angie helpfully.

Jessica’s pained smile widened slightly. “God you’re so weird.”

“Guilty!” Angie stepped closer and unbuttoned the top of Jessica’s jersey and grabbed it by the hem. Jess gave the face of a child finally giving in to the adult who was bound and determined to get her into the bath and lifted her arms allowing the top to be pulled over her head. She met the warm smile in Angie’s eyes and reached back to unsnap her bra. A quick shrug and a roll and her small firm breasts popped free. “Very nice”, Angie said appreciatively noticing the taut pink nipples standing at attention.

“You are, aren’t you?” asked Jessica.

“German-Swede. People think because of the eyes and hair…”

“No you weirdo…”

With a finger to her lips Angie said, “I’ll accept weirdo and give you German-Swede but those are the only labels I’m really interested in, kay?”

“Okay.”

Then, without being prodded or prompted-and maybe a teensie bit worried that she’d upset this beautiful girl who happened to be undressing her- Jessica unbuttoned the side of her denim skirt and slipped it down. Angie took it and set it aside. She cleared her mind and relaxed-Angie was right, thinking was a bad idea right now. Given today, getting undressed for this mesmerizing woman, Norwegian or not, felt fine. Felt right. Was it warm in the room?  She felt warm.

Keeping what had been the embarrassed smile but was now something else, she lifted her butt and slid her panties down and over her thighs handing them over as well. Then, naked, she sat, hands at her sides curled on the bed.

“See?” said Angie. “That wasn’t so hard was it?”

“No actually, it wasn’t”, she whispered hoarsely. Looking around she reached over and picked up the paddle and patted it against her palm. “Yow. This is going to hurt.”

“Definitely going to hurt.”

“You’ve felt this, haven’t you?” She slapped her thigh with it harder than she had meant to and her eyes widened-her mouth a silent “O”.

“Definitely going to hurt.”

Jessica lay the nasty implement in her lap as they both watched the skin on her thigh mottle then rise to an overall pleasant pink. As if on a signal their eyes rose and found each other’s. Angie reached up and loosened the side pony that still rode above Jess’s ear. She gently pulled her dark tresses free and slid her fingers through them before stroking them into place around her head and over her ears. She leaned closely enough that their breaths mingled in gentle, sweet puffs. When Angie spoke Jessica could feel the words better than she could hear them.

“Do you mind…?” she asked. “No” Jessica answered more a squeak than a word. They kissed gently, their lips melding together in a lush secret. Jessica opened her lips to welcome the warmth that poured in and through her. Angie gently explored her lips, her teeth then her tongue before pulling back and opening her eyes to meet Jessica’s glimmering gaze.

“Well then…” she said and leaned further away coming back to the task at hand. She reached for the paddle and, inadvertently or not, brushed her hand lightly across Jessica’s lap and her thick, dark bush. They both started as if shocked and paused to stare at the wild hair as if touching it might have caused it to burst into flame.

“You’re going to take care of me, right?” asked Jessica in a small voice.

“Relax…Five minutes and you’ll be done.”

Jessica gave her a look that, were she wearing glasses, would have peered out over the lens.

“Hurt your bum-not you.”

“Some distinction”, Jessica said with a wry smile. “So…am I going to go over your lap?”

“Thought you could just lie on the bed…”

“You’re the boss…”

Angie pushed her lightly on the shoulder. “Over you go.”

It was a move that Jessica knew well. Over onto her hip, then flat onto her belly. When she settled Angie rubbed her left hand gently up and down her spine touching and massaging as she went.

“You feel tense. Would you feel more comfortable if I went to find a thermometer?”

“Hah” Jessica laughed looking back over her shoulder. “You know I never had it. Back there.”

“What? Never?”

“Nope.”

“I thought that would be a requirement for everyone on the staff…”

“Please don’t blab it….”

The exchange pulled Angie’s attention southward. Placing the paddle aside for now, she ran her ministering hand down the girl’s bumpy spine slowly, stopping at the rise of her pert bottom. Angie’s heart was fluttering like a bird in a shoe box as she cupped one round unblemished cheek, then the other.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes”, came the muted reply.

Leaning slightly on her left hand where it held her down, Angie delivered a light smack.

“Oooo”, Jessica wriggled at the touch.

To be continued….

 

3 a.m.

What are you even doing here?
The Love of my life?

Hardly.
She’s in Houston with her kids,
And his.
When I dream of her I wake a rock-
Head full of all the soft, wet places.

You?
Gravel and jagged edges-
Broken glass
Desolate highways with no lights,
No guiderails.

You took my heart; never given.
Smashed it, killed it, left it lie.
Didn’t wish you dead, but now that you are,
Stay there.

I’m cauterized-
Like a drunk needing a bottle when once a cocktail would do-
I must dig deeper and deeper to feel the
Pain you used to visit so cavalierly
With a word. A gesture.

I’ll stab at my skin with a sharp spoon,
Drive nails between my toes,
Tear my hair and rend my guts to wear
As braids.

I always feared I would see you in hell
To again be choked on your leash.
But I’d hoped to die first.

Go back to poling the River Styx
Ferrying the damned from sulfurous shore
To sulfurous shore
And leave me be.
I’ll see you soon enough.

Fuck you
Fuck you
And fuck me.

I’d give my left nut for the sunrise.

 

 

 

 

The Norwegians-Part 2

(Continued from The Norwegians – Part 1)

“I feel like I’m going to puke…” Jessica said.

“Don’t do that”, Angie said raising her hand. “Would be a mess.” Almost before she brought it back down, Bobby had materialized with two more drinks. Jessica hadn’t realized that she’d swallowed hers during her reverie.

“…I can’t…not back in the office….Jesus. Everyone will know…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Easy for you to say! This is the worst. Hey! Couldn’t you….like intervene…Tell her….”

“Already done”, said Angie leaning back happy to have used the words she’d been rehearsing.

“What’s done?”

“Taken care of. Stephanie and I go way back.”

Angie’s belly fluttered again, this time in relief. “What did you tell her?”

“Doesn’t matter, does it?”

The flutterbies in Angie’s belly turned cold when she looked across the table. “Wait a minute. You knew from the beginning that I wasn’t getting spanked and you let me think….”

“I didn’t say you weren’t getting spanked.”

“B…”

“Stephanie isn’t spanking you. Look. She likes you. You’re good over there and she sees you as an integral part of the team. But, she does have to enforce a level of discipline. If she did it over at the clinic, you are correct, everyone would know about it. Your standing in the eyes of….the team could slip.”

Jessica didn’t really know she had standing.

“So”, Angie continued, “I offered her my place. She’s used it for that before-for discreet discipline or liaisons.  I’m right over in the Gardens.”

“Duquesne Gardens?”

“Yes, silly. Right over there.”

Duquesne Gardens, just now casting its late afternoon shadow over Dish, was the most expensive address in the most expensive part of town. What was this lovely sprite doing living in Duquesne Gardens?

“But…she’s not, right? She’s not coming over.”

“Almost! But she had an engagement tonight. And she didn’t want this thing to drag on so she agreed that I should spank you. For her.”

Jessica scoffed lightly. “Right.”

“No. Really. She gave me the hairbrush out of her desk drawer and all.” Angie had a relaxed little smile as if she had just suggested a movie to see after dinner. “It was my idea…like I said, Steph and I go way back.”

“You’ve done this sort of thing before?”

“No. Look, it was a suggestion, that’s all. You don’t have to go along. I can just let her know that you weren’t comfortable with it and you can work it out with her. Just an option. I’m the option girl.”

Jessica watched the pucker of Angie’s lips as she sipped at her drink. The feeling of having her naked on the exam table not six hours before came wafting back over her but from the bottom up. She felt again the tingle between her legs as she saw the tiny pink flower peeking out from below her bottom-the almost undeniable urge to touch…fondle…kiss.

“It’s a good option”, Jessica said quietly.

“Absolutely!”

“So…when do we do this?”

“As soon as you finish your drink!” Angie answered a light pink flush-which could have been from the drinks-coloring her cheeks. “You wouldn’t want to put this kind of thing off, would you?”

Jess, realizing she was squeezing her legs together, lifted her empty glass.

“Let’s go then.” Angie stood and gathered her notebook.

“Don’t you have to pay…”

“Bobby will take care of it. I have a tab…”

Do people still have tabs, Jessica wondered as she followed unsteadily out the door. Her legs wobbled a tad-just as easily attributable to the liquor as to the music coming from between her legs.

Though Duquesne Gardens towered over them the entrance was still two short blocks away. Jessica followed Angie as well as she could, dodging the salary men and worker bees clogging the sidewalks. She looked away a few times when she realized her eyes were focusing on Angie’s perfectly undulating bottom. When they reached oasis of the awning draped over twenty yards of sidewalk an arrestingly tall door woman with a scythe of dark hair slicing across her eyes from below her cap reached for the door.

“Hi Toni”, Angie chirped.

“Good evening Ms. Miller. And guest.”

“Jessica”, said Angie.

“Jessica” repeated the door woman, passing a striking green-eyed gaze over her. What was it with the eyes today? They held her for a moment then released her, dismissed, like a fish that was too small for the creel. Jess noticed the tail of a tattoo peeking up over the starched collar.

“Wow…” she said following Angie into one of several elevator doors.

“Yes”, she answered. “Double wow. Word to the wise. Try never to find yourself across her lap.”

Jessica opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t utter a squeak. She did squeeze her legs together while Angie hit a code on a keypad inside the elevator. “Going up.”

(To be continued…)

The Norwegians – Part 1

(Continued from A Visit to the Clinic)

Jessica’s phone buzzed with a text. It was about 3:15. She had avoided Dr. Greene for the day which wasn’t hard to do. She was a competent hustler and other staff were happy to make use of her when they were busy.

She read the text “Meet me at Dish at 4.”

Jessica didn’t recognize the number.

“Who?” she texted back.

“Most spankable ass in the state,” came the reply.

Jessica actually let out a low moan. She had almost…..no, forget that. She hadn’t almost put it out of her mind. Her little escapade in the exam room this morning had roiled her brain all day.

“Don’t know if I can get free.” She texted back with a frowny face emoji that was definitely for effect only.

“You’re shift is over at 330”, came the quick reply. “Steph told me.”

Jessica sighed long and deep, rubbing her temple which should have been worn raw by now. Before she could type anything, came the message: “No choice. Dish 4.”

Finished with her patients at 3:15 and still trying to make herself scarce, Jessica ducked into the locker room. She normally came and went in her scrubs but something about meeting somebody-anybody-at Dish, a high-end Italian fusion restaurant, called for something more than work clothes.

She quickly stripped and jumped in the shower careful not to wet her hair. Within 20 minutes she was in a short, denim skirt, bright floral top and sandals. She checked out with Selena in front and was on the street heading a short four blocks uptown.

The small dark bar was full even at four with sleek young men and women wearing shades of blacks and blues. Grey was the new white with this crowd and she suddenly felt like a Christmas tree light with her red and yellow top. She scanned the side tables and there she was-golden hair glowing in the sun peeking through the front window. Jessica was half-way to the table when Angie looked up and flashed her bright smile zapping her with the eyes. Jesus! Jessica thought and almost stopped walking. But didn’t.

Angie was writing in a small hard backed notebook with a slender golden pen. How long had it been since she’d seen someone writing in a notebook and not picking at a phone? A bottle of imported mineral water stood open at the table with a small glass-no ice-floating a lemon wedge. “You made it.” she radiated.

“I had no choice did I?”

“Nope. None.” She closed the notebook and lay the pen atop it.

“What are you writing?”

“Documenting my day-if it’s not written down, it didn’t happen.”

“Oh, well about today…”

“Some things I don’t have to write down to remember…”

Jessica felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I know…but I feel I should apologize.”

“For what? Not to me. Don’t be silly-sit.” She nodded to the seat across from her. She seemed taller in her short skirt than she did in her scrubs. Her long coltish legs showed well as they slid beneath the table. She was no sooner seated when a waiter appeared at her elbow with a matching glass and lemon wedge.

“Thank you Bobby…” Angie said pleasantly. “Do you want a drink?”

“I can have what you’re having,” she said nodding at the water.

“Sure-that’s fine. But you should have a drink. A cocktail-something.” When Jessica hesitated, “I will if you will.” Angie watched her trying to decide. The girl seemed to be in a constant, if varying by degree, state of fluster. “Bombay and tonic”, said Angie prodding.

“OK. Same.” Said Jessica. “Sorry…I’m just…it’s early. I wasn’t sure…”

“It’s never the right time, sweetie. Always too late or too early. Best follow your own clock. And a drink would be good for you right now.”

“Why? What do you know?” Angie sipped lightly at her water without answering. “Am I getting fired? Dammit!-I knew it, all day I had a feeling…”

Angie poured water into the fresh glass and slid it across the table. Jessica took it.

“You’re not getting fired…”

“Do you know that? I…I love that job…and Dr. Greene. It was just a…..”

“Would you stop? You’re not getting fired.”

They went silent and leaned away as the waiter set the drinks down in front of them. “Thanks, Bobby”, said Angie as Jessica grabbed hers and swallowed thickly.

“Was Dr. Greene mad?”

“Hmmmmm….I’d say extremely pissed would be more accurate.”

“Ohhh…” She rubbed her temple again. “How am I not getting fired…?”

“Come on! You’re great at your job-they love you there. You just had a lapse. That’s all. I’m sure firing you never came up.” She paused and sipped at her drink. “Besides, there are other ways to punish naughty nurses.”

It took a beat or two before Jessica actually registered the words and her eyes widened. “What? What? No…”

Angie moved her head almost imperceptibly to the side-what passed for a shrug. Spankings around the clinic were few and far between. But they did happen. During her first week she had seen a nurse in the locker room with a bruised bottom. She had almost panicked and looked away quickly but could never settle in her mind how the sight had made her feel. Frightened maybe? Apprehensive? She did know that even now she could recall the dark spots and marks in perfect detail and she never saw that nurse again without imagining…

Then there was the time she almost died, when she barged into Dr. Greene’s office to find the receptionist-the one before Selena-laid out across the Doctor’s lap with her pants and panties bunched at her knees. Carrie, the receptionist, was a big redhead-not fat but substantial-with beautiful alabaster skin much of it on display just then. Dr. Greene looked up with flashing eyes and pointed a wicked hairbrush in her direction. “A knock might be nice, Nurse Raymond!”

“Yes, Ma’am-I’m sorry…”

“Doctor.” She hissed. “I’m not your home room teacher.”

“No Ma’am. DOCTOR, I mean….” She stopped speaking, her eyes pulled to the freckled white hip where it bent across the doctor’s knee. From where she was standing Jennie could see the edge of a bright pink smudge on the side of the unfortunate’s bottom and, despite her embarrassment, suddenly wished she could see more of it. Carrie’s hair hung as a thick curtain hiding her face but Jennie saw the woman’s fingers clawing and squeezing the carpet under her hands.

“Can I help you Nurse Raymond?”

“Uh…no Doctor. It…can wait. I’ll be back later…”

“Good idea…”

She slipped quickly back out into the hallway realizing that she’d been staring and that she’d been noticed staring. Standing outside the door she heard a muffled word or two then the unmistakable SWAT! of paddle on skin. She jumped then heard it again, then again, each time answered with a small grunt.

The hallway was oddly empty for the time of day and anyone passing by would hear what was happening. And, with the receptionist desk untended, it would be no great stretch to understand who it was happening to.

After the fifth or sixth smack from inside, Jessica heard a whimper then a soft coughing cry. She suddenly felt conspicuous outside the door and couldn’t decide if she were spying or standing sentry. Either way, she didn’t want to be noticed out here and skedaddled down the hall to hide in the locker room for fifteen minutes.

That’s where her mind was when Angie reached across the table and touched her hand. “Are you still here?” she asked.

Continued here The Norwegians-Part 2