Hey everybody, am back from my travels n I guess folks took note I was away as I got less comments n PMs on the last chapter, although all those I did get were lovely again thank you. Y’all still bein so nice to me. Well, here’s the fifth slice n I’m sorry, but it’s still Friday…. Take care my baby.

Joseph blushed. He’d completely forgotten what he was wearing under his tights and dress and suddenly had a renewed awareness of the tight lacy fabric caressing the tender areas of his body. “Thank goodness Ms Wilson never measured down there,” he thought with a shudder.

Seren Dee Petty: Chapter 5

Brian Stevens decided to leave his car in the drive rather than wrestle with the garage up-and-over. All the way home, he’d been picturing Pam in the various poses she’d struck during the interview, and especially her bottom wiggling dash from the office. He tap-danced to the house, humming as he climbed the front step. He could smell dinner the moment he opened the door and a female voice called from the kitchen: “Perfect timing love, I’m just about ready to serve.”

Brian hung his suit jacket in the cloakroom and as he washed his hands, gave himself a jaunty wink in the mirror and turned his cheek to check there was no lipstick where he’d been kissed. He made his way to the dining table, still humming. Close behind came a wheeled trolley laden with steaming pots, bowls and tureens, pushed by the wonderful lady who ran his life and currently, the second most important woman in his world. “Anything exciting at the shop today dear?” asked Mrs Stevens.

“The new holiday stock arrived at last, talk about cutting it fine, put poor Mary into a real tizzy.”

“Yes, she called to let me know Julie wouldn’t be home for dinner, guessed you would forget to tell me,” admonished Mrs Stevens. “She said that they were working late and would eat at the food court with a new girl called Seven?”

“Seren, lovely child, came from Maiden Helps. Um, sorry about that,” Brian apologised. “I’m trying to keep Seren and Julie together for as long as possible, in the hope they become friends, I think she could be a good influence on her.”

“Since when has Julie been influenced by anything except her own thoughts, you know you can’t force friendships at that age Brian. In fact trying is more likely to result in the opposite.”

“Oh I realise that, but they seem to be getting on like a house on fire so I thought a little bit of free time together, in addition to working under pressure tonight and tomorrow, might help cement a bond that was already starting to form.”

“You haven’t got Julie going in again in the morning? I won’t have you overworking that girl. Sometimes, Brian, I think you forget she’s only ten.”

“Yeah, ten going on twenty! Anyway, she’s going to be eleven soon. It wasn’t my idea though, not tonight or tomorrow. When the temp girls didn’t turn up this afternoon I think Julie pretty much forced her way into it without giving Mary any option but to agree. I’m just so pleased Mary was able to persuade the agency to send Seren over, she’s turned out to be a pretty good find and really took the pressure off.”

“And what’s so special about her that makes you want to manipulate Julie into gallivanting around the mall with a teenage girl from Maiden Helps. You know what those girls are like, I thought we weren’t going to use them anymore.”

“We weren’t but this late delivery put us in a real bind we had no choice. Anyway, Seren’s not like the usual type of girl they have there. First off, she’s new in town which I guess is why she went to the agency in the first place and second, I’m pretty sure she’s not a teenager.”

“Come off it Brian, you’ve got to be at least fifteen to sign up to Maiden Helps,” said Mrs Stevens, who by now had put china plate, piled high with a large serving of pork, apple sauce, mashed potato, peas, cauliflower, carrots and onion gravy on the ‘Cats n Kittens’ place-mat in front of Brian. He, in turn, had half-filed her wine glass with a supermarket Cabernet and three-quarters filled his own.

Waving a carrot on the end of his fork, Brian said: “Oh, she had the make-up, shoes and legs of a teen, but I suspect the girl buried beneath is not much older than Julie. The agency was pretty reluctant to send her over, they probably guessed she was underage and wouldn’t have taken her on, but there’s a sickness going round apparently and she was the only girl they had available.”

“Hmm, lazyitis seems to be the sickness afflicting most of the teen-girls I see hanging around the mall. I think they catch it from mouth-to-mouth resuscitation with leather-clad louts, either that or from their piercings and tattoos. So, what is it about this dolled-up, underage fraudster that you think could be such a good influence on Julie?”

“Well, she’s a girly girl if you know what I mean. Imagine, turning up for manual labour in a mini-dress, tights and heels, with painted nails and full-on make-up, it was almost funny. I know you try your best, and you know how much I love you for it, but I just worry that Julie’s growing up short on female influence and if these two can become friends, well, maybe some of that femininity will rub off.”

Mrs Stevens reached over and took Brian’s hand. “You know that I love the two of you to bits and it’s beautiful watching how you pull each other along through the tough days. I try to do the best for Julie, but there is no way I can ever replace her mother and she and I have an understanding on that. As for her femininity, you worry too much. It’ll happen soon enough and when she’s got breasts peaking over her t-shirt and boys loitering in the driveway, you’ll soon be wishing she was back in her work boots and jeans, climbing trees and catching rabbits.

“It sounds to me like it’s Seren you need to worry about,” said Mrs Stevens. “That slap and mini-dress might well have been a disguise, if she was trying to con her way into the agency, and that suggests she’s desperate for money or trying to prove a point to somebody. Either way, she’s in a position of weakness and if there is anyone who knows how to sniff out and exploit weaknesses, it’s your own delightful darling daughter Julie.”

“Mmm, that was lovely,” mumbled Brian, slouching back from his empty plate and playing back this afternoon’s interview through his mind. He couldn’t recall noticing a single sign of weakness in Mrs Petty, much the opposite in fact. Except, he suddenly realised, whenever they mentioned Seren.

“So,” said Brian, leaning decisively forward as Mrs Steven’s swallowed her last mouthful. “What’s for desert?”

As Pamela pulled-up outside, Sally collected her things, strode to the door of the shop and chimed her goodbyes to Mr Norton. Pam, touching the spot on her shoulder where Mr Stevens had so recently rubbed, was having a naughty little thought about her new boss. She jumped, when Sally suddenly launched into the backseat and asked: “Where’s Joseph?”

“Joseph’s working,” answered Pamela. Pleased that at least Sally’s first words weren’t an angry complaint at her lateness, but disappointed they were not an excited enquiry as to how her interview had gone.

“You mean that lazy wimp’s got himself a job,” sneered Sally.

“Now, now,” said Pam. “That’s uncalled for and unfair, but yes. He’s working through until seven this evening and starts again at seven-thirty in the morning.”

Sally knew her comment was unfair, but she was miffed. Landing the job at Norton’s had been her first step to turning the tables on her brother, proving that she was the strong, responsible child in the family and he should be cow-towing to her, not her to him. She tried to blag her way into a paper round when she saw the ad in the window last Saturday, but Mr Norton was adamant she was too young. He was impressed enough though, by her keenness to work and her persistence in trying to convince him to take her on, that he gave her a temporary desk job.

This was her first week and tonight’s distractions aside, she’d already got the hang of it. Working four pm until six, Monday through Friday, tallying all the morning and evening newspapers. Deliveries, shop sales, returns, orders, remainders, the lot. “Her first week!” Sally suddenly realised she’d forgotten to pick up her pay. She’d have to pop in for it tomorrow as she had some serious spending planned for Saturday. “So where’s this job then.”

“What?” asked Pam.

“Joseph’s new job, where’s he working?”

“Oh, at the mall.”

“What, at one of those fast food places? Does he have to wear a silly hat?”

“Um, no,” stalled Pam.

“No what? No to the hat, or the fast foooooo Wait a minute! When did he have time to go home, get changed out of his Gladys rags, get back to the mall, get a job and start work? Come on mum, I’m not stupid. What’s he really doing?”

“What do you mean, Gladys rags?”

“Well, come on mum, he was looking a right Gladys the last time I saw him. No, actually, more like a rabbit in the headlights when you dropped me off at Norton’s. I bet he was absolutely petrified the whole time he was waiting in the car-park for you to come back from your interview. Interview! Sorry mum I completely forgot, how’d it go?”

“It went great! I got asked all the questions I’d prepared for, there were no tricks and they seemed interested in my ideas. Brian, ahem, Mr Stevens, was really nice and helpful, and I think he likes me.”

“So-o-o?”

“So you are looking at the new external sales manager for Steven’s Fashions, starting Monday, nine o’clock sharp.”

“That’s brilliant mum, well done. Wow, we’ve really hit this town with a bang haven’t we? Hardly been here a week, and we’ve all got jobs. So, tell me about ‘BRIAN’!”

“You met him the other day, remember, when we were shopping, the sales director?”

“Oh, him! I can’t say I took to him on first meeting.”

“No, I noticed a bit of edge between you. But he’s not like that really, he’s been very welcoming, encouraging, like he wants to give you every chance to show your best. He’s helpful, kind, was ever so understanding about Seren, seems to laugh a lot and there’s obviously a lot of mutual respect between him and Ms Wilson, the shop manager.”

“Who’s Seren?”

“Ahh….”

“Ahh what? Ahh-tissue? Ahh-bracadabra? Ahh-funny thing happened on the way to the forum? Ahh-oh my god! It’s Joseph isn’t it? Isn’t it? Brian saw Joseph in his Gladys rags and you introduced him as a girl! Wow, cool! Who did you say he, sorry, who did you say she-e was? Oh, I’m sorry I missed this, it must have been hilarious.”

“It wasn’t funny at all actually, it was very nerve wracking. Brian was in the car-park when we got there and came straight over. We didn’t have any time to think. I didn’t want Joseph embarrassed by outing him to Brian and I was worried it might affect the interview, so I said the first thing that came into my head.”

“Oh it is funny, believe me. Joseph is so never gonna hear the end of this. But why Seren, where did she spring from?”

“It was something Isla had said when I was giving her a lift earlier today. I didn’t get the whole story, sort of tuned out, you know, but it was to do with somebody called Seren and the fact that it means star. So, having just heard all about her, Seren was the first name on my lips when Brian surprised us.”

“So who is she, a cousin or something? We need to get our stories straight so you better tell me exactly what you said to Brian.”

“That’s the big problem,” sniffed Pam.

“What do you mean, big problem? I hardly recognised Joseph in that get-up and he’s my brother. Clean all that make-up off, put him back in baggy trousers, add the surly attitude and Brian’ll never put two and two together.”

“His name’s Mr Stevens to you, and what I said was: ‘This is my second daughter Seren!’ So now do you see the problem?”

“Second daughter?”

“Pardon?”

“You said you introduced him as your second daughter.”

“Well he’d already met you, hadn’t he?”

“So I’m the first daughter and Seren’s the second daughter, right?”

“Well yes, that is the order he met you.”

Sally smiled a wicked little smile deep inside as she thought: “Yeah mum, but that’s not what it means. If Brian thinks Seren is the second daughter, then he’ll assume she’s the younger, which means he’ll assume I’m the elder. I need to keep Seren around long enough to establish the new hierarchy. New town, new order. How does it feel? Bloody brilliant. Nice one mum.”

“Hey!” burst Sally, suddenly giggling. “This new job, is it Joseph’s, or Seren’s?”

“Ahh…”

Ms Wilson closed and locked the back door from the top of the stairs and carefully picked her way down to where Julie and Seren were now surrounded by more empty boxes than full ones. “My, you have got on well. Now Seren, come here girl, stand up straight and hold your arms out wide.”

Joseph stood as straight as a rake and spread his arms according to instructions, while Ms Wilson wrapped her tape around him at several points, calling out numbers for Julie to note in her pad. He’d been measured a couple of times before and was dreading Ms Wilson taking his inside-leg. But thankfully she never did, the ordeal was quickly over and Joseph was neither told, nor asked, what the measurements for.

“Ok girls, that will about do for tonight,” said Ms Wilson. “Finish off the box you’ve started, then come up to the shop. Mr Stevens is kindly paying for us to have supper in the food court, so we’ll go out through the front.” With that, Ms Wilson pressed a button opening a door Joseph hadn’t previously noticed, before stepping into the service lift and rising to the floor above.

“When she says the food court, does she mean like, in the mall?” asked Joseph.

“Well, duh!” Julie gurned. “Of course she means in the mall.”

“But won’t there be like lots of people there,” said Joseph, beginning to absorb some of Julie’s inflections and speech patterns into his own phrasing, as well as unconsciously adopting some of her hand movements.

“Actually it won’t be too busy just after seven, the tea-time crowd will have left, the shop assistants will still be working since it’s late shopping on Fridays and the cinema crowd won’t come out of the first evening shows for another hour. Why, who’re you afraid might recognise you?”

“No-one, why?”

“Well, you’re sort of in disguise aren’t you, little girl dressed teeny-bopper?”

“Ok, I admit it ok, I’m not fifteen. But nor am I a little girl.”

“Well you called me a little girl,” pouted Julie.

“Yes, I did and I’m sorry. We’d only just met and you are quite small, but now I can see you’re smarter and much more mature than my sister. But I’m at least as old as you are.” Joseph figured he was probably a year or two older, but he didn’t want to push the point in case Julie demanded to see his birth certificate or passport as evidence. Anyway, he didn’t really know how old she was, and neither of them was ready to state their age, in case they’d misjudged the other and ended up being embarrassed, or even worse, junior!

“That’s ok, I am small, like you! So let’s just agree that we’re pretty close together on age, ok?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty close on age,” agreed Joseph.

Julie smiled at what she saw as a significant victory. She was good at guessing ages, that’s why she’d first picked Seren as being under fifteen. But ten-year-old Julie could equally see that Seren was older than her, by at least a year, and that difference could be as much as a school. She would never have guessed the truth though, that while she was soon to be eleven, Seren was already more than half-way to fourteen!

“Are you rich?” asked Julie as they rode the lift.

“I don’t think so,” answered a very tired Joseph. “What makes you ask?”

“Ms Wilson’s driving us both home after we’ve eaten and says we live in the same area. Well, where we live is pretty posh, so, unless you’re like staff at one of the big houses, then there must be money somewhere.”

“Oh, you mean the house.”

“The house?”

“Yeah, mum came down here a few weeks back after she saw the house on the internet. It must’ve turned out physically to be like, same as in hyperspace, coz she decided to buy it and we all moved in just over a week ago.”

“So you are rich then?” reasoned Julie.

“Not really, not day to day rich. We just came into some money and it had to be spent on property.” Joseph glossed over the details, hoping Julie would be too tired to dig deeper. He wasn’t ready to get into the whole deal of what happened to his father. First off, he was only just getting to know her second, he wasn’t sure if he could get through it without bursting into tears and third, he didn’t know if he was comfortable with talking about his dad while wearing a dress, tights and soft lacy underwear.

Joseph blushed. He’d completely forgotten what he was wearing under his tights and dress and suddenly had a renewed awareness of the tight lacy fabric caressing the tender areas of his body. “Thank goodness Ms Wilson never measured down there,” he thought with a shudder.

“Cold?” asked Ms Wilson as she locked the front door of the shop.

“Just tired,” Joseph answered, looking at his reflection in the dark shop window, then noticing the food court behind him and a smattering of patrons drinking coffee and eating chips. He’d walked right through the shop without realising and was now, at this very moment, standing in the full glare of a public shopping centre in a green flowery mini-dress, black tights and two-inch heels.

“Come on Seren, let’s go and grab some food, I’m starving,” beamed Julie, taking his hand and dragging him away from the window. Crumpling Mr Stevens’ generous  £40 offering in her other mitt as they ran, as fast as Joe’s heels would allow them, to the food counters across the mall.

Mary Wilson strolled gently to the seating area, found a clean, vacant table in a slightly secluded spot and took out her mobile phone. She tapped into her contacts, selected Mrs Spinney and, as the number dialled, unfolded the sheet of notepaper bearing Seren’s measurements.

“Hello, Mable? Mary here. No, no, everything’s fine. Yes the stock did finally arrive and we’re well on the way to getting it all sorted, just a bit to finish up in the morning. So, how’s the ulcer? And what about the ogre who carries it around in his stomach? Well you tell him from me he’d get more sympathy if I stopped seeing him in the queue at the burger van in Park Street. I know? And I bet you never thought it could be dreamed in that colour, let alone actually dyed. No, apparently she’s stuck with it for at least three weeks.

“Well, look, I’m sorry it’s so late but I was hoping if I gave you the details now you could get started first thing in the morning. Yes, for the shop, you’ve got a couple of our standard issues with you there I hope. Yes, well, I’ve got a new girl, started tonight actually. She’ll be working in the warehouse first thing but probably in the shop by about ten. Ok, eleven then. No, I’ve already done that, I can give them to you right now over the phone. Have you got a pen and paper?”

After a brief pause, Mary read the numbers from the pad to Mable Spinney who wrote them down like a human fax machine. “Yes, she is small Mable. That’s why I wanted to let you know tonight rather than the morning. Give you more time. Seren. No Seren, like seven but an r instead of a v. It means star I believe. Yes very pretty. Even prettier. Great Mable, so we’ll see you tomorrow morning, between ten and eleven, uniform in hand.”