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To say that Angie was confused would be a massive understatement. To say she was shocked would be even more of one. To say she was easily convinced, well, that would make all the understatements in the world look like little white lies in comparison.

Finally Mia had to dig out old scrapbooks and photo albums. She had to produce Gerome’s driver’s license and the fingerprint cards that his grandmother had made in case he came up missing.

When the thumbprint of Mia and Gerome matched, Angie was finally convinced, without having to see Mia’s “equipment”.

It took the rest of the day to explain what was going on, and why this had happened. In the end Mia felt totally wrung out emotionally.

“Angie, honestly it wasn’t supposed to snowball like this. I really only went into this wanting to know how in the hell those servants in the 1900’s worked in these clothes. Then they felt so nice, then I just kept going, then you came along and I was trapped. It was easier to be Mia all the time than to try to come up with a plausible story about how I, a billionaire, was working in his own home as the lowest of the low.” She took a long sip of the Vodka martini she had made for herself, and looked at the Screwdriver she made for Angie with its ice melting into the untouched drink.

“Why didn’t you just come clean when you had the chance? I would have understood.”

“Angie, you are the VERY FIRST person to ever treat me as a person, not a rich kid that had something they wanted. Not as someone to be cultivated or used. Not as something that had to be protected because it was valuable. Not as someone that was to be isolated from the world because they didn’t know how to cope with reality. You treated me as a person. And, truth be told, I enjoyed that.”

Mia shrugged. “I’ll be the first to admit that I have little to no experience with day to day life. I have been isolated and kept in a hothouse. Most of what drives and motivates people I don’t know about. I have HUGE gaps in my education, mostly from being protected all my life. Grandmother kept me deliberately stunted in my education of the world. Oh, not the political and financial realities, but in the normal day to day lives of people, not the ultra-rich, not the business man, but the wage worker, who goes to work when they are sick as a dog doesn’t make much sense to me. Why not just take a week off to get well, or at LEAST go to the doctor…”

“Oh, that’s easy Mia, they don’t want to get fired.”

Mia looked in confusion at Angie. “Why on Earth would they be fired for being sick?”

Angie laughed. It was strained, but it was laughter. “Because it can be seen as malingering, it could be seen as them milking the system, it could be seen as them not really being that sick, but trying to pretend to be. If a manager wanted to fire them for a reason, he could use excessive sick days to do so. And there have been many thousands of people who have been fired for just that.”

Mia shook her head. “Just doesn’t make sense. You need time to heal, so you take the time to heal. You don’t take your illness into work, where everyone else will be infected and you will have a good chance of picking it back up when you get healed again, you just take as long as you need to get well. Simple as that.”

Angie shook her head. “You really don’t have a clue do you? Well, maybe you can make that the rule for your businesses one day. ‘Take the time you need off when you are sick and you can’t be fired for it.’ Shure would be a nice change of pace from what is out there now.”

“What do you mean with that?”

“Corporations are places that are made to be money machines. They make a product or products, sell them at the most the market can bear for them. Take Microsoft for example. They create programs and sell them for more than $600 a pop for one program. And people buy that at that price too. So what happens when they want to make more money? They raise the price. But when someone pays $600 for a product, they don’t want to pay $700 for the same product, especially when they know that there are some out there getting it for $400. So what does a corporation do? They find ways to cut costs. One of the costs is the employees.

“If they can reduce the money they are spending on the people that do the designing, on the person who puts the widget on the spindle, on the person who mops the floor at night, then they can save that money and put it in their pockets. If they cut the fifteen jobs for the custodians down to ten, then they save the salary of those five people they fired. If that can be carried over to every job in the corporation then they can make even more money. Reduce the staff by 10%, one job in ten, and redistribute the rest of the work among the nine left, you can save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, all of it for the salary bonuses for the president, the CEO, the Vice Presidents and really top level managers. So it’s in their vested interests to cut costs down to the point where you are making a really expensive product for a fraction of what it costs to make it.

“For another example, look at Wal-Mart. They don’t pay their workers shit. They give them NO benefits, but they have a retail business that makes money hand over fist. They can sell things for $2 while everyone else is selling the same product for $3.50 because they pay their workers abysmally, and they use the cheapest possible materials for their stores, and buy crappy quality products to sell. So they buy 50,000 teddy bears for two cents per bear. That particular bear is going to be sold for $2 in the store. That particular bear is also not going to last a year, the child is going to destroy it through normal use, and then Mom and Dad are going to have to buy another $2 bear because the quality bear which costs $4 and would last like 5 years isn’t in the price range of Mom and Dad at the time they are buying. So Mom and Dad get the bear, and have to get it again, and again and again, making Wal-Mart a total of $10 over those five years. Wal-Mart paid ten cents for them, the sales rep in Wal-Mart has quit and another has taken their place. Meanwhile Wal-Mart has closed the store in the area because, after driving all the other stores in the area out of business due to undercutting their prices so much, they can’t keep it open without raising prices. So now Mom and Dad have to drive 50 miles to get a $2 bear. And they could have saved themselves tons of money by simply spending the $4 in the first place.”

Angie slugged down her Screwdriver, and Mia was sympathetic. “I take it you speak from experience?”

Angie nodded. “Yeah, from the child’s perspective. Mom was an associate there, worked her fingers off and they didn’t do shit for her. Hazardous chemicals everywhere, soul-destroying work, and laughable health insurance. Did you know that they don’t even get sick days? You don’t get sick leave until your SECOND day of being out sick. If you are out one day, and come in the next, it’s ‘unpaid vacation’ and you don’t get any money. Do that too often and you get fired. For being sick. So you see lots of associates coming in sick because they can’t take two days off, and they can’t afford to be out one day. Which is the point.”

“I never knew any of this.”

Angie snorted. “There’s a book out there, WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE*, I think, which details this and LOTS of other tactics they use in great detail. And the hell of it is that more and more corporations are using this as a model to copy, rather than a practice to be avoided. Workers, the people who make it possible for the business to thrive, are not being seen as valuable assets anymore, they are being seen as disposable cogs. After all, you can always find someone else to glue part A to circle B and put it into box D. It doesn’t take a brain or even a lot of manual dexterity. The only people who actually make money in this kind of economy are the ones who have real skills, engineers, programmers, designers and those kinds of professional skills, the ones that can’t be replicated easily. Everyone else is expendable.”

Mia went and made more drinks. “So why did you decide to become a maid?”

Angie had flopped back on the couch with her eyes closed. “Oh, domestics are one of those classes of low-wage workers where if you get the right job the pay and perks can be really good. There’s lots of rich people around, they want domestic help, and a lot of them don’t really want the Spanish/Mexican/Middle Eastern help that is out there. Those are for the hotels or a maid service like Molly Maid or The Sweep Squad. Being Caucasian in this market almost guarantees you a prime assignment, if only because you will blend into the décor easier. If you are good at the work, the bosses will do what they have to do to keep you happy and in their employ.

“I wouldn’t go back to Wal-Mart no matter what, and I like doing the dishes. So I went back to school for a bit to get degrees in cooking and classes in housekeeping, an MBA and some knowledge of accounting, and I got this job. Thought I had it made, if you will pardon the pun. Work that I like, that I’m good at, with a boss that’s never around, no other servants with the petty back biting gossiping to deal with, and a fellow maid that is attractive and kind. What an ass I was.”

“HEY!...”

“Sorry, it’s true Mia. I thought it had it made in the shade. I was a total idiot not to see this one coming. I knew it was too good to be true, but I hoped that it would be okay despite being too good. Now I’ve lost my job, back on the street again, and then there’s those student loans….”

Mia said “How much?”

Angie’s eyes snapped open. “What?”

“How much are the student loans you owe?”

“I still have $22,780 to pay off before I’m a free girl.”

“Done.”

Angie sat up. “What?”

Mia looked at her. “I said, ‘Done.’ As in, I’ll pay them off. Totally and completely. You stop worrying about them now. And don’t think that you lost your job because of any of this. I lied to you, not the other way around. So as an apology I’ll pay off your bill and you can use that money for you, while you are still employed here and I have someone I can trust help me through all these murky waters. I don’t know anything about being a ‘normal’ person, and I am terrified to find out that I’m not.”

“Mia, you are not and can never be a normal person. Just by asking the question ‘am I a normal person’ that proves you aren’t. Just like if you were asking if you were insane.”

“Then I’m going to need even more help,” she said miserably. “Not only do I have to figure out how to blend in as a normal person, but I have to figure out what the hell is going on with the businesses I inherited and what the fuck to do about a shady lawyer who is apparently forging papers left and right. So that’s even more demand on my time. At least I can drop the pretense that Mr. Gerome and I are different people so I don’t have to keep lying to you about that. That will simplify things a lot.”

Angie started to stand up. “Do you want me to move to another room or should I move you to the Master Bedroom?”

Mia looked at her friend. “Neither. If you have no problem sharing the room with me, I don’t have a problem still sharing it with you. Besides there’s all those others out there,” she waved her hand vaguely at the outside word “to consider. It would be odd if Mia moved into the Master Suite. But, if Mia just stayed where she was at…. No questions.”

Mia and Gerome consulted briefly mentally. Soon she came to a decision. “Okay, we’re going to do something else. You are going to still be doing what you have been, cleaning and maintaining the house. You’ll start doing a bit more than half of the work since I’m not going to be helping as much, but I will still be helping you. Right now, we are going to get all those rooms cleaned up. Most of the agenda we have in front of us is still going to be the same. I’m just going to be doing more in regards to the overall empire I inherited. Let me set a few dozen things in motion and I’ll be with you to help out. You go start on the rooms on the East End Second Floor. Work your way back toward here, and I’ll join you soon.”

Angie stood up, possibly a bit too quickly and she got dizzy momentarily. Once she got her balance back, Mia was about to let her have the day off, but Angie left the room, headed to get her chores done.

Mia went into the main office and pulled out the computer. She sent off a bunch of emails to various private investigation agencies that she and her grandmother had used before, and got them looking at what Mr. Biggs had been doing for the last several months.

While she was doing that, she accepted one bid from a contractor to come out and start renovating the cabins. She also made sure that they would remove the ruins and clear the waste off the property.

Now things were going to pick up pace a bit, since she no longer had to hide her Gerome hat from Angie.

Once her work as Gerome was done, Mia went to help Angie. She couldn’t put the whole of the housework on her alone, and so it was up to her to help out until they got more help in there.

Mia was still unsure as to whether or not she wanted to hire more of the staff back to work here. She did want to remove the house from the market now, keeping the house now that she knew more of the house and the grounds.

Still undecided was what she would do with the house. She still didn’t need 20 bedrooms, and the cabins would be nice, but unless they were used and maintained, they would fall to pieces as well.

She was turning all this over in her mind when she suddenly knew the perfect thing she could do with the house and all the grounds.

She found Angie in one of the bedrooms, having vacuumed and straightened up, in the process of changing the linens on the bed. There was a pile of laundry over near the door that needed to go down the chute to the machines in the basement. So Mia picked up the pile and walked it down to the chute, dumped the load in and came back to help Angie.

They worked in companionable silence for a while, each knowing her job in the chores that needed to be done. There really wasn’t a need to discuss what had to be done, and Mia did a quick check of the bathroom to make sure nothing had been skipped.

Once most of the heavy cleaning was completed, Mia called a quit to the rest of the housework. “It’s fine Angie, really. We are taking the rest of the day off, tomorrow too. Just necessary cleaning and it doesn’t have to be done if we don’t want to.”

Angie’s mouth was open in shock.

Mia saw her. “I’m serious. I’m going to treat us to a spa day. You and I are going to the most expensive and pampering spa in the area, and we are going to make a day of it. I insist. AND we are leaving the dishes in the sink.”

Angie could only blink in shock. “Okay, are you sure? I mean, even if it doesn’t have to be ready-for-display tomorrow, there’s still things to be done.”

Mia nodded. “Yes, there are, but most of it can wait. So the eBay bidders get their stuff a day late. No one is going to die. There are no showings at all, and the lawyers don’t have the keys so everything here is perfectly safe. All that is going to happen is that you and I are going to be pampered as two ladies of quality should be. Besides, there’s some plans to discuss.”

“Plans?”

“Yes, plans. And I am NOT discussing them now. We are having dinner delivered and taking it easy for a while.”

So a delivery service was called to bring in dinner from a nice restaurant and it was consumed in companionable silence. Next was a trip to the living room, where the TV was turned on so the two of them could catch up on the shows of the day, but after 20 minutes of going through the various channels, they both found that it had been too long and neither of them were up to date on the new shows and the various channel schedules.

They finally settled on a “on demand” movie and watched the sentimental show about a girl and her mom with the romantic guy causing problems and both cried. Mia liked it for the artistry and the relationship she would never have with any mother figure, and Angie was crying at the romance between the lead and the cute guy.

Once they had both recovered and gotten their sinuses unstuck from all the crying, they retired to their bedroom and started getting ready for the night. “Angie, would you have a problem if I changed up the job duties you have around here? Or if I hired more of the old staff back on here?”

“It would depend on what my job would be changing to Mia.”

“Right now I’m thinking ‘lady’s maid’ instead of ‘maid-of-all-work’. It would mean that I’d have to hire back some of the maids and especially the housekeeper and probably the footmen and butler to work in the house like normal. You, being the lady’s maid, would be outside of their hierarchy, but still a servant, and of course, there would be people like the cook and scullery maid. I’d probably have to hire a hall boy too.”

“Why hire back all those people for just you and I? Or for that matter, just you? Surely that’s massive overkill?”

“Well, I’ve decided to keep Bellweather, and that’s going to mean that I need a lot of help around here.”

“You’re keeping the mansion and grounds now?”

“Yes. I’ll get the estate agent to de-list this property tomorrow before we leave. It’s not like there’s been a lot of offers on the property anyhow. But now that I’ve decided to keep the place, and since I’m planning on actually doing something with this place, it’s going to mean that there’s going to be a lot more work.”

After that bombshell, Angie kept trying to get Mia to tell her what was going to be done, but Mia held firm and they didn’t discuss it anymore that night.

Mia got up early and went to her computer and sent off an email to the Estate Agent to tell her that the estate was to be delisted. She didn’t really care if the woman would protest or not, she simply stated in no uncertain terms that the property was off the market now.

She then searched around for the most exclusive day spa that was in the area, and found one to take Angie to. She really wanted to overwhelm her with luxury today.

Once that was done, she went in and woke Angie at about 7:30, hours after the time they would normally have gotten up. They both dressed in some clothes that they didn’t get to wear much of, and then went out to the garage.

Angie naturally started going toward the Bug, but Mia lead the way to the Benz. In this case, the use of her grandmother’s vehicle would be totally appropriate. They slid into the cream colored leather interior and Mia started the engine. Soon they were on their way to the Spa.

They both chatted on the way, and since it was likely that the spa wasn’t open just yet, Mia made a detour to a breakfast restaurant that her grandmother had taken him to a couple times when they were out for one reason or another. It wasn’t exclusive or anything, but it was a place that was very proud of the distinction of being a VERY late café, one that didn’t open until 10 PM and stayed open to noon, so that all the third shift workers, the club workers, the people who serviced the downtown area and fed the very rich could have a place to come and eat once they got off shift. As such, it was well appointed and the staff wasn’t obnoxious.

They chatted about inconsequentials over breakfast, and Mia knew that Angie was dying to know what Mia had decided to do with Bellweather. Mia did everything to deflect and sidestep those questions, with the goal being to talk to her when they both were up to their necks in hot water and pampering.

About four hours later, they were just that, reclining in a hot mud bath. Both had been waxed and stripped, fussed over, plucked, rubbed, hot stoned, zapped in some cases to kill those pesky stubborn hairs that just wouldn’t die, facialed, washed and rubbed again. This was actually the first time that Angie and Mia had been in the same room since they walked through the door.

The first few minutes were silent as they both adjusted to the temperature of the pits. Mia was relaxing in bliss, when Angie’s voice came across the room.

“Okay, Mia, spill it. You’ve been coy about what you want to do with Bellweather since last night, and now you have a perfect opportunity to tell me your nefarious plot. So spill it already.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking….”

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* http://www.amazon.com/Wal-Mart-The-High-Cost-Price/dp/193285...