Mrs. Benson - 3. Chapter 3

3

The drive to Malbury’s seemed to fly by. Alice’s little Geo Prizm moved swiftly through the traffic.

“Don’t worry, James. We just have to go in, and the manager pretty much takes care of everything. We shouldn’t be there very long.”

“Thanks.” I just couldn’t believe where we were heading.

“Oh, and don’t let me forget we have to stop to pick up some flour for tonight. I know, at least if I tell you, hopefully, we will remember to stop for it.” Alice smiled at me as we stopped at a stop light.

I knew of Malbury’s. That wasn’t the type of place my family usually shopped at. I mean with six kids and one salary that was stable, my parents did most of the clothes shopping at Good Will and the Salvation Army. Other than socks, underwear, and shoes, everything else we wore had been bought second hand. Malbury’s was a specialty store. They made clothes to fit the person ordering them. The dress that Alice wore, you could tell, had been made for her figure. Now I was to have clothes from here, too.

“Good day, Ms. Frank.”

A very well dressed man approached as we entered Malbury’s. He stood tall, with hair perfectly cut, manicured hands, a neat little mustache, and he smiled happily at Alice, but there was a look of unhappy surprise when his eyes took in my appearance. I felt totally out of place in my tattered dress pants and plain blue tee shirt. It was among the best of the clothes that I owned.

“Good day, Mr. Anderson. This is James Trenton. He has just been hired to work for Mrs. Benson. He will require three daily suits, a chauffer’s uniform, matching hat. of course, and one black tuxedo that would be appropriate for any occasion he has to act as her escort for.”

“Of course, Ms. Frank. Anything Mrs. Benson needs.”

Mr. Anderson walked over and looked me up and down before he spoke.

“Do you know your sizes, sir?”

I blushed and shook my head before I croaked out a, “No, sorry.”

“Very well. Follow me. We shall be right back, Ms. Frank.”

He moved quickly back toward the rear of the store, slowing down only once to snap at a young man who was busy folding shirts and placing them on display.

“Peter, grab the measuring strip. I need a complete sizing for a number of pieces.”

Mr. Anderson led me back to a changing room and waited till Peter arrived as well. He stood there looking at me, and nearly growled at me when I stood there blankly looking at him.

“Strip, already. I can’t bloody measure you like that.”

Feeling like a fool, I had quickly gotten down to my underwear as Mr. Anderson grabbed the tape measure, and Peter stood taking the measurements down.

I felt like a piece of meat, as he measured my head, around my neck, my shoulders, arm lengths, chest, and waist. He measured from my hip to the floor, but I wasn’t ready when he roughly pushed my legs apart so he could measure my inseam. I grew intensely embarrassed as I felt myself growing hard with Mr. Anderson’s face inches from my crotch. He just seemed to ignore it and continued to take the measurements, before he stood up.

“You can get dressed now. I’ll meet you back up by Ms. Frank. Just need to find out what fabrics they want you in.”

Peter shook his head as Mr. Anderson left.

I stood there for a moment feeling totally embarrassed, in just my underwear with an obvious bulge.

“Sorry about that. He feels he is better than the rest of the world. You’ve never been through something like this before?”

“No.” I shook my head, afraid to look Peter in the eyes.

“Didn’t think so. Look, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. You aren’t the first or the last to go through this.”

I found Peter took a second to look at my crotch while I picked up my clothing from the bench in the room.

“Thanks,” I sort of mumbled, feeling myself turn red again at the attention he paid me.

“No problem. I take it you work out.”

“Not really. I just do a lot of work around my parent’s house. With the new job I get the feeling I will be busy most of the time.”

Peter nodded and went out of the dressing room. I slipped back into my pants and tee shirt. By the time I got to the counter, Alice was signing off on some paper work.

“We should have his uniforms done by next week, and the tux the week after. Are we supplying underwear too? He seems to be wearing … um … fruit of the loom.” The face Mr. Anderson made left no doubt in my mind he thought they weren’t worthy of his shop.

“I suppose you had better. Mrs. Benson prefers to have everything her employees need made up for them.”

“Very good. I will make sure the socks, underwear, and appropriate ties are supplied as well.”

We headed back out and walked over to Alice’s car. I felt like a sort of dress up doll, but my day wasn’t even close to being over. Instead of driving back to Mrs. Benson’s home, our next stop was actually at Wal-mart.

“What on earth are we doing here?”

“Getting you some more clothes. Those were the official work clothes. There are days you might end up cutting the lawn or having to do work in the attic or basement. You don’t want to wear the work clothes. You need something you can slip into and don’t have to panic if they get dirty. Trust me; Mrs. Benson worked this all out before she hired you.”

So for the first time in my life I had new clothes. Alice had me try on and get five pairs of dungarees, two black dress pants, a bunch of black tee shirts, a few blue ones, and a few button down shirts as well. Then she smiled at me.

“Look, Anderson can be a bit of an ass. If you like fruit of the loom, well then, go grab them. If you want to try something else, that is fine, too. I’m just warning you now that he is going to order you silk boxers. Peter warned me that’s all Anderson will ever get any guy.”

“Thanks.” I blushed as she stood looking at me. “Um, I’ll grab my stuff. Didn’t you say you needed to get flour too?”

“Oh crap. I nearly forgot. I’ll meet you over by the front lanes in a few minutes then. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

Alice smiled and walked off with the cart of clothes I had already picked out. Knowing I would have clothes that I was comfortable in, including my own type of underwear, made me feel better. Soon, we walked up to the check out, and then headed back to Mrs. Benson’s.

We walked in carrying a few bags of clothes, when Alice noticed the time.

“Damn. We took longer than I expected.”

She dropped the bag s and practically ran into the kitchen. I followed her, only to see her moving like lightning back and forth across the kitchen. She put a kettle on to boil, grabbed a tea pot and set it on a tray, rushed over to the fridge and grabbed a loaf of bread and some cold cuts. In moments, she had a plate of sandwiches and the teapot full of boiling water, with a few types of loose tea set on the tray, as well as a tea ball in which to place the leaves.

“I’ll be right back. Was nearly late with her lunch.”

Alice left, and I immediately went about straightening up the kitchen for her. She came back a couple of moments later.

“You cleaned up again.”

“Yeah. Sort of used to doing it. Came from a large family, and as the oldest, I had to help keep the younger ones cleaned.”

Alice nodded and began to make us lunch.

It was a week later that Malbury’s called, stating that my uniforms were ready. I drove over and picked them from Peter.

“Hey, nice to see you again.” Peter walked back into a little room and came out a moment later with an arm full of clothes. “Did you want to try this stuff on again to make sure it fits?”

I could only stand there and blush. “No, I’m sure everything is fine.”

“Aw. I was hoping for a second show.”

I stood there tongue tied as he smiled.

“So, James, what is it like living with Mrs. Benson?” Peter leaned over and his voice became soft and husky. “I mean, she became really rich when her family died. I’ve even heard a few people say she might have killed them.”

“She is really a nice lady.” I glared at Peter. I really liked Mrs. Benson. She was nothing but nice to me.

“Relax, I didn’t mean anything by it. Just repeating the gossip, but I’d rather talk about you.” He turned and brought up a bag that had my name written on it. “Any chance I can see you again?” He stood there holding the bag out to me.

“I’m not sure.”

“Hey, just two guys going out for some fun. Come on, we can go to the movies.”

I felt like I should say no, but eventually I agreed. So, I made plans for my first Sunday off.

When I got back to Mrs. Benson’s, I went right to my room and organized the new outfits. It seemed strange to have to worry about what I owned. I grabbed a shower and put on my new uniform, and began to truly work for Mrs. Benson.

So, that became my routine. I was up each morning at five am. Mrs. Benson had her breakfast at six every day. If she was going to have company that day, Alice came back and let me know to change into one of my uniforms. If she was going out, I was told to grab my chauffer’s uniform and hat. However, most of the time I just had to keep an eye on the various people she hired to upkeep the house and yard and I was able to simply wear the clothes I liked. While there was a gardener who came in once a week and a company hired to clean her gutters, hang her Christmas lights and take them down, the rest of it fell to me. I always seemed to have plenty to keep my busy. It didn’t seem like it, but days became months, and months turned to years. Before I realized it, nearly twenty years had passed.