Harem

... Ah, it was wonderful, she was deep, deep in raw cotton. It was like being wrapped in love. No, she was in the warm waters of the Caribbean and she could breath under water. Where ever she was it was too wonderful to rush. So she staid, swimming ever so luxuriantly in the warm waters.

... She didn't know how much she slept and how much she just drifted. It was the sounds of course that eventually ruined it for her. There were no wave sounds, no seagulls, no lapping. She heard a breeze but it was through palm trees. She heard birds too but they were land birds and occasionally there were distant voices and laughing. It was wrong and she knew it. She wasn't at sea at all, she was in bed, sleeping the day away. But it was such a nice, soft bed. The sheets felt like silk. And it must be huge because she never reached the edge, no matter how far she swam, rolled. She was going to have to open her eyes. She didn't want to, in fact opening her eyes was the last thing she wanted to do. Why should she? She'd just lay there until someone called for her.

... She had to pee.

... It was always the way.

... She opened her eyes. She was still dreaming. The room she was in was huge, windows on opposing sides, both looking into trees. The bed was huge, larger then king, the sheets were black satin with white trim. She looked white against them. She carpet was black like the sheets but it was shag, deep shag, freshly combed up (not matted) so it looked like pile. Her feet sank into the carpet, she literally could not see her toes.

... She crossed the room to the one door, she hoped it lead to a bathroom. When she looked back she could see her footprints in the shag, like foot prints in the moss of some forest lawn. She only saw her footprints. Now that was the mark of real wealth, you could have a dozen fancy cars - all rented- a fantastic house-mortgaged- beautiful clothes-on trial but this shag. Someone had to ... What? Comb it? All the time, maybe several times a day, to keep it from matting. She'd never seen unmatted shag before (except for right after it had been vacuumed and this was too deep to vacuum). Which meant someone had come in and done the carpet while she'd been in bed, alone, because Jason must have left marks when he got up.

... That was embarrassing but another matter was making itself felt and had the potential for even greater embarrassment. She pushed open the door, it did lead to a bathroom, sort of. It was also kind of a hallway. On her right was a pebbled glass door to what must be a huge shower. On the left was what must have been a seven foot long bath tub, very deep, with Jacuzzi gets. It looked like you could fit two in there.

... Finally, she came to the sinks and toilets. (Yes those "S"s are correct.) She thought for a moment that one of the toilets was a bidet but it wasn't. They sat side by side against the wall. Well, "two holes, no waiting." Just the same she thought she'd wait, but not now!

... Across from her were the sinks and a large mirror. She hated mirrors across from toilets, you couldn't help looking at yourself and who really wanted to at that time? So she examined the sinks. (Hold on a moment. She'd been worried last night about condoms. Well they must have used them because she was clean or at least not full of jism.)

... Anyway, back to the sinks. There were three. Her parent's master bath had two. It made sense, they both were always getting ready at the same time. But three? Kids?

... And there was some sort of thing on the wall here. A kind of panel that she couldn't figure out. There was another door too. Where did it lead? To the hall?

... She opened the door just a crack, she was still naked. It was a girl's college dorm room. The walls were painted in bright girly colors: pink, soft blue, soft green, a red. On either side of the door were double beds. But on the far wall was something else all together. It was a huge slab of bed, across most of the wall, but it was made up like it was five single beds pushed together. Both the left and right walls were windows again but along each were vanities. Individual vanities with individual mixes of personal products. Girls lived here, a lot of them. It was time to go.

... She shut the door and went back to the master bedroom. She tried out several scenarios in her head to explain this in an innocent way. He had daughters. And they had friends. And they shared a bathroom?

... A bathroom built for three?

... Her imagination was not helping.

... Her dress was not in the bedroom. Why would it be? She'd left it by the pool, where everyone could see her. What about a towel? The bathroom had no towels. That was impossible but she couldn't find the answer. She looked for clothes but couldn't find any, not even a closet in which to store them. She couldn't even find shoes.

... She looked out one set of windows and saw a circular drive surrounded by walls of oleander. The drive disappeared down a hill and around a curve. She tried the other set of windows. These looked out onto a balcony and the inner garden. The sun was reflecting off the flag stones so brightly it made it impossible to see but she could hear voices. Was that good or bad? Bad, it made it impossible to get her dress and shoes.

... She went back into the bathroom and pounded on walls until a hidden cabinet door opened and she found towels all neatly stacked. She wrapped one around her and returned to the bedroom. In both rooms the only doors she had seen lead into the bathroom or out onto the balcony. That couldn't be so she kept searching.

... In the master bedroom she almost fell into a large rectangular hole in the floor. It was a stair case that lead down. Down to where she couldn't tell. It seemed to be a room with sunlight. Which meant windows which probably meant she could be seen from the garden. Well it was either that or wait here, for what?

... She was at the end of a grand dinning room with, as she thought, windows all along one side looking into the garden which was full of people. Where there was a dining room there was a kitchen near by. She found it. Here the windows looked out onto the drive way. The kitchen was huge, plenty of room to move around. The kitchen at camp had been smaller and all stainless steel. There had to be a phone, every kitchen had a phone. Before she found a phone she found another hidden cabinet and a full length apron. The apron freed her hands but left her back bare.

... She found a phone and tried to dial Aaron but after two numbers it switched to some odd sound, like it would in a business where you have to dial nine to get out. What house had so many extensions that you needed to dial nine to get out? She tried nine, nothing. She tried eight, nothing. She tried seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, nothing. She tried zero, nothing, not even the company operator.

... Aaron, it must be past noon, she hadn't left him alone so long in ... years. She had to check on him and that meant she had to ASK for help. She hadn't figured out what was going on here but Jason was no longer a gentleman and unlikely to be someone she could trust but her alternatives were few. She had no idea where she was. The ride in the limo last night had been a long one and she was barefoot and naked under her clothes.

... She entered the main hall. On one side was the door to the driveway on the other the door to the garden. She could make out Jason. He was dressed, sitting at a table with a guy in a suit standing beside him. His back was to her, no chance to signal him (Hey, uh, remember me, you're date?).

... She took measured breaths and measured steps. She opened the French doors (She remembered them from last night) onto the patio. And she was dreaming again, only it was a man's dream from the nineteen sixties. Jason faced away from her and had not heard her. The man at his side looked at her and then dismissed her as a bodyguard might (the naked girl in the kitchen apron is not a threat). There had been people noises, voices, splashing, laughter, rustlings, all day and now they came together. There must have been a dozen naked and half naked girls in the garden. Several in the pools, several tanning on the chase lounges, some reading, some playing cards, etc. She expected James Coburn or Hugh Hefner or Sean Connery (way too much late night TV) to appear from around a corner.

Ami was certain that she was still dreaming.