Over Exposure
21
Wadjet
“Min” by VladislavNice, ID1678288912 licensed from Shutterstock.com
LET ME SAY that the photo session with the Weird Sisters was exactly what the preliminaries implied. They were obedient and were really incredibly beautiful as they met on the heath, or in the hut, or popped out from behind trees. The gauzy costumes Judy had prepared for them left little to the imagination to start with, but they were cut so they slipped off shoulders to expose boobs and ultimately fell to the ground as they enticed Macbeth to his doom.
And at every opportunity, they joined in caressing a breast, or stroking my cock, or coaxing fingers into their pussies. There was so much sexual energy produced by the three that when I called Anna over to change a light, I discovered she, Ronda, and Patricia were also naked. Judy and Leanne had joined the nudity early on, and it was only a matter of time until my clothes were lying on the floor as well. That got us to some pretty lewd poses as the blowjob queen took her position on her knees and the other two posed reaching out to caress the imaginary lover. Imaginary, that is, after I stepped back out of their grasp and took the picture.
And I did get a three-way blowjob when we’d finished, distinguished from any other by having never before had these three girls. Then they turned their talents on Judy and Leanne as my girlfriends and I held Greta sprawled out on the soft mat and I ate her to an orgasm loud enough to attract the attention of the other witches and have them all wanting theirs. They got it.
Despite having come twice under the attention of the Weird Sisters, when they left and Ronda came into the darkroom with me, I simply delayed starting the developing until I’d thoroughly eaten and fucked my tiniest girlfriend.
“I tell you,” I said when the six of us had decided to go out to dinner, “with that setting, I felt like some satyr. I had eight naked girls running around on set. We haven’t had that since Las Vegas!”
“A satyr!” Judy exclaimed loudly enough that people in the pub turned to look at us. “Leanne, we could do a satyr for the last performance. I know you have Min’s all planned out, but we haven’t even figured out who should be the model for the last performance, let alone a theme.”
“Weren’t satyrs all male?” Leanne asked.
“We could go there, but who cares. Where there are goat-legged males, there must be some goat-legged females,” Judy said. “At least consider it.”
Leanne nodded as she bit into her burger.
“Mmmhmm. It might just work. Let’s run it by Kathleen when we see her.”
“Hey, look at the news,” Ronda said that evening. Of all of us, she kept more attuned to current events. We all looked over at the cheap little TV we’d put in the apartment.
“The 26th Amendment has been formally certified,” Anna said. “Cool. Eighteen-year-olds now have the right to vote in all public elections. Do you suppose we’ll be able to get rid of Nixon?”
“I doubt it,” Patricia said. “In my experience, eighteen-year-olds are as easily led around by their noses as their parents and grandparents.”
“Still, it’s a good thing,” I said. “A step forward, just like the lottery was a step forward. We might have enough eighteen-year-old voters to convince Nixon to end the draft entirely, just out of fear.”
“He’ll promise to end it. Didn’t he promise to end it in ’68?” Ronda said. “Like you said. The sheep will believe him.”
“He kept showing signs. Appointed a commission to study the effect of moving to an all-volunteer army. Everybody cheered. Well, that commission issued its report a year and a half ago and said there was no reason to maintain the draft. Yet he’s calling up 95,000 more this year to replace the troops he says he’s withdrawing,” I said. I’d reached the point of having no faith in either Republicans or Democrats. It was all a case of voting for whoever you thought would do the least damage.
But, yeah. The vote. Maybe Nixon would eat his words that there was nothing any of us could do to affect his policy. Maybe.
The pictures of the Weird Sisters turned out great. I started printing as many as I could as the orders came in. I even printed a 16x20 poster of them. Anna had it mounted and I signed it. She put a price of $2,500 on it. On the matte, Judy, Leanne, Greta, Emma, and Tessa signed it, too. I doubted we’d sell one that size, no matter how enticing the young women’s boobs were. I liked it, though.
The girls each got 8x10s in color and ordered a full set of prints in black and white. All the orders that came in from cast and crew and staff were for black and white 8x10s.
It was nice to have a week in the studio. We did some work on the store and I actually had a walk-in client who wanted a family souvenir photo from their trip to Stratford. They were a theatre family. He was a theatre professor at a college in Indianapolis and was joined by his wife and two teenagers. Judy brought costumes over that would fit them and they got ready.
While Mom and Dad were in the dressing room, the teen girl was looking at the gallery and called me over to her.
“How old do you have to be to have a photo like that?” she asked.
It was a portfolio photo of Min that showed her slightly exposed, but it wasn’t one of the artwork pieces. I glanced at the girl with an eyebrow raised.
“Eighteen,” I said flatly.
“Two years,” she sighed. “I’ll be back.”
It sounded almost like a threat.
We got the family on stage in front of an improvised Shakespeare setting that amounted to a stone wall, with a rustic table and chairs, and a prop roasted pig made of plastic. We put a candle on the table and a mug in each of their hands. They were happy. They ordered half a dozen copies of the 8x10 black and white photo. Not a particularly profitable sitting, but it was fun.
We went out to Sunday brunch at That Scottish Café and met several friends. Judy, Leanne, and Shawna were sitting with Kathleen and Damien. They waved the five of us over to join them and pulled up another table so we could all sit around it.
“Oh, good. We were just talking about you,” Damien said.
“Any one of us specifically?” I asked. “Or were you just commenting about how cute Toni is?”
“She’s definitely the cutest one at the table,” Kathleen said.
“Actually, we were talking about Patricia,” Damien said. “We like the sketches Judy and Leanne have put together for the last piece of the season. They’re calling it Afternoon of a Faun. But we’re still trying to find an actress. It will be a bold piece and Judy suggested that Patricia used to do a lot of modeling for you. Are you interested in doing this one?”
“Uh… I don’t really do any modeling anymore,” Patricia said. “The pictures Nate takes of me now are strictly for family consumption.”
“And we do consume them as much as we can,” Ronda said.
“I might have a solution,” Anna said.
“You’ve never modeled for anything,” Judy laughed.
“Family consumption only,” Anna said. “But I got a call yesterday. Do you all remember Rachel Hannity? It was the first time we called the theatre for an impromptu set and costumes. We set up some cool shots with her and Sam.”
“I remember that. It kind of started our whole partnership,” Kathleen said.
“Well, Rachel called me yesterday to make sure we were still in town and ask about doing a Leanne makeup shoot like Min’s dragon. She’s willing to do about anything and is looking into travel plans. She’s just graduated from University of Washington and is an actor. I think she’d get into doing the Faun,” Anna said.
“Great look,” Kathleen said. “Do you think she’d do it? We’d have to compensate her, I suppose. But we’re giving an honorarium to both Shawna and Min. We might need to house her. Shawna has been staying with Leanne and Judy. Min is staying with the Attic family. We’d need her in town from the fourteenth to the twenty-fourth to accommodate rehearsals and performance.”
I looked at my calendar. It was just always with me.
“Kat and Julie will be leaving the fourteenth,” I said. “I suppose we could put her up if the family consents.”
“We’ve got the room if she’s traveling alone, that’s okay,” Ronda said. “Sorry, but I’m not ready to house an unknown guy in the apartment.”
“I can call her back this afternoon,” Anna said. “I think for the opportunity of staying in our apartment, she’d break up with any entanglements and come alone.”
“That sounds dangerous,” I said.
“Ronda will help,” Patricia laughed.
“I’ll help for that matter,” Kathleen said. “That girl was hot enough to start a fire.”
“Make the call, if it’s okay with Judy and Leanne,” Damien said.
“I worked with her and Sam last summer. It’s a go as far as I’m concerned,” Leanne said.
“I saw the photos and just wish I’d been here to work on her,” Judy said. “If you can get her, I’ll fit her.”
“How is the costume coming for Min?” I asked.
“Most of her costume is paint,” Judy laughed. “The headdress is coming along. Lots of jewels and sparkles. If she can hold her head up with the weight, we’ll be fine.”
“What are we calling this one?” I asked.
“I’ve chosen several myths from Egypt,” Kathleen said. “The serpent goddess is called Wadjet. She’s symbolized mostly by the serpent and sun on the crown of Egypt around 2,000 BC.”
“That’s cool. What’s John doing for a setting?”
“Very abstract. Some Egyptian symbolism, but not the usual beiges of the desert. This will be pretty vibrant. You’ll have some good color to work with,” Kathleen said. She was the director of this one and Damien was sitting back and letting her drive it.
“It could be a little tricky, but I trust Leanne and Judy to give me something to work with.”
“Rachel, there’s an opportunity in Stratford for you,” Anna said when she reached the grad in Seattle. “It’s a one-performance show, but will have several rehearsals so everything comes together.— Well, you wanted to have Nate and Leanne paint you up for a photo, right? They’ll do it, but it will be in front of an audience of about seventy-five.— Yes, a paying audience. Nate and Leanne will strip you on stage, paint your body, and take pictures of you. There will be some music and some scenery. There’s a small honorarium and you get a free print. Oh, and a Festival credit for your resume.— You’d be here from the thirteenth or fourteenth for a little more than a week. The performance is scheduled for the twenty-second.— No, August. I know you were planning on flying out here and if you’ve got housing already arranged, that’s fine, but if you don’t have a place, we’d be happy to host you here in our apartment.— No, we’re not trying to put the make on you. You know how the posing for one of Nate’s portraits goes, though. You might want some extra attention on occasion.” Anna laughed at the response. “That’s great. Send me the details on your flight and I’ll pick you up in Toronto. Looking forward to it. Bye!”
“It sounded like you were torturing the girl,” Ronda said. “I don’t remember her squealing that loudly when Nate and Kathleen were working on her!”
“She did get excited. I think if I’d offered it, she’d have flown out tomorrow for the rest of the summer. She might overlap a day or so with Kat and Julie as it is. Should we have Adrienne come in a week earlier so she doesn’t overlap with Kat and Julie? She’d overlap with Min if we did that,” Anna said as she started penciling in Rachel’s schedule on my calendar.
“No. I plan to ask Adrienne to model for Kat. Maybe with Julie. I think both girls would benefit from working with her,” I said.
“Only for Kat?” Patricia teased. “Are you planning photos of the two of them?”
“That’s a tough one. Definitely planning to get some new pictures of Adrienne, though maybe not in the studio,” I said. “With Julie? She’s not quite eighteen. I know it’s legal to photograph her at seventeen, but I still wouldn’t be able to display or sell any of them. Of course, I don’t sell any photos of Adrienne, either.”
“You’re sure you aren’t hesitating just because… you know… of Chris?” Ronda asked.
“That’s still a sore spot. I’m afraid Christine didn’t really improve her lot in life when she got married. But if anything, I’m more hesitant because of Kat. I think she and Julie really have something going. It might not last past the introduction to available boys in college, but I’m not going to be the one to interfere with their relationship,” I said.
“You’re a good brother,” Patricia said. “Now, tomorrow, we’re over at the Third Stage—I guess they’ve officially decided to call it the Tom Patterson stage—to photograph The Red Convertible. I don’t think it’s going to take us the whole three days they have us on call. The play only has four cast members, simple scenery, a few props, and only a few costume changes. It’s going to mostly be how you can make four people in any combination into interesting photographs. They do get a little racy, from what I’ve been told. Partial nudity.”
“Min will be here this weekend, right? Will we be able to rehearse on the stage?”
“Yes. We have rehearsal time Saturday and Sunday this week. You and Leanne can practice on her in the studio during the week. Then we have an early rehearsal next Saturday and performance as usual Sunday. The Red Convertible runs two weekends, Thursday through Saturday, with no matinees,” Anna said. “How is Min getting here?”
“She has a car now,” Ronda said. “She plans to drive up on Friday. She’s very excited about staying with us. In any combination, she emphasized.”
“Well, we’d better get a couple weeks of loving in this afternoon,” Patricia said. “Who wants to take Toni to the park?”
Patricia was right about photographing The Red Convertible. We were done by dinnertime on Tuesday and I went straight to the darkroom to process the black and white. I dropped the half dozen 4x5 color transparencies off at Dave’s to get back the next morning.
The actors were a little more mature than our witches, but not as old as the actors in Much Ado. The two women and two men were all attractive, and the boobs that got out in the air were very nice. There was a limited lobby for the Tom Patterson stage. We’d be displaying the poster-size photo with the advertisement for the auction, as well as a selection of black and white prints for sale.
There was a sense of working on something important that everyone knew would not be popular or famous. The playwright was from South America and there were two translators working on the script and correcting things even during rehearsals. I guess this is where you see actors, musicians, and crew all focused on doing art because they loved the theatre and not because they expected any great reward for it.
The most important thing in our week, though, was Toni’s third birthday on Thursday. We all took the day off and drove into Toronto to see Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Wow. I didn’t really expect it to be quite as gruesome as it was, but Gene Wilder was superb and Toni loved the Oompa Loompas. And the thought of all that candy. We had dinner at a kid-friendly restaurant and by the time we got home that night, our little angel was fast asleep. And three years old!
I spent Friday getting the studio put back together and cleaned—something I hadn’t done after the Weird Sisters photoshoot. I was rewarded for my efforts by Min’s arrival at about four.
“I’m so happy to see you guys,” she said. “Thank you for letting me stay with you.”
“You’re always welcome, Min,” Ronda said, taking the lead. “How could we not want you with us?”
“Even though I like to, you know, get naked with your boyfriend?” Min giggled.
“You can get naked with all of us,” Anna said. I didn’t think either she or Patricia had done anything with Min the last time we were together, but it was a sign that Anna, at least, was open to more experiences.
“We do spend a lot of time in the apartment naked,” Patricia said. “You’ll definitely be an asset to the scenery.”
“Just excuse my salute when you are with us,” I laughed. “These three girls are all it takes to get me alert. Having a fourth in the apartment will keep me at attention all the time.”
“Well… you know… if I cause a problem for you, I’m happy to be the solution,” Min said, blushing.
That started a round of kisses and my girlfriends gave Min attention as passionate as mine.
“Oh wow! Can I bring my suitcase in first?” she giggled.
“Don’t worry. We plan to have you fed and cared for before you have to go to bed,” Ronda said. “We’ve got dinner slated with Leanne and Judy at the pub in a little while. Come on in and relax until then.”
Dinner was a little tense. There was no secret that Shawna was a jealous lover to Leanne. As we ate, Leanne showed Min the sketches of what we were planning for this show. Judy had a Polaroid of the headdress. Kathleen would have been with us, but Duchess was playing Friday evening and she had call before we ever got to dinner.
All through dinner, Shawna kept making little digs about Leanne just wanting her hands all over Min. Ronda worked hard at easing the tension by paying a lot of attention to Min, including giving her little kisses and putting an arm around her. It should have been obvious to Shawna that Min was occupied without Leanne.
“Wow!” Min said when we got home that night. “Leanne’s got her hands full with that one. And I don’t mean just the size of her ass. You guys all know I’m not here to try to get together with Leanne, don’t you?”
“We know,” I said. “Leanne knows. I think it’s only Shawna who doesn’t know. I didn’t realize she was that insecure. And you should know that she isn’t the reason we offered to have you stay with us these couple of weeks. We actually want you with us.”
“You guys are so sweet. I like Leanne and I didn’t mind being her lover sometimes, but I don’t think I’d want a girl for my full-time romance. I haven’t had great luck finding the right boy yet, but I hope I can find someone as nice as you who isn’t you.”
“In the meantime, you can borrow Nate while you are here in Stratford—as long as you don’t occupy so much of his time that we get neglected,” Patricia said. “You’d be amazed at how much a person can get used to regular sex. We girls love each other to bits, but we also have a craving for what this guy brings to our bed.”
“Slap my hands if I get too grabby,” Min laughed. “Really, as much as you get used to having regular sex, I’ve gotten used to not having it. In fact, after the long drive today, I don’t think I’m really ready for anything more than sleep tonight. If you don’t mind, I’ll just crash now.”
After a nice kiss goodnight from each of us, Min went to the guest room and we got ourselves ready for bed.
That amounted to undressing and brushing our teeth. We all wanted a little loving with each other, but when it came down to it, we were all pretty tired ourselves.
Min wandered out of her bedroom when she smelled coffee brewing. Patricia and I were feeding Toni breakfast and hadn’t dressed yet. Min ducked back into her bedroom and re-emerged naked. Now that was a wonderful sight!
“Coffee, Min?” I asked.
“Yes, please,” she said. “My mother is horrified that I drink coffee instead of tea.”
I poured her a cup and held it out away from her until we’d had a lovely deep kiss. Then I gave her the cup and invited her to sit while I made an omelet for her.
“Min! Min!” Toni chanted as the elegant model sat at the table. “I eat breakfast so I be strong for school!”
“School, Toni? Do you go to school now?”
“Yes. I have different school in Canada and Chicago. Toni makes lots of friends!”
“I’m so glad to hear it. I have lots of friends in school, too.”
“You go to Daddy’s school?”
That gave Min pause for a moment. She looked up at me and I nodded, pointing to myself.
“Yes. We don’t go to school in summer, so I came to visit in Canada,” Min said.
“Did you learn numbers?” Toni asked. She had recently learned her numbers from one to ten and showed that skill off to everyone she met.
Eventually, we got Toni ready for school. Patricia dressed and the two left.
“Patricia and Anna are minding the store this morning. Ronda will go to the theatre with us, just in case we need anything. We’ll meet Leanne and Judy there, as well as Kathleen. You remember her from last summer, right?”
“Yes. She brought the scenery and costumes from the theatre when we did the photos of that couple from Washington,” Min said.
“Well, she’s directing our little performance. She has some cool music and poetry picked out. Today, she’ll be mostly just observing as we paint you and put your headdress on. Tomorrow, she’ll start adding little things. I know John plans to bring over the set pieces, assuming the set for Convertible is all finished and dry.”
“It’s a lot different than working in your studio, isn’t it,” she sighed.
I held out my arms and she jumped to rush into them. I kissed her deeply and caressed those lovely breasts as I hardened between us. She reached down to stroke me.
“Afraid we don’t have time for more this morning,” I said. “We need to get over to the theatre.”
“Man! This is heavy!” Min said when she picked up the headdress Judy showed her.
“Yeah. Can you imagine what it would be if it was actually all encrusted with jewels instead of painted with tinfoil sparkles?” Judy asked.
“Oh, the poor queen!” Kathleen moaned. The girls all started giggling.
“Now you know her secret,” Ronda said. “The jewels are all really crumpled up bits of tinfoil. Which also protects her from having her head x-rayed from outer space.”
“I bet she gets a really clear television picture, too,” I said.
Maybe that was going a bit far for a country that still revered its queen. We stopped joking and got to work.
“It’s really good to see you, Min,” Leanne said. “Sorry I’m a little out of sorts today. You know we’ll use just nice glamour makeup on your face. All the painting will be down your body.”
“You always liked painting my body,” Min laughed. “Nothing permanent, I hope.”
“No, honey. It’s egg-based. Let’s pull your hair back so Nate and I can get to your sweet body.”
“What has you out of sorts, partner?” I asked.
“Shawna. What else. She was just being a bitch this morning. She didn’t want me to do this performance. ‘Min is out to get me back.’ ‘I just want to screw Min.’ I finally snapped and told her this was my job and if she couldn’t handle me being around other women, she should leave.”
“And?”
“She packed a suitcase and took off.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Leanne. I didn’t mean to cause trouble for you,” Min said. “I wasn’t trying to flirt with you or make you break up with Shawna.”
“I know that, sweetie. It’s not your fault. I’ve been grilled about nearly every actress in the theatre. She thought I was way too friendly with the Weird Sisters when we did their photoshoot, too. Wanted to know which one I was sleeping with or if I was with them all.”
Leanne was mad, but we compared sections of the painting we were doing and whether we needed more outlining with the black. Kathleen rubbed Leanne’s shoulders comfortingly.
“I think people have been a little afraid of you in the theatre because of Shawna,” Kathleen said. “I know it hurts, but I, for one, am glad she’s gone. We don’t need a threat of jealous retribution hanging over us. I think the added outline really helps the design pop from a distance. Will you add some highlights, too?”
“I have a pearlescent white that kind of sparkles,” Leanne said. “I think it will give even some of the unpainted parts a little extra life.”
“Oh, I like that,” I said as Leanne dabbed a bit of the white onto the upper slope of Min’s breast.
It was a cool paint job. It was all red and black with touches of the sparkly white paint. This one didn’t cover her boobs at all, but kind of emphasized their bareness with the vines and flowers cutting around them. The vines and flowers continued right down between her legs and around her left thigh. There were more flowers on her left arm than her right, as well.
Min leaned in to kiss me when we were finished.
“I hope you plan to do a very careful job removing all this paint from me,” she whispered. “I’m in your hands.”
We stood around inspecting the painting and Kathleen asked Min to do a couple of poses that were reminiscent of Egyptian tomb painting she had. We’d get some spectacular photos. The headdress Judy put on Min really accented the whole concept with hair made out of strands of rope. Eventually, Ronda and I took Min to the dressing room and worked very hard at showering and cleaning her.
When we got her home, the two of us went to work oiling Min and massaging her. And testing sensitive areas with our tongues to make sure all the paint had been removed.
Leanne and Judy joined us after Macbeth that night and we went to the bar where several cast members gathered with Damien and Kathleen.
“It’s nice to meet you, Min,” Damien said, shaking her hand. “I absolutely loved the photo of the dragon last summer. I was even considering buying it, but it was snapped up before I could get to it.”
“I was honored to sign that with Nate and Leanne. They could have had a dozen different models, but they chose me. I felt like an artist’s canvas and truly came alive once the paint was applied,” Min said.
“I can relate to that,” Olivia said. She didn’t often join the cast after shows because her role was so taxing. But it was Saturday night and everyone felt like celebrating. “When Nate and Judy did my photo last summer, I looked like a different person entirely. We’ll do another this summer, won’t we Nate? I’ll try to keep this one.”
“Just let Anna know when you’d like to work and we’ll talk to you about a concept for this one. I was surprised you let Damien have that photo.”
“It was a mutual agreement,” she laughed. “One day, one of us will tell you the story.”
Sunday, we rehearsed in the theatre again, this time with music and some painted scenery John brought in. He had to just stop and stare at Min for a while as we finished painting and posed her.
“Wow! You are incredible,” he breathed. I think he was instantly smitten. “I know what we need. I’ll get a little fog around your feet. Kathleen, you know we could enhance the background with some controlled lighting on fog behind her. It would conceal some of the harsher lines of the draped fabric.”
“I don’t want the background all gray,” Kathleen said. “We are going to get a magnificent color poster out of this.”
“And I’m going to buy it,” John said. “I can turn the fog in the background red, so with the lights and the fabric she’ll look like a mystical apparition.”
“That’s what we’re looking for. Just be sure none of the fog obscures Min. She is much too beautiful to hide behind clouds.”
“Yes. I’ll have it set up for our next rehearsal.”
Monday, I was back at work with Patricia. This time we were taking production photos of Volpone in the Festival Theatre. Another cast of thousands! I think there were more people in this cast than in Macbeth. I needed both Patricia and Anna to manage the film and the record of who was in which photo.
A lot of the action took place around a huge ingeniously designed bed that would split apart to make a kind of living room sofa, or spin around to become a different room entirely. The costumes were fairly contemporary—maybe 1940s—but Volpone himself was usually in pajamas or a robe.
It was fun, but we were definitely working a full day in rehearsals, and then some of those actors had to change costumes and makeup in order to appear in one of the other shows that night. We managed to get through the photos in four days and on Friday went to the second night performance of The Red Convertible.
I think the cast did a great job, but it wasn’t a great play. They did what they could to make it interesting with the kind of box and crate setting they had, but it just wasn’t great. It was a good thing they were in a theatre that only seated seventy-five. The twenty or so who attended didn’t seem quite so sparse.
We got right home to get some sleep before we needed to be at the theatre to rehearse in the morning.
It was a long hard day. I even went so far as to ask Ronda to get a robe for Min so she didn’t have to stand around naked all day with everyone staring at her. The painting part went fine, but coordinating the music at least a little, and getting John to calm down the lights and fog a little seemed to take forever. I saw several possible positions for Min to pose in and even went so far as to take a few black and white images. I figured Anna might as well have current shots when she set up our table in the lobby.
Kathleen wanted to unload a fuck-ton of comments on us, so I stayed in the theatre while Leanne and Ronda took Min to shower. Our part of the program wasn’t the object of most of the comments, other than Kathleen cautioning me about not having Min shoot her beaver toward the audience. Yeah. I could get behind that. I’d need to be careful to be in front of her when I was positioning her in poses. I also decided to wax her lower lips together before we brought her onstage.
Min followed me to the darkroom and immediately stripped when we were alone. Then she got me stripped while I was processing the film.
“Do you get tired of seeing me naked?” she asked.
“Are you kidding? I want you naked all the time!”
“You covered me with a robe. And we haven’t really had any time together this week,” she said.
“It might sound a little selfish, but I didn’t want you to have to stand in the middle of the stage waiting while everyone stared at your beautiful body. I think they were being distracted from Kathleen’s direction,” I laughed. “And we have been awfully busy this week.”
“Yes. And I’m not asking to take time away from your family. Even Patricia came in to cuddle with me one night. Nothing sexual, but it was nice that she wasn’t just leaving me alone.”
“Now you’re sharing me with the enlarger,” I sighed. “What would you like, Min? Right now, since you have us both alone and naked in the dark.”
“I was hoping that being alone and naked in the dark would be all that was required,” she laughed. “Make love to me, Nate. Please? Right here in the darkroom?”
“It isn’t incredibly comfortable, but it is private,” I answered.
I took her in my arms and kissed her, then tenderly loved her. As tenderly as I could, when the only furniture in the darkroom was a folding chair. On the other hand, when Min settled down on my cock, I could scarcely complain about how comfortable the chair was. I let her take all my attention. I kissed her, petted her, and thrust up into her until we were both well satisfied. And for the record, that took twice.
“Would it upset you if I went out after the show tomorrow? I mean, after you’ve removed all the makeup?”
“Of course not! Min, I make no claims on you other than as a completely delicious model I love to work with and I love the times we share something more intimate. I’m not your boyfriend. If you want to see Leanne, by all means go with her.”
“Um… Not Leanne,” Min said, renewing her gyrations on my lap. It was a bit of a challenge, but I rose to the occasion for a third go. “That nice tech director, John, asked if he could escort me over to the bar after the show for a little cast and crew gathering. I guess it’s kind of a tradition.”
“Oh! I’m fine with that, Min, but you aren’t feeling pressured into anything, are you?”
“No. And if you keep moving in me, I think that will relieve any pressure my body is putting on me. You’ll be at the cast party, too, won’t you? That way if I feel I need to escape, I’ll have a way out.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been a safety valve before,” I laughed. “Yes, we’ll all be there. When I say not to feel pressured, I mean by me as much as by anyone else.”
“I’m feeling the pressure just now,” she gasped. “Kiss me some more and make me come!”
The show Sunday afternoon was terrific. Yes, I admit that while I was holding her breast as I painted, and sealing her pussy with wax, I had a little pang of jealousy that some other guy might be unsealing it before the night was over. But it was true. I loved the times Min and I made love, but I had three girlfriends and she didn’t have a place among them.
In the shower after the show, Min was very affectionate with Leanne and both women managed to get off while I rubbed the makeup off her back. At the party, it was hard to tell if anyone was together with someone else other than John sitting next to Min. For that matter, Kathleen was sitting next to me. Anna had come to the party, but Patricia and Ronda picked up Toni and went home. Kathleen leaned against me.
“You did it again,” she said. “It was a beautiful performance.”
“Made more so by the exquisite model I had and the directorial expertise you shared with us,” I said, putting an arm around her and giving her a squeeze.
“Can I slip in for some photos this week?”
“I guess it depends on how difficult the shoot of One in Every Marriage is. Does Damien have another cast of thousands?”
“Just twenty-three. Plus eight understudies. Do you suppose you could get a nice picture of Damien while you’re at it? A director needs a nice photo, too.”
“We’ve kind of left that out of the pictures so far, haven’t we? I’ll do my best.”
“Why don’t I plan on spending Thursday night with you? It will be fun.”
Spend the night with me? I was sure she just meant spending time to get a photo. I just nodded.
Min came in Sunday evening in a good mood, but not particularly late. We were still sitting with our favorite Sunday night dinner foods. Toni had eaten her ice cream and was being cleaned up for bed. I was still enjoying the last of the chocolate syrup in my bowl.
“Have fun, dear?” I asked in my best fatherly voice.
Min snorted and answered in kind.
“Oh yes, Daddy Dearest. John was ever so nice. He showed me all about how the theatre works,” she said. She came over to perch on my knee, which had recently been vacated by Toni.
“How interesting. And how does the theatre work? I’ve always wondered.”
“Well, there is scenery and lighting and beautiful young girls who enter the stage and take their clothes off.”
How could I argue with that? It’s exactly what we’d had Min do earlier in the day.
“And did he demonstrate?”
“Oh no! I told him I only take my clothes off in the bedroom. He was satisfied with that.”
“Please tell me this isn’t what life with Toni will be like in fifteen years,” I gasped as we all started laughing.
“Oh Daddy,” Min sang to me. “You’ll be lucky if it isn’t in ten years.”
I groaned. Min gave me a quick kiss and asked if there was more ice cream. I got up to dip her a scoop and she made the rounds to kiss Anna, Ronda, and Patricia.
“I am glad you invited me to spend a week after the performance,” she said when she got her ice cream. “John said he’d get me a ticket for every performance this week. I’ll probably go out with him and the cast after the shows.”
“I’m really happy you’re enjoying your time in Stratford,” I said.
“What I’d really enjoy would be company in bed tonight,” Min whispered. “If you or Ronda can be spared, you know.”
I figured one or both of us could be spared for the night. Ronda was all for it.
Photographing There’s One in Every Marriage was challenging. It’s a farce with all the usual contrivances. Multiple doors opening and closing in perfect timing, switched suitcases, mistaken identity, and rapid pacing—which was good, considering the show ran three hours.
It was set near the turn of the century—not terribly different from Much Ado—in Paris. John had created a pretty cool backdrop which was a giant map of Paris. Occasionally, some odd character like a street sweeper would come on stage and move images of the characters around the map as they pursued each other. You couldn’t tell if he was recording what had happened or what was about to happen. Other settings, like hotel rooms and bedrooms, were moved into place in front of the constant backdrop of the map.
It was Damien’s second show of the season and he was happy to show off his ability to direct a farce as well as he directed a tragedy. His actors played it perfectly. Patricia and Ronda were able to keep me organized while Anna was off at the Festival Theater showing the marketing department our pictures of Volpone. I predicted I’d have a few late nights printing photos once the orders started coming in.
The costumes were lovely and there were several changes. I thought Pinchard’s army uniform looked like a high school drum major. Judy confessed to me that it actually had been and she’d been assigned to sew badges and ribbons on it. This was a show that had half a dozen ‘dressers’ back stage who helped ladies in and out of bustles and men into waistcoats and tails. Judy was among them.
“This must be great experience for you, Judy. How do you like working in the professional theatre?” I asked when we had a minute to talk.
“I have to confess that with a couple of noted exceptions, I don’t like actors that much. If all I did was work backstage dressing them, I’d quit theatre and go have babies somewhere.”
“Oh? Have any prospects for that?”
“No. My resolve being firm about not getting involved with a theatre person, it limits the choices here in Stratford. Which is why I’m always horny. Up to anything tonight?”
“Just the usual, you know. In the darkroom getting these rolls developed and proofed.”
“Don’t be too surprised if you find a naked costumer waiting in the darkroom for you,” she said. “Unless Martha busts her seams again getting out of that costume.”
As it turned out, Martha did rip out a seam or something and Judy didn’t show up in the darkroom. I had the order for the poster-size print of Volpone to get ready, so I had plenty to do for the opening on Tuesday night.
It was more of the same on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got half a day on Thursday to drop color slides off for Dave to have overnighted to London, and get the black and white proof sheets printed so Anna could take them to the theatre Friday morning.
It was six o’clock Thursday and I was cleaning up to go home for dinner when the chimes on the front door rang. I thought Patricia was closing up for the night, so I didn’t pay attention to it.
“You didn’t forget our appointment, did you?” Kathleen asked as she came into the studio.
“I did pencil it into the calendar, but I’ve been so busy this week that I didn’t check today. Welcome to Attic Allure, Kathleen.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
