Chapter 3

“Mister?”, followed a faint tap at my door and I opened it to the mischievous eyes of my landlord’s daughter.

“Come in, Dana. How nice to see you again. Would you like something to drink? Let me help you with your coat. You can sit over there while I fix you some hot chocolate. Would you like that?” (Rhetorical question.)

“Thank you, Sir. Am I supposed to call you Master?”

“That is up to you. Did your mother tell you what to do when you were here?”

“She told me to be very nice to you and to do whatever you asked, even if it was something Daddy told me was wrong. What did she mean?” She was wide-eyed at this adventure into the unknown. We had been around each other enough for her to know that I was harmless, in the sense that I would never hurt her, but not in the much wider sense and definition of “hurt” that is employed by THOSE WHO KNOW FAR BETTER THAN WE DO. To them, information is hurtful, as is any activity they do not view as “age appropriate”. What a crock of shit. I suppose that everyone with the same chronological age is to be considered to have the same emotional age.

However, I needed to be very careful to not do anything that would undermine her sense of worth when TWKFBTWD (see above) got their hooks into her. Regardless of how innocent it might be on my part, there were those who would rather see me dead than to do anything to satisfy her youthful search for knowledge.

I fixed her hot chocolate and cooled it for her so she would not get burned. “You didn’t tell me what your mommy told you to do when you were here.”

“She said to be nice to you. Am I being nice?”

“You are very extremely nice to me, Dear. Are you comfortable there? This is the first time I have seen you wear a dress. You usually wear your track suit. Is that a new dress?”

“Yes, Mommy said you would like it. Do you think it’s nice?” Girls are so dependent on attention.

“I think it is very nice. Do you wear it to school?”

“No. I’m not allowed to wear it to school. Mommy says someone might see my panties when I am on the playground if I wear a dress.”

“Your mommy is right. If you turn cartwheels while you are wearing a dress, it would fall around your body and everyone could see your panties. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never done it.”

“Show me your cartwheel and I will tell you if I can see your panties.”

Her mommy was definitely correct.

“I don’t know why Mommy doesn’t want people to see my panties. You saw them, didn’t you? I don’t feel any different.”

“There is a way to keep people from seeing your panties if you don’t want them to.”

“How is that?”

“By taking them off. You can put them in your purse and make all the cartwheels you like and nobody would see them.”

“Why didn’t Mommy think of that?”

“Maybe she was afraid you would lose them.”

“Well, I can’t lose them here, can I?” She flipped her skirt up and eased her panties down her legs before tossing them on the couch. “There!”, she said.

“Do you feel any different now?”

“No. Do you?”

It was possible that I felt somewhat differently, but did not choose to share it with her.

“Can I do some cartwheels now and you can give me my bath after I exercise, like Daddy does?”

“Sure. Does he just wait until you need some help or does he hold your legs when they are at the top, so you can learn to balance that way?”

“Oh, he always helps me hold them at the top. I’m trying to learn how to do a split while I am upside down and it is hard to balance while I’m doing it. Will you help me?”

Actually, she was getting very, very good at doing a split. I admired her technique tremendously and urged her to practice over and over.

“Will you give me my bath now?”, she asked, tentatively.

“Sure. Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“Mommy said you might be embarrassed. Some men get upset around little girls with no clothes on.”

“Well, I promise not to get too upset. Besides, you need me to wash your back, don’t you?”

“Daddy always washes me all over. He says I might not get all the dirt out of the tight places.”

“Then I will do it just like your daddy does.”

She took my hand and led me into the bathroom. “This is just like our bathroom. I know exactly what to do.” She shucked her dress off and folded it neatly, then turned on the hot water to let it run, while wiping out the tub. “Do you have suds?”

I knew I hadn’t bought any and started to tell her, but she saw my confusion and told me, “That’s all right. Mommy thought you might not have any and gave me some to bring. It is in my purse.” Her lithe young brown body skipped into the living room to retrieve the sudsy stuff.

“Here it is, see?” she was so proud of herself.

I admired her, as well.

“Ok. Be sure to put the big warm fluffy towel on the radiator to get it good and toasty warm so you can dry me with it later.”

“Good idea, Sport.” I watched as she lifted one coltish leg over the rim of the tub and tested the water with her toe. The action left her standing awkwardly.

Little girls like to play-act, but are not always that knowledgeable in concealing their true motives. She teetered on one foot, then pretended to fall.

I caught her as she had no doubt planned, and lifted her in my arms.

“Oh, thank you, Master”, she seemed to be about to put her arm over her forehead in a silent movie gesture of being about to faint. What a great little actress!

Then she shifted her weight a bit, causing me to lose my balance and fall into the water with her as the safest choice. At least it would not bang her head on anything sharp.

Now I sat in the water, fully clothed, holding a naked girl in my arms.

“Mommy said if you fell in the water that I should tell you to just take your clothes off and get in the tub with me.” Innocence dripped from her lips. I couldn’t help wondering how much more script Mommy had instilled into her girl-child before sending her to me.

“Oh, she did, did she?” I climbed out and stripped. Might as well keep my part of script.

“Unh huh. She said you might not want to, but I should tell you she said it was ok.”

“Did she tell you other things were ok, as well?”

“Unh huh, but she told me not to tell you if you asked.”

I could live with that.

When I got in the water with her, I faced her and we had a moment to visually explore each other before she asked me to sprinkle the sudsy stuff in the water. Now she was submerged to her armpits and I to my navel, with our lower parts obscured by the suds.

I felt a light touch of a small foot that was apparently performing an underwater surveillance mission. It was soon joined by the other foot and the two joined forces to explore the landscape. Dana was reclining against the sloping end of the tub, with her arms flung out on the rim. Her eyes were closed, apparently to aid her in visualizing her territory.