Chapter 6

I arrived back at the apartment and it was empty. That didn’t surprise me. It just meant that Cherry and Berry would still be cleaning Rahjeesh’s house. What I couldn’t fathom was that my coffee pot was still cold and empty. I figured I’d forgotten to add that task to their to-do list. I mean I must have or it would have been done, right? I found the list just where I’d left it and it was indeed written right there. I was much more confused than angry at first. It wasn’t until I realized the picture window also hadn’t been cleaned either inside OR outside that I began to build up a head of steam. The bed had been hurriedly pulled up, not made like I’d shown them and there was a tiny scrap, more of a fiber, of paper on the living room floor. That proved to my satisfaction that the floors hadn’t been swept or vacuumed either. What the hell had the girls actually done before they’d gone to clean Rahjeesh’s home?

I sat and contemplated what to do. Was this what I could expect whenever either girl wasn’t being directly supervised? Did I even have time for this shit? I finally realized it was all my own fault and I’d even been told it would happen – indirectly by both Berry AND Cherry. That didn’t mean I had to accept that this was the ‘norm’. It just meant that I couldn’t trust either girl to follow explicit instructions without supervision. I stood up and went to the kitchenette. In the trash was an empty Yoo-hoo chocolate milk bottle – obviously Berry’s – even though I didn’t allow it and an empty, ‘Big Gulp’ soda cup complete with straw. Where had they gotten them from? There was also a couple of toaster pop wrappers, also something that wasn’t in the apartment to the best of my knowledge. I had specifically left instructions as to what their breakfast would be. I pictured them lounging around in my absence, munching on toaster pops, drinking yoo-hoo and laughing at me. THAT made me really angry.

Five minutes later, I was knocking on Anjali’s door. Anjali is a sweet woman somewhere in her thirties - I can’t tell ages well – especially in Indians, however she’s a no-nonsense sort. Some would call her crabby however she’s been polite to me in our infrequent interactions. She came to the door wearing her sari and looking like she’d been doing as much cleaning as my girls should have been. She saw my surprise at her disheveled state.

“Ah, you have come to be collecting the lazy she-devils! Is about time. They are the useless at all what they have not done.” She said, totally confusing me. I don’t know who taught her to speak English. Maybe Yoda?

“They have not been helpful?” I asked in surprise.

“I have been having to revert behind them from everything they didn’t touch! How does woman not understand how not to vacuum the counters?”

Maybe not Yoda, maybe Yoda’s dyslexic brother? “Ummm,” I paused before replying, attempting to convert the words into something meaningful. “They didn’t vacuum and dust very well?”

“Well? They have been the awful at most duties Sada does from school at home nightly. This arrangement sounded not better than it is.”

I knew Sada was Rahjeesh’s and Anjali’s fourteen year old daughter and I presumed Anjali was saying Sada had chores after school. It didn’t take a great leap to imagine that Anjali was saying my girls couldn’t even match Sada’s cleaning abilities. Then I realized Anjali was saying she’d had to REDO everything Cherry and Berry had done, not revert it.

“They are hammering the clear curtains in the room of the guests right this moment if you want to eject them?” Anjali asked hopefully.

This I had to see. Why would anyone hammer curtains? Anjali eagerly led me through the luxurious home and entered one of the bedrooms. Cherry and Berry were working together to rehang the lacy sheers in the windows. These must be the ‘clear curtains’ Anjali had referred to, that had probably just been washed. They were hanging them, not hammering them. Neither Berry nor Cherry was even wearing what I’d set out for them. These girls couldn’t be trusted to follow direction and when left alone to do so, totally ignored instructions. Neither of them had noticed me yet so I ducked back out of the room before they saw me.

Anjali realized immediately I was no longer behind her and to her credit, did not make a fuss and instead, retreated from the room herself without comment. She quietly followed me back to the kitchen and as soon as she saw the look on my face, gestured that I might take a seat on one of her barstools in the breakfast nook.

“I apologize, Anjali, really I do. I came here because I needed to find out why the girls hadn’t done the chores I’d set for them at home. As soon as I saw them I was made angry all over again because they were not even dressed as I’d instructed.

“They certainly look the slut, however it’s not being my judgement,” she agreed.

“If you want, I will take them home and discipline them. Once again I need to apologize. I figured you’d set them straight instead of putting up with their crap,” I said angrily.

“It is not being my place to spank your family,” she replied politely, “however I am being frustrated at intersections of chores they understand not in the least,” Anjali said before reverting to speaking her mind in her native tongue - which expressed her feelings much better than her desiccation of the English language.

“Anjali, please understand that when I suggested their services, I fully intended you to treat them as you would treat servants in your native land,” I explained.

In fact the suggestion to have them clean the landlord’s personal home - just down the road from the motel - was the result of a discussion with Rahjeesh. I’d picked up on his unspoken lamentation that his wife was not happy and when she wasn’t happy, by default, Rahjeesh was not allowed to be happy. I usually attempt to avoid shady business transactions however running a prostitution business out of my apartment was already as shady as anything I’d ever done, so offering Rahjeesh full access to Cherry’s only sellable skill didn’t, in my mind, begin to repay Cherry’s past due rent. Anjali had come in at that point and even though they’d spoken Punjabi to each other, I’d picked up that she was demanding he hire a maid. My bargaining ability increased with that knowledge and the house cleaning idea had been born. I’d seen Anjali’s eyes light up at the suggestion of increased rent on my apartment and I now believed that’s the point where Anjali had switched off our conversation.

“In my native land, such imbeciles would not be flogged in the public!” She replied. “But this is America and I am understanding that you will tell them the off and demand they do it not again. This is why our arrangement requires you to do the needful.”

“You’re right, that is how it is in America. And that’s why I didn’t want you to treat them as you would Americans. If they displease you, you have every right to spank or flog them. They expect that,” I replied, slapping my hands together to get my point across.

Anjali jumped at the sound, a look of understanding crossing her features for the first time. I guess I hadn’t explained myself remotely sufficiently to Anjali when I’d made the deal. “Do you understand the true reason why the girls are working for you?” I asked as plainly as I knew how.

“They are to be expecting the rod?” She asked hesitantly, showing that her thoughts had stalled on my first declaration.

I didn’t know what the rod was, however her meaning was fairly clear. “Oh yes,” I agreed, my expression conveying my agreement. “I plan to take them home and express my displeasure with their performance. I can, if you’d like, do it here.” I added. “As for the reason they’re here in the first place... ?”

“You have the rod with you?” She asked in surprise, still ignoring my question. Now I fully understood the most likely reason Anjali didn’t understand fully what was going on.

I held up my hand and rotated it, then swatted the air, so that she could see I meant to spank them. Anjali smiled, shook her head and held up her hand to stop me for a moment, then scurried from the room, returning a moment later with a cane.

“This we use to teach Sada the lessons.” Holding up two fingers, Anjali continued, “With two on the extended fleshy hands is enough to be do the needful that our daughter to behave as a Singh should.”

I nodded my head realizing she meant that they, being most likely Anjali Singh herself, used the cane on her daughter’s palms as a lesson much as nuns had used rulers when I was a kid. At least Anjali wouldn’t baulk at my use of corporal punishment as a motivator and correction device.

“Anjali. It would be most appreciated if you would continue to to retain the girls’ services as maids in your home as that is the only way Cherry and Berry can cover the arrears on the rent they owe your family. I also wanted to ensure you received something of value yourself for allowing Cherry to continue operating her business.”

“We must not talk of such things in that if the discussion suggests that Rahjeesh is...” Anjali abruptly stopped herself. I wondered if Anjali preferred to stay in denial about what Cherry was doing and how Rahjeesh was being compensated. “My relatives are already being jealous of not this home. Imagine they would be feeling to know I have not one but just two maids,” Anjali replied wistfully to something she must have been thinking instead of what Cherry’s business likely was.

“Yes!” I agreed with emotion, hoping to turn away the idea of firing Cherry and Berry. “Imagine if they were dressed in maid’s outfits when one of your extended family members dropped by? Would that help increase your esteem with your extended family?”

“And be to using the rod when necessary as well?”Anjali asked, her eyes lighting up at the possibilities, before clouding over again. Her expression of delight faded. “I am being understanding of why the she-devils are to being called the silly Cherry and Berry now, only I feel that this tasks for them are not suitable for me. They are to not trusted that they steal anything they can secret out of here. I should have not agreed to begin.”

“I know what you mean, Anjali,”I commiserated. “In fact that is one of the reasons they’re not allowed clothing in the apartment. They strip and I search them every time they enter, to ensure they’re not smuggling anything in ... well you know, I’m sure.”

“This they accept?” Anjali said, raising her voice in surprise.

Just then Cherry and Berry came wandering into the room, laughing with each other about something I didn’t hear. Both stopped abruptly when they saw me and the cane Anjali held. Cherry’s eyes flicked nervously between mine and the cane and I could see the associations being made in her head.

“I can explain, Sir...” Cherry began before being stopped by my upraised hand.

We’d already discussed calling me ‘Sir’ in public so I wasn’t surprised that she’d used the correct form of address for the situation. “Do you always jump right into the middle of others’ conversations without greeting them first?” I asked.

“Um, yeah?” Cherry said in surprise before catching herself. “I mean we already saw you this morning when you untied ... I mean before you left the apartment, Sir. So it’s not like I need to greet you, right, Sir?” Cherry stumbled through her question, still eyeing the cane suspiciously.

“I haven’t seen either of you in hours. I can guess how your morning has been based on the evidence I’ve seen with my own eyes. You, on the other hand were not even being polite enough to inquire how I am and how my morning has been, yet even more importantly, you just wandered in here as if you owned the place and interrupted a conversation I was having with your host. That just adds to the insult that your performance here is reflecting onto me. Anjali, would your daughter be this rude?” I directed my question to the Indian mother.

Anjali scowled at the two before replying, “Sada would be standing of the quietly and to be waiting to be noticed. Sada is good girl not lazy slut,” Anjali said, rapping the cane into her palm for emphasis.

“May I ask,” I turned my attention fully back to Anjali and ignored both my girls for the moment, “Does Sada ever require correction more stringent than a couple taps on her palms?” I inquired tapping the back of the fingers of one hand against the open palm of my other.

“Sada is good girl. Honest, polite, helpful. Many has been the time since we have been having to correct her,” Anjali answered.

I wondered if Anjali was feeling some sort of regret that she had no need to punish Sada because her expression was not one of pride in her daughter – more of scorn for Cherry and Berry.

“You were telling me that neither Cherry nor Berry has been as much help as you expected. I know I certainly didn’t expect to arrive here and see that you’d been working so hard yourself. The purpose of this exercise was to take work off your hands, not give you more. Did Rahjeesh not tell you that you were invited to treat these girls as you would servants in India?”

“We are from Punjab, not India, Mr. Kiwi,” Anjali smiled at me and reminded me before answering, “Rahjeesh is becoming too of the American. Does not he tell me this thing,” Anjali replied, her smile disappearing and contempt filling her features instead. I wasn’t sure if the contempt was directed towards Rahjeesh, the way he’d become Americanized or still towards the girls she was looking at.

“Cherry and Berry are working for you to pay off a debt. When I find that they have not been as conscientious and hard-working as I promised they would be, it disturbs me and more importantly, shows me as being less than trustworthy. I mean I WAS the one who got Rahjeesh to agree to this deal and I feel responsible.”

“I am being...”Anjali began.

I had to stop her because I wasn’t done, “I apologize for interrupting you, Anjali. I was just about to assure you that if you allow Cherry and Berry back into your house again, they will be MUCH improved with their attitudes and work ethics. It wasn’t made clear enough that you have complete authority over them while they’re here. It would seem that we’ve already agreed those two are lazy and not trustworthy,”I said, talking as if the girls weren’t even there, “So you would be quite within your rights to search them when they arrived and again before they left. Also, whenever the need arises to correct their efforts or behavior, please do me the honor of taking corrective action into your own hands.”

“Are you being saying that the rod I may be using myself and the search as you do in your apartment?” Anjali asked for clarification.

“Yes, ma’am!” I assured her. “You don’t need to restrict yourself to correction on their hands, either.”

“They are being dressed so shamefully that they may as well being nude,” Anjali said scornfully, abruptly changing the subject while looking at the girls and scowling, if possible, even more.

I smiled to myself. They weren’t even wearing the outfits I’d selected for them. My choices were scandalous compared to what they wore. “If you want them to work naked, just say the word Anjali. It would certainly do them good to be humbled a little,” I smiled.

“Even the lowliest servants in the poorest parts of Punjab wear saris,” Anjali said, surprising me because I didn’t need to translate that statement in my head. “You said I might be of the interest to provide uniforms?”

“If nudity offends you as much as these two girls, you are quite entitled to dress them in any manner you prefer. Would it be possible for me to have a hand in choosing a uniform?” I requested politely.

“I wasn’t being said that they should dress up at all times, Mr. Kiwi. If rod is being to used they contemptible should be in the nude for such however I would be being grateful for assistance in selecting uniforms for the times when family visit during their working hours.”

I really wasn’t sure what Anjali was saying with that. I had a few guesses rattling around in my brain although in the end, I just spread my hands to encompass the girls and said, “Have at it Anjali.”

Anjali took the ball and ran with it. “Off!” She spat at the girls who just looked at her in confusion.

“Off, I said. Are you being the stupid? Clothes!”Anjali just about shouted as if that would make her words understood better.

Cherry and Berry shared a look then shrugged, totally unfazed by Anjali’s shouting. They did however remove their clothes, which disgusted Anjali even more when she saw they weren’t wearing any underwear. Anjali looked them up and down, her eyes drawn to the girls shaved and plucked groins then she dropped into her native tongue with a litany of what was probably Punjabi cuss words. She also proved that she was a master of the rod, as she called her cane, with a thorough demonstration that left both girls with tears in their eyes and bright red marks on various ivory-colored appendages. To both girls’ credit, they took their discipline at the hands of Anjali in silence for the most part. I had no idea what they were thinking however not once did I see a gleam in Berry’s eyes or that cute pout. Even Cherry, who I’d been working with for days, was in obvious pain when Anjali stopped.

“When come here you do being nude will inspect. Expect the rod also! Rahjeesh see you like this had better happen not, either!” Anjali demanded. “Now redo toilet room NOW! Is not being clean enough far by!”

Anjali seemed so angry that the girls hurriedly took off to do Anjali’s bidding. As soon as she left the room, Anjali seemed to flip some sort of internal switch and became the pleasant woman she’d been when I first met her. I was impressed!

Anjali offered me tea, which I accepted and we chatted for about half an hour before Berry came back into the room and stood quietly, waiting to be noticed.