Chapter 4: Raped Or Did I Consent

Once she was settled Lewis massaged her head very slowly. His other hand he lay flat and still on her hairs. ‘Go ahead,’ Lewis told her, ‘Start at the beginning and tell me everything that happened.’ May gave him a smile then began.

‘A new mayor is elected every year,’ she said, ‘So I get a new boss once a year. The elections took place three months ago. Because I’ve been in the job for a while, the incoming mayor usually relies on me to guide him or her. All the previous mayors had been a pleasure to work for, but I didn’t like this one from the start.’

‘He arrived the first day and started throwing his weight about. Although my reminders to him saved him from many a bloomer, he neither liked nor appreciated me giving them to him. I wasn’t looking forward to a happy year.’

‘The mayor has a private office cum lounge where he entertains people in very small groups or individuals. And during his year in the main room of the Town Hall he holds several receptions for larger groups. People like the workers from his own party, the local Chamber of Trade and Chamber of Commerce, Scouts, Doctors, any group he likes who serve the local community. It’s a sort of public thank you. There are drinks and canapes and a buffet. You stand a reasonable chance of meeting the mayor too. Everyone just mingles and talks.’

‘It’s part of my job to organise it all and send out the invites. As a local councillor, the mayor usually has a fulltime job as well. But in most cases, he gets a leave of absence for his mayoral year, as it’s a very busy year.’

‘Most of the incoming mail addressed to the mayor I would open, leave it on his desk to deal with if I thought it was warranted and if it was something I could deal with I would. Any I dealt with by letter or email, I would attach a copy of my reply to the original. Any I dealt with by phone I attached a brief note of the gist of my reply.’

‘This had worked well for all the previous mayors I’d served. The first time he saw that I had dealt with some myself he had a fit. It was clear he wasn’t objecting to my response, just to me doing what he considered he should do. He gave me a dressing down quite rudely and said I was not to answer any mail myself and that he would open all mail addressed to him.’

‘I was smarting about my dressing down, but it didn’t bother me about not opening the mail, it meant a lot less work for me to do. Within days his desk was heaped with unopened mail. As a result, he missed a couple of invites to functions he wanted to go to. He was livid. ‘It’s all your fault,’ he said, ‘You’re useless.’

‘May I remind you,’ I told him, ‘That it was you who ordered me not to open any mail. So, there is no way I am responsible. You clearly do not have the time to deal with all your mail and that is why you missed your invites. That is why all the previous mayors liked me to do what I did at the start. Open it all, sort it and deal with minor matters to save bothering them.’

‘Ok,’ he said, ‘Perhaps I was a bit hasty. You open all the mail and sort it into three piles. Urgent, not so urgent and can wait. But I will decide what to do with each one.’

‘He didn’t apologise, but I was content that events had proved him wrong. For the next few weeks, I did as he asked. Two weeks later he had managed to deal with his urgent pile but the nonurgent and can wait piles were growing daily.’

‘Anticipating this might happen, I had put each day’s mail on both piles in a new folder with the date I had opened them on the front. I kept checking and the top folder, the earliest one received, was the same one on the can wait pile two weeks later. The non urgent pile had only gone down by three days.’

‘In the third week, as the piles kept growing, I started having phone calls from people who had written in but had no reply. I told them the mayor was extremely busy, but I felt sure they would hear from him soon. I made a list each day of who that day’s calls had come from, and the date they had written in.’

‘He took no notice until he started getting personal calls from close friends and relatives who had written in and heard nothing. When he made a fuss, I pointed out that I had no way of knowing who his friends and relatives where. I sorted the mail according to their content and he was the one who hadn’t dealt with them.’

‘He couldn’t argue with that and the next day he told me to deal with the outstanding mail as I used to and all new mail also as I used to. ‘Ok,’ I said, but it’s going to take me at least a week to get up to date.’ As usual no apology but at least he did say, ‘Ask the CEO if you can borrow a secretary to help you get up to date.’

‘I did and asked to borrow an audio typist. I dictated answers into a recorder as I read each piece of post. She then typed them all, then I checked and signed them. We worked well together and were completely up to date in four days.’

‘The next time he came in and saw a clear desk he never said a word of thanks. After that I did as I’d always done, and everything ran smoothly. He was grumpy at times but no more trouble.’

‘Then a few weeks later, I assume because he had realised how much easier I made his life, he actually started being nice to me. I still didn’t like him very much, but it improved my working day.’

‘Then six weeks ago, I was sending out invites for a mayoral reception connected with education. I recognised a couple of the names. When I was going through some other arrangements with the mayor a few days later I passed a comment that he might meet two of my secretarial instructors as I’d just sent them invites. He asked me their names. Like all politicians he was always looking out for an excuse to look as if he was a friend of the voters. I had no doubt he would use my name in a conversation, but I saw no problem there.’

‘Then he surprised me. ‘Why don’t you come along too?’ he said. I was quite pleased to think he was actually doing something for me. I felt sure there was an ulterior motive, but it would never have occurred to me in a month of Sundays what it was.’

‘I thought it would be nice to meet my tutors again, so I thanked him and said I’d love to. ‘You don’t need an invite,’ he said, ‘Everyone here probably knows you better than they know me.’

‘So, two weeks ago I returned to the Town Hall in the evening and enjoyed one of the receptions that I’d organised and sent out so many invites for. I met both my tutors, and the mayor came over and chatted to them. Then he sang my praises to them. I couldn’t believe my ears.’

‘It got better, he introduced me to several other people and again told them what a wonderful secretary I was. It seemed like he was a totally different person.’

‘Being with the mayor of course, the waiters were constantly topping our wine glasses up. By the end of the evening, I felt quite lightheaded. As everyone started departing the mayor offered me his arm. ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘I’ll make you a coffee in the office.’

‘We went back to his office, and he sat me down on the settee. I watched as he made me a coffee, I was starting to think he wasn’t as bad as I thought after all.’

‘He brought me a coffee over and sat beside me whilst I drank it. He had one as well so although it tasted different, I thought it was just me having had too much wine.’

‘He was encouraging me to drink all my coffee, saying it will clear my head so despite the taste, I persevered. I started feeling even more lightheaded and I must have passed out.’

‘I came to as a terrible pain shot through me. It disappeared almost immediately but it had been enough to bring me round. I found myself lying on the settee, my dress up above my waist and my panties off. The mayor was naked and lying on top of me. I struggled to move but I had no energy. Besides, he was a big strong man.’