Chapter 5: Astrid again

The next morning I immediately called Linda to tell her the good news.

“Hey Linda, Astrid would like to meet you at your earliest convenience and find out how and what could work for the two of you. By the way, don’t tell her I said, but Astrid is, in reality, a softy, she is absolutely not as unapproachable as she likes to make you believe, I found out myself, that you only have to push the right buttons with her.

I will also, as soon as possible, contact Bethany from the perfumery and beauty parlor to get her on board, I hope to be able to do that in the next few days.”

“Oh thanks, Lew, you’ve got me all excited now, how will I ever be able to thank you?”

“Don’t worry Linda, we will find a way, I am sure of it, so talk to you soon, and keep me posted on your meeting with Astrid.”

As usual, Tuesday was a very calm day so I called Bethany, whom I knew a bit better than I did Astrid because I bought some of my toilet articles in her shop, and who was, contrary to Astrid, known around the village as a very pleasant person.

“Bethany dear, I have a favor to ask you.”

“You do Lew? Do tell me, but don’t ask for money cause I got none to spare,” she said with a chuckle.

“No, no Bethany, nothing like that although, come to think of it, it might involve some financial involvement on your side, you see, I met this young woman, Linda, she’s twenty, and she has ambitions to become a model, basically a fashion model, and I promised I would try to help her. I took the first steps on that road, last night when I met with Astrid to convince her to engage Linda for her regular shows and I am proud to tell you I succeeded!”

“Wow, how did you manage to convince the most difficult businesswoman in the village to do something for you without paying or bribing her?”

“Mmh not entirely without a bribe, I took her to dinner to ply her with food and wine, but in reality, I got to discover a totally different side of her, she is not as austere as she tries to project to the outside world. We had a wonderful evening together, after dinner she even invited me for coffee and drinks at her place.”

“Wow, again Lew, do tell me what you had to do to convince her to give you something for free?”

“I am sorry Bethany but I never divulge my secrets on how persuasive I can be with a lady, especially when I need to be equally persuasive with the woman I’m talking to do something for me as well.”

“Spoilsport!” Bethany replied, “but you’re more than welcome to try to persuade me in a similar fashion.”

“I guess you saw me coming with the line of business you are in. I’m looking for a makeup artist to take care of my model when she has to pose for pictures wearing those gorgeous outfits Astrid is going to put on her. What’s in it for me? I hear you think. Well, I could offer you some free, large size, professional portraits of Linda for your shop to advertise your wares and artistry in makeup and related products...”

“And if you so desire I would really enjoy taking you to dinner as well. I know you are single and so am I, so I wouldn’t be stepping on anyone’s toes by doing that, would I? Besides it would be absolutely great if I take you out as well, that will definitely get the village tongues wagging to spread gossip of me having dinner, first with Astrid, and then with you as well. The town will absolutely go berserk with gossip.”

“You might very well be right there Lew, I do love a good gossip, and being the subject of it this time would just be heavenly.”

“Would dinner at ‘The Deerhunter’ suit you next Saturday?”

“Oh yes, the top-notch restaurant of the neighborhood, that would be very nice indeed.”

“I definitely want to thank you with the same royal treatment I gave Astrid. You know I’m almost becoming a regular there, maybe I should start asking for a discount. They do serve excellent food and they have top-notch wines and when word gets around that I took, if I may say so, two of the most eligible single women out to dinner that would definitely be the talk of the town for a while.”

“Wow one compliment after another Lew; to be counted as one of the most eligible women in town, how did I deserve that title?”

“Bethany you are definitely on my list of the top five best-looking single women of this village. Speaking as an old buck, and absolutely not wishing to offend you or anything, we both know the town gossip club dropped you from their list of desirable women worth gossiping about some while back. Don’t ask me why, because personally I would be absolutely thrilled if you wanted to share a meal with me.”

“Now you’ve made me really curious about that top five list of yours, I am dying to see it.”

“You know what Bethany ‘confidence pour confidence’ as the French say, I will share that list with you, if and when you share me yours of most eligible village bachelors,” I said with a chuckle.”So what do you say, can I count on you next Saturday?”

“Absolutely Lew, to launch a juicy village gossip certainly, and I guess this Linda is a good looking girl, uh young woman, otherwise you would have put her off her aspiration to make it as a fashion model now wouldn’t you?”

“Yes of course. You know what, I’ll mail you some pictures I took of her the other day; take a look at them and come back to me, deal?”

“OK deal!”

The remainder of the week was rather uneventful, the usual photoshop business, parents coming in to have photos taken of their offspring for special occasions, and people dropping off memory cards or sticks to get prints. Then, on Friday, totally unexpected, I got a visit from Astrid.

“Good afternoon, you promised me a tour of your facility during our dinner, so if you have the time I would like to take you up on your offer.”

“Sure, if you like we can do that now. I have no more bookings today and Friday afternoons are usually slow anyway, so yes, you couldn’t have picked a better moment for the grand tour.”

“Let me close the shop so we won’t be interrupted.”

“Oh, will it take that long?”

“You never know what surprises I have in store for you Astrid. Please come through.”

I led Astrid into the big studio space. Judging by her facial expression she looked really surprised at how big and light it was. I demonstrated how I could darken it to work with artificial light only and explained what different possibilities this studio had to offer. Astrid’s eyes got even bigger when I took her to the dressing rooms.

“Wow, I never expected it to be this elaborate, modern, and well equipped. Do you also make this space available for smaller events?”

“What do you mean? You mean concerts or something?”

“No, no I am thinking about my regular fashion shows, would you allow me to organize a fashion show here?”

“I don’t see why not, I would of course charge you a hefty sum of money to do that!”

“WHAT!”

“I’m only joking Astrid, I would cut you a friendly deal, and maybe, who knows, in return, you could do something for me as well.”

“And what would that something be?” Astrid asked with a frown. “Free lessons in the mysteries of BDSM maybe?” She asked looking at me with big eyes.

“Not exactly free lessons in BDSM but something related to your fetish club definitely. Let me show you what I could offer your secret little club.”

I took Astrid to what appeared to be another dressing room but was in fact a door leading to a round metal staircase going down into the cellar of the studio. Arriving at the bottom, after I opened the door there, Astrid’s mouth almost fell open when she saw the space she was in, it was as big as the studio upstairs.

“What do you think could this be a suitable fetish room for your little exclusive club?”

“This is amazing, it’s far bigger than what we have today.”

“Of course, it would need some dressing up, but with your help, it could be turned into a medieval dungeon, or an interrogation room of the Nazis, or even an inquisition torture chamber, or just the red playroom of mister ‘50 shades’ of Grey, with cupboards filled with whips and a large selection of the kind of toys that you use in your games. I am just letting my imagination run wild now. As you can see, it is high enough to suspend someone from the ceiling, even upside down if you wish, and there is a small freight elevator next to the staircase that could double as something I once saw in a BDSM movie where a person, well a gorgeous naked female, of course, was completely tied up, lowered and suspended in a narrow tube completely in the dark preying on her fear of claustrophobia.”