Chapter 3

Jenny and Frances took their time getting back to the house. Poor Frances had lost count of the number of thistles, briars and razor-sharp stones her delicate little feet had trodden upon by the time she was finally able to relax by the poolside and examine her sore and weeping soles. To think that in some parts of the world a shod person was a rarity, though people like that were mainly peasants who had a higher pain threshold!

She recalled an account she had once read of the life of the Zulu King Shake, who had forbidden the wearing of sandals by his soldiers, training them to be able to cover scores of miles each day barefoot. This ruthless despot would force them to perform tribal dances on a floor strewn with thorns and those who missed their steps would be clubbed to death as an example to encourage the others. Well - she would have lasted maybe two minutes in an outfit like that!

Tomorrow, if the missing clothes still hadn’t turned up, she might drive into the nearest town, some twenty miles distant and buy some more shoes. Her flimsy sandals had been quite ruined before she had been forced to ditch them. As she and Jenny relaxed after their walk, the others came out of the house and settled themselves around their two returned friends.

“We have a confession to make, Jenny,” began Dorothy, “We thought you were behind these mysterious losses, so we looked through your room. Sorry, about that darling - it was just that we thought you were behaving unlike your usual self. Anyway, you’re obviously in the same boat as the rest of us. We do apologies.”

Jenny smilingly forgave them. “I suppose we’re looking at each other and wondering which of us it is. I vote we forget it for today! Tonight, we must all lock ourselves in our rooms and close the windows, stuffy though it is in this heat. And one of us should be in the corridor for an hour at a time to keep guard, armed with something suitably heavy in case we have visitors.”

Frances agreed, except that she suggested two of them at a time and for two hours at a stretch. Frances and Jenny agreed to take the first two hours, Dorothy and Harriet the next, and Frances and Elspeth the remainder of the night until everyone had got dressed. Frances resigned herself to a more sleep deprived night than the others, but she had always been the natural leader of the group and leaders have responsibilities.

They carried out an audit before retiring for the night.

Jenny: Top, bikini top, bikini bottom and shoes.

Dorothy: Bikini top, bikini bottom, slacks and shoes.

Elspeth: Blouse, bikini top and bottom, shorts

Harriet: Cotton blouse, Bikini bottom, hot pants and shoes.

Frances: Tank top, Bikini top, bikini bottom, micro skirt.

The three watches went off without incident. No one reported any further loss. At seven am all went to their several bathrooms to shower and brush their perfect and gleaming white teeth. Then they assembled for breakfast.

Dorothy was dressed in her bikini and shoes. While in the bathroom, her slacks had disappeared. She had heard nothing, but when she had pulled back the shower curtain, the said garment had gone!

Harriet had lost her blouse, which did not worry her, since she spent most of the day bare-breasted in any case. With her tanned upper body, she looked the least put out of all at her loss. As in Dorothy’s case, it had vanished when she was looking the other way for a second. “Pretty smart piece of thieving - unbelievable!” was her comment before breaking her fast with her usual gusto.

Elspeth had lost her bikini bottom. “Never mind!” she said, surprisingly brightly. “We’re all girls together! Shouldn’t cramp my style too much”.

Jenny had lost her shoes and Frances her little skirt.

It was a very thoughtful quintet which ate silently and reflectively. ‘We ought to be afraid,’ thought Jenny, ‘but somehow we aren’t.’ It was as though all of them knew they were in no danger, (apart from ending up completely stripped after a few more days of this). And it was still very warm, with a long-range weather forecast seeing no end to the drought for the foreseeable future.

Just as they were about to clear up the breakfast things and transfer themselves to the pool, to spend as much time splashing around in it as lying beside it, the telephone rang. Frances went to answer it. She came back looking annoyed.

“That was Mrs. Maloney. Her sister is no better. She wants to stay away a few more days. Damn! I was hoping to get her to buy a few clothes for us all before she came back. Never mind! We are, as Elspeth has reminded us, all girls together. Any of you fancy a drive into town to buy the stuff ourselves? I ‘ll go and get the car out of the garage, while you make up your minds!”