Chapter 8: The Big Surprise

WE’D BEEN TALKING for nearly a year about all getting passports so we could travel to Europe if we wanted to. Next year, I’d be eligible for one of the study tours during the January intersession. So, Saturday the seventh of March, Anna, Patricia, Toni, and I all stopped by Camera Warehouse to get passport photos taken. It was easier to have Loren take our pictures. They had a good quality Polaroid set up the way it needed to be for distance and size of the print. It was a quad lens affair that pumped out four passport-size photos at a time. Of course, Beth and Ronda already had passports.

Loren mostly worked in photo processing and printing for Camera Warehouse, but he was in charge of passport photos, too. It didn’t really take long to get the photos done. We’d fill out all the forms—which were also available at Camera Warehouse—and then go down to the Federal courthouse first thing Monday morning to apply for the documents.

“Why do you need a passport?” Loren asked. I think it was just idle curiosity.

“We’re thinking of traveling next year sometime and just want to be prepared. Besides, we go back and forth to Canada a lot.”

“No passport required for Canada. It’s the longest undefended border in the world,” Loren said.

“Really?” I mocked. “Longer than the border between the slave states and the free states?”

“Um ... I don’t know, but that was back in the civil war.”

“Oh, believe me: the border still exists.”

We weren’t there to start political arguments, so I didn’t pursue it. Seemed like the division between North and South was as obvious today as it had been a hundred years ago. Look at the states that voted for George Wallace. Anna, Patricia, and Toni went home and I went upstairs to the studio for my afternoon appointment.

All I knew about this client, Cheryl Robinson, was that she was a member of Leslie’s Whore Corps. That didn’t bother me because the girls in the Whore Corps had proven to be very nice and most of them not promiscuous in any way. It was just a name they used to distinguish themselves from the God Squad, a group of guys who were all preachers’ kids. The Whore Corps was all daughters of school teachers.

Theresa and Cassie were helping me in the studio Saturday afternoon, so I anticipated an easy shoot. I needed that after last Saturday’s taxing session with my former patron, Sylvia Drummond.

“Hi. Welcome to Attic Allure. I’m Nate,” I said when she arrived.

“I’m Cheryl. Please stand over there so I can get your picture,” she said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I want to get some good pictures of you to show my friends. One with you dressed like you are, then I want you to strip and let me get some good nudes.” She waved around an Instamatic camera.

“I’m sorry, but that is not how Attic Allure works. If you aren’t here to have your picture taken, then we don’t really have any business to do,” I said. Take pictures of me?

“Come on. It’s like quid pro quo. I’ll get nudes of you and you’ll get nudes of me.”

“No. I’m sorry you wasted a trip up here.”

“I want my nude picture taken,” she said. It was so reminiscent of Toni when she got mad that I expected her to stamp a foot. Fortunately, our baby didn’t get mad much. Regardless, I’d had it with Cheryl already.

“If you want nude pictures taken, take off your clothes and leave your camera with them. This studio is Attic Allure and I’m the one who takes pictures here.”

“But Leslie...”

“Leslie is a photography student and study partner who takes many of the same classes I do. She doesn’t run around with an Instamatic demanding people take their clothes off,” I said.

“You could at least take my clothes off me,” Cheryl complained.

“Do you care if they are torn? You’ve exhausted my patience already and that’s likely to result in torn clothing if I start removing it from your body.”

“That’s rude,” she said, pulling her clothes off. “Leslie said you were a nice guy.”

“You’ve caught me at a bad time. I had to tie a model up and beat her last week,” I said.

“You what? Seriously?”

“Seriously. So, if you don’t want me to tie your hands behind a pillar and stuff your panties in your mouth, just undress and let me put you where I want you.” I turned to my assistants. “Leanne, we’ll go with the black backdrop. Cassie, I need that length of Greek pillar we have. And something to prop it on so it’s lying at an angle. A real Greek ruins.”

I turned back to Cheryl to find her naked. She was watching things get moved around. I reached for her and led her to the backdrop, snagging the stool on my way.

“Sit here. I’m going to take your portrait.”

“Naked?”

“I’ll only be photographing your head and shoulders.”

“Then why did I have to get naked already?”

“Because I like to look at tits. Yours are pretty nice, by the way.”

“Thank you. I mean, you made me get undressed just so you could look at my boobs?”

“No. We’re going to do some interesting art photos,” I said. “A real Attic Allure shoot. I think you’ll like it.”

“Okay, but...”

“Please stop arguing. If at any time you feel the shoot is not yielding the results you want, you can call it off and leave. Now, here. Lift your chin. That’s better. Lean to your left and reach your hand this way. Like this. Now I want to see that really beautiful smile you have hiding in there. That’s it!”

Each time I gave her an instruction, I touched her and guided her. After our rather rocky start she settled in pretty well. In a few minutes, she was leaning into my hands as I positioned her and had turned suddenly once, causing my hand to glide across her boob. Yes, she thought she could come in and order me around, but I think I was giving her exactly what she really wanted. If we’d been alone, I probably would have tied her up. I needed to get rid of that way of thinking. It was strictly a leftover from Sylvia and I didn’t need it to be a part of my life.

We quickly removed the stool and set up the pillar on the incline that I wanted. I led Cheryl to it and laid her back on it.

“Feather plume and a choker necklace,” I said to Cassie. “Theresa, isolate Cheryl with the light so we aren’t being distracted by any background noise.”

I walked around Cheryl and took a picture from near her feet. She was a little hairy, but that was all that was keeping me from looking right up inside her twat.

“You might want to bring your legs a little closer together,” I said. “Try putting this foot up onto the pillar with just the other down beside it instead of straddling it. That’s better.”

Cassie brought me the feather and the choker. I was able to straddle Cheryl, though just barely. My legs were rubbing against her sides as I leaned down to fasten the choker around her neck. Then I rubbed her nipples with my thumbs. It was the first time I’d lingered on her breasts or anywhere else and her eyes popped open, but she didn’t say anything.

“Is this what you were hoping for when you came in here this afternoon?” I asked.

“Yes,” she squeaked. “Leslie said I’d need to get things started the way I wanted them to go. I misjudged.”

“You did, but I’ll forgive you if you’re a good girl from now on.” I picked up the feather and started stroking it all along her chest and then down her stomach. “Now you take the plume and caress your pretty boobs with it. Show me how you like to be touched.”

She started sweeping the feather plume across her breasts and down her stomach, but then started smaller and smaller movement just on sensitive areas. I took pictures and then removed the plume.

“One hand behind your head and the other on your pussy,” I said. “I don’t really take crotch shots, so let’s cover it up a little. There we are. Lips together, satisfied ... no, smug smile. Not too broad. The girl who is getting just what she wants.”

It was a good photo. Now that we were working together, I thought we might try some others.

“Are you ready to take some more pictures?” I asked. “We could do some more artsy poses.”

“Yes. May I get up from here for now?”

“Mmmhmm. We’re going to stand the column up now and have you pose in front of it and around it.”

The first thing Monday morning, Anna, Patricia, Toni, and I showed up at the courthouse. We saw a clerk who checked our identification, and asked Patricia a lot of questions about Toni and the relationship of Anna and me. Then he stamped the application and said we’d get our passports in four to six weeks. Easy. I got to my eleven o’clock sociology class and Patricia and Toni took Anna back to Rockford before going home to Tenbrook.

It was a lonely week around the apartment. Ronda was in final exams for the quarter. Beth was in dress rehearsals and would open on Thursday night. I was learning the ins and outs of making Cibachrome prints and debating whether I needed that tech in my darkroom.

It wasn’t really that much. I could get an adapter for my enlarger with some new filters. The big deal was that the paper, which wasn’t really paper, was kind of expensive and the chemicals were different, so I’d need a different batch of trays specifically for those prints. I also wanted to test it on bigger enlargements. So far in class, we’d done strictly 4x6 prints to get a feel for what the pictures would look like and how the process would work.

It seemed that one of the things that I’d been doing ever since I first entered the contest in Huntertown at the county fair was printing large and sometimes odd-sized prints. Those were art prints. A 4x6 print was a snapshot. My prejudiced opinion.

We were going to do some experiments with a large format camera and then make Cibachrome contact prints. That would be interesting. It would include a field trip to Pro-Color to watch the developing process for the large format film. The lab camera we were going to use was huge. It took full 8x10 sheets of film and it was all loaded and sealed up in the darkroom for transportation to the lab. It would be pretty cool to see an 8x10 Ektachrome transparency.

I was looking forward to having a good subject to photograph in that size.

The lab at Camera Warehouse could print Cibachrome and Levi invited me to have a session or two with Loren to learn it and possibly use the lab for printing some of my own photos. Loren scowled, but accepted that I’d be a thorn in his side. He did all the processing and printing for Camera Warehouse and was a bit of a recluse. He seldom came out of the darkroom when he was at work.

He did like Cassie, though, and the two were often seen eating their lunches together.

Leslie and I went up to the studio Thursday afternoon to set up photos of each other on the 4x5 using Ektachrome film. I had wanted to use Kodachrome transparency film in the 4x5 format, but learned it had not been made since the early ‘50s. Dang! I would have to refrigerate the developed transparency to preserve it. I needed to figure that out both for Chicago and for Stratford.

Leslie and I were taking our time and testing the poses with a Polaroid back for the Linhoff. We each had one film carrier loaded with two sheets of Ektachrome.

“I about died when Professor Jackson told us about Gordon Parks and his first use of a 4x5 view camera,” Leslie said as she checked her film. “At least we’ve been taught to take the carrier out and flip it between shots. Can you imagine doing an entire fashion show and double exposing every frame? And he still got the job!”

“If I hadn’t had Levi standing over me to show me how to work this camera in Las Vegas, I’d have done the same thing,” I laughed.

I was wearing a fedora hat and a tie with unzipped jeans and no shirt. I thought Leslie’s idea of ‘fashion’ was a bit off the wall, but she was standing behind the camera entirely naked, so who was I to complain? I was only going to pull a strip of gauze across her for our photo. We were, however, using a colorful backdrop. It was some fairy tale backdrop from the Arabian Nights or something. I think we’d used it once for a photoshoot, but I couldn’t remember who or when.

The thing that concerned me was how much the Ektachrome saturated the blues. We weren’t at the stage yet of using different filters. That would slow up the 100 ASA film even more! As it was, I had every light in the studio focused on the subject. I wondered if I could tone down the blues by using a red gel on the lights. I’d ask someone before I tried that. I only had two sheets of Ektachrome for my test shots. Damn stuff was expensive.

Leslie stepped out from behind the camera and repositioned me for her second shot. She used nearly all the same techniques I did, whispering instructions in my ear while she stroked my chest and rubbed her breasts across my back. I was a victim of my own machinations.

After she’d taken her second photo, she shuttered the carrier and pulled it from the camera. She set it on the table and then walked up to me as I was loading my carrier. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her boobs against my chest.

“How would you like me, Nate?” she husked as she reached up to kiss me.

“Mmm. This is a good start,” I said. “I thought you hooked up with Jim and weren’t interested in fooling around in the studio anymore.” I held both her ass cheeks in my hands and kissed her intently. I certainly had nothing against fooling around with Leslie.

“Jim’s a nice guy and I thought we might get something meaningful going. But unfortunately, he suffers from FME.”

“I hate to ask. What’s FME?”

“Fragile Male Ego. He thought having an artist as a girlfriend would be cool, but he couldn’t stand that I was as committed to my art as he is to his. When I started talking about how I’d like to photograph an haute couture fashion show in Paris, he started saying he was sure I could work part time at Marshall Field so I’d have time for a family. We were definitely not on the same wavelength.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I like Jim.”

“Oh, I like him, too. But I’m not making any commitments to a guy who thinks I’ll be happy staying home raising his babies after I’ve completed a degree in fashion photography. Now what position do you want me in?”

“Let’s start with you on this table with the gauze tossed over your middle.”

“You don’t want to see my pussy?”

“In fact, I’m thinking of getting a very close look at your pussy once I’ve taken this photo,” I laughed. She kissed me again and jumped up on the table. I positioned her and pulled some strips of fabric in piles around her. I had a lot of different colors going and wanted to see how they all performed. “The gauze only gives a suggestion that your pussy is covered,” I said, running a finger through her moist slit. “Now let’s see that smoky gaze at the camera.”

I stepped behind the camera and carefully composed the image on the ground glass back. Then I took the photo. Next, I had her stand behind the table with stacks of colorful fabric on it and the gauze wrapped like a shawl over her head. It did nothing to hide her boobs and her slit was just partially visible behind the stack of fabric. I switched orientation of the camera back so it was vertical instead of horizontal and moved in closer.

“I didn’t think of switching orientation,” Leslie said. “Darn!”

“We’ll get other opportunities,” I said. “It was something I thought of when I saw you standing there. I can get a little closer in the composition with this orientation. You know, you’re really beautiful.”

“In a quirky sort of way,” she said, giving me a come-hither look. “Thank you. I’m glad you like my looks.”

I went up to her and removed the gauze from her body. Then we kissed again as we stroked each other’s bare chest.

“I know we tease a lot while we’re taking pictures,” I said. “That doesn’t mean we have to do anything more if you don’t want to.”

“Does it mean we can do more if I do want to?”

“You’re pretty irresistible, Leslie.”

“You managed to resist Cheryl the other day,” Leslie laughed as she led me behind the privacy screen. I’d moved the fainting couch back there for the comfort of models while they were waiting for us to get scenery ready. Yeah.

“She caught me on a bad day with a bad attitude,” I said. “I think she ended up getting what she wanted.”

“Everything but her own pictures of you.”

“I believe you are the only person I’ve ever posed for. Aside from family pictures,” I said. “I’m happy to keep it that way.”

She pushed me back on the lounge and pulled my jeans and underwear off. Then she started sucking on my cock, playing with it, and licking. I managed to convince her to put her pussy over my face and we enjoyed sixty-nining for a while. Her pussy was juicy and I loved sticking my tongue in it.

“This is nice, but I could really use something more,” she said, popping off my cock.

“I’m with you,” I said.

“Just lay back and relax while I get a condom on you. I can hardly wait to feel you inside me.”

She rolled the rubber on me and then straddled my waist, slowly settling back and down as she held my cock upright with her fingers. I felt the utter pleasure of having that tight slice of heaven enveloping my cock. She had her head back and her eyes closed as she savored the feeling of my cock in her pussy and my hands on her breasts. She leaned forward and I supported her as she kissed me some more.

“What’s the chance I could join your crew in Las Vegas this summer?” she whispered. “I’d love to have a little of the action. I’ve met all your girlfriends and we get along fine. I get along well with Cassie, Leanne, and Theresa here in the studio. Do you think I’d be able to fit in someone’s suitcase?”

“I don’t think that would be a problem at all—if I was going to Las Vegas. They say they’re going to start filming in May, but I don’t know that I’ll be invited back. I’ve got a summer home and studio in Canada that we plan to spend the whole season at.”

“Really? Cool? You have a studio? Could I come and visit for a while?”

“I don’t see a problem with that at all,” I said kissing her again and thrusting up inside her a little more energetically.

“Do you see any problem with coming in me? Because I’m about to come all over you!”

Oh, yeah. Feeling my photographer friend beginning to pulse and vibrate on my cock was all it took to push me over the edge. One time in Leslie had not been enough and we changed positions to pound each other to another orgasm before we finished.

After Leslie and I dropped our film sheets off at Pro-Color, she went home and I went out for a light dinner.

But the next thing I needed to focus on was Beth’s opening night. I stopped to get flowers and signed the card “Just Your Favorite Kind Stranger, N.” I hoped she didn’t have any other favorite strangers. I sent the flowers to her dressing room and took my seat in the theatre.