Chapter 13

At the bottom of the stairs, I was directed to a small dining room. I entered, finding Krista, Jan and Dan starting a late breakfast. I hung up my jacket, taking a seat next to Krista. I was rewarded with a kiss. Jan was saying, "Emma took us on a tour this morning."

Sotto voce I, said, "Around the world?"

Dan, turning bright red, began coughing. Jan took on a lovely pink hue, while Krista laughed delightedly, clapping her hands. Finally J and D were laughing along with K and I.

Jan said, "Yes and no, W. The tour I'm talking about was of the house."

Krista asked, "William. What about your wake up from Gabrielle?"

That had J and D undivided attention. I replied, "Uneventful. Gabrielle had instructions from someone about 'work' needing to be done."

Krista's eyes were sparkling as she said, "That's true. We can't have you in bed all day."

Jan said, "W wouldn't need all day."

That got the giggles started again. Jan finally continued her house tour. "The layout is very different. There is a narrow servant stair by the kitchen, going up three stories. We have no idea where that is in the B&B. This is 'private' space along with the stairs you came down. The clients use a stairs from the front room by the bar, going only to a section of the second floor. The girls use twelve rooms, split between the first and second floor in that isolated section, for their trysts. We don't know what happened to that stairway either."

Two kitchen girls, bringing in our meals on more silver trays, interrupted us. It was an excellent meal, followed by two more kitchen girls, one with a silver coffee service and the other with a silver tea service. Dan and Krista had tea while Jan and I had coffee.

I asked, "What's on the agenda, my lovely K?"

She answered, "Emma told us she had land, a quarter section. Where is it and what's it look like?"

I answered, "A quarter is one hundred sixty acres. Do you want to take Francis out for a drive?"

She answered, "Not yet. We have to move in first. I want you to look over the bar and 'guest' rooms. We need strategy. We all know that tonight might be the night!"

I nodded. She turned to Dan. "Can you move us in?"

He said, "Yes, for now. We should decide if either of those two pieces of land is suitable for us."

I asked, "And you, my lovely delegating damsel. What will you be doing?"

Krista smiled as she said, "Delegating damsel, is that like bossy bitch?"

I nodded and she, laughing, threw a sugar cube at me. She continued, "Jan and I have exams and safe sex instructions for all the staff here at Miss Emma's."

I asked, "And if you find a 'problem?'"

Now Nurse Krista looked very serious. "I have several different drugs that would be effective. Especially given that all these people are chemical virgins where antibiotics are concerned. Remember penicillin is 75 years in the future. They have free access to every kind of narcotic drug with opium freely available in so called laudanum elixirs mixed with liquor. I would guess some of the ladies here are feeding an opium addiction. There might even be a Chinese connection for the really good stuff."

Jan continued, "Then we need to prevent a recurrence of the 'problem.' Talking to Gabrielle it sounds like a good quality condom would be welcomed. We just need a cover story to explain our supply."

I offered, "The French rubber plantations on Tahiti."