Chapter 3

KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE

"Oh shit!" Ken quickly closed the back door.

KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE-KREE

"Damn it!" Ken rushed down the hall trying to find the alarm panel. But just as he rounded the corner, he was knocked backwards onto the floor. Ken looked up to see a tall man standing over him, wet, soapy, and naked except for a towel that was grasped tenuously around his waist. The man was of muscular build, hairy chest, bushy eyebrows, and with a friendly puppy-dog look and shaggy, unkempt, dark brown hair.

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The naked man looked at Ken with wild confusion, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" he shouted.

"THE AU PAIR!" Ken shouted back.

"WHO?"

"THE NANNY!"

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The man shook his head. Turning, he raced down the hall.

Too fast!

"AAAAAACK!" His soapy feet slipped out from under him. WHAM! he fell on his backside and continued to slide down the hall from his momentum until he slid into the door at the end of the hallway with a loud crunch.

"Fuck!" He scrambling up. Punching the code into the control panel, the shrieking finally stopped.

Ken sighed with relief, got up, and walked down the hall rubbing his ears. "Are you OK?" Ken asked, tentatively.

"Uh, fine." The man was now completely naked. The towel lay on the floor.

He and Ken locked eyes for a split second.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Ken hid his eyes and turned his head away. "Um, my name is Kathy," he said from behind his hands, "I'm the new au pair ... ah ... the nanny."

"You can look now." Ken uncovered his eyes. The other man had fetched the towel and was now (somewhat) covered again. He walked up to Ken and held out his hand. "My name is Brian. Pleased to meet you."

Ken received a wet and soapy handshake.

"What's going on down here?" Tina had rushed downstairs in her cotton PJs. She looked her husband up and down and couldn't resist a giggle. "Oh, Hi Brian!" she continued, lightly. "I see you've met our new Au Pair?"

Brian returned a withering look. "Yes, we just introduced ourselves."

Annoyed, Tina turned back to Ken, "I must thank you, Kathy! For arranging this rare meeting between my husband and me."

Brian set his jaw, "please don't, Tina."

"Don't what?"

Brian paused for a second, trying to decide if he should pursue the argument. "Never mind. Kathy is it? Sorry about this. We alarm all of the outside doors at night. You must have set it off by trying to exit the back door?"

Ken nodded. "Yes, I ... ah ... woke up early and was just going to go out for get some fresh air. I'm so sorry!"

"No problem, it happens every now and then. Well, I better finish my shower, but Kathy, if you need anything, don't hesitate to just ask." With that, Brian bounded back up stairs.

Ken called up after him, "Well, actually, the tiles in my shower needs to be repaired, if it's not too much trouble."

"Oh, that's right!" Brian called down, "We'll have to fix that some day." Ken could hear the bathroom close and the water start running again.

Ken looked over at Tina who just rolled her eyes. The sound of a baby crying filled the house.

"That must be Michael," sighed Tina. "Kathy, I need to go feed him. Could you get Julie up and dressed? Just pick out something nice for school. She is not allowed to go as a ballerina."

"Julie?" Ken walked up to the lump in the bed. Julie's bedroom was a strange combination of bare walls and cluttered floors, as if an earthquake had come and knocked everything down.

Ken gently shook the lump. "Julie? It's time to get up now." How could she have slept through the burglar alarm?

"Julie?" Ken shook the lump harder, until he heard muffled giggling.

Smiling, Ken put on his mock-angry voice. "Julie! How dare you pretend to be asleep like that!"

"I'm not pretending! I am asleep!"

"No you're not, you silly girl!" and with that, Ken reached over and tickled the lump, causing a shriek of laughter to come from within. Ken pulled down the covers and exposed the rumpled Julie, wearing a nightgown covered in little teddy bears.

"I fooled you! I fooled you!" She giggled hysterically.

"Yes you did. Now come on. You need to get dressed for school."

Ken grasped the hem of the nightgown and pulled it off Julie, who obediently held her arms up. "I need to go potty!" Julie said, as she took off her panties and scampered out of the room.

Ken sat down on the bed for a second, swallowing hard. A young girl had just completely undressed in front of him, not once suspecting that he was a man. Somehow, all of his dressing up, learning to behave as a woman in public, mingling with others - all that paled in comparison to this simple girl who accepted him without hesitation.

Julie skipped back into the room, still naked. "All done!" she said, proudly. She ran to her dresser, got a clean pair of undies and put them on. "I wanna be Julie-ina ballerina!" she stated as she ran over to her ballet outfit.

"I'm sorry, Julie, but your mother said I should pick out something nice for school."

Forty minutes later they finally made it down stairs. Julie was wearing a simple corduroy plaid jumper and white cotton blouse.

"Hi sleepyhead" Tina called to her daughter as the two entered the kitchen.

Ken smiled and guided Julie to the breakfast table. She clambered up to her booster chair.

"What would you like for breakfast?" he asked.

"Cereal."

"Very good." Ken walked over to the cabinets to get a bowl. He looked down and noticed the wine bottle from last night on the countertop. Tina had opened a new bottle for dinner last night and now it was completely empty.

Ken got out a box of cereal and some milk.

"Not that kind!"

"Not that kind of what?"

"Yuck! Blue milk!"

Tina was grinding coffee. "She doesn't like the skim milk. Get her the 2%." Ken looked up at Tina, and saw how the bags and wrinkles around her eyes. Tina held the back of her hand to her forehead.

"Are you OK?" Ken asked, as he fetched the 2%.

"Fine, just a headache," Tina replied.

"That's mommy's cereal! I don't want that."

Tina brought over another box of cereal, and handed it to Ken. "Sorry 'bout that," she said, "Julie likes this kind. It's too sweet for my taste and god knows she doesn't need the extra energy."

Ken poured cereal and milk for both Julie and himself and then fetched some orange juice. The two ate together.

When she had eaten enough, Julie jumped out of her chair and ran upstairs.

"Julie!" Tina called up. "Get your books and come right down! The bus will be here in just 5 minutes!"