Chapter 4

Ken walked out the front door and down the street, admiring the houses in the neighborhood. They looked to be historic, many three stories high, and with wings added on to create sun rooms, conservatories, or extra bedrooms. The lawns were beautiful and the trees were enormous. Some, like the Johnson's home, had large wrap-around porches.

Ken walked down the street, found a bench, and sat down to wait. He had dressed in dark green jumper and a light cotton blouse with lace around the collar. "I look just like Julie," he thought to himself.

The truth was, Ken didn't have many options. Despite objections from the Dickinsons, he had insisted on wearing only dresses. They were a kind of security blanket which he felt would help fool others into thinking he was female. Sandra and Sarah had insisted that he could wear anything and he would still be fine, but Ken was unconvinced. Anyway, on his limited budget, Ken had only been able to afford just four dresses, and now after being attacked by the wall in the loo, only one was clean.

"Hi there!"

Ken looked up. A young man was standing before him. He was in his early 20's with short sandy colored hair and a friendly, cheerful face.

"Hello," Ken replied.

"Waiting for the school bus?" he inquired.

"Yes, and what are you doing here?"

"Well, um..." the question seemed to throw him. "You know, I guess I just saw this beautiful woman sitting here in my front yard, or rather my Dad's front yard ... and I guess ... well I just thought I should investigate."

Ken looked at him in surprise. Someone had gone out of their way just to talk to him? No one had ever done that before.

"Well, thank you for keeping me company," Ken said, with a warm smile, making a space on the bench. "By the way, my name is Kathy, I'm the new Au Pair for the Johnsons."

"And my name is Tim Downey. Pleased to meet you!"

Ken suddenly had a thought. "Hey! Do you know a good household repairman?"

"What kind?"

"Well, the wall in my loo collapsed, right into the tub!"

Tim laughed in amazement, "Are you serious?! The entire wall collapsed?"

"Yes," Ken replied, glaring at him. "And I happened to be in the tub at the time."

"No way! Are you okay?"

"Oh I'm fine."

"Well, loo repair ... Nope, no one in America knows how to repair a loo. But I'm sure we could find someone to repair the bathroom." Tim grinned at Ken, who rolled his eyes at the tease. "I don't know anyone personally, but I'm sure my Dad does. I'll ask him and get back to you."

"Thank you!"

The two sat in silence for a second.

"So, what is your occupation?" Ken asked.

"My occupation?" Tim mulled that over for a second. "Well, I'm just a student right now. I'm working on my MBA, it should be done next year. I'm looking for an internship this summer. I'll probably just work for my Dad, but I would like to find something more finance-related..."

BeepBeep A small yellow school bus drove up.

Julie jumped off the bus. "Look Kathy! Look what I made for you!" She held up a paper with smears of finger-paint handprints.

Ken took a serious look at it, "Why it's beautiful, Julie! I love the colors." Ken stood up. "Julie, this is Mister Tim. Say hello."

Julie quickly hid behind Ken and peeked out at Tim. "Hello," she said in a small voice.

Tim knelt down. "We've met dozens of times, Julie. Don't you remember me?"

Julie hid her face in Ken's skirt, pressing her head against his legs. "No." she said, muffled.

"Oh well," Ken said, smiling. "Tim, I must be going now. It was a pleasure to meet you."

"And you too, Kathy. I hope we meet again soon!"

Ken took Julie by the hand but Julie slipped away and ran ahead. Halfway home she stopped, turned around, and started singing at the top of her lungs:

Kathy and Tim!

Sittin' in a tree!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

"Julie!" Ken hissed, blushing scarlet. He glanced back and saw Tim with a huge grin on his face. 'He's not embarrassed at all, ' Ken realized, 'he likes this!' Ken's skin broke out in goose bumps and his stomach seemed to twist up, all on its own.

First comes luuuuuuuv,

Then comes marriage!

Then comes the baby in the ba-by carriage!

'That's not bloody likely, ' Ken muttered to himself. But the thought made him sad, and it dissipated some of the delicious thrill he had just felt. Ken looked back at Tim, shrugged his shoulders, and waved goodbye.

Ken finally reached Julie and picked her up. "You silly silly girl! Ooooh, you're in so much trouble!" But instead, Ken gave her an extra big hug before heading inside.

"Are you in here?" Ken opened the door with a flourish.

The closet was empty. "Where are you?" Ken called.

Ken finished his tour of the first floor and then went up the staircase to the second.

'This place is massive!' Ken muttered to himself, climbing the long staircase.

'And all out of sorts, ' he added. The staircase was enclosed in a tiny closet-sized area. Why so small? And why was the den the largest room on the first floor? And why were all the details so strange with dolphin-shaped brackets and wavy-cut shingles?

Overall, the house was ... Majestic. There was no other word that Ken felt was appropriate. It was your best friend, the scullery maid, who turned out to be a princess and heir to the throne. She was beautiful and graceful, but somehow down-to-earth and welcoming. The perfect hostess.

From the outside, the house had a wide round tower attached to the front left corner of a square house. The den was in the tower, and this was Brian's office. The rest of the rooms on the first floor were all small, and included the kitchen, dining room, a guest bedroom, living room, breakfast room, two bathrooms, and a sitting room off of the bedroom.

The second floor was strictly a series of bedrooms, the master bedroom occupied the second floor of the tower, the nursery, Julie's bedroom, a second guest bedroom, Ken's room, another bedroom used for storage (full of boxes, clothes, and miscellaneous bags), and three bathrooms.

For Ken, the third floor was the most fun, too bad it was just used for storage. It had three servant's bedrooms with dormer windows, all full of boxes, and best of all, a wonderful open attic space in the turret of the tower. If you stood in the middle of the attic and looked up, the point of the turret was a good 20 feet above you.

"There you are! Gotcha!" Julie was hiding behind one of the boxes in the attic. Ken grabbed her and tickled her. Julie squealed with laughter.

"Now it's your turn! Now it's your turn! Go hide someplace!" With exaggerated motions, Julie turned towards the nearest box, hid her eyes, and started counting.

Ken was happy to be playing hide-and-go-seek with Julie - it was much better than earlier when it seemed that Ken could do nothing right. First, he had botched her sandwich, using the wrong bread, buttering the bread instead of using mayonnaise, cutting the sandwich lengthwise instead of corner-to-corner. Julie actually threw his first attempt to the floor. Ken picked it up, brushed it off, and saved it for himself. He picked out a jar from the fridge.

"Uck!" Julie grimaced. "Not that grey mustard!"

"She likes the yellow stuff," Tina said.

"This?" Ken held up a jar for Tina to see.

"No, that has onions. You know, the ordinary stuff..."

"This?"

"No, that has whole mustard seeds. She hates that."

Ken went through 5 more jars of mustard, "No, that's got caraway seeds. That's too spicy. That's the brown mustard. On no! That's Japanese wasabi - that won't do."