Chapter 6

(conclusion)

I whispered into Brenda's ear, "Stand up quickly but quietly. Take your daughters and Tina to the bathroom. Leave the door half open and the light off. All four of you stand in the tub, pull the curtain closed and don't make a sound". Brenda clambered out of my lap and I rose too.

"I'll be there in a moment. I'm tending to something in the kitchen", I announced loudly towards Jim's entrance door. The other four in the room all stood up.

I held my index finger vertically in front of my lips. Then I gestured in an animated way for the four girls to go down the hall. They all began moving. I wished I had more time to watch them because I realized that I like synchronized naked female tiptoeing.

I grabbed Jim's shoulder and turned him towards the kitchen. I ushered him in there at a quick pace. Once there, I grabbed a small sauce pan from the overhead rack, set it in the sink, and began to add cold water to it at full force.

I whispered to Jim, "On '3' you will fling the door open and then get the hell out of the way as fast as possible. I'll handle the rest". Jim nodded.

I turned off the faucet and followed Jim to the door as quickly as I could without slopping water out of the pan. As soon as we cleared the kitchen I called out, "Coming!".

Jim turned the paddle to unlock his deadbolt. I whispered, "one". Jim then twisted the button on the door knob to unlock that as well. I whispered, "two". As soon as I saw that his hand had a grip on the doorknob I spoke at normal volume, "Three!".

Jim was perfect. The door flew open very quickly, but he had the presence of mind to keep it from bouncing off of the wall and back in the way. I don't know how, but he did manage a hasty retreat. He was gone in a flash.

My timing was good. As soon as the door was half way open, I was already in full swing to launch the cold water into the open doorway. All the apartment manager could do was audibly inhale just before the mass of water hit her. I will forever remember the look on her face at that moment.

Of course she shrieked loudly. I didn't think I had enough water for a good drenching, but her clothes were stuck to her body from shoulders to mid thigh. For effect, I gently let the pan drop from my side. It made a loud noise on the vinyl flooring at the entrance way.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!", I said hoping it didn't sound sarcastic. "I didn't think that it would really be you at this hour. I am expecting a friend to visit in a couple of hours and thought he arrived early. I thought he was playing a prank pretending to be the apartment manager, so I decided to beat him to the punch", I added.

At that moment we both heard a door open in the main hallway. The apartment manager looked down the hall towards Mrs. Jacobsen's unit. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what is coming.

I twisted my neck so I could be heard by Jim. "Jim, please bring a towel for this lady", I requested. I heard his foot falls move away from me as I heard him respond, "okay".

Jim returned in moments with a bath towel. I swiveled ninety degrees to accept it from him and then turned back and offered it to the husky voiced woman. She took it without acknowledgment and began to pat and dab herself.

Mrs. Jacobsen appeared behind one of the manager's shoulders. "These two are perverts!!", the widow blurted out, "especially this one!", she said as she reached over the apartment manager's shoulder with her finger pointed directly at my face.

The manager's expression was emotionless as she looked at me and continued to try to dry herself.

I said, "Hold on here. Look over my shoulder. Do you see any naked females? The manager looked over my shoulder and then back at my face. Her expression didn't change. I continued, "Do you hear anything that would lead you to believe that a bunch of naked women are running around this apartment?".

Again, no change in expression on the apartment manager's face.

"Okay, I do have some other information to share with you, but I'm not stating it with her here", I emphasized while pointing at Mrs. Jacobsen.

The apartment manager appeared to ponder this for a moment. Then she finally spoke, "Go back to your unit Mrs. Jacobsen. I will be there to speak with you shortly". Mrs. Jacobsen had a look like she had just received an offensive remark. There was a pause before she nervously walked away.