Part 5 - An Unforeseen Opportunity
Mitch took his place at the Immobilizer control panel, selected "Natalie" and
turned the dial to reanimate her. Natalie's shoulders almost immediately settled
from their hunch, well before any other reaction. Her jaw, frozen in mid-word,
remained open. One eyebrow remained raised. She slowly let her arms drop to her
sides. Mitch was concerned for a moment - he'd never seen Natalie or anyone else
come around this slowly. Then she moved forward wordlessly, towards the
voluptuous still life that was Kristen, and Mitch understood.
She shook
her head very slowly. "Wow."
He smiled, came back across the room. "You
like?"
She took a deep breath. "Wow", she said again, never taking her
eyes off Kristen's statuesque form.
Susan laughed, said sotto-voce: "I
think she likes."
Natalie's gaze broke away from Kristen. "I haven't been
under that long, have I? You really worked fast with her."
Mitch kept
smiling, a little impressed with himself and his beautiful 'creation'. "Yeah,
it's only been a few days. I am good." He stepped forward, adjusted one of the
bows that tightened Kristen's burgundy and black teddy. She looked perfect. "The
really wild part is how much she likes it. She surprised me."
Natalie
looked around more widely, noticed Susan in her open robe. "So, it must be time
for Frederick's. All three of us, huh?" She looked back at Kristen. "This
beauty's going to put us out of work, Susan."
Mitch shook his head, and
began sorting equipment. "Nonsense. Jealousy is most unbecoming, ladies. Nat, if
you want to get cleaned up quickly, we can finally get ready for the
shoot."
Susan said slyly, "I'll make sure he doesn't interrupt your
shower."
Natalie shook her hips at them both as she headed back toward
the bathroom.
"Don't work too hard at it."
As soon as Natalie was out
of earshot, Susan said, "We could REALLY surprise her, if you want. As soon as
she's in there, freeze her, wait a couple minutes, then bring her
back."
"Sues, we've really gotta get to work. Besides, you just took a
shower!"
"Mitch, you kept me strumming that guitar for a month. You owe
me."
"True. Oh, well, I've still got a lot of stuff to get arranged." He
waited until the shower sound was muted by Natalie's presence, then spun the
dial. The sound didn't change but he knew she was in range and had just become a
statue once more.
"I'll bring her back in, uh, five minutes.
Okay?"
-- The Interrupted Shower --
"That'll be just perfect." Susan headed
back for the bathroom, and Mitch began tending to the rest of the wardrobe and
equipment for the shoot. A couple minutes later, the doorbell rang then sounded
again quickly. Mitch was puzzled. He wasn't expecting anyone, he thought. Going
first to the Immobilizer, he froze Susan so she wouldn't come wandering out,
then Mitch went to answer the door.
He opened the door, expecting a
solicitor of some kind. "Look, I really don't think ..."
"Hi, Mitch. Can
I come in?" Cindy tossed her long black hair to one side, away from her face. It
was still cool and drizzling out, and she was bundled up in a long coat, tied
tightly at her waist. Her eyes looked moist.
"Uhh, hi..." She was the
last one he would have expected to see, after the way he had treated her before.
"Sure! Can I get you something to drink?"
"Yeah, a beer would be great
... " She stopped in her tracks, gazing at the frozen mannequin of Kristen posed
in her wine-colored satin teddy. "Sorry to barge in; you must be getting ready
to do another of your photo shoots, or something. I don't want to
interrupt."
Mitch's mind was swimming. He certainly hadn't expected Cindy
to come over. He wouldn't have been surprised if she never saw him again, after
her ten unexpected days as one of his living statues. He couldn't imagine why
she had come, and why right now. He brought her an opened bottle of beer and a
chilled glass. "No, it's no bother. Really."
Cindy poured some beer into
the glass, stopped, and cocked her head to one side. "Your shower's running. I
really am interrupting, aren't I?"
"Really, it's okay. Let me just go
shut off the water."
Cindy stood up. "Hey, I can get it for you. I need
to use the bathroom, anyway."
"Well, er, I really don't
think..."
"It's no problem, Mitch. I'll just catch the water, and I'll be
back in a minute."
Cindy set the beer on a table, and headed back to the
bathroom. Inside, she unbuttoned her coat, swept it back, felt the warm damp air
against her bare skin. She sat down, and looked at the shower curtain... I could
swear there are people in there, she thought. There was no movement, no sound
other than the rushing water. Two shadowy shapes were visible through the
curtain. What is he up to now?, she wondered. As soon as she finished and washed
her hands, she pulled back the curtain. Within was an erotic
tableaux.
Two of Mitch's statues were posed in the shower, both of whom
she recognized from her previous tour of Mitch's studio before she lost her bet.
The shorter, full-chested one - named Nat, she thought - was taking the full
force of the water in her back, her head arched back, one hand soaping between
her legs, the other poised just below her breasts. The taller one - was her name
Sue? - was fondling the shorter one, her hands wrapped around the other's
breasts, her crotch grinding against the other's thigh. Cindy's breath caught
for a moment - she wasn't sure what to think. She put a hand over her mouth, not
wanting to alarm Mitch. Then, she felt an urge to giggle, and she left her hand
over her mouth to suppress that. She realized then she found the image
disturbingly sensuous, and wasn't sure how to feel about that. It wasn't
something she ever wanted to do or be part of, but it made her tingle a little
just to see it. Cindy continued to gaze at their naked, glistening bodies for an
unknown time; watching the way the water splashed over their motionless
figures.
There was a light knock on the bathroom door. "Cindy? Are you
okay? Cindy?"
She jumped as if shocked, then tried to keep from sounding
startled, partially succeeded. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, Mitch, I'm fine! Just a second!"
She reached in and turned off the water, trying hard not to brush against either
of the bathing statues. Even so, she brushed against Sue's back and Cindy felt a
tiny jolt, like static electricity, shoot up her arm. Pulling the curtain back
into place, she tied up her coat, and opened the door.
Mitch was standing
outside with a nervous look on his face. "Look, uh, I can ... I mean, what I'm
trying to say is, well, there's an explanation, and, uh..."
Cindy walked
past him, back out to the main room as if nothing had happened and took a sip of
beer. Nonchalantly, "Explanation for what?"
"An explanation for...
huh?"
"Explanation for what? Is there something to
explain?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, there should... uh, just a second." Mitch
dashed back to the bathroom for a moment, returned very puzzled. The statues
were still there, frozen in their watery tryst.
Cindy broke up laughing.
"The look on your face! It's priceless!"
Mitch took a deep slow breath -
he'd obviously been had. "There really is an explanation for why they're in the
shower like that."
"You mean like that or -- like THAT?" She was fighting
not to laugh.
"I mean why they're immobilized in there. I didn't know who
was at the door, and I didn't want them traipsing out here, naked, ready to
pose. As far as why they're like THAT, well..."
Cindy downed the rest of
the glass of beer. "I think I can figure that question out for myself, thank you
very much. They looked like they were enjoying it, anyway, or at least the tall
one was enjoying it. Not my thing. Well, don't keep them on hold in there any
longer on my account."
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Mitch went to the controls and
released both of the girls, with Nat being first by a few seconds. There was a
sudden shriek, then another, and then continuous laughter, followed by the sound
of the bathroom door closing.
Mitch stepped over to the little
conversation area near the front door, bounded by a couch, a couple chairs, and
a love seat. "Have a seat?" He was trying to get her attention, and his, away
from the scene.
"Thank you." Cindy left the glass behind, started working
on the bottle. She sat down on the couch, keeping her coat on, and crossed her
legs. She seemed to be waiting for him to start.
Mitch took the other
chair - he didn't want to seem pushy. "So, what's going on?"
She sighed.
"It's Dan. He's been way over the top since we were here. Let me tell you, he'd
just as soon kill you as speak your name right now. He hasn't been very happy
with me, either, and it's just gotten worse."
"Gotten worse? How's
that?"
"Well ... Dan can be pretty obsessive. He's got it in his head
that you and me had some kind of 'thing' while he was frozen, and he can... he
can..." She was visibly upset and closing her eyes to try to control her
emotions.
"He can what?"
Cindy was on the borderline between angry
and downcast, her jaw clenched and eyes tearing up all at once. She paused for a
few moments again, then cleared her throat. "All my stuff's in the car outside.
He threw me out, and I was afraid he... I was afraid he might... I don't know
what, Mitch."
She looked at him, and patted her hand on the couch
cushion, beckoning him closer. He moved across cautiously, not sure what to
think about what was going on now. He felt bad about her situation, partly
responsible, but curious at the same time, and plotting a little. Cindy *had*
been a great statue...
She continued on, "Despite all the nasty things I
had to say to you the other day, you're a good guy, Mitch. A little weird
sometimes, but a good guy."
"Uh, thank you. I think." She was sitting
surprisingly close to him, he thought.
"Can I please crash here for a
while? I've got nowhere else to go, and I just need to hide out for a while, in
case Dan starts hunting for me."
"Sure, no sweat. But don't you think
here is the first place he'd come, if he really thinks we're having a - what did
you call it? - a thing?"
She hesitated for a moment. "Hmm, I hadn't
thought of that. Well, I just won't stay long, then. Anyway, thanks for being
there for me." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was just a peck,
really...
"Ahem!" Mitch and Cindy both whirled around to see Susan and
Natalie standing over them, both with arms crossed and robes tied shut.
Susan's brow was wrinkled in a frown. "Aren't you going to introduce us,
Mitch?"
Natalie smiled. "I know who she is, Susan. She's that girl that
lost the bet, ended up as a statue because she thought Mitch was kidding. Didn't
someone tell you about that little escapade? What was her name..."
Cindy
smiled, extended a hand cordially. "Yes; I'm Cindy. And you're Susan,
apparently, and you must be Nat, aren't you?"
"My name is Natalie." She
pronounced each syllable, icily.
Mitch was a little nervous. "Uh, listen,
ladies. How would you like to go out for the evening, have a little R&R
before we start the job. I'm not ready yet, and ..."
Susan's brow still
hadn't unfurrowed. "You *would* be ready, if there weren't all of these
distractions." She stared pointedly straight at Cindy. "Isn't there a tight
deadline on this -- a really tight deadline?"
Cindy sighed. "Look, Mitch,
really, if I'm interfering with your work..."
Mitch forced a smile at
Cindy. "Would you excuse us for just a minute, please?" He looked at Susan and
Natalie, frowned, and pointed toward the kitchen. They followed him into the
other room. As soon as Cindy was out of earshot, Mitch said in a low, strained
voice, "What the fuck is going on here?"
Natalie said coyly, "Why, what
are you talking about, Mitch? Do you know what he's getting at?" Susan shrugged
her shoulders.
"I'm talking about the bullshit way you two are treating
Cindy! She's having a really tough time right now, and it's partly my
fault."
Natalie's voice was all steel. "I certainly hope you don't intend
to add *her* to your collection right now. Kristen, I'll live with. She seems
really nice. This one though, coming in here, playing kissy-face with you, what
are you thinking?"
"Nat's right, Mitch. One new face is enough right
now."
Mitch tried to ease the tension. "Look, this has nothing to do with
you, or this catalog. I meant what I said. Things between Cindy and her
boyfriend went south, and it's partly my fault because of that stupid damn bet.
Now he's being pretty nasty to her, and she's got nowhere to go. That has
nothing to do with the shoot."
"Prove it," said
Natalie.
"Huh?"
"Prove it. Get rid of her."
Mitch snarled,
"This jealousy stops right now! I haven't the time, or patience, for this kind
of shit. I'm sure there's other work for a model with your impressive physique
and portfolio, if you want to go find it."
Natalie took a half-step back,
surprised. "No, Mitch. I didn't mean it that way. Look, I'm sorry. It's not my
place to mess with your personal life, or whatever."
Susan cast her eyes
downward. "Geez, Mitch. We didn't mean it like that. We want to stay - I mean, I
want to stay, anyway. I like it here."
Natalie chimed in, "Oh, I want to
stay, too! I ... really, I'm not interested in other modeling work. Really. You
can just freeze us up like mummies and stand us in a corner, or whatever - get
us out of your way."
Mitch said, "Look, you still don't understand. But I
can see how you might have got the wrong impression. Why don't the two of you
just go out for the evening. Catch dinner, a movie; live a little. Take the
health club passes, if you want. Put this whole Cindy thing out of your minds.
It's getting late anyway - we'll start the shoot tomorrow
morning."
"Okay," Susan agreed. Natalie nodded, a bit
sheepishly.
-- Cindy's Dilemma --
As soon as they headed back to the bedrooms to get
dressed, Mitch went back to the front room, where Cindy sat quietly sipping her
beer. "I'm sorry about all that. Sometimes they get a little possessive of
me."
"I guess I can understand how they might feel." She was smiling at
him again. That's an improvement, he thought. Rejection is a tough thing to
take.
He sat back down on the couch. "You really think Dan will come
after you?"
"Oh, I have no doubts about that. It could be weeks, maybe
months, before he finds someone else to obsess about. Frankly, I'm glad this
happened. I really needed to get away from him."
Mitch's mind was
plotting, again. "So where do you go from here? Move back to stay with family
until he gives up or goes away? I mean, you can't just hang around town. It's an
awfully small place to avoid him in."
"My folks retired. They ditched the
house, and they're doing the R.V. thing now. I don't have any brothers or
sisters. I suppose I could scare up some old friends to stay with. I haven't
been very good about keeping up any other friendships. Dan saw to
that."
Mitch was soothing, sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that. I guess
I didn't know Dan as well as I thought. I wouldn't have picked him as being
abusive."
Cindy sat up angrily. "I never said he was abusive! He's not...
he couldn't be..." She stopped, slouched, and was silent for a long time. After
a while, she took a long, deep breath. "Maybe you're right, but I just can't
put... that WORD together with him, you know? We were together a long time, most
of the way through college and ever since. Obsessive? Yeah, I'll buy that.
Demanding? Okay, that's probably fair. But that WORD, I just can't say
it."
"You don't have to. The thing right now is, how can we keep you away
from him for a time? A long time. How are you going to go to work?" A leading
question...
"Oh, I'm not. I can't. I already resigned. I meant what I
said earlier. Everything I own is in the car outside." She stopped, hearing the
back door open and close. After a few minutes, the sound of a car pulled away
from the far side of the house.
Mitch said, "That's just Natalie and
Susan, going into town. They'll cool down. Well, you can stay here for now, but
I don't know how we can hide you for ever..." If she's going to bite, it's now,
he thought.
She looked at him furtively. "I was sort of thinking, I mean,
I don't want this to be an imposition, but I thought maybe you could use your
widget again and turn me into a statue for a while, until he settles down. I
mean, you could just stack me in a backroom or something, somewhere he wouldn't
find me, even if he came looking. I'm ready to do it."
Game, set, and
match, he thought. Mitch smiled. "I think you'd be a great addition to my
gallery. We'd need to do a standard contract, of course, to cover all the
Immobilizer issues and set up display rules, and so forth."
"Can you
store my stuff? I figured maybe you could stash my car for me. It'd be easier to
hide it than find the cash for a new one later."
"Whatever you want me to
do. When you have everything settled, just come back later
and..."
"There's nothing to settle. I've made up my mind. Do you have one
of those contracts here?"
Jesus, she's moving fast, he thought, either
she's really worried or maybe really anxious to be frozen again. Whatever works.
He grabbed a clipboard with one of the standard modeling and display contracts,
filled in her name and the date. Without asking, he checked the 'unlimited
display' category and handed it to her.
She glanced at it for a few
seconds. "Is there anything about some kind of maximum term in here or
something?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like some point where you'll come
back and wake me up, if the coast is clear. It would have to be quite a bit
longer than just ten days, this time."
"Believe me, that's no problem.
Oh, I wouldn't want to leave you immobilized too long, anyway. No more than a
few months at a time, just for safety's sake."
"Okay, then, that's fine."
She signed and initialed at all the appropriate Xs, nonchalant as if she was
renting a car, handed Mitch the clipboard with a brief smile, and stood up. "Any
ideas about where to stash me?"
"Well, I was thinking about that. You
know, sometimes things in the open are the least... obvious..." Mitch searched
around the Immobilizer unit, found the earclip already tuned for Cindy. He never
thought it would be used again so soon.
He heard a thump behind him, like
a sack of laundry dropping, and turned around. Cindy had tossed her coat on the
back of the couch, and stood there waiting, completely naked. Her long black
hair was draped down the front, camouflaging most of her average but
well-defined breasts. She was very well conditioned, the contours of her abdomen
rigidly defined around just the slightest rise below her navel, her shoulders
muscular, limbs slender but well toned. Her pubic hair was short and bristly,
just beginning to come back from the recent close shave. Her legs were as long
as he had remembered them.
Mitch was dumbstruck. "Did you come here
planning this?"
She nodded wordlessly. He handed Cindy the earclip, and
she put it into place. Now she could be frozen as a Living Statue at any time.
"So, what do you mean by things in the open being least obvious?"
-- Arts & Crafts --
"Well, we could camouflage you." He stood back,
gauged her with an artist's eye. "The first thing we need to do is change your
appearance. There's a really quick way to do that."
"Go on."
"A
haircut."
Cindy's eyes widened. "A haircut?" She looked apprehensive for
the first time.
"Is that a problem?"
She brushed back some stray
hairs from her face. "I've always had very long hair. Even when I was a kid. I
had it cut once. Once. And I cried for a month."
Mitch said quietly.
"That would make it even more of a disguise. No one would ever suspect you
having short hair. You wouldn't even look like any of your old photos, not even
the ones I took recently."
She took a deep, wavering breath. "Fine. How
are we going to manage a decent haircut, without me going into
town?"
"Hm. I think I can solve that." Mitch walked over the Immobilizer
controls, chose the spot marked "Amy", and turned the dial to reanimate her. A
few second later he heard a clatter in the kitchen, followed by a
"Damn!"
Amy came strolling out in her white lingerie ensemble, the
stockings and cream-colored high heeled shoes splattered with dark droplets.
"There was still some coffee in that pot, Mitch. Sorry about the st... oh, hi."
She strolled up to Cindy like there was nothing strange to see a naked woman
standing in the living room - which it wasn't at Mitch's - and extended a hand.
"I'm Amy. Are you new?"
Cindy nodded, hesitated a moment, then said, "I'm
Cindy." She was trying to get accustomed to seeing scantily-clad models
strutting around. Or frozen stiff.
Amy smiled, "And I thought you were
just nervous. Mitch stumped trying to decide how to pose you? Shouldn't be too
difficult."
Mitch replied, "Actually, I'm trying to decide how to *hide*
her."
"Hide her?" Amy motioned for Cindy to sit down on the couch, sat
beside her. "Tell me all about it."
Cindy went through the whole story
again for her. Amy listened passively most of the time, punctuating with the
occasional biting remark about men and pigs, and the usually close connection
between the two.
When Cindy was done, Amy weighed the whole story. "So,
you're going to hide out here as one of us statues for a while. Until that moron
gives up and finds someone else to screw up?"
Cindy nodded her head
slowly, expressionless. "That about covers it."
Amy looked at Mitch. "And
so you activated me because?"
"Cindy needs a haircut."
Amy ran a
hand through Cindy's hair. "That's a shame. Not many people with good hair like
this. But, no one would ever recognize you with short hair, I'll
bet."
Cindy nodded. "That's what Mitch said."
"Well, let me get
the tools of the trade. Why don't you go in the kitchen, and I'll meet you in
there? Mitch, my stuff?"
"All in the back room, with your duffel
bag."
"Okay, I'll find a smock or something, and we can get to
work."
Cindy sat at the kitchen table, wrapped in a heavy cotton robe.
She looked at the floor occasionally, where piles of long, dark hair had piled.
Her hair; on the floor. She thought it was strange that the sight of the hair
bothered her more than sitting next to the motionless figure of Karen, in her
French Maid outfit, coffee mug in hand or Amy, styling her hair while wearing a
garter belt and lace bra.
"Almost done," said Amy.
"Nervous?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, you shouldn't be. It's a little wild,
since it's always been long for so long. As soon as I clean some of the hair off
you, I'll mousse it, so it has some shape when you see it."
Cindy closed
her eyes, tried to enjoy the feel of her hair being worked on. She felt a draft
on the back of her neck, a very foreign sensation, and it reminded her of the
piles of hair on the floor, which bothered her. "Aren't you done
yet?"
"Yeah, I'm done. You're going to want to shower, to get the rest of
the hair off, and then I'll style it again for you, okay?"
"Okay. Let's
see it." She was nervous, but impatient. Amy gave her a large hand mirror, and
she held up while looking away, waited a moment, then peered into it abruptly.
Someone else looked back at her.
It wasn't as short as she had feared,
still hanging down her neck, although Amy had thinned the back quite a bit. The
top and sides were in sort of a boyish wedge, heavily moussed to give it extra
body.
Amy stood back a bit, giving Cindy's hairstyle another once-over.
"Well?"
Cindy kept looking in the mirror, moving it around to see the
sides and the back. "It's sooooo different. I don't know really... I'll have to
think about it awhile, get used to it, I guess."
Amy laughed. "Mitch
won't leave you much time for that, I'll bet. Look, you go clean up, and I'll
see if he needs any help getting ready for you."
Getting 'ready' for me,
Cindy thought. It sounded ominous and exciting to her all at once. She thought
back over her previous brief experience as a living statue.
Amy ran a
little more mousse through Cindy's hair. "That's enough. What do you think,
Mitch?"
Mitch stopped fussing with his trunk full of equipment, took a
long look. "I think you look simply fabulous, Cindy. Ready to be creative? I
am."
"I guess so."
"Do you have any skin allergies?"
"Not
that I know of. To what?"
"Have you ever used body paint
before?"
She smiled and teared up a little at the same time. "Yeah ...
Dan and I ... we ... yeah, I have. It was fine." She blushed.
"Hm, let me
see... I had a wild idea. Amy and I worked it through, actually."
Amy
smiled. "It's pretty cool."
Mitch walked to the couch. "It's a little
hard to visualize, but it'll work fine. You just have to go along with me on
this. Come right here, in front of the couch." He moved the coffee table back
several feet, out of the furniture grouping. "Now, sit down here on the floor,
right in front of the couch. Let me see what I could... okay, might as well
stretch out. You won't be moving again for a while."
Cindy tried to
control her breathing. The Immobilizer scared her and thrilled her all at once.
She remembered the feeling of stiffness from before; tried to ready herself for
the sensations she knew would come, but she didn't know how.
"Amy, can
you lift the edge of that up a little ... no, the long, thin one. Thanks. Okay,
here's what I want you to do, Cindy, so listen closely. Now close your eyes, or
you're going to think I'm nuts. It'll only be difficult for a minute or so. I
want you to stretch your legs out ... now bring them back toward you by bending
at the knees, to about... that angle. Okay, keep your legs like that." She was
balancing her upper body with her elbows.
"What are you dragging? Or are
those wheels? What are you up to?"
"Be careful with that, Amy. I'll make
sure you have pictures to prove it later. Keep your eyes closed. Now, I want you
to spread your legs open a little..."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not going
to do anything to you like what you're thinking. You just have to trust me. I
mean, if you're going to do this, it might as well be creative,
right?"
She nodded, very hesitantly.
Amy chimed in. "It'll be
alright. I'll watch after him."
He stopped, knelt down, and laid a
reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Really, it'll be absolutely beautiful. Now
just bring your legs out to the sides... a little more... a little... okay, hold
them there. Here's the tricky part. I want you to take your hands, and rest them
between your legs. You don't have to do anything, just rest them there, along
the insides of your thighs."
"Okay." She laid down, and placed the sides
of her hands on the insides of her thighs. "That was easy."
"It won't be.
That's not how I want you to do it yet." The wheeling-dragging sound stopped
right next to her. "Now, you'll only have to hold this pose for a few seconds,
and after that, it'll be a piece of cake. I want you to keep your torso up, with
your hands and legs where they are, using your stomach and back
muscles."
"Lift my torso up with my arms out like that? How will I hold
myself like that? I don't know if my abs are that strong!"
He looked her
over. "I wouldn't worry about that, you'll only have to do it for a few
seconds.. This'll really show off your torso. I want you to try and lean your
head back a little. You don't want to look tense."
"That's a lot to keep
straight. I'm not really ready to try it - it's too difficult!"
"Wait a
minute. Suppose I get some support under your back until we're
ready?"
"That'd be better. Much."
Amy dragged over one of the
posing platforms and piled a few pillows on it. Cindy sat up, then leaned back
onto the padding until she was about at the level position he was looking for.
"Okay, you'll feel some weight now, on your upper chest and knees. Just
try to relax, don't worry. Amy, help me lift this up here." Amy and Mitch lifted
a piece of oval tempered glass, about two and a half feet long and a foot and a
half wide.
"Okay... mmpff! What was that? I hope you're hurrying, 'cause
my back can't take this weight much longer."
Mitch adjusted some things,
and got out a level. He eyeballed the glass tabletop, and set the level on top
of it. "Okay, I'm going to support your back, and pull out the top pillow. Your
stomach ready? Clench those abs.
"
"I guess so. I trust you, Mitch." Her
face was tense.
"Okay. Amy, get ready with the controls, okay? Cindy,
here we go."
"Mmpff!! I know that - relax, right?" She slowly, gingerly
put her head back, letting her long neck arch back. She almost touched the
floor. Mitch watched the level carefully. "Okay, deep breath. Push those tits
out!" She got a slight grin on her face. He saw her hands shift out of the
corner of his eye as he watched the level... and gave Amy the thumbs-up to flip
the switch on the Immobilizer. Cindy's lips parted slightly, a barely visible
shudder running through her torso.
She relaxed slightly just as the field
hit, softening the lines of her stomach, but not affecting the slightly
off-balance level. Then she became rigid as a statue.
He took his hand
out, and the figure of Cindy, Mitch's new custom coffee table, stayed perfectly
still and level. He moved rapidly now, kissing her on the cheek then rolling
forward. "You won't believe the pictures when I'm done. Have a good sleep, and
I'll make sure Dan can't find you." While Cindy's body was still slightly
pliable, Mitch lifted the big glass slab off her knees and upper chest, shifting
her breasts slightly to remove the marks from the glass and restore her erect
nipples to their original hardness. Moments later, when her skin was hard as
stone, he and Amy set the glass back down, and he checked the level again.
Perfectly true. Do I have an eye or what, he thought. He looked her over, and
smiled. He was right, he had seen her hands shift as she was being frozen, one
massaging her clit, the other insistently prodding at the soft-looking lips
below. That grin had meant something, he thought. He marveled at her firm,
chiseled physique - she was the only one of his statues strong enough to pull
this off - he thought. The muscles of her shoulders and upper arms had rippled
slightly, and only the barest strain showed in her neck. The definition in her
body truly looked as if it had been carved from flawless pale marble.
Amy
surveyed the new statue. "Wow, perfectly balanced. You were exactly right.
What's next? Can I help?"
Mitch thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I
could use some help. Some live company would be nice. Bring over that bucket of
putty, would you?
Time to finish this little project, he thought, as he set to work...
-- The Hiding Place --
He took a few last snapshots of his newest
creation, just as he heard the back door open and a gust of wind rush
in.
"Did you have a nice time?" he called out.
"Yeah," said
Natalie. "I didn't realize how long it's been since I've seen a movie. Some of
the movies I missed before have sequels now."
Susan looked around at the
mess in the kitchen. "What happened in here. What were you up to?"
"Oh, a
little home decorating."
They came into the front room. Natalie smiled.
"Hi, Amy. I didn't know you were active."
"I wasn't, but Mitch needed
some help with this project. So, what do you think of our new coffee
table?"
Susan moved closer. "Nice woodwork." The tabletop was a sheet of
tempered glass, resting on a highly polished wooden sculpture of a reclining
nude woman. The glass rested only on four small felt pads, two on the
sculpture's upper chest, and one on each knee. Some parts of the sculpture were
very detailed, like the definition of the torso, the neck, and parts of the
face. Other areas were much more roughly hewn, like the wedgy, bristly hair that
looked as if carved with a chainsaw, or the hands and feet. The whole piece
looked precariously balanced, but proved to be quite solid and
stable.
Natalie said, "Looks like an expensive chunk of wood. What is it,
walnut?"
"Take a closer look."
Susan and Natalie peered close at
the table, looking at the wood grain, the light finish, the detailed bangs
descending from the wedgy hair, the wry grin on the sculpture's face
...
"Wait a minute!," said Susan. "I've seen this woman... this is your
friend from earlier! The hair fooled me, but I'm sure it's... how the hell did
you ...?"
Natalie reached out to run a hand along the smooth lines of the
sculpted figure.
Mitch grabbed her arm. "Not yet. I think the finish is
dry, but I'm not sure."
"So THAT'S why all your touch-up stuff is out.
That's pretty fancy airbrushing!"
Mitch smiled proudly. "It's a little
more than that, but thank you, anyway. We used putty and resin to build up some
spots, so she looks carved, then laid down a wood color, then the grain, then a
finish that looks like varnish." He looked admiringly at Amy. "I never could
have done it this well or this fast without Amy. So what do you think? If her
ex-boyfriend Dan comes sneaking in here, he'll never suspect, will
he?"
Susan shook her head. "No, if I hadn't looked really close... I
can't figure out how she balanced that glass that way, without busting a gut.
She's pretty strong."
Natalie squinted. "Yeah, look at her neck though.
And down here. She's straining pretty good. That'll be fun, bringing her out of
it. It'll take three of us!"
Mitch stood back, admiring his creation.
"So, what do you think?"
Natalie stepped back. "Yeah, it's... really
creative. All that work, you must be expecting she'll be there a while. Quite a
while. Hmm."
Mitch gave her a look that said 'Don't go there', rubbed his
hands together, and said, "Well, ready to get to work? Just let me go wash my
hands, and you go get into your first wardrobes. I have everything laid out."
Amy sat down on the couch, admiring her collaboration with Mitch, still
wearing the spattered lingerie and hose. The result was really striking, Amy
thought. She let her eyes wander from one end of the coffee table to the other,
and... her eyes widened, eyebrows arched up, and just as she was ready to jump
up and say something important, she felt the telltale tingle of stiffness spread
through her body as she too became a statue. I *have* to tell him, she thought,
or else everything might... her face wouldn't budge. She was frozen solid in
position.
Mitch said to her, "Sorry about that, but I wanted to catch
that cute expression! Thanks again for all your help, and I'll bring you out
after the shoot's finished."
Inside, Amy was screaming: Mitch, take
another look! Mitch! But it was too late. She was already stiff as a mannequin
as she drifted off to a long sleep.
Auhor's Notes:
This portion of the tale was "bequeathed" to me by the
elusive Bill Shakespeare, who also wrote the Prologue. Continuing from the end of my Part4, we see Mitch is valiantly trying to get his Frederick's catalog photos done, but things keep interrupting him...