Quiet Servitude Pt. 04

“Rather convenient.” He commented, the double meaning clear to me.

He continued to write information down, taking the tag information and descriptions for the items in the bag Christa had me carry.

“Now let’s talk about your purchases. Rather nice. Did they fit well?”

“They fit fine thank you.” I responded, knowing what he was getting at.

“You entered the fitting room to try them on and spent twelve minutes inside. What were you doing in there?”

“Considering it was a fitting room, I would have to say that I was trying on the items I eventually purchased.” I responded.

“For twelve minutes? That seems like a long time to just try on two items.”

I held up my hands, not knowing how long should it have taken.

“Let’s cut right to it because my shift is coming to an end and I want to get out of here on time.”

“Couldn’t agree with you more.”

“Good. We had a woman come into our office here and said that a woman was acting suspiciously in the fitting room you were using. She gave us a description and it matched your appearance. We reviewed the tapes and she confirmed that you were the person in question.”

“You have cameras in the women’s fitting room?” I asked in disbelief, pissed off for the invasion of privacy but knew that the video would show I didn’t do anything wrong and that Christa and Julie were with me as I mentioned earlier.

“Good!” I said, cutting him off. “The tapes will clearly show I did nothing wrong and we can get this over with.”

“I do have to mention that the cameras are not IN the fitting room, but merely pick up people as they enter and exit.

“Fine. Then I can prove that my friend Christa was with me.”

“Really? The tape shows you entering and exiting by yourself.” He replied.

Damn it. It would because I had.

“She was doing some shopping of her own and came in after me.”

“True. The tape did show several people coming and going while you were in there, including the woman who filed the complaint.”

“This is crazy!” I replied beginning to feel really anxious the way things were going.

Two people stepped up to the door while he continued making notes. My heart skipped a beat when I noted they were real police officers and not merely mall security. He looked up and waved them into the room. He then gave one of them a report, letting the man read through it.

“What do you want us to do?” he asked finally.

“We have three items valued at $140 dollars and a complaint that he was in the women’s fitting room causing a disturbance.”

The gig was up. He clearly knew I wasn’t a woman and I finally understood what was happening.

“Look.” I said standing. “Officers. You read what he wrote. I don’t know what it says but the items he’s referring to were purchased by my wife who was in the mall with me today. I can give you her phone number and you can verify the purchases. As for the fitting room, my wife was in there with me most of the time and I don’t know what this other woman could be complaining about. I was only trying on clothes.”

I dropped the pretense that Christa was just a friend figuring it was useless to keep up the act any longer. Thoughts of my being cuffed and led downtown and placed in a holding cell while dressed as Stacy began to flash through my mind, the ultimate indignity for a transgendered person.

Apparently from the reaction on their face they hadn’t realized I was really a man at that point but it didn’t seem to faze them. I’m sure they ran into all kinds of things while on duty.

“You have the statement from the other woman?” the officer asked.

The mall security guard pulled it off the clipboard and handed it to the officer who scanned the single page. When he was done he handed it back and turned towards me.

“She stated that you were in the dressing room and it was obvious to her that were in fact a man dressed as a woman. Personally, I didn’t pick up on that when we first walked in here. She went on to state that you were roaming around the dressing room.”

OK. This wasn’t too bad I thought before answering.

“Yes. Thank you. I look now like I did in the dressing room earlier and as you stated my appearance isn’t perfect, but from the casual observer it’s not apparent that I’m not a woman. I was checking my appearance in the mirror at the far end of the dressing room when the woman stepped out from her stall and left the dressing room. She didn’t stop and glare. She simply walked out. I noted when I entered that someone else was in the first changing stall so I intentionally picked one on the opposite side and clear in the back to make sure that something like this wouldn’t happen.”

“Can your wife corroborate your story?”

“Absolutely. She came into the dressing room a minute after me and found me in the changing stall. She was in there with me until after the other woman left.”

“OK. Sounds easy enough to investigate.” The officer said to his partner who nodded.

The security guard seemed royally pissed off that the officers weren’t making a big deal out of this.

“Store complaint also talks about three items in your possession for which you don’t have a receipt.”

I explained that I had met Christa and Julie for lunch and that they had already done some shopping including this store and that I offered to help carry some of the bags for her since my hands were empty.

“We became separated in the store after paying for my purchases and I was looking for them when this guy and his partner forced me in here.”

“Been able to reach her?” he asked the security guard.

“Paged her but haven’t had anyone come to the office yet.” He responded, trying to remain in control.

“Is there a reason why they would have left the store?” he asked.

“We arrived in separate cars and after being brought here they probably thought I left and did the same. You can call our number and have her come back with the receipt. We only live a few minutes away.”

The officer took the store complaint with my information on it and left the room to try the phone. At least these guys were being reasonable enough to work with.

“Why don’t you show me what else you have here.” He asked, motioning to my other packages.

“Absolutely.” I said, emptying out my bags and boxes, presenting receipts for every item, including the lingerie that his eyes seemed to linger over.

“Why do you have receipts for all of these items?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, taking a deep breath before answering.

“Ahhh. These are MY purchases.” I said, feeling my face turning flush under the cosmetics.

He turned his head towards me and smiled.

“OK. You have receipts for several hundred dollars of goods here but not one for those three items.” He stated to me before turning to the security guard. “She also has a receipt for the items she purchased from this store that you stated you observed. Not exactly the usual case of shop lifting.”

It was the guards turn to go red in the face but he didn’t have the makeup to help hide it.

“He still has three items bagged up and no receipt.” He defended.

“That I could easily pay for.” I responded, holding up cash from my purse. It probably wasn’t enough to cover the tab but the wad of disheveled bills looked like more than it really was. “Plus we have the receipt. Not to mention your computers will show the purchase of these three items on one transaction. Want to know the odds the someone else purchased the same three items in these sizes?” Couldn’t do the math in my head but knew there was no chance someone else had bought the same clothes.

The point was mute when the other officer stepped back into the room and handed his partner a small piece of paper.

“OK. Think this solves issue number one.” He said, passing it to the store security guard.

I wasn’t sure what it was until he stepped to the table and was comparing the slip to the items in question.

“Don’t lose that.” He said to the guard. “Wait here.” He said to me and left the room, his partner still positioned in front of the door.

The security guard seemed convinced and handed me the slip of paper, which I took in trembling fingers hoping it was a purchase report from the store’s register. Instead, it was the original sales receipt complete with Christa’s signature! Bless her heart she paid with the credit card to boot!

I turned toward the exit wanting to rush out of the room, but the cop held up one hand keeping me in place. I stepped to one side to gain a better view of the hallway but still couldn’t see far enough. When the security guard moved towards the door the cop shifted his position slightly and let him leave. Seconds later I could hear arguing down the hall and could clearly make out two voices. One was the security guard but the second was clearly that of my wife! I couldn’t make out the words because both of them were talking over one another but it was clear that Christa was putting him in his place much to my pleasure. After a minute, silence ensued and the security guard stepped back into the room with the officer right behind him. They guard took out a pen and made a note on the clipboard before passing it to me.

“Sign here stating that you won’t use the women’s dressing room again and you can go.”

He heart skipped a beat as I took the document and the pen and signed my proper name to it. I tossed it back, grabbed my bags and started for the exit before pausing.

“I won’t be returning to this store again period and your headquarters WILL be hearing from me.” I said, finally feeling the bravado I had tried to bolster earlier with success. He didn’t respond but finished up making a few notes while I walked back into the hallway followed by the two officers.

Christa was standing at the desk a mix of worry on her face. I was smiling now know this was finally finished, knowing it could easily have been a disaster. She still looked worried, but smiled when she saw I was none the worse for wear.

“Thank you officers.” I said to them as they were stepping past to leave.

“You’re welcome ma’am. You did the right thing by cooperating and acting professionally when we arrived. This isn’t the first time we’ve been to this store under these circumstances so I would avoid this place in the future.”

I nodded, fully intent on never stepping foot in here again.

“Thanks again.”

They smiled and left the office.

“What happened? You were finishing up one minute and gone the next. We even went out into the mall thinking you had gone that way.” She asked.

“Let’s get out of here and we can talk about it later.” I said, eager to put distance between me and what could have been an ugly situation. My hands were full so Christa opened the door. We were a few steps out when the woman at the counter spoke up.

“Have a good evening.” She said smiling, the security guard standing next to her filing the paperwork.

“Fuck you.” Christa replied. If looks could kill there would have been two fatalities in the office when the janitorial crew showed up for their shift.

The door swung shut with a satisfying finality as we walked quickly down the hall and back out into the store turning for the mall.

“Where’s Julie?” I asked, finally able to draw a full breath.

“She’s waiting at the mall entrance for us. Are you alright?”

“Yes ma’am. I am now anyway. I was a little freaked out there when the cops showed up but they were great. I’ll have to remember to send a note to the chief commending them on their professionalism. Hate to hear about stores like this and will have to make sure I mention this incident to the girls in the support group so they can avoid this place as well.”

“Good idea. I’ve been thinking. Julie knows that you’re not really Stacy obviously and although Terry hasn’t said anything he probably does suspect. Do you want to leave Stacy behind for the rest of the week?”

We were approaching the mall entrance and I could see Julie sitting with a half dozen bags at her feet.

“That’s alright ma’am. I’m fine and would like to see this through.” I said, feeling better with each step closer to the mall. Christa had been pissed when she was in the security office. That was how she reacted when she was upset. It looked like Julie was whipping away soggy eyes as we approached but her smile opened up when those same eyes spotted us emerging from the store.

“OK then. Let’s go home and pick up where we left off. Think I’ll have you order us pizza for dinner from Papa Rogio’s.”

“Can we have it delivered?” I asked. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day!”

We both were laughing when we moved from the store out into the mall proper, the crowds having thinned during the dinner hour. Julie stood up from her seat as we approached.

“Sorry I took so long Ms. Jackson. The cashier took forever to ring up my items.” I said, holding up the bag in question and rolling my eyes dramatically.

Any tension she was still harboring finally melted away at my sarcastic comment and she smiled.

“I hate when that happens.” She said, splitting up their packages with Christa.

“Where are you parked?” Christa asked me.

“Down at the other end.”

“Can I ride back with you?” Julie asked me. “I want to hear about this cashier!”

“OK then. I’ll meet you two ladies back at the house.”

We split up again, Christa heading for the nearest exit while Julie and I worked our way back through the heart of the mall to my car, the whole time plastering me with questions.

“I can’t believe she called security. She was leaving and saw you what, two whole seconds?”

“I know. I don’t know how she even recognized me considering I had my back to her and you were standing between her and I. I’m just glad Christa showed up with the receipt or I’d be sitting in the pokie by now.” I said, trying to make light of the situation.

“I’m happy Christa went back into the store. We looked around for you for a while but decided you must have come back into mall so we began looking out here for a while. Finally decided that I would take up a spot where I could keep an eye on the foot traffic while she took another look inside the store.”

“No happier that I was to hear he voice in the office let me tell you! Thought this was going to get ugly when you didn’t respond to the page on the PA system. I gave them our phone number but if you were still in the mall and didn’t go home I was toast.”

“We knew you wouldn’t have just up and left without saying something, but we were trying to decide if we should go back to your house and see if you showed up there.”

“At least at the police station I would have gotten one phone call.”

“You think they were going to take you there?” she asked, panic creeping back in her voice.

“Oh yes. Shoplifting and all? I’m sure I would have gotten a free ride and been held there until we straightened it out. Good think we could prove those items were purchased or I’d been in a holding cell by now. This store apparently doesn’t appreciate paying customers such as myself either, which didn’t help the situation.”

“Well at least that’s over with.” She said as we neared the exit. Within seconds we were out in the cool evening breeze, the overcast skies and drizzle having finally broken up. The evening had a pink hue about it as we headed down the aisle to my car.

“Hungry?” I asked, popping the trunk by remote.

“I was feeling pretty sick to my stomach a while ago but now that everything has worked and you’re alright I am beginning to get hungry again.”

“Well you’re in for a real treat then” I said, mentioning what was on tap for dinner and informed her that the best pizza in the world would be on a plate and steaming with gooey cheese within the hour. Looking at her after we climbed in I realized that big, thick, cheesy pizza might not help a great figure like hers, but it was abundantly clear that she was letting a strict diet slide a little while she was on vacation. The big smile on her face told me that it sounded like Heaven to her.

“That sounds perfect!”

I started the car and pulled away, glad to be doing it in my own vehicle. I was still shaken inside but it didn’t appear to show to the others, my flippant manner covering for the queasiness I was feeling. By the time I was back inside the safety of my home, the pizza was ordered and delivered and the others had eaten I was sure my own appetite would return.

“I don’t know if Christa will bring this up but we’ve decided Stacy will finish out the week.”

“I understand and won’t say anything. I’m glad she’s staying around. I like her.”

Julie continued to stare out the window, a slight smirk on her lips.

“I do feel slightly guilty though having you wait on me hand and foot.”

“It’s my job ma’am.” I said. “And my pleasure.”

She seemed to like that answer as I continued.

“Today, with the exception of an hour or two, has been a lot of fun for me also. I’m glad now that you came to visit this week.”

“But you weren’t glad to hear we were coming before.” she said, looking at me from her seat with a hurt look on her pouty lips. I could tell she was fighting a smile.

“That was before I got to know you though. Beside, Christa’s been down a little lately and I’ve seen a tremendous change since you and Mr. Williams arrived. I’m happy to see her happy.” I said, turning onto our street.

“You didn’t answer my question though.” She wasn’t going to let me off the hook.

“I was hoping we could get away somewhere together.” I said, detailing a few exotic locales we had talked about. “But now I see that her time here with friends is doing more for her than those trips would have accomplished. She feels isolated in Michigan away from her friends and I’m afraid that going away would have only made the situation worse. You’ve done so much for her and I can’t thank you enough for coming. She’s mentioned wanting to come out to California later this year to visit so I guess we’ll get away after all.”

She nodded and smiled, somewhat distant now as we neared the house. A large, black Suburban was backing out of the drive and passed us as we approached. Christa waved as we pulled up and into the drive. I put the car in park, shut if off, opened the trunk and stepped out. Julie starting taking out the bags when Christa stepped up.

“Don’t worry about those Julie, Stacy will take them in for us.”

“Of course ma’am.” I said, taking it from her hand. “I’ll put these in your room for you.”

She smiled, getting back in the role.

“Thank you Stacy.”

I took the bags out of the trunk and followed them into the house through the garage. They went in and sat down with Terry who was still propped up in front of the television, a dirty plate and several empty beer bottles on the coffee table. After placing the bags on the master bed I returned to the garage and took out the three that Christa had with her in the Cadillac. I shut the trunk and took these in the house to be with the others. Once there I picked through and sorted out the various items into three piles. I took my items and placed them in my room in drawers or on hangers, wanting to try on the lingerie that I had purchased for myself but knew that I wouldn’t have time now. I changed back into my black and white maids uniforms and heels before stepping into the living room and calling out to Christa.

“Excuse me ma’am, but could I get your assistance for a moment please?”

Christa climbed off of the couch and followed me into the master bedroom.

“Sorry to bother you but I’m afraid I don’t know which items are yours and which are Ms. Jackson’s.”

She stepped up to the bed and sorted through the items into two piles.

“These are Julie’s and these two stacks are mine.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

“No problem. When you’re done here the pizza order is on the counter. Please call it in when you’re finished and get set up for dinner.”