A Stranger May Surprise You

Her hair came away clean, even shining in the light of the bathroom. She took a small dollop of shower-gel and used it to wash her vagina hair, and clean her hair there of any dirty or unhygienic things.

As she washed, Jim had come to the closed bathroom door and collected her pile of dirty laundry. He had to admit, they did smell bad but anything would after almost two weeks of not washing them. He went into the kitchen, where the washing machine and drier he had were and threw them into the washing machine with some powder, and turned it on for a thorough rinsing as they needed it.

He had changed out of his own smart clothes, and into a pair of baggy jeans and a simple black t-shirt he wore around the house.

Unbeknownst to Louise, Jim was actually a security guard and a bouncer who worked nights during the week as a security guard for a number of premises in London. On weekends he worked the 'doors' as people called them, all over the city at clubs and pubs needing security staff.

It was one of the reasons he was a tough-enough guy, he had dealt with worse people than the boys who had attacked her on the bus, far worse people with much darker criminal connections.

He had just finished a long shift last night, almost fourteen hours from midnight to 2pm today, and by the time he had gone to pay some bills, he found himself on the bus towards his home.

With Louise's dirty clothes washing away, he went into his sister's bedroom and knew she kept a pile of clothes she almost never wore, but if her regular clothes were unclean she could always turn to them. The problem was that his sister Amy was slightly smaller than Louise was, she was quite a skinny, athletic girl and so a lot of her clothes were either tight-fitting or just regular fitting.

Either way, Jim went through the pile of clean, back-up clothes and came out with a tight-fitting pair of denim shorts, and belt. Knowing perhaps Louise would fear he was a pervert, he also grabbed one of a few pairs of tights his sister had bought, still in the packaging brand-new. They were simple black, opaque tights and he thought she wouldn't feel so naked with them on under the shorts. He pulled out a loose fitting black top, and a blue Adidas hooded top, of a sports design.

He wondered, could he seriously give Louise underwear his sister wore - it wasn't exactly hygienic or really a nice thing to be wearing.

Then he remembered, just like tights his sister bought packs of underwear she hadn't even broken out of their packaging yet. He found a sealed back of four basic, black panties from the clothing store Primark. They were nothing special, not silk but simple cotton. But they were clean, and brand-new so that was all Louise would care about. Sadly she would have to forgo a bra, until her own one was thoroughly cleaned and dry.

He took the pile of clean clothes, and as he still heard the shower running placed them in front of the bathroom door.

Knowing she would come out when she was ready, he decided she was probably hungry. He went into the kitchen, and took out from the fridge some Pork sausages, a pack of bacon rashers and a container of eggs. He just hoped she wasn't a vegetarian, as he turned on the stove, and put the frying pan on top with a drop of oil in it.

He began cooking, and frying the food as he waited for Louise to come out of the shower.

Meanwhile in the shower, Louise stepped out and turned the shower off behind her. She found a large, blue towel draped on the towel rack, and used it to dry herself. She rubbed her vagina, and the bush around it thoroughly to dry it as she looked at herself in the mirror, again admiring the beauty that was hidden under sweat stains and dirt for the last few days. She opened the bathroom door slowly, and saw the pile of clothes left for her by Jim.

At first seeing the tight-fitting denim shorts and the belt, made her suspicious but seeing the pack of clean tights alleviated her fears.

Jim was at least giving her some modesty, if these were the only clothes he could find for her. She brought the clothes inside with her, and began to dress really appreciating the extent Jim was going for her upon finding the clean, new pack of tights and underwear.

She dressed, and soon enough she was dressed. Being careful not to soak the soles of her tights on the wet floor, she tiptoed outside of the bathroom grabbing her purse and MP3 player.

The moment she stepped out of the bathroom, she smelled cooking food. The smell of cooking Pork and fried eggs, made her stomach growl. She wasn't a vegetarian, she ate anything even before her mother threw her out. She walked along the carpeted corridor to the door for the kitchen, and saw Jim cooking at the stove.

"Relax, no need to hang around waiting for me to tell you that you can have some. I'm cooking it for you anyway, you need to eat something."

Louise found herself smiling, as she pushed a strand of hair from her face until her hair was down her back, out of the way.

"I hope you're not a vegetarian."

Louise grinned.

"I'll eat just about anything, especially now."

Jim nodded, and as the sausages were thoroughly cooked he began to transfer the food onto a plate for her, and he was even multitasking as toast popped out of the toaster indicating it was ready. He grabbed the toasted bread, and slathered butter on the four slices, before slicing them in half in a pile on a smaller plate. Grabbing the food, he took it into the lounge for Louise putting it on the Coffee table for her to eat.

He wasn't finished then, grabbing a can of Cola from the fridge he put it on the table next to the cutlery already placed out for her.

"Go on then, dig in."

Louise wasted no time, diving onto the couch in front of the plate of food and began to eat in a rush, as if she had never seen food prior to today. Either way Jim didn't care, and began to roll a Spliff of Weed for himself, across from her in a lounge chair.

She spotted him and was surprised, she thought he was all about following the law, and not a breaker of the law. Yet here he was, her hero rolling a Spliff of weed in front of her.

"You're a player, a geezer?"

She asked him, biting into a swollen sausage.

"Do I have to be one to enjoy some Hash?"

Even the way he spoke, he sounded of either the old-school of London or of an old-London upbringing.

Louise laughed, eating away.

"No, I guess you don't."

He had finished rolling the Spliff, and had lit it with a lighter as he began to take a long draw on it, and blow out the smoke gradually.

"You didn't even flinch, when those boys came up on me. Not even when they turned on you."

Jim just smiled, and grabbing a nearby remote turned on the HI-FI Stereo in the corner of the room, and let some Smooth FM play on the radio.

"Those boys, I've dealt with them on a daily basis. They're not tough, they're not gangsters. I've dealt with real gangsters, and they aren't all show or go on talking about gatting' someone. They just do it, without telling the whole bleeding world they're going to do it."

Louise finished the three sausages he had cooked for her, and was now eating the eggs and bacon.

"What is your job? I mean what do you do?"

Jim smiled.

"I'm a bouncer and a security guard, I was watching over a building last night. A long shift."

Louise smiled, she could not believe he was a bouncer or a security guard. She initially thought he was just a good-Samaritan whose day job was in an office or something.

"So you've dealt with people like them, as a bouncer?"

Jim smiled again, as if he knew the punch-line to a joke she was waiting to be told.

"Alright, I'll give you a laugh. A real joke. What job do you think, that I did before I became a bouncer and security guard?"

Louise studied his face, as he puffed away on his Spliff of Weed. She couldn't place him, he seemed tough but the way he was dressed had initially made her think he was an office-drone.

"I don't know, a builder somewhere?"

Jim burst out laughing, almost dropping his Spliff.

"I was a Police officer, here in London for almost four years. I left the service about a year ago, I got my security license and began to work as a bouncer and a security guard."

Louise was the one laughing now, barely able to keep a straight face.

"You're fucking serious! Really? A Copper! A Fed?"

Jim just nodded, drawing on his Spliff.

"Wow, and you're smoking Ganja and you were a copper. I never thought I'd see an ex-cop being so laid back."

Eventually Louise had finished eating, with an empty plate she sat back and saw that Jim was handing her the half-smoked Spliff for her to have a puff on it as well. She took it into her hand and took a long draw on it. It had been weeks since she last smoked some good Weed, and that was when her gang were still in charge on her estate.

"So, do you want to tell me why you're sleeping on buses, without a penny to your name, and no clean clothes to call your own?"

Louise let out the cloud of smoke from her mouth, slowly and gradually as she had practiced over the years smoking it with her friends.

"My mother threw me out, with nothing except the clothes I was wearing and my MP3 player. Not much else to say really, she threw me out on the street."

Jim nodded slowly, surveying her as he watched her face. The Weed was taking hold, and effect on her as she spread her legs open on the couch not caring if Jim was watching. Her saving grace, were the tights she was wearing.

"So what about your benefits? You're eighteen right?"

The effect of the Cannabis was swarming her senses, and she just nodded.

"Well you're entitled to Welfare money, fortnightly now that you're eighteen. Where is that going?"

Louise turned, and with glazed eyes she looked at Jim and spoke.

"My mom made me put it into her bank account, on the fortnightly basis that I was paid it. She told me that I either gave her it, or I was out on the street. So I did."

Jim sighed, and rubbed his face with his hands.

"And what does she spend it on?"

Louise needed another puff, and drew down hard on the Spliff before blowing the smoke gradually from her mouth again.

"She's on the rock, she's been on it for years since I was born. She uses her own dole money, and mine to pay for it."

As Jim had expected, Louise's mother was a junkie and a heavy-user at that. She wasn't content with Weed, she wanted to go for Crack Cocaine itself.

"Well Louise, do you want to fix this problem you have or do you want to keep sleeping on buses?"

Louise woke up from the wonderful world, the Hash was pulling her into when she heard what Jim had said.

"And how the fuck, do I get myself out of this mess that I'm in?"

Jim leaned forward, his hands pressed together and staring at her.

"Your mother is getting money that she is not entitled to. That money is yours by right, now if you were living at home in a better environment and she was taking that money in rent fare enough, but you're not. Now you're going to find a way into your home, get your paperwork, your passport, your national insurance card, and any and all paperwork of yours you can get your hands on. You need all of that, to change the bank account your money is put into. You need all of that to find a job, and to get yourself out of the shit mess you're in right now."

Louise laughed, and without meaning to spread her nylon-clad legs wider because of how high she was at that moment. Jim could see her firm, young eighteen year-old thighs spread open but he was trying to help her, and it was distracting him.

"How do I get into my house, she's locked me out. I have no keys."

Jim just laughed, and stood up.

"Is that what is stopping you from getting your things, a wooden door? Your mother has your belongings, the law states it's not a crime to go in and get your things. Now we can do it with the Police and their assistance, or we can just kick that fucking door in while she's high on the rock and take your things."

Louise sat up and looked at Jim, the man was serious she could see that.

"You're really serious?"

Jim nodded.

"I'm not working tonight, so I have the whole day off tomorrow. But you know as well as I do, you can't live with the clothes you have now. You need your clothes, and everything else that is yours today. When is she usually high-as-a-kite, to the point that she's barely conscious?"

Louise sat up, and put the finished Spliff in the empty plate she had eaten from.

"Usually after 6pm, she gets her fix from her dealer around then. From then on she's out with the fairies, can't get a straight sentence out of her from then on."

Jim nodded.

"We'll go at six then, in my car and I'll break the door down. I'll explain if the cozzars' turn up, that we were breaking in to get your things. You gather your things together, your paperwork and everything you need."

Louise couldn't believe what she was agreeing to, she was actually going to be in control of her own money for once. Her mother was not going to be smoking her welfare money any more. It was all so fast, but she was aware enough to know she had to do this for her own good.

6:35pm, Alexandra Road Council Estate, North-West London

As Jim had promised her, at almost 6pm they had jumped into his small Nissan car and drove to Camden, and to the Alexandra Road estate. He parked up the car near the block of flats she lived in, and they sat together in the darkness of the front seat of his car.

"You sure, you're ready to do this?"

He asked her, and she simply nodded.

"Let's go then."

They locked up the car, and as dusk set in they made their way to the front door of the block of flats. A few youngsters, and boys were standing near the open front door to the building trying to antagonize people going in and out. Jim didn't flinch, as he took Louise's hand and walked her inside as some of the boys complimented her on her body in the clothes she wore.

They went up two flights of stairs, to the floor her mother's flat was on. They walked along the balcony to the front door of the premises, and he looked at her.

"So you're sure she's sleeping off the rock, about now?"

"Yes, she's in dream-fucking land by now."

Jim nodded, and stepped back from the red plastic door, and knew where to hit with his body weight to break the door down. He braced his shoulder, and charged at the door with his full weight putting it into the door, and barged at it. The door shook, and bent at the top and bottom of the door frame, buckling under the weight. Another charge was needed, he stepped back and barged at the door again and this time took the door off its hinges sending pieces of the lock across the floor of the hallway inside.

They both listened, but no one came out to scream at them meaning Halley was still dozing off the drugs she had taken. Louise went into the lounge, and there laid out on the couch almost comatose was her mother, and on the dirty floor at her feet was a pipe, and foil she had used to smoke the drugs. Louise cringed, and looked away not recognizing the mother who once before taking the drugs had put her before anything else in her life.

"Where does your mother keep your paperwork, passport and stuff?"

Jim asked her, and Louise began to recollect.

Her mother had a draw in the kitchen, where she kept all paperwork, letters and such inside including her passport and paperwork from the government welfare offices.

"Kitchen, in one of the drawers."

Jim nodded, and spoke.

"Go into your room, pack everything you want to take with you. Clothes, belongings. It doesn't matter how many bags you pack, I have more than enough space in the car for it. Just pack your stuff, Louise. I'll get your paperwork and stuff."

Louise agreed, and they went separate ways. In the kitchen Jim went searching through the draws of the kitchen counter-tops, and after the second draw found one filled to the corners with piled paperwork and such. A quick rummage through, he found Louise's passport that said she had a year left before it went out of date and she would need a new one issued to her.

He knew how to contact the welfare office, for Louise to have the bank account her money was put into changed to one of her own choosing. He searched through the draw, grabbing every piece of paperwork labelled from the welfare office, and eventually found her national insurance card, and even her birth certificate at the bottom of drawer. Finding nothing else worth taking, as the rest was addressed to Halley he gave up, shoving the things he took into a folder he brought with him.

He went into Louise's room, and surprised himself to find her on her hands and knees with her ass in the air in his sister's denim shorts, and tights as she rummaged under her bed for clothes that she was throwing into a luggage bag.

Jim had to admit she was beautiful, even sexy but he was a good man in his mind and turned away even though he really wanted to keep looking at her behind. Soon enough she was on her feet, having found everything under her bed she wanted and had thrown it into a bag. She then began to empty her cupboard and closet of clothes, and threw it into her bag.

"Grab everything you want to bring with you, you don't know when you'll get another chance to come back. We have what we need for you to sort your life out, now whatever you don't want to leave with her grab it."

Louise nodded, without looking back at Jim.

About ten minutes passed, and two luggage bags were filled with her things. She told him she had everything she really wanted, including almost all of clothes.

He told her to take the folder he had put her things inside, and he would carry the two luggage bags. He put one over his shoulder, and carried the other one as they left the home with Halley still sleeping off her drugs on the couch. They left without waking her, and with the bags in the car they drove back to Jim's house.

It was then as they arrived, and entered the flat Louise finally met Jim's sister Amy.

"Where the fuck have you been? I've been trying to call you for the last hour!"

Amy was a redhead, with pale skin like Louise but like her brother had his eyes. She was quite beautiful, even attractive Louise had to give her credit there. If she wasn't Jim's sister, they would make a good couple together.

Amy wasn't happy, he told Louise to go into the lounge with her bags so he could talk to his sister. She agreed, and left the siblings to argue.

They argued, and spoke for about forty minutes as Louise watched television waiting for them to finish.

Eventually they came into the lounge, Amy had calmed down after her brother had spoken to her. It turned out, after Jim had told Amy why he had helped Louise she had calmed down, understanding he was helping a girl in need.

Jim came to an agreement with Louise, she could stay in their apartment and for a few days she could sleep in Jim's bed, until her money was sorted and with it they could purchase a fold-down bed for her to use perhaps in the front room.

For the rest of the evening, the three of them settled down to a meal and Amy spoke to Louise and eventually she came around to the idea, of helping the girl. Eventually by almost 10pm, Amy had gone to bed and left Jim and Louise alone in the lounge watching some comedy show together.

Louise had taken off the Adidas hooded top, and was sitting in just the black top, the shorts, tights and she had taken off her sneakers. She was relaxed, sat on the couch with Jim in the lounge chair again, with her legs up on the couch she was sitting on them.

"Well I think I better get some sleep, if we're going to sort out the welfare stuff tomorrow. I need a good sleep."

Louise said giggling, as she stood from the couch.