Being Jim Ch. 06: Lessons of Life Pt. 01

Sunday morning I grabbed a couple of shirts, and a pair of jeans, some socks and a couple of pairs of briefs, along with a razor and a toothbrush, and stuffed it all into a book bag. After feeding and watering the animals I headed to town and to my first lesson with Miss Penny and Miss Maggie. The whole drive to town I was lost in thought wondering just what I had gotten myself in to. After parking on the street I grabbed my book bag and walked to the front door, my stomach in knots and it felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. At the door I stood for a few moments and asked myself if I really wanted to do this, finally I reached out my finger and pushed the doorbell button.

It may have been a few moments really but it seemed like forever before the inner door opened and there stood Miss Penny. Those bright blue eyes were sparkling, that infectious smile just beaming. She wore yet another silk robe that clung to every curve of her body and was certainly leaving nothing to the imagination as to exactly where her nipples were on her ample bosom. She pushed open the storm door and ushered me inside.

"Jim, darling, it's so nice to see you. Please, come in." Once inside she closed the door and asked me to follow her upstairs. She noted that I had my book bag and asked if it had my change of clothes and toiletries. I told her I did and she pointed me to the bathroom down the hall from the kitchen. "You can put your toiletries in the medicine cabinet in this bathroom and then we will put your clothes in the guest room." She lead the way to the bathroom and then to the guestroom where she pointed out a small dresser standing next to the closet door. The room was Spartan to say the least, a simple dresser, a small desk and chair and a double bed. "There are linens and towels in the closet on shelves and some hangers if you need to hang any garments."

I pulled open the top drawer of the dresser and it was empty so I put what few pieces of clothing I had with me in that one drawer along with the now empty book bag. Afterwards Miss Penny led me back down the hall to the living room.

"Now Jim, darling, are you ready to begin your first lesson?" She asked smiling coyly.

"Ma'... I mean, yes Miss Penny. That's why I'm here. What would you have me do?" I asked taking a deep breath wondering what was to come.

"Then we will begin. Please have a seat on the couch there and wait till I come for you." She gestured to the couch with her lovely manicured hand with the blood red nail polish gleaming as if it were actually still wet. I walked to the couch and sat nervously on the edge of the seat and waited. Miss Penny walked down the hallway and vanished into one of the bedrooms further past the guest room she showed me earlier. I heard the door close softly. I heard the air conditioner or blower kick on. I heard a noisy car drive past the house out front. I heard one of the neighbors fire up their lawnmower and begin mowing their yard. I heard the grandfather clock at the other end of the couch tick tock tick tock tick tock.

I first looked at my watch maybe after sitting for about five minutes. The next time I looked at my watch it was nearly twenty minutes later. "What the hell?"I thought..."Has she forgotten that I'm here?" I wondered. I was startled a few minutes later when the grandfather clock struck the hour. Looking up I saw that it was now ten o'clock in the morning. Still I heard the tick tock tick tock tick tock... I was fidgeting. I kept leaning back to look down the hallway and see if anyone was coming. I looked around the room studying the decorations and furniture. The knick knacks in a curio cabinet, silk flowers in an arrangement on the coffee table. Oil paintings of impressionist renditions of tall thin ladies in long elegant gowns and big floppy hats with long cigarette holders walking with furs and men in tuxedos... Geisha's in full white paint and ornate kimonos. I'm sure it all meant something to someone but to me they were just idle curiosities at best. From one of the bedrooms down the hallway I heard what I thought was giggling, then a slap. And still I waited. "Really?" I thought. "I thought I was supposed to learn something here. Is this a joke or something?" I was starting to get a little pissed now.

I'm normally a pretty patient guy but this was starting to annoy me. Give me something to do and I'll do it. Give me something to study and I will. But just waiting around for who knows what? I drummed my fingers on my knees. Ten fifteen... Ten Twenty... Ten thirty... Ten forty... I was just about ready to stand up and let myself out of the house but then I heard a door open down the hallway. I didn't lean back to look this time but sat up a little straighter and tried to compose myself. Moments later I heard the door to the bathroom close and the faucet in the sink turn on briefly then turn off again. Silence... then the unmistakable sound of the toilet flushing. Again the faucet in the sink ran... and stopped. Then the door opened and I heard whispering footsteps treading on the carpet then stopped at the kitchen doorway. I looked up and it was Miss Maggie. She stood there in a shiny blood red robe trimmed in black with a black sash belt tied about her waist. Her raven dark hair contrasting with the red of the robe and the pale white of her skin as she stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. She cocked her head slightly to one side and looked down the hallway then back at me and smiled before she proceeded into the kitchen.

Again I just sat there. I was a little bit put off but a whole LOT getting pissed that I was still sitting and waiting for who knows what to begin. Looking at my watch I realized that I'd been sitting on the couch waiting for Miss Penny to come back for an hour and forty five minutes at this point. I could hear what sounded like water being run into a kettle in the kitchen and a cabinet opening and a drawer being pulled open with the clinking of silverware. The sound of a spoon in a porcelain cup is unmistakable. Once more I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm myself and thought that I would wait five more minutes at which point I would have to ask for an answer from someone or just excuse myself and leave. At the three minute mark I heard another door down the hallway open up and soft foot falls on the carpet leading towards the living room and kitchen.

I looked up when the soft footfalls stopped at the entry way to the kitchen. There stood Miss Penny with her arms crossed over her ample breast in that same thin robe. Her head turned slightly towards the kitchen but she was looking sidelong at me with one eyebrow raised and a thin smile on her face. In a moment she was joined by Miss Maggie who handed her a steaming mug of something with the spoon still in it. Miss Penny nodded to Miss Maggie and went on into the kitchen. Miss Maggie smiled at me and walked over and sat down next to me on the couch.

"You passed your first exam." She smiled and patted me on my right knee.

"Exam?" I asked dumfounded. "What exam?"

"Jim, what did Penny say when she had you take a seat on the couch?" She asked me smiling sweetly but those coppery orbs burned a hole in me forcing me to give all my attention to her.

I looked at her as if I were missing something... "She asked me to have a seat here on the couch, and wait for her to come for me... I thought she was going to give me something to study or some task to perform or... I don't know..." I trailed off, confusion evident in my reply.

"Precisely... you were to wait for her here on the couch until she came for you. Did she say how long she would be?" Maggie asked those dark eyebrows hiking up towards her hairline in silent questioning.

"No ma'am... No Miss Maggie, she didn't." I admitted.

"So what was the purpose of having you wait?" she nudged verbally.

"She wanted to see if I would obey her direction?" I offered, and then thought better of it and it was like a light bulb went on over my head and I smiled sheepishly for the first time in nearly two hours. "She was testing my patience." I looked up into those coppery eyes of Maggie's to see them gleaming with something akin to pride or joy I'm not sure which. She smiled brightly and patted my knee again before standing up. She offered her hand and had me rise up off the couch and led me to the kitchen where Miss Penny was sitting with her chair skewed to the kitchen table, her right elbow resting on the table top with a folded newspaper in her right hand and her coffee or tea cup in her left hand as she sipped from it. Her right leg crossed over her left with her silk booty'd foot twitching idly and she glanced over the rim of her cup and winked at me. Miss Maggie had me sit at the end of the table between Penny and herself across the table.

"Would you like some tea Jim?" Maggie asked as she sat down.

"No ma'am..." I hung my head and sighed. "I mean No Miss Maggie, thank you." I looked at Penny as she chuckled a bit. I had my hands clasped together in front of me on the table top, mostly to keep myself from fidgeting. Maggie reached out and covered my hands softly with her right hand. The long elegant fingers tapering down to shiny polished nails the same blood red color as Miss Penny's.

"Are you upset with Penny Jim?" Maggie glanced again at Penny.

"No, I guess not..." I voiced softly but trailed off not knowing exactly what to say. I was still a bit ticked off but realized now that I was being tested.

"Well darling, what she did was a bit rude, if it were anything but a lesson. It was a lesson however and we need to talk about it." Maggie smiled and nodded to Penny.

"Jim darling, do you know why I had you sit and wait on the couch for me?" Penny asked softly and smiled sweetly over the brim of her cup before she took another sip waiting on my answer.

"I don't know for certain, but I get the feeling you were testing my patience, or that and to see if I could follow instructions." I offered meekly looking down at my hands. A delicate hand tipped with blood red glossy nails slipped softly over mine, I looked up following up the arm to Miss Penny's smiling face.

"Jim, it was a test, and you passed marvelously. You have demonstrated that you do have patience, much more than many young men your age, and you also showed me, us..." she glanced at Maggie before continuing. "That you do follow instructions. I'm sorry if I we upset you but we had to gauge your willingness to learn. I'm afraid that you will find, if you choose to continue with our lessons, that you will be tried and tested frequently. You will question our methods and perhaps our intent. Now, one more important question before we go any further." Penny looked again to Maggie as if to cue her to continue.

"Jim, darling, we offered to instruct you and teach you about how girls think, and to work on your self confidence. To do this we will need two things from you, first, your trust. Do you think you can trust Penny and I?" Maggie asked looking me dead in the eyes awaiting my honest response. I felt like time suddenly stopped. So many questions and thoughts racing through my mind but in the end the overwhelming desire to understand outweighed even my own uncertainty.

"Yes ma'am, I trust you, both." I nodded and I felt Penny's hand grip the two of mine, so I glanced at her as well and found her smiling brightly with those bright blue eyes filled with delight. Then I paused remembering that Maggie just spoke of two conditions. "But... what was the other thing you needed from me?" I asked hesitantly looking from one to the other. Maggie spoke up.

"The other thing is your discretion Jim. The "lessons" we offer to our students, like you, are private and would be embarrassing for our students and possibly for us as well should it become common knowledge. And we have our jobs to consider, or at least Penny does. I'm retired now, but we must maintain our privacy." Maggie spoke studying my face intently to see if I understood what she was saying. I held her gaze and told her I did understand what she meant, at least about being discrete. As for understanding what the need for that discretion might imply I was as yet clueless.

"Oh that is wonderful Jim! I just knew that you would be a good student. I had a feeling about you when I first met you, and everything I've learned about you so far has only reinforced that impression. Now, I have an assignment for you. Call it homework if you will." Penny gushed and then looked across the table at Maggie for a silent confirmation before continuing. "We both realize that you are very shy by nature and we need to get you past that. We also know that you are very observant so this will not be too much of a stretch for you we think. Your assignment until we see you again will be to practice looking into peoples' eyes when you speak with them. By people of course I mean women, girls. Make eye contact and hold it for as long as you speak with them or they with you. The old saying that "the eyes are the windows to the soul" is not just a figure of speech. You will learn that people will listen to you and will trust you more when you show an interest and respect. They will not even realize that they are doing it either, it's an instinctual very basic response. Observe how they react with you doing this. We will discuss this the next time we see you."

With that Penny uncrossed her legs and stood up from her seat and with her hand drew me to stand as well. Maggie stood up and they both took me by my elbows and walked me to the front door. Penny gave me a peck on the cheek and Maggie squeezed my hand and said.

"Jim darling, remember to call first if you have an hour or so this week. If not we will see you Saturday?" She asked with a smile.

"Yes ma... Maggie, I will both remember and look forward to Saturday." Smiling sheepishly as I made my leave and headed to my truck. I don't remember the drive to work at Dom's but I do remember coming into the store and getting some puzzled looks from the crew on shift as I was a little bit early for my shift. I went ahead and changed into my uniform and then sat down in the back room with one of my psychology text books from my class I had scheduled for this upcoming semester. Finding a chapter on "personal space" I read and found that it echoed some of the things that Miss Penny had spoke of earlier that day. That made me feel good in a way and I decided to apply myself to my "assignment".

I found that although it was difficult for me to get past my natural shyness it was possible for me to actually make and hold eye contact more and more with practice. I also noted that conversations I had seemed to become more meaningful as well. Thanks to Miss Penny, and Miss Maggie's "assignment" I had an epiphany of sorts. I found that I could learn a great deal by watching peoples' eyes when I spoke with them. Much like body language, little tells and cues could give different meanings to the words spoken.

That Thursday morning I had been scheduled to open at Dom's for the lunch business but when I arrived at the shop at 10:30 I found that someone had over scheduled and we had too many people for what was needed. I volunteered to take off after I was told that I could pick up a few hours later in the day for the dinner rush. Suddenly with the morning and early afternoon free I thought that I should call the ladies and see about coming by for my next lesson. I called the number that Maggie had given me and waited for someone to pick up. When Maggie answered I explained that I had found myself free for several hours and remembered that she had told me to call ahead if I wanted to stop by to continue my lessons. She thanked me for being thoughtful and told me to come on to the house. When I drove up to the front of their house I saw that Michelle's car was parked out front as well. My stomach got that familiar feeling of butterflies as I walked to the front door and rang the door bell. When the door opened I was greeted with a site that made me pause. I guess I had become accustomed to seeing the ladies in their robes and little else, but there before me stood Miss Penny completely dressed. I took it all in from head to toe. Penny wore a conservative jacket of some sort of wool blend, neutral colored plaid over a white button down blouse, with a below the knee skirt that matched the jacket, White stockings with some sensible low heeled shoes. She looked every inch a school teacher or maybe a librarian as her half frame reading glasses hung from a beaded necklace around her neck.

"Jim darling! How wonderful to see you! Please come in." Penny said as she opened the door and ushered me into the house. "I'm afraid I'm with another student at the present but if you will have a seat on the couch Maggie will be along in a moment." Penny explained as she guided me towards the stairs going up to the living room level. She smiled and turned to go downstairs and through the beaded curtain. Despite my curiosity about what was behind the beaded curtain I climbed the stairs and found a seat on the couch. In a few moments I heard the door to the garage in the kitchen open and someone enter. I also heard what sounded like paper bags being set on the table. About the same time I heard one of the bedroom doors down the hallway open and soft steps on the carpet treading towards the living room. Another surprising sight was beheld, Maggie, like Penny was fully dressed for a change although in a much more familiar outfit to my recollection. Maggie looked much as I remembered her from typing class years ago, a rather unremarkable skirt suit, a dark twill skirt with a lavender button down blouse with her dark stockings and conservative shoes. Her raven dark hair pulled into a tight bun pinned atop her head, her horn rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose seemed to add to the attraction of her molten amber or copper colored eyes. Dark plum lipstick just barely highlighting her wide thin lips but her face lit up as she smiled. Upon seeing her I stood up, automatic response on my part I guess. Seeing this Maggie smiled even more brightly then leaned into the doorway to the kitchen and spoke softly then walked towards me. I had the feeling, as I always did in the company of either Maggie or Penny that I was being scrutinized, studied, and evaluated.

"Forgive me Jim, I'm just wrapping up a session, I won't be but a moment longer." She spoke softly to me before turning towards the kitchen doorway again only to stop short as Michelle stepped through the doorway and stopped upon seeing me standing there.

"Jim... Hi..." Michelle said as she smiled at me then glanced towards Maggie as if looking for a cue or direction.

"Michelle dear, thank you darling I believe that Penny is ready for you downstairs. You will be here Saturday of course won't you?" Maggie said stepping forward and taking one of Michelle's hands in both of hers.

"Of course Maggie, and thank you again. I'll go downstairs now." Michelle said smiling and then looked to me and added. "Good to see you again Jim. See you Saturday?" She asked more as a confirmation than a question. I smiled and merely nodded with my eyes locked to hers. I could have sworn I saw a sparkle there before she turned away and headed down the short stairs to the front door and then on to the lower level.

"Come with me Jim, darling, let's go out and sit on the patio." Maggie said as she reached for and took my right hand and led me through the kitchen to the back door. It was a clear sunny day but it wasn't hot because of a light breeze blowing. As we approached the glass topped table I pulled out a chair for Maggie and was greeted with a gracious nod and a smile. I then took a seat near Maggie as she directed instead of across the table from her. And with that, class began. Maggie asked me if I had been practicing my eye contact and if I had made any observations. I explained about my discovering that I could begin to read people's emotions in their eyes and get deeper meaning in their words as a result. All the while of course I was keeping eye contact with Maggie, forcing myself not to look away even as much of my nature wanted to out of shyness. We must have talked for nearly an hour before there was a pause. Maggie studied me, looking into my eye intently before asking.