Mailgirls on the Run Pt. 11

"Ms Brooks, I will be reporting this to the fifth floor."

"Please do."

The only feedback Megan received was a note from Bob Starnes saying that Mr Dawlish would prefer that she and Ms Barnes work out their differences without sending them up to senior management. Otherwise her week proceeded as normal. Mr Fforde took Fourteen to the train station Monday afternoon and the rest of the mailgirls did their hour runs on the treadmills throughout the week. It was Thursday afternoon when things went off the rails.

Megan was deep into researching a new investment proposal when she was interrupted by a naked woman. Mailgirl Seven said, "Ms Brooks, you are required urgently in the Executive Conference Room. Ms Barnes and Mr Holt would like your assistance."

Megan could blow off Ms Barnes, but Mr Holt was a different story so she saved her notes and locked her screen before heading off to the fifth floor.

She entered the conference room where she saw Mr Holt seated at one end of the table and Ms Barnes standing facing a middle aged man in a well tailored gray suit that didn't match his red face. Ms Barnes looked to the open door and seeing Megan said, "Here's Ms Brooks. She seems to be in charge of your sister these days. I suggest you speak to her." Then Ms Barnes brushed by Megan and exited the room.

"Mr Holt, could you fill me in?"

"This is Mr Paul Hyland, CEO of Precision Tools in Massachusetts. He is inquiring about his sister. Mr Hyland, this is Ms Brooks; she is a financial analyst and also the co-Director of the SG&T Racing Team which is her connection to your sister. Mr Hyland has demanded that we produce his sister and he seems to be planning to take her away."

"Wouldn't Mr Fforde be more appropriate for this discussion than me?"

"Mr Fforde has taken the day off and is not responding to texts, emails, or phone calls."

"You need to produce my sister immediately. Otherwise, my next step is to go straight to the authorities."

"Mr Hyland, Maria is not on site at the moment. She recently signed an extension to her contract that places her in a part time status. The local authorities are fully cognizant of SG&T's employment practices and our policy is to allow employees in her position to initiate contact, but barring a court order their contact information is not provided to outside parties."

"If she is not here, I demand that you tell me where she is. I am not an outside party, I am family."

"If you leave your contact details we can pass them on to Maria. It will be up to her if she wishes to reach out. I will note that I met with her mother, Dr Rodriguez, two weeks ago and I subsequently learned that she met with Maria during her non-work time. She knows how to contact Maria during those days. I suggest you speak with her."

"My sister cannot possibly have any interest in working here in a menial position. What hold do you have on her?"

"Maria signed an employment contract with SG&T and both parties are honoring the terms of that contract. Since she began part time status she has reported to work on schedule and I expect that she will continue to do so for the length of her employment."

"But this is white slavery."

"Actually our twenty-four mailgirls are a diverse group though granted they are all female, young, and attractive. Think of airline stewardesses in our grandparents time. Would you like to meet a mailgirl?"

"Yes."

"Mr Holt, can you call Mailgirl Twenty to join us. As a senior executive Mr Holt is able to request a specific mailgirl, most employees requesting a mailgirl's service get whichever mailgirl the system assigns to the task, usually the closest available woman."

"And those services are..."

"Mailgirls deliver messages, documents, physical mail, and office supplies as needed. Studies have shown that the employment of mailgirls increases the efficacy of the entire workforce."

The door to the conference room was opened by a busty brunette of medium height wearing wire-rimmed glasses.

"Twenty, come here and I'll clock you in." The mailgirl held out her MMU to Megan who noted, "sixteen seconds to the good. Where was that speed when we were holding running trials?"

Twenty then stepped back, feet set shoulder width apart, back slightly arched to better display her breasts, eyes downcast.

"Knees."

Twenty gracefully sank down onto her widespread knees, hands behind her back, gaze lowered.

"That is the basic resting position for mailgirls. Mailgirl Twenty has a master's degree in Art History and was working as a teaching assistant at a very good school when she applied to become a mailgirl. She's been here for just over a year working for minimum wage, time and a half for overtime. Mailgirls never just work a forty hour week. She is fed and housed in addition to her monetary compensation and she has comprehensive health coverage through the bank at no cost to her.

"Toes."

The mailgirl rose up onto tiptoe with her hands clasped behind her neck.

"Turn."

She spun about to face away from the other three who now could see the welts across her shapely bottom.

"You missed the daily punishment session Mr. Hyland. It's very popular. Twenty was one of three mailgirls that was bent over in the courtyard at lunchtime and chastised for excessive demerits. She then ate her lunch -- a scientifically balanced nutritious blend that looks and tastes like dog food -- out of a bowl on the floor of the employee's dining room. Such is a mailgirl's life. This is what your sister has endured for the past two years and only now have you come to look for her. I suspect your motive is other than looking out for her welfare."

Mr Holt rose "That's quite enough Ms Brooks. I'm sure Mr Hyland understands now. As Ms Brooks said, Dr Rodriguez will be able to tell you how to get in contact with your sister outside of her employment here."

Megan returned to the office to find Charlotte chatting with Madison. The redhead tossed off a last comment and followed Megan to her desk.

"I was wondering if you're up for dinner again this evening. Anthony's got some farewell bash for one of his co-workers transferring out and I'm not psyched to fight my way across the Potomac to an empty house. And what's got you into a state?"

"I just got called up to the fifth floor to meet with Mailgirl Fourteen's brother. He's demanding to see her and not only does the bank not allow mailgirls to have visitors, but she's not even here today."

"But, aren't SG&T mailgirls 24/7?"

"Yes, however mailgirls Thirteen through Eighteen's contracts expire within the next several weeks and both Fourteen and Fifteen were among the top five in the time trials. So, Fourteen signed an extension to allow her to work four days a week for the rest of the year while attending college the other three days. Fifteen is currently at a seminar at MIT. She's transferring to Chicago, but not until after the race. Fourteen's been taking on-line classes for the past year and this way she'll be able to finish her degree in the spring. I'll fill you in on her saga over dinner."

"So, why did they call you up to explain things to her brother?"

"It's Ms Barnes job, but she apparently sold Mr Holt on the idea that she has an 'adversarial relationship' with Fourteen -- I wonder why -- and that I was a better choice to talk to about her. It made no sense to me and I rather lost my temper with Mr Hyland; my understanding is that he and his brother have some issues with their step-mother, Fourteen's mother, but I'll bring you up to date on all things Mailgirl Fourteen at dinner."

"Sounds like this isn't a conversation that we want to carry on in a crowded restaurant. How about I pick up dinner and meet you at your place? How does Indian sound?"

"I'll give it a try, not a lot of Indian restaurants in Iowa."

"England is overrun with Indian restaurants and curry is more popular than fish and chips. I'll pick up something not too extreme. See you about 6:30?"

Megan had just started towards the front door of her building when she saw Charlotte pull up in a BMW Z3. It looked like special assistants made more than financial analysts or maybe just had different spending priorities. Charlotte walked towards her with a carrier bag in one hand and a six pack of beer in the other.

"I even found British beer to complement the meal."

Megan disappeared into her bedroom to change while Charlotte unpacked the carry-out containers. She emerged to find the other woman rooting through her kitchen cabinets.

"Your glassware collection is sadly deficient, just tumblers and wine glasses. You do have a bottle opener don't you?

"I haven't patronized this restaurant before, but these choices usually aren't too spicy. Just go easy with the beer, Old Peculier is potent stuff."

"Where to start with Mailgirl Fourteen? Maria Hyland is in her mid-thirties and grew deeply depressed when she was unable to carry a child to term. She lost several pregnancies and having kids was important to both her and her lawyer husband. Divorce sent her even deeper. Her ex's old law school buddy Colin Fforde decided turning her into a mailgirl was appropriate shock therapy. It seems to have worked and then Fforde arranged for her to take on-line college courses -- she had dropped out to marry her lawyer -- using a terminal in the law library where he could keep an eye on her. He also put forward the scheme to convert to part-time after she made the running team so that she could start taking classes on campus while extending her contract to the end of the year.

"I got pulled into it when Maria wanted to get some distance between her and Fforde; Mailgirl Ten asked for my help. Maria had dropped out of Mount Holyoke, Lin Chang -- formerly Mailgirl Seven and now a professor at Hood -- is a Mount Holyoke alumna, and with that connection Maria is now at Hood, bunking with Lin three days a week. I put her on the commuter train to Frederick Monday evening and Lin handles the other end and then sends her back Friday morning.

"Maria had just gone off to orientation when her mother stopped by the bank to introduce herself. She was recently named to SG&T's board and is a sorority sister of Mrs Soames. She kicked Soames out of his office to talk to Mailgirl Ten and me about Maria. She's just stepped down as Director of Research at the family firm which is now headed by the step-son that came looking for his sister today. After thoroughly impressing/terrifying me she drove up to Hood where she hobnobbed with the college president before meeting up with her daughter."

Megan had cleaned her plate and opened up a second Old Peculier while disgorging Maria's history.

"Mailgirl Ten?"

"Mailgirl Ten is an HR professional that was co-opted as a mailgirl and then went on to sign up for a second two year contract. She still has good contacts in HR and does her best to take care of the other mailgirls. Human Resources has issues with Human Capital and they're unofficially willing to help Mailgirl Ten work around Ms Barnes. When Fforde came up with his college/contract extension scheme Mailgirl Ten arranged for HR to send me Maria's resume and transcripts, via mailgirl, of course.

"Today, before I left work, I tried to call Maria, but it just went to voice mail. So I called Lin and found that Maria was heading off to dinner with Mr Fforde. Lin said that Maria had her take her clothes shopping in Frederick yesterday to find a dress for dinner tonight. Fforde has a long history with Maria so I'm not surprised by the dinner invite; I'm a bit shocked that Maria seems so eager."

"So you're a former mailgirl and training mailgirls to run; I would have thought that you would be doing your best to put as much distance between you and mailgirls as possible. Why not take a job elsewhere?"

Megan sighed, "Of the eleven mailgirls that completed their two year contracts four quit SG&T, one transferred to the San Francisco office, and three signed up for another two years. Mailgirl Three had been Mr Soames secretary/mistress and she returned to those roles, Susan Allen went back to the Med Center, and then there's me. Two months before the end of my contract Human Capital brought on Mailgirls Nineteen through Twenty-four and I was appalled to find that Mailgirl Twenty-two is my sister. She applied for the job. My dad is a college professor, my mom runs a web design business; they have two children. The older was an honor student, an athlete, a well-behaved and rather boring child. The younger rebelled early and often and is a self-described party girl. My parents spent nearly two years vacillating between crying at me and lading me with guilt. After Samantha became a mailgirl they blamed me and and stopped taking my calls until Sam declared that she wouldn't call them if they didn't talk to me. So, I stayed here at SG&T to keep an eye on her. Too many of my co-workers can't get past seeing me as a degraded, naked courier and it's been hard. I honestly don't know what I'll do when Sam's contract is up."

"I think I'm going to invite myself to spend the night. I need to meet Maria. Besides when I tell Anthony that I slept with a mailgirl he's going to be so envious; I expect that to lead to some great sex tomorrow when we meet up. Is it true that all mailgirls are or become lesbians?"

Megan sighed. "Of SG&T's original twenty-four only Mailgirl Twelve was an avowed lesbian. But then we embarked on two years of nudity and non-stop degradation with enforced no relationships between mailgirls and the rest of the workforce. For two years we were pretty much non-stop sexually stimulated and in desperate need of consolation, available only from the other twenty-tree mailgirls who were the only ones we were allowed physical contact with and the only ones who understood what we were going through. There is a lot of promiscuous girl-on-girl action and some deep long term pairings. Four went off with Twelve to San Francisco. One and Seven look to be settling into a committed relationship, Lin now has Maria as a housemate three days a week and Nurse Allen on the weekends. Oh, and there's Eighteen who Maria's mom outed as Mrs. Soames kept woman.

"That being said, I'm offering you my guest room, not my bed. I'm still trying to figure my life out."