Mailgirls on the Run Pt. 14

/* After far too long an interval here is the penultimate segment of this story. As noted before you need to have read (and remember) at least part one (published nearly !five! years ago) for this to make any sense at all. With one week to go before the big race.... */

Chapter Twenty

Friday began with Megan at the MARC station waiting to pick up Maria. She was getting tired of providing a taxi service for mailgirls, but then that led to guilty feelings of not wanting to help fellow mailgirls, but how much was too much and then finally she spotted the tall brunette striding towards her little hatchback.

"You know if you weren't here waiting for me I'd just call an Uber and go right back to college. I know that I said brave words about finishing what I started, but really."

"And I was feeling aggrieved about having to pick you up. Just today and next week and then if you tell me after the race that you're not coming back I might feel good about that. The only thing that stops me from cheering you on is the fear of what Ms Barnes would mete out to the other twenty-three who can't afford to walk away. We are a pair.

"We're going to run an 8k time trial tomorrow to let you experience a race situation instead of the endless training. I've recruited some of the women from the Roadrunners Club to provide some competition. It won't be the same as racing against hundreds of others, but lack of race experience is our weakness. Today is Fifteen's last day, tomorrow she'll run as Amanda Peterson. Also the new Mailgirl Thirteen will run tomorrow, she was a high school track star."

Megan had a productive day and she firmly put away all thoughts of mailgirls - well, she did notice that Fifteen was on punishment detail, on her last day, even - until Jeremy called late in the afternoon.

"Megan, there's been a change to the schedule of the Corporate Challenge."

"They haven't changed the date have they?"

"No. Due to the unprecedented number of entries we'll be running two races. The men go off at 8:30 a.m. next Sunday followed by the women at ten. Just about every firm and entity that has fielded a team some time in the past will be here next week, plus nearly as many first time entries. Also, the teams from some of the larger firms and agencies will be huge. The inclusion of mailgirls stirred up a lot of interest. We're making plans to have off-site parking at the industrial park down the road with shuttles to bring the runners here. It's a little crazy."

"How much of this is due to mailgirls and how much to the likelihood of camera crews? Well, we can credit mailgirls for bringing those in as well. A separate women's race should cut down on the amount of mid-race molestation we can expect. I was wondering how many men would be tempted to cop a feel as they catch up to a naked woman. I do expect most of our mailgirls to be faster than a substantial number of the men, especially those lured out to run by the promise of female nudity."

"Abercrombie, the Chief of Security, was pleased to hear about the split. He was worried about protecting the girls in the mob. This will make his folks' job easier. We'll have County and Park Police doing traffic and crowd control along the paths and road through the park. It will cost everyone a few more hours of overtime."

"Well, it's certainly driving up name recognition for SG&T, but do we really want to flaunt our reputation as the bank with naked women?"

"That question is above our pay grade. I haven't heard any rumblings from the fifth floor or the Board, so it would seem they still believe that mailgirls are a positive investment."

Megan met Amanda - previously known as Mailgirl Fifteen -- in the lobby shortly after 6 p.m. The stocky blonde was standing by the rail overlooking the stairway down the the lower ground floor and the glass walls of the Mailgirl Locker Room. She had a suitcase beside her and a garment bag draped over the railing.

"How does it feel and how did you manage to earn your way into Punishment Detail today?"

"It's surreal. Even after that week at MIT, I'm not sure that I really believe it - standing here looking down at them" gesturing to the several naked women visible through the glass walls. "As for my final 'six of the best' that was inevitable after my send-off last night. Being teased to orgasm for multiple hours with no way to escape leaves you exhausted in the morning after. I'm sure you remember."

"I do, which is why the ritual is usually practiced Friday or Saturday night, but with you jetting off last week..."

"I never made a single delivery on time this morning and never spent more than thirty seconds on a mat between runs. I'm sure that was not a coincidence."

"Well, let's get you out of here and look forward to a relaxing evening and a good night's sleep before tomorrow's run. Then you'll have a week to rest up before the race. We need to stop at a running store on the way to my condo to pick up shoes for Thirteen. And if you don't have running clothes in your suitcase, something for you to wear unless you plan to go with your mailgirl persona tomorrow."

Amanda settled into Megan's spare room after a pleasant dinner together. She emerged to join her hostess in front of the television to watch Fox 5's Special Report. It was being aired in two parts straddling the ten o'clock newscast.

The broadcast opened with an artful shot of the pack of mailgirls starting off in the time trial, shown from behind thus avoiding full frontal nudity on the airwaves. Tiffany Ambergris, thin, blonde, improbably busty - 'perfect mailgirl material' Amanda commented - began, "Next Sunday we will see the collision of two worlds. The Corporate Challenge is a little known local competition between joggers representing various local companies and agencies. It has never gotten any notice in the media and most of the employees in the companies that field teams have never heard of it. This year, however, is different as Sloan Guaranty and Trust, notorious for employing naked women as in-house messengers known as mailgirls will be represented by some of those naked women in the race. These are their entries" - the screen switched to a grid of headshots - "known only as Two, Three, Four, Five, Twelve, Fourteen, Fifteen, Twenty-two, and Twenty-three.

Megan and Amanda both gasped upon seeing their faces on the screen. "Those are cropped from our ID photos, how did they get those? And Sarah?"

"To take part in this race these women venture out of the SG&T building onto a course that runs from the bank passing through the nearby county park." The background now showed the start of that time trial in August, segued to a shot of the line of women running along the park road, and then Mailgirl Four striding into the finish to the cheers of the crowd of spectators. The clip ended as Megan and Fourteen approached the finish. The video had been artistically blurred to obscure the appropriate parts of the nude women's bodies. "SG&T is hosting this year's race and is responsible for laying out the course. We asked both the County and the Parks Commission about this and received only a written reply that the proper permit had been issued for the event on 12 October.

"We interviewed the leader of SG&T's women's team just before this run" and once again they aired Tiffany's brief interview with Megan. "SG&T has declined to make Ms Brooks available for a follow-up interview. Further investigation turned up a Megan Brooks listed in the results of some local races over the past few months including last weekend when she was representing the Montgomery County Road Runners. We have been unable to confirm that this is the Megan Brooks working with the nude mailgirls at SG&T."

The rest of the first half hour included interviews with representatives of multiple local running groups answering questions about their reaction to the inclusion of nude women into the upcoming race as well as community activists. The one overriding response was that there was much more interest in participating in the Corporate Challenge. Jeremy, SG&T's Community Relations lead, confirmed there were a record number of entries. There was even a brief clip of someone from the Fox station in Chicago asking SG&T's CEO about the mailgirls.

"That's Charlotte's cousin Ben, he doesn't look all that old" Megan commented.

The segment concluded with an interview with Megan's college track coach. "Of course I remember Megan. She ran all four years, qualified for Nationals twice, captained the track team her junior year. That was an exceptional group of young women. She graduated with honors then went off to grad school."

Amanda let out a breath, "That wasn't too bad. I could have done without the headshot identifying me as Mailgirl Fifteen and you and Two were included as well. I wonder who provided the photos to the tv people?"

"Well, seeing as Sarah and I were pictured it wasn't Jeremy. I expect that the IT department and maybe Security will be looking into it. But, we can't breathe easy yet, there's another half hour after the news."

An hour later, later than Megan really wanted to stay up considering she needed to be up early the next morning to run, the special report resumed with a warning that there would be nudity shown.

"You've described Megan as a team leader and a mentor to the younger runners. Did your opinion of her change when you learned that she had become a Mailgirl?"

Coach Marsden looked grim, "We were all shocked, that didn't fit with the young woman that we knew. We concluded that it said more about the bank than it did about Megan. I don't know that anyone here has talked to her since she moved to Washington. She donated generously to the Alumni Fund last year, but that's been the only interaction between her and the college that I know about."

"She's now coaching a team of mailgirls for a ten k race. Has she reached out to you for advice?"

"As I said, I don't know anyone at the college that has talked to her in the past three years. I'm sure she'll do a fine job with her team. She will understand the pressures that they are under just as she empathized with the younger students on the team here as they adjusted to college life."

The report then switched to the time trial back in August with Megan and eight mailgirls on the starting line. Peering closely at the tv she noted that they had artistically blurred the view of crotches and nipples while showing the nudity of the eight women. The camera crew had remained in the SG&T parking lot so they showed the runners including Megan at the beginning and end of each lap. She wondered if any wives and girlfriends would cry shame on the men in the crowd cheering, leering, at the mailgirls. Brendan was clearly identifiable as he handed her a cup of water at the end, nearly a minute before the first mailgirl finished. The race coverage concluded with a closeup of Mistress V paddling the last three finishers as they leaned over one of the water tables.

Tiffany reappeared on the screen saying, "None of these mailgirls made the team for the Corporate Challenge. Miss Brooks will be leading a different group:

"Mailgirl Three, out of the Marketing Department" - the full nude body id photo displayed behind the reporter.

"Mailgirl Four, a one-time Financial Analyst" - her photo now on display as Three's was shrunk down to the upper left hand corner of the screen.

"Mailgirl Twelve, formerly a bank-teller; Mailgirl Fourteen, a divorcee from Texas; Mailgirl Fifteen, another Financial Analyst soon relocating to Chicago; and Mailgirl Twenty-two, a recent college graduate from New York." Each got the full-body shot displayed to the right of Tiffany before being relegated to the lineup on her left.

"Ms Brooks is not SG&T's only more conventionally clothed entry, but the fortunes of SG&T's team are expected to rest on the speed of the half-dozen mailgirls. The slowest runners in the race we witnessed were subjected to 'the agony of defeat' - does that fate await the team next weekend?"

Amanda was livid. "I'm going straight to HR on Monday, they need to find out who gave those photos and identifications out. That's just not right, I'm not a mailgirl any longer."

Megan was more introspective. "I don't know when they put together this report, but they are behind the times: you are no longer a mailgirl and Four won't be running. No mention of Twenty-three, either. I can't believe that Jeremy or anyone else in Community Relations was their source. Bob Starnes and I will complain to the Fifth Floor. Or maybe Charlotte can get to the bottom of this.

"Well, we've got a time trial tomorrow morning. I'm going to bed."

Megan had barely gotten settled in when her phone sounded off with the ring tone she'd assigned to her parents - not one that she'd heard often in the past three years.

"Dad is Mom okay?" Why else would he be calling her at this hour - well, an hour earlier in Iowa.

"Your mother is fine, Megan. We just finished watching a half hour 'Special Report' on mailgirls and the Corporate Challenge. What have you gotten yourself into now?"

"Well, if you watched the report, I think Tiffany laid it out pretty well. I have to state that this wasn't my idea. Community Relations offered to host the race and then the Fifth Floor - that's where the executives that manage the Maryland office live - decided that we needed to field a competitive team. They transferred in a couple of men from Chicago and San Francisco, but had trouble finding women runners willing to make the move. Then someone realized that our top female finisher in last year's race was a former mailgirl - that is to say, me - and I was directed to select and train a team of mailgirls to compete for the honor of good old SG&T."

"So you've been leading a group of naked women running through the streets?"

"Our Maryland office is located in a suburban office park that abuts a county park. The course runs around and through the parking lot and out onto the park road for a short stretch. The time trials and subsequent training have all been early on a Saturday or Sunday and both the bank's security people and the police have been there whenever we ventured outside. The mailgirls are only formally training twice a week. They get plenty of exercise in the course of their duties."

"We only saw Samantha when they showed the headshots at the beginning. Did we miss her?"

"No, the trial they filmed comprised eight mailgirls who did not make the team. Sam ran the next day without news cameras in attendance. Where did you see the report?"

"It was aired by the Fox affiliate in Chicago."

"Well, if they air the second half hour, there are full body shots of each of the team members and Sam is identified as a recent college grad from New York. She's been doing really well in training."

"Are you okay?"

"I really didn't need this, my hope was that everyone would forget that I was a mailgirl. Now everyone at work has been reminded of my past and it's spreading out into the community. Plus, I'm constantly clashing with Human Capital about their treatment of the mailgirls on the running team. I'll be so glad when the race is over and done with and life gets back to normal - well, as normal as it gets working for a bank employing naked women."

"We'll wait up for the second part of the report."

"And I'm going to bed. It's up early again tomorrow for one last run with the mailgirls before the race. It was good to talk to you, Dad."

"And you, Megan. Good night."

Amanda was not interested in rolling out of bed the next morning. "No, it's the weekend, I don't have to get up early."

"We're running a time trial today, you can sleep in for another half hour if you don't want eat anything before running."

"Fine, just let me sleep."

Half an hour later Megan walked back into her guest room, flipped the ceiling light on and pulled the covers off the naked form of the former Mailgirl Fifteen.

"There is no sense in me running today, I'm too tired and too sore. Mistress V laid those six on extra hard."

"Yes, well, and I can use your performance today as an argument to lay off corporal punishment for the others this coming week. We won't mention your send-off Thursday night."

Megan and the reluctant Amanda pulled into the SG&T parking lot at 7:30 and spied several women stretching near the stairs leading up to the front entrance. "It looks like Shayla came through with her promise to recruit some friends to run with us today."

Megan walked up to the trio of women. "Good morning, Sharon, thanks for coming out to help us today." She looked at the other two, "I'm Megan Brooks, I was assigned to select and train a group of mailgirls to run the the Corporate Challenge next week. This is Amanda Peterson, another SG&T analyst. Is anyone else coming, do you know?"

An older brunette straightened up and said, "I'm Jenn. Shayla and I teach together. She and three other women headed off with a redhead - Carla?- to jog the 3k loop."

"That would be Charlotte, she started here about a month ago because her Air Force husband was transferred into the area."

The third woman who looked to be a teenager to Megan spoke up, "I'm Hilarie. I know Shayla from the roadrunners.

"Thank you for coming. Most of our mailgirls were not runners and next Sunday will be their first official race. We ran time trials to select a team from among the mailgirls here, but all of their running has been in a small group of women they know. You'll be the first non-employees or ex-employees that they've competed against.

"I'm going into the Mailgirls Locker Room to get them ready to come out. Access to the locker room is limited, but you can follow me into the lobby and look down if you like."

Hilarie inquired, "Can you really see the mailgirls showering from outside?"

"The tables against the railing are always occupied. Many employees arrive early to order coffee and watch the mailgirls prepare for the day. The coffee shop does several times the morning business of the average Starbucks or other coffee chain that you might favor."

The three women followed Megan into the building and stopped in the lobby while she continued down the staircase to the level below. Two mailgirls were visible beneath the shower heads and another was perched on a shelf, legs spread wide as she shaved her public area. Two more women entered the glass enclosed area from a door in the back wall. All were completely, gloriously nude as advertised.

Jenn wondered, "Are any of those women the ones we'll be running with today?"

They watched Megan swipe her id card at the exterior door and walk through the locker room and then disappear through the back door. They continued staring at the sight below, oblivious to the growing crowd in the lobby. Megan re-emerged into the locker room followed by several women who were all carrying something. Still more women entered from the back door and then Megan turned and led half a dozen mailgirls out of the locker room and up the stairs. Sharon, Jenn, and Hilarie were agog -- reading about mailgirls just didn't convey the reality of six naked women trailing behind their fellow Roadrunner.

Megan led the parade out SG&T's front door, followed by their three guests. The mailgirls moved to either side and helped each other don a web of satin straps supporting their generous breasts. They then slipped on barely there shoes onto their feet - all except one woman who had no breast strapping and wore more conventional shoes and footie socks.

Hilarie asked the odd girl out, "Why are you different from the other five?"

"I'm new and haven't been given a bra yet. Ms Brooks bought me a pair of running shoes since mine are all in storage."