Mr Computer Cleaner Ch. 05

"But he plays around; I've smelt other women on him when he's come home from a poker night with his friends," Pru said, attempting to keep her smile going and handing Dio his coffee.

"That may well be, but men who become a bit sneaky don't necessarily accept that gives their partner to right to seek a bit on the side."

"Well just let me strip for you."

"Why?"

"You shagged me a few nights after high school graduation – remember?"

Dio colored and said he remembered it well.

"I was in the process of gained some real curves then but only just and rowing and gym work under a qualified trainer at university gave me the figure I wanted and I'm sure a big jump in playing around increased the size of my hips and bust; I now feel I have a very attractive body shape."

"I don't believe you," Dio said.

Pru flushed and asked was that an invitation to strip.

Dio grinned and said, "Please yourself but I'm not going to fuck you and I don't want you touching me – with all that perfume on you Carra won't need to ask me how did I spend my day if I go home smelling of you."

She smiled and put her carry bag on the floor and leaned against her door after unzipping the back of her top. She pulled that off to display a beautiful lacy light blue bra that was very well-filled. Pru reach back and unfastened that and out tumbled two mounds with already stiff nipples that would make anyone lick their lips; Dio didn't because it would only encourage her.

Pru undid the side buttons on her skimpy skirt, lifted and dragged that off. Dio had already observed when she lifted she wasn't wearing panties and her cunt was shaven immaculately, confirmed when the skirt came off and she said back and opened her lips to reveal a first-class pinky. She had great thighs and the lace of her light green self supporting stockings made him swallow. She saw that and smiled, her blue eyes fixed on his unwaveringly.

"What now?" she practically purred.

"It's time for you to dress, go home and be nice to your husband."

"I'm rather steamed up."

"So?"

"You could you finger me into release."

"What, and have Carra smell you – we will be in this vehicle in an hour or so."

"I'll lean over the bonnet of my car; I'll promise not to touch you. Just a three-finger fuck – come on, Dio."

"Pru, I'm sorry but no. You have a lovely lush body and I have greatly admired it. As I said earlier, Dio is a good mate of mine and I won't do anything to end it. You and I will now become close friends because of what's happened here – that is, providing you accept my position. Should I trade a hot little seduction for the price of a friendship of the woman and her husband who's a great guy; I think not."

"You win," Pru sighed, gathering her clothes to start dressing. "Where're my panties."

"You arrived without them," Dio grinned. "They haven't been kept as a souvenir."

"Oh yeah."

"Thanks for the show and being a lady; you have a great pinky."

After she drove off, waving and smiling after driving down a short distance to the turnaround, Dio was left looking at the site and had the money to buy it. The question was did he want it?

That evening he returned with Carra to look at it as the site of their ultimate home, greatly relieved he'd not misbehaved at the same parking spot earlier that afternoon.

"Yes, I would love it here," Carra said, "You should think about selling Alice's property and secure this site. I looked up the history of this land and it was part of her father's farm at the height of his holdings.

"That's really interesting – that has made up my mind. We'll sell and live here eventually but in the meantime live on our work site, as recommended."

"That's my thinking."

They sat in their vehicle, looking down on to the hillock. It was almost nightfall and birds flying in to roost in the river bank trees were greeted shrilly by earlier arrivals. The rippling grass, slow-moving grazing cattle and the openness would be gone once the area was developed, but the dancing leaves of trees on the riverbank reserve, and the multi-hues of the gently flowing river would remain, as would the views of the distant hills, etching the horizon like the cutting blade of a bushman's saw.

Thank you Alice, Dio thought; he wondered if Carra was thinking the same thing.

The next evening the Flemings arrived for early dinner. It was the first time they had visited Dio's home that they knew to call 'Dio's mother's home' if they wished – out of respect to Dio's feelings. Carmen liked that quirky name and had already begun using it. Cal thought it was a silly tag and decided he would avoid saying it whatever the cost.

Carmen was taken on a tour – a brief tour because it was a small house – and she was delighted to find it clean and very tidy. She noticed their wedding photo from Carra's bedroom in their home was now beside the bed here.

After cocktails they remained out on the back terrace where Carra served a pork lion roast prepared and cooked by Dio. Carmen heaped praise on the chef, and although Cal just grunted, he was first to offer his plate when the call for seconds came. Carra's desert was left until later, as everyone agreed they should inspect the farmhouse before dusk.

Carmen and Cal really admired the furniture, but not the dwelling.

"It's seen its best days, I'm glad you're not going to live here, Carmen said to Carra quietly. "Anyway, you'd like a modern home."

As the men went to inspect the outbuildings, the two women sat in the living room, with Carr finding a lovely nutty sherry in the liquor cabinet.

"This room is nice – it's good character and a good feeling to it," said Carmen.

"I'm glad you should say that," said Carra.

"I've contacted a young draughtsman I know at the Council to take photographs and measurements of this room."

"Whatever for?"

"When we build I may wish to replicate this room in memory of our benefactor. Alice may wish to visit us occasionally."

Carmen's eyes widened. "Don't talk like that; you scare me."

"Fine, I won't mention it again. Please forget I said it."

"I will; I will! Now, what's this, about when you build? You haven't said anything about this?"

"I know; we shall take you somewhere after this and all shall be revealed."

Dio and Cal came back in chatting happily. "The two sheds are crammed with stuff, and not all of it is junk," said Dio, covered in dust. "Would you like to drive a cute little MG of late 1970s vintage darling?"

"If it's cute, yes; I do need a car."

"Well, we dug under things and located that. Cal thinks it can't have been put into storage too long ago as there still air in the tires. But, listen to this. Beside it is a 1950s MG TD 11 competition version. Cal says it needs major restoration, but it appears to have been placed there when still in working order as everything is there. He thinks if we market its availability in the right places we should get a great offer for it. On the other hand, I may keep it as our Sunday car."

The women expressed excitement.

"Beautiful young women in stylish clothes look absolutely wonderful in old-fashion sports cars," said Carmen.

"Real men will be looking at the car," quipped Cal, earning himself a pitiful look from both women.

"I'm taking Dio to look at commercial real estate tomorrow," Cal said. His tone indicated that this was a scouting trip best handled by men, and neither woman pressed to be included.

After dinner they went in Cal's four-wheel drive wagon to the waste lands. Dio opened an access gap built into the electric fence and once back into the vehicle asked Cal to drive up the hillock.

"Are you looking for a building site across the river?" he asked. "It floods here, doesn't it?"

"The view of the river is wonderful from here," enthused Carmen. "This would be a wonderful site for a home as it can't be built out, being on this bend in the river."

"We would like to build right where we are now," said Carra. "Tomorrow I begin the push to get consent."

"Here, on flood land?" shrilled Carmen, beginning to change her tune.

"Leave it Carmen," Cal urged. "Neither of them is stupid."

"Quite right, daddy. Our intention is to eliminate all risks but to act courageously," Carra said.

"The chairman of the trust than Dio serves on is the CEO of the Council, and the secretary is a lawyer who specializes in land and building applications hearings before councils and other authorities and appealing decisions in court. These people should be able to assist with advice. I phoned a surveyor late this afternoon and he is very familiar with the area and says the hillock has never been under water and could never be as according to its recorded height on the plan on his wall that he was looking at as we spoke. He said is several meters higher that the highway at the far end of the overflow. If land beyond that were ever to become a secondary overflow, thousands of square miles of low lying plains would absorb the flooding. The highway is in fact built on a stop bank system created way back in the 1930s. How very convenient for us!"

"You'll need collaborating evidence to support your contentions and plea for an exception when you made your application."

"Yes, daddy; as soon as we can establish we have an arguable case, we will have the hillock height checked and what level we would have to build up the seventy yards of access road. Council and newspaper archives will be full of photographs taken over more than 100 years of flooding of the wasteland because it comes so close to the town centre. I shall begin looking for peak level flooding pictures showing the hillock during the worse floods of the more recent decades – 1936, 1954, 1987 and 2003."

"But darling, is it worth it," cooed Carmen. "Think of the expense and worry."

"Good things often don't come easy, or cheaply," Dio said. "The only building sites in town superior to this one are on that strip known as Nob's Hill that look down to the town bridge and wharf and across the river to the botanical gardens and the racecourse. The approach of your smart daughter and me and to look beyond the hard yards and the big expenditure to the finished result – achieving our vision."

"You'd be right there, son," Cal said, stretching, yawning and thinking about that apple pie waiting for him back at 'the house'. "This little knob is great."

* * *

With three Mr Computer Cleaners on call, the advertisements in the newspaper had resumed and radio advertising commenced. The spare bedroom at Dio's mother's home had been converted into a communications centre.

The computerized response gave details of the service offered by Mr Computer Cleaner and notified that the call-out fee was eighty dollars an hour and eighty dollars each subsequent hour. Callers were asked to leave their name, address, telephone number and brief description of the problem.

Carra monitored the incoming calls for the first day on headset, recording where any callers had difficulty with the auto-response calling system and soon it appeared there were many, as a large percentage of callers were old people.

On the second morning of the trial, Dio and the two franchisees listened to some of the recorded incoming calls and Carra's analysis and agreed that a master system was unworkable – that it would be best for each franchisee to employ their own call receiver/accounts person.

It was also agreed that the master franchiser would sell franchises and receive an eight percent administrative/promotion fee from each operator each six months, based on gross returns from audited accounts.

"Well, best to find out the flaws on our opening days, darling," Carra said, not at all perturbed. "I can find work elsewhere."

"That's kind of you, Carra but there is an alternative. We could launch into a regional operation as soon as we secure headquarters. We could do it here from home but that would not impress franchise applicants. Anyway we would run out of room if we experience a growth spurt. Cal and I spotted some buildings that looked possibly suitable the other day but I think I will look again with a real estate agent dealing in commercial property."

"Do you want to risk everything branching out so soon?"

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Well, continue your flood research darling, and could you get the farmhouse valued. Then we will go to see Philip if he really wants to pay market price. He'll obviously get his own valuation done."

"Yes, yes! Let's push the button."

"I really should be going back to work."

"Ha, ha," giggled Carra. You and your one track mind, but at least you are subtle.

"Hmm, now that we are here..."

The next day Carra was earning an income again. Her best woman friend Shauna had installed Carra as receptionist, with the current receptionist achieving her heart's desire – being allowed to sweep the floor of the salon and wash hair, the first step of her training under Shauna's guidance as a hairdresser.

It was Shauna's suggestion that Carra accept the position. They'd been chatting together about Carra's activities prior to the wedding when it was revealed that the bride-to-be had time on her hands. Shauna made her generous offer but was surprised that it produced a surge of new clients. Carra's mother and some of her friends and some of Carra's friends were suddenly adding their names in the appointment books.

Entering the real estate agency on the morning of Carra's return to work, Dio waited until the receptionist with long black hair with an unnatural silver streak through the centre of it finished applying a brush stroke to one of her talons.

"Yes?" she inquired, almost with a yawn. As her gaze rose up over the top of the counter her boredom vanished upon discovering that standing in front of her was a very personable male.

"My, how you are this morning, sir?" she simpered.

She needs a toe into the slats from the boss to get her activated, thought Dio. I hope the salesman's a bit more motivated.

"I phoned Mr Gibbons yesterday and he has said Charlie would be my best bet. He didn't give me a surname so can you steer me towards Charlie please."

An amused look appeared on the receptionist's face. She picked up her phone and said to the person answering, "Someone to see you at reception. A top ten."

A brunette aged in her late thirties came from behind a screen midway down the room beyond reception, dressed in a tight leopard-skin dress and incredibly high-heeled white shoes. She was not particularly developed upfront, Dio observed. Her hips appeared to be rather wide – but the legs, oh the legs. She she'd be sensational viewed from the rear.

A smile radiated from well-lacquered light pink lips.

"Hullo, Mr Wellington. It's a pleasure to meet you." She probably had downgraded him to an eight point five –wondering if he's taken in her legs. Charlie held out a long arm and Dio noted a manicurist had been expensively at work. He was perplexed, being under the impression that real estate sales people tended to look like aged retired farmers or dissatisfied school teachers if male, or mums of school-aged children or pre-twenty-year-old harassed females desperately seeking a career. This one looked perfect to be gracing a women's dress boutique.

"I'm Charlotte Gibbons, but everyone calls me Charlie."

Dio shook her hand, judging with just enough pressure to avoid being categorized as having a wimpy grip.

He heard the receptionist behind him sigh heavily. "Nice to meet you Charlie. Gibbons? Are you Mr Gibbon's daughter?"

The receptionist was giggling.

"You're close, actually he's my husband."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I prefer older men although in your case I would make an exception)]. Well, let's see what I've got for you."

The receptionist snorted.

Two good kicks from Mr Gibbons are required at reception, thought Dio – plus a heap of work. The poor receptionist is bored to her fingernails.

They climbed aboard Charlie's neat little SUV town wagon. She told him she had scheduled him in to view four properties and then each day they would look at four more until they located something to suit. "It takes time looking at properties and finding a suitable one," she counseled. "It is advisable to look at even the most unlikely ones, as sometimes a property will trigger a mind change in a client. Clients think they know what they want, but then so many actually buy something quite different at the end of the day. This never ceases to amaze me."

She opened a folder on to those incredible legs, and her perfume fragrance reminded Dio of something Carra wore. Mr Gibbons was a very lucky man.

"I'll be frank with you Mr Wellington..."

"Dio."

"I'll be frank with you, Dio. I tend to show a client the most unlikely property first and then work up to the fourth, which I consider will be a likely prospect. The earlier viewings put the client in the mood by the time we reach property number four. My husband briefed me your preferred purchase would be a property for an administration centre with living accommodation above it or at least on-site, and parking for at least a dozen vehicles and a workshop. Ian said you were into mobile house calls for people with computer problems."

"Yes, that's what I told him."

"Are you Mr Computer Cleaner?"

"Yes."

"That's fine, Dio. I just wanted to know if I guessed right. Society needs people like you, don't they? Someone has to exorcise filth."

"That is my belief."

"Well, let's push on. The first property is not far from here, just two blocks along."

Dio couldn't believe his eyes when they drove through the stone gates. She was taken him to inspect a bloody derelict school!

An hour later Carra and Dio were drinking coffee at the reception desk of the hairdressing salon. Greatly excited he told Carra: "She can take us to see it just after 5:00; I know there are dozens of properties still to look at, but this unlikely property looking property look perfect every way I look at it. There are more than enough buildings for us already on site – good solid constructed buildings apart from the school hall. We might snare it for a good price as who wants to buy a disused school from a church? Keep an open mind and look to see potential rather than problems."

"Like when you first clapped your eyes on me?"

Dio went to scoff at that report but read her eyes as his mouth opened. He kept silent and simply squeezed the hand of his darling.

Anxious to indicate that he was impressed, Dion took care not to pile it on so thickly that he may influence her from arriving at an independent opinion. All that he was doing was indicating that she wouldn't be wasting her time by going for a look. Well, perhaps he was lighting the fire a bit, but his hunch was screaming – "Take notice of me!" His mother had groomed him to respond positively to his hunches. However, there could be a problem – she who was sitting right beside him giving him the eye.

Carra sat, coffee cup between her palms, gazing at Dio. He deduced she was neither smiling, crying nor exhibiting a dissatisfied look. Was that an expression of pity; Dio wasn't quite sure? He'd never seen her like this, not even when her mother was lording over her causing Dio to launch a rescue attempt. That strategy involved no demands, no accusations – just a big wind up which was one of the few things that Carmen could not handle well.

He considered Carra was pliable: usually she acted just like a beautiful poodle. If he mentioned sex, she'd simply roll over. If he hinted that he was hungry, she retrieved food for him. If he ignored her and read a book, she would stay nearby, and whenever he cast a glance her way she seemed to be looking at him. No one, not ever new lovers, like staying at home all the time, so if he mentioned 'walkies' she was waiting at the door for him, looking at him adoringly.