Squirrel Valentine

"But I think she's beautiful."

"Maybe. You think that Janice is what she looks like. That is insulting. Did you realise that?"

"No. I thought..."

"Harry, you thought Janice looked wonderful, so wonderful that you couldn't see Janice the person, just as most people don't see Mary the person behind her plain face. Mary is kinder and more understanding than Janice or I are. Judged as a person, not on appearances, Mary is the most attractive woman in our office. Why else do you think everyone talks to her and smiles whenever she comes by? You do, don't you?"

"Yes. Mary brightens up the place."

"Exactly. Perhaps you should switch your attentions to Mary."

I blinked.

"Think about it. She makes you smile, she is always kind and more important you know who she is, what she likes, what she doesn't like. You know Mary. You don't know Janice."

"I do..." I started to say before Sally cut me off.

"You don't!" She emphasised without raising her voice. "That is why I am talking to you now. I'll come to the point. Janice is annoyed by your obvious infatuation. You make her look ridiculous and more important your attentions scare off other potential boyfriends. You are scary to people who don't know you."

"Am I? I didn't know."

"That's because you are a real softy inside. Try to imagine what you look like to a potential rival."

"I know I'm big."

"Big? You are well over six foot tall, built like a tank, you play rugby in the scrum and you box as a heavyweight yet your face is unmarked."

"My opponents can't reach my face."

I meant that my defence was good. Sally took it the other way.

"No because they aren't tall enough. How tall are you, Harry?"

"About six foot five in my bare feet."

"Weight?"

"About eighteen stone, or two hundred and fifty pounds."

"And none of that is fat, is it?"

"I should hope not. I train three nights a week and run at least two miles a day."

"How tall is Tom?"

"About six foot two."

"His weight?"

"I suppose about twelve stone or one hundred and seventy pounds."

"And he plays rugby as well?"

"Yes."

"But he's not in the scrum?"

"Hardly. He's not the build for it."

"But he is fit as well?"

"Of course."

"So, think about it. You are chasing Janice. You look like something another man wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley, your friend is also a useful person if you got into a fight, and your rugby and boxing friends would be on your side if there were any trouble, wouldn't they. Can't you see why no one else dare look at Janice?"

Before I could answer Janice was beside us. She held out her hand to me. I took it and followed her to the dance floor. I felt slightly deflated not just by Sally's words but because this dance was a Sir Roger de Coverley. I would get to hold Janice's hand but not much else. I wouldn't even get much chance to talk to her.

We pranced through the dance well enough. Her ponytail flew around as she swung. I was feeling as if I was walking on air in her presence yet Sally had shown me that everything was not wonderful. At the end of the dance I bowed to Janice. She smiled at me and came into my arms for a slow waltz. She came so close that her skirt dented around me.

"Sorry, Harry, that was a tease. This is your promised dance. After it you and I are going to sit with Sally for a while. We have a proposition to make to you."

I was intrigued but Janice wouldn't say any more. She just pressed herself against me, her bouffant skirt caressing my legs as we moved, and she was making me feel like jelly inside.

I led her back to the table. Sally had just sat down and thanked her partner. I still had my back to the dancing but I was facing the two of them.

"Now, Harry," said Janice, "I want you to walk Sally home tonight."

"Sally?" I queried.

"Yes. Sally. Someone else will walk me home. I hope you don't object?"

"Object? To what? If Sally wants me to walk her home then of course I will."

Sally smiled at me and nodded. I went on.

"I have no right to object to your choice of escort. I don't own you. No one can own anyone else, not even when they are married. I have no right to influence what you want to do."

"Good boy." Janice said. She kissed me on the cheek. "That is for being a gentleman. I knew that you are nice. That has made things harder for me."

"Why should it be harder?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you. If I didn't care I would have made a scene in the office and embarrassed you. I could have, couldn't I?"

I visualised a scene in the office with Janice telling me to leave her alone. I blushed. Yes, she could have embarrassed me.

"Thank you for not doing it there."

"OK. When you have walked Sally home, and I arrive, you are going to stay the night with us."

My eyes opened wide.

"We have a couch you can sleep on. We are two girls together so you won't compromise either of us. What is going to happen is that we three are going to sort out the relationship, if any, between you and I. Sally has already started, hasn't she?"

"Yes." I thought of some of Sally's words. Perhaps staying the night with these two might not be pleasant.

"Good. Then I'll see you later tonight at our flat. Now go and find someone to dance with. Sally and I need to talk. You can come back after... four dances. Sally might dance with you again. I won't, so don't ask. I might talk but not dance. OK? Then off you go. Look over there. Mary hasn't got a partner."

I took the hint. I asked Mary to dance. After two dances someone else claimed Mary. I looked around and found my supervisor Ethel beside me. I asked her. She flowed into my arms with a suppleness I didn't associate with the dragon she was at work.

"You've spent a lot of time talking to Sally," Ethel said. She didn't make it a question but I knew that it was. I answered.

"Yes. She is trying to sort out my feelings for Janice."

"You do need to sort yourself out. Janice is only a symptom. You need some experience, Harry. You are an easy prey for any designing woman. Be thankful that Janice isn't one. If she was, she could have made you propose marriage, couldn't she?"

I didn't need to think to answer. If Janice had given me the slightest encouragement I would have bought a ring and dropped to one knee – but did I still feel the same tonight?

"Yes, Ethel," That was daring of me to use her name. "She could. Ought I to be grateful?"

"Yes. She has shown exceptional restraint with you. I appreciate the way she has behaved. It shows maturity that you haven't got."

Ouch. That was a painful dig at me. Ethel's tongue could be sharp. She had smiled as she said it. Perhaps she was hinting something?

"I think things have changed tonight, Harry. Have they?"

"Yes. Sally has shown me things I need to face."

"Sally is a sensible girl as well. So is Mary. You know that all three are working together for you?"

"I'm not sure whether they are for me, or against me. They are certainly working together."

"Take my word for it, Harry. Those three are on your side. They all like you and are trying to help you to grow up. I have never seen three women act so protectively towards the same man. What their final intention is I don't know but you should believe in their good will. I don't think they would do as much for your friend Tom. He can look after himself with women."

"And I can't, as I'm beginning to realise. I don't understand why but I'm beginning to see further than I had until tonight."

"I've been showing restraint as well, Harry. Do you know why?"

"No."

"I know you haven't been working at anything like the standard you could. Even so you have been doing more than the average. You could do much better."

I nodded. This sounded like a reprimand.

"We're not at work. This is Ethel, your dancing partner, not Ethel your supervisor. Remember that."

I nodded again.

"Mary asked me not to. She told me that Janice distracted you. I knew that. I have got eyes and I can see. Mary also said that you would be sorted out soon. I took her word for it. You will be, won't you?"

"I think the crisis is tonight." I replied.

"Then I expect a change in attitude on Monday morning. If not..."

The threat was obvious.

"And if there is a change?" I was pushing my luck a long way.

"I will just say that the annual appraisals are due at the end of March. You will be in range for promotion this year."

"But..." No one was recommended in the first year they came into the range. It just wasn't done.

"I have said too much. I'll see you Monday morning."

As the dance ended Ethel kissed me on the cheek. Now she had left me in a daze. Mary slid into my arms. She had given up on her hair. It fell over her shoulders. Mary's hair was dull, wispy and completely straight. Pinned up or let down it did nothing for her.

"You will dance with me again, won't you, Harry?

"Of course I will Mary. You don't need to ask. Any time you want a dance partner."

"Thank you, Harry."

We danced together for a while. I was getting worried about all the plots going on around me. Even Mary and Ethel were up to their necks in them. Who else was trying to manipulate me?

"Harry?"

"Yes, Mary." At least I could still remember whom I was dancing with.

"If I wanted you for another sort of partner, would you?"

I missed a step and had to correct. Now I could be in real trouble and I didn't want to hurt Mary.

"What sort of partner, Mary?" I asked cautiously.

"Well I could mean tennis or bridge, but I don't," Mary replied. She smiled up at me. "I mean as a partner for the sort of thing schoolkids get up to behind the bicycle sheds."

I nearly missed another step.

"Mary!" I hissed in her ear. "What do you mean? You know I'm attracted to Janice. I'm your friend but that is all I am."

"I know that. I just wanted..."

"Wanted what?" I needed to be clear before deciding anything.

"I haven't had a boyfriend. No. Don't get worried. I don't want you to be my boyfriend. You want to be Janice's. What I want is to know about kissing and cuddling. I need someone I can trust to experiment with. I've never..."

Mary left it at that.

"Mary," I whispered in her ear, "you mean you haven't?"

"I haven't kissed anyone. Not properly. Not ever. Last Christmas with you was the most I've ever done. I want to do more but without the risk that my partner might go too far too soon."

I took a decision. Sally, Janice and Ethel were arranging my life for me. Perhaps I could be just as helpful with Mary. I steered her off the floor and towards the cloakrooms.

"Where are we going?" Mary asked with a faint smile.

"To the bicycle sheds. Now."

"Oh. Should I say 'Sir! This is so sudden'?"

"No. You asked for it. Remember you can just say 'No' or 'Stop' at any time and I will stop and bring you back inside. OK?"

Mary snuggled against my arm.

"Yes, Harry."

I collected our coats. It was February after all. We went outside and round to the darkness at the side of the hall. We passed several entwined couples before I found a space between two buttresses. I lifted her on to a plinth then pulled Mary into my arms. She was still slightly lower than me. We kissed, gently and awkwardly at first, and then she relaxed. In the darkness Mary felt and tasted like any other young woman. I began to enjoy myself.

Her hands moved to undo my coat. She snuggled inside it. Her hands stroked my back. I caressed hers through her coat as our tongues wrestled gently. She shrugged off her coat and let it fall to the plinth. She pressed her breasts against my jacket, then pulled back, unbuttoned my jacket and tried again. My hands cradled her closer as she fumbled with my shirt.

She ended the kiss and reached for me. I flinched as her cold hands touched my bare skin. She reached behind herself and pressed forward again.

"How about this, Harry?"

As she spoke her warm bare breasts landed against my bare chest. They spread over my skin. Mary wriggled to spread her soft globes over as much of my chest as she could. She stopped me replying with another kiss. We were still outside in the cold but I was getting distinctly warm and hard. Mary's hand touched my crotch. Then she pulled away from our kiss.

Still pressed against my chest with her hand placed on my erection Mary said:

"I think I should say 'Stop' now, Harry, before we go too far."

"Yes," I gasped. "I think we should."

Mary's hand moved away. She adjusted her dress, hauling up her bodice and fastening her bra. She found her coat and I helped her into it. She buttoned my shirt and jacket. She kissed me lightly on the lips before we made our way back into the hall.

"Thank you, Harry," Mary whispered as we walked back into the hall.

"For what? Enjoying myself?"

"No. For stopping as soon as I asked and for treating me like a woman."

"I know you are a woman, Mary. I felt the proof. I didn't need that much evidence but I won't forget them."

Mary pulled my head down and kissed me on the cheek. I put my arm around her shoulders as we made our way to Sally and Janice's table. They were on the floor in another fox trot. Janice was dancing with Tom. I went to get Mary a drink. I didn't have to fight my way across the dance floor. They parted for me. There are some advantages in my size.

When I returned Sally and Janice had sat down. I went back to the bar to get drinks for them. As I returned their heads were in a huddle. I put the drinks down.

"Shall I leave you three to chat?" I asked.

"No need," replied Janice, swinging her ponytail as their heads parted. "We've finished what we wanted to say. Haven't we?" Sally and Mary nodded, smiling broadly. I thought that their smiles were ominous. Sally cleared a chair for me. I sat down.

"We've changed the arrangements for tonight, Harry." Janice announced. I started to worry. What now?

"You will walk all three of us back to our flat, that is mine and Sally's. Mary is coming to make sure we are chaperoned, aren't you Mary?"

Mary nodded. I would have to spend the night with three women and I'd had the bare tits of one pressed against me five minutes ago? I sensed certain trouble but they all looked innocently at me.

"OK. I'm willing. Your escort will be ready whenever you wish, ladies. Anything else?"

"Yes. Can you get the band to play something modern?" asked Janice.

"Your wish is my command. I will attempt the impossible."

I walked over to the band and waited until they finished the latest waltz for 1870. I spoke to the bandmaster. He seemed remarkably willing. The fearsome electric guitar was plugged in and they started a rendition of "Rock Around The Clock". I walked back through enthusiastic but unskilled rockers. The three girls clapped me as I joined them. They couldn't have been clapping the band. They were terrible.

All four of us were on the floor jiving. I swung Sally around, passed her to Mary and swung Janice. The band warmed up. They didn't get any better but they played with gusto to make up for their abysmal incompetence. Ethel and her current partner joined our four and we tried formation jiving with Ethel calling the next move. The group grew until there were twenty couples jiving together, mainly girl/girl couples, but a few men were scattered among the flying petticoats.

The jiving went on continuously for over an hour with couples dropping out and being replaced. Not our four, nor Tom who exhausted several partners. Ethel broke only once to change her perspiring partner for a fresh one.

That was how the evening ended except for the obligatory last waltz. Somehow I had my arms around Janice, Sally and Mary for the whole of that waltz. As the music died I had to bend down into a flurry of kisses. Even as I enjoyed the attention I realised that Janice only pecked my cheek. The enthusiasm was from Sally and Mary.

The walk to their flat was uneventful. All three wore headscarves, not because of the cold, but because all women did. Sally and Mary tied theirs under the chin. Janice wrapped the ends behind her head. Her ponytail made a bulge in the back of the scarf.

We went to Mary's house. She went inside to collect some things for the night and to tell her parents that she was staying the night with Sally and Janice. Her mother came to the door saying something about the safety of the night-time streets. Then she saw me. Her objections stopped. I wished her 'good evening' and assured her that I would ensure that Mary reached her destination safely. Mary's mother kissed Mary and whispered something that made them both giggle.

Near the flat there were some drunks outside a pub. I looked at them. Any comment they might have made about a man escorting three women died on their lips. I have that effect.

At the flat Janice and Mary went to one of the bedrooms. Sally took my coat, hung it up in the hall and led me by the hand to the large kitchen. Sally and Janice had rented the ground floor of a Victorian house. The kitchen was huge and they used it as their dining room as well.

Sally turned on me with a stern look on her face.

"Harry. We three have decided that there have to be some rules tonight. All three of us couldn't stop you if you wanted to do something and we didn't. That's true, isn't?"

"Probably. But I wouldn't. If any of you said 'no' I would accept it."

"I think you would. The others aren't so sure. They need proof. I want to do something to show that you will co-operate."

She reached up and untied her scarf. She held it in her hands, crushing it nervously.

"Please take your jacket, tie and shirt off."

I looked at her.

"Please, Harry." She repeated.

I obeyed. I put my clothes over the back of a chair.

"Now sit on that chair, please."

Sally pointed to a three-legged chair with a narrow back. She seemed very nervous as if she was afraid I would attack her. Why? I sat on the chair.

"I'm going to tie your hands behind your back and to the chair."

"OK," I replied. "If that's what you want to do. But why do you want to do it?"

"Can I answer once you are tied? Please?"

"Yes. I trust you, Sally. I trust Mary and Janice as well. If you want to tie me up, go ahead."

Sally dropped to her knees in a rustle of petticoats. I held my hands behind the chair. She crossed my wrists and tied them together and through the slotted chair back. I tested them. I was secured.

Sally stood in front of me.

"The last person who came to visit us here was Tom. He was slightly drunk and he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Janice and I had to run around the flat to get away from him. Eventually we managed to push him out the front door. He apologised the next day but he had really scared us."

"I'm not like that, Sally. You know I'm not." "Yes. I know that. We know that. You are much bigger and stronger than Tom. What two of us could do with a drunk Tom, three of us couldn't do to a sober Harry."

"A sober Tom wouldn't have scared you."

"Perhaps not. I would rather trust you than Tom but we can't take the risk. So we wanted you tied up."

"This isn't very strong as a restraint, Sally. I can stand up, smash the chair against a wall and I would be free."

"Please don't try. The scarf is really only symbolic. It shows that we are worried. Can you understand?"

"I think so but I would have expected some more effective tying up."

"We haven't finished yet. I will tie your ankles to the front chair legs when Janice gets here. I'll take your shoes off now to be ready."

"Then what?"

"Then we talk for a while before..."

"Before what?"

"I can't tell you that yet. Trust me, please."

Sally kissed me. Her dress billowed against my chest in soft folds. She rested her head alongside mine and whispered in my ear.

"I think you will enjoy tonight if you let yourself go. It might change your view of Janice but you will know her better by the morning."