The Air Stewardesses' Footmen Ch. 06

Camilla had primed her crony Suzy in Crewing well, I realised. But clearly, and as I already knew, Suzy was not just a pretty face - she had a mind of her own. Suzy had psychoanalysed me under her mental microscope and accurately homed in and focused on the heart of the matter. I felt a shiver of shame run right through me because Suzy had figuratively stripped me naked - I could not disagree with an assumptive conclusion or dispute a deduction of Suzy's potted life-history extrapolations as just insightfully interpreted to the slackjawed raptly listening Head of Crewing, Janice.

Suzy twirled around her finger one of the wisps of blonde hair that hung stylishly beside her face and smirked at me as though this was all some great game. Then, bending her left leg at the knee, Suzy popped her bare heel from her black leather flat - and even Janice did not fail to see that Suzy had done it purposely to achieve my mesmerised reaction. And as I stared down at Suzy's semi-exposed foot and ogled her proudly protruding bare heel, Suzy tried to adopt a stern tone with me but couldn't quite pull it off because of her high amusement at her ludicrous Camilla-conferred empowerment.

Suzy said, "Mason, I command you to obey and revere not only me but all of the girls in Crewing. You will respectfully address them all as 'Miss'. That means today and in future - whether in person or when talking to them on the phone. You are reporting to my friend Penny in Personnel next to massage her feet, and then you are going off to work. But, after I have dictated your roster, you will have time to provide a five-minute foot massage on your kneeling mat for all of the other five girls here in Crewing. Got it?"

"Yes, Miss Suzy. I've got it."

Janice said, grinning disbelievingly and displaying her two rows of formidable choppers, "Amazing! Okay then, Suzy. I see a lot of raised eyebrows. Obviously, the other girls are wondering why we are standing here at the door, talking at length to a cabin crewman when they are all busy badgering other cabin crewmen on their phones. No doubt they have been eavesdropping and have overheard much of what we've said. But now I'll give Sharon, Jill, Alice and Olivia the full heads-up on why we will allow Mason into the Crewing department without prior invitation."

Suzy said, "Come in, Mason. I have given some thought as to how best to do this. So I have brought my swivel chair around from my desk. Place your kneeling mat in the middle of the floor space before it. You will be the centre of attraction, as it were. I will read your coming week's roster duties to you while you massage my feet."

"Yes, Miss Suzy," I said and did as bid. And this, I saw, occasioned more raised eyebrows among the observing Crewing girls behind their desks as now Suzy resumed her office swivel chair in the middle of the floor space.

Suzy stretched out her right leg and rested her foot on my left shoulder. She then proffered her left foot and heel-popped her flat, prompting me to remove it. I duly did, taking Suzy's bare left foot in my hands, and with no specific instruction from Suzy forthcoming, began to massage of my own volition. And I saw this caused not only raised eyebrows and curious faces but comments and craning necks among the intrigued and now avidly onlooking Crewing girls as now Janice gave them the full heads-up.

"All right, then, Mason," Suzy said in a raised voice for the benefit of her avid audience as I firmly rotated one thumb into the heel and my other thumb into the ball of her bare left foot, as she seemed happy enough to let me do for starters. "After the big walkout on Monday, we are now down to just twelve cabin crewmen: one cabin crewman based at each of our six regional airports, and the other six are Gatwick-based. Each of us in Crewing is responsible for the weekly roster of one of those regionals and also for one Gatwick-based - I am responsible for preparing your work schedule, Mason."

"Yes, Miss Suzy," I said, the standard acknowledging respectful response when no other reply was required or invited.

"To suit my convenience, I have adjusted your new weekly rosters to run from Friday to Thursday," Suzy told me, showing me my 7-day roster in its clear plastic protective sleeve. "And, as I told you on the phone earlier this week, whenever possible, I will roster you to work under Senior Stewardess Camilla Cameron. As you already know, you are serving today under Senior Stewardess Camilla on flight BH631 to Funchal."

"Yes, Miss Suzy. I know," I acknowledged as I repositioned one thumb from the ball of her foot to massage her arch, still firmly but less so.

Suzy went on, "And then on Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, you will serve double shifts under Camilla on short hops to Spain and France. But remember, on Thursday, between your two flight duties - to Barcelona and then to Paris - you will report here to me to collect your new roster and to massage my feet. Got it?"

"Yes, Miss Suzy. I've got it. I'll be here."

"Unfortunately, I can't work you harder due to flying hours regulations," Suzy said in regretful tones. "But believe me: I will do my utmost to deny you a Rest-day. I wanted to tell you that to your face," Suzy said, twirling a wisp of her stylishly hanging blonde hair around her finger as though she thought and hoped it would goad me and then she could blab about my aberrant lapse of perfect conduct to Camilla.

Suzy continued, "To help me deny you a Rest-day, which will be my ongoing quest for Camilla and because I want to, I have rostered you, this week, to serve alternate twelve-hour Stand-bys on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. You will serve your Stand-by duties in your crew room, to be on hand to massage the feet of returning air hostesses and polish their after-shift uniform pumps while you await your possible call-up. Of course, if you are called on to work on a flight, I will revise your work schedule and advise you. I might even be obliged under the rules to allow you a Rest-day. But if that happens, believe me: I will find a way for you to make up for it somewhere down the line. Is all of that clear, Mason?"

"Yes, Miss Suzy. All of that is very clear," I said as now I repositioned my thumbs to massage either side of the ball of her foot, starting just under her little toe and just under her big toe and slowly working inwards. Suzy was still resting her other foot comfortably on her shoulder footrest, and she seemed content just to let me go on doing my own thing.

Suzy's bare sole was soft, pliable under my thumbs - unlike the feet of some of the air hostesses. Particularly the older, or the longer-serving, mid-to-late-career flight attendants, whose dark-nyloned feet I massaged routinely now as one of their after-flight footmen.

Suzy sighed and said, "That will have to do for today, Mason; there isn't time for you to massage my other foot." Suzy removed her right foot from its comfortable resting place on my left shoulder and reinserted her left foot into her black leather flat. "And that's a pity. Because I think Camilla is right. You do seem to have rather the knack for foot massage."

"Yes, Miss Suzy. And thank you."

"So now, Mason, you will perform a five-minute foot massage for the other five girls in Crewing. Start with Janice. No - don't get up; we'll come to you. Remain here in the centre of the floor space on your kneeling mat."

"Yes, Miss Suzy."

"I'll intercom my friend Penny in Personnel to let her know you will report to her in about thirty minutes. So remember: Report to me here again, Mason, next Thursday. And come a little earlier, if you can manage it - to allow you time to massage both of my feet."

"Yes, Miss Suzy. I will report to you as early as possible. Next Thursday, I will forego my one-hour rest period between my two flight duties. I'll grab a sandwich on the go and spend my rest time here to enable me to serve you and your colleagues here in Crewing in a less time-restrictive and therefore a more agreeable manner."

Suzy said, "That's good to hear, Mason. Camilla is right: you are truly pathetic - but highly agreeable. I will look forward to your weekly attendance. Now continue your service here. Hand your watch over to each of my five colleagues. They will time your five-minute foot massage sessions for them. As I told you: start with my supervisor - Janice."

I looked over at Janice seated behind her desk. Janice looked right back at me. I said, "I am at your service, Miss Janice."

Janice scooted around from her desk on her castor wheeled swivel chair to the centre of the floor space, where I awaited her on my kneeling mat.

And now the other four girls from Crewing: Sharon, Jill, Alice and Olivia - hung up on their designated cabin crewman and put down their phone to scoot around their desks on their office swivel chairs to watch these proceedings at closer hand and to form an orderly queue for their foot massage too as the Head of Crewing, Janice, followed Suzy's shoulder footrest availing example for her right foot and expectantly proffered her left foot to me to be the first unshod.

***

The time was 13:30 when I had provided the five-minute foot massages for the supervisor Janice and the other four girls in Crewing: Sharon, Jill, Alice and Olivia - at the instruction of Camilla's crony Suzy in Crewing.

I had addressed each of them respectfully as 'Miss' as, in turn, they had looked down on me on my kneeling mat at their feet from their office swivel chair. And hereon, as her confident voice projected her new authority over me down the phone line and my mind's eye recalled her superior downwards-looking face, I would reverently address a Crewing girl as 'Miss' as she dictated her short-notice roster changes that would destroy my girlfriend Gemma's social plans and put me in the dog house.

Upon completing their five-minute foot massage, all of the Crewing girls told me they would look forward to my kneeling mat equipped presence to provide their regular and, when possible, more prolonged foot massage sessions every week on Thursdays.

My business there duly completed, Suzy saw me to the door.

But Suzy wasn't finished with me - because now I saw just how well Camilla had schooled her crony Suzy in Crewing. Suzy now bent her right leg at the knee, popped free her bare heel from her black leather flat, and pointed meaningfully downward.

I placed my kneeling mat on the floor, got to my knees, and craned my neck to kiss the bottom of Suzy's proudly protruding bare right heel.

The delighted handclapping of the supervisor Janice and the tickled-pink laughter of the other onlooking girls in Crewing rang in my ears. I felt my cheeks burn hot in embarrassment, shame, and humiliation at my long-ingrained and seemingly incurable inability to disobey a command from Camilla, defy the conferred empowerment of her friends, or even deny the more tenuous - but not attenuated - third-hand associate-authority of the friends of her friends.

Suzy smugly twirled a wisp of her stylishly hanging blonde hair around her finger and looked down on me. Janice was still delightedly clapping her hands, and the other Crewing girls were still laughing as I remained knee-bound to crane my neck even further to awkwardly kiss the bottom of Suzy's now expectantly proffered left bare heel.

Suzy finally opened the door, satisfied and gratified. Suzy was satisfied because I had duly provided her Camilla-bestowed foot massage service and then extended my foot service to her five colleagues in Crewing at her behest. Gratified: that I had reverently 'come to heel' to accord her knee-bound foot-kissing parting homage as a friend of Camilla.

Suzy now returned my watch and handed me my new 7-day roster in its clear plastic sleeve. "Here are my orders for your week ahead. Now run along, Mason," Suzy said, pointing at the sky-blue door across the corridor, signed 'Personnel'. "Report to my friend Penny - and be sure to address her as 'Miss'. And just as you would for me as a friend of Camilla, you will do whatever Penny tells you to do as a friend of mine. That's all, Mason. You are dismissed. So I'll see you next Thursday - and don't forget your kneeling mat."

Because it was 'Just simply unthinkable for me to do otherwise', kneeling mat in hand, I crossed the corridor at the behest of Camilla's crony Suzy in Crewing to report to Camilla's friend of a friend - Suzy's friend Penny at Personnel.

***

It had been Suzy's friend Penny who had interviewed me a year ago and had given me my job. Penny had led me to a private cubicle that was partitioned off from the rest of the Personnel department to finalise my job application, so I hadn't set eyes on any of her colleagues. And unlike the girls in Crewing, who often needed to reach me about changes to my work schedule, the girls in Personnel had never had a reason to contact me, so I hadn't seen or heard from Penny or any of her colleagues since the day she had enrolled me as a BlueSky Holidays cabin crewman.

Penny's attractiveness had made a big impression on me then, and now I saw that she had grown even more beautiful in the interim because Penny herself opened the door at my knock. Penny was in her early twenties, her shoulder-length black hair had a natural wave, her figure was curvy, and her shapely bare legs were golden-hued from her early summer tan.

As was the case in Crewing, the dress code was casual in Personnel. Penny wore a summery above-the-knee flower-patterned dress, which hugged her voluptuous figure, and high-heeled strapless white sandals, which accentuated her tanned calves and showed off her nicely pedicured bright-red painted toes to best advantage.

"It's very nice to see you again... um, Miss Penny," I said, remembering to accord to Penny the reverent title 'Miss' as a friend of Suzy. And it appeared that Suzy had primed Penny; Penny didn't bat an eyelid at my respectful accolade. "You are looking well, Miss Penny," I added. But, remembering Suzy's catty retort at my failed compliment to her dangerously beguiling new hairdo, I left it at that, bland inadequate statement, instead of saying what I thought. Which was that Penny would grace any catwalk, win any beauty contest, and she had a lovely pedicure.

"You've lost weight, Mason," commented Penny, looking me up and down. "You are looking better for it. You look very fit. Do you go running?"

"Well, after a fashion. I have my female counterparts to thank, Miss Penny. The air hostesses like to keep their cabin crewmen busy running around after them all the time."

"Ah, now I know why the air hostesses have you cabin crewmen massage their feet in silence: so that they won't have to put up with your inane drollery. But yes, so I hear," Penny said. And now, the perfunctory pleasantries of reacquaintance after more than a year duly observed and small talk exhausted, Penny held the door open to me. "Come in, Mason. Entry into the Personnel department of other staff is highly irregular and not normally permitted. But I have been given clearance by Chief Stewardess Lois Lawson to allow you into the Personnel department today and on every Thursday in future to massage my feet."

"Yes, Miss Penny. So I understand, from your friend across the corridor in Crewing, Miss Suzy. She told me she would send me onward to you here every week. So I hope you enjoy your regular Thursday foot massage service. Please believe me, Miss Penny, when I tell you I am more than happy to provide it for you and to be of any other service that you, or any of your friends, might require of me."

Penny said, "Chief Stewardess Lois Lawson is here, Mason. You met Ms Lawson on Monday when you signed your revised contract, I believe? Well, Ms Lawson is not working in her executive office suite today; as I say, she is here in the main department. Ms Lawson is overseeing first-stage job applicant screening for our big recruitment drive. She is helping us sort out the wheat from the chaff, as she calls this initial elimination process. But she also wanted to be here to congratulate and encourage you on your impeccable conduct since our COO Ms Gina Summers' introduction on Monday of the Subservience to Stewardesses directive."

At her beckoning, I followed Penny into the Personnel department. I saw now that there were four private cubicles - no job applicant interviews were taking place, so they were not screened off. With a complement of four deskbound female staff seated on office swivel chairs, it was a similar but smaller set-up than across the corridor at Crewing. And, as had happened in Crewing, as I was escorted into their department by Penny, the other three members of the all-female workforce here in Personnel stared at me from behind their desks with curious faces, intrigued by my highly irregular appearance, as it were. The Personnel girls were not expecting me; apparently, Penny meant to surprise her hardworking 'up to their necks' coworkers as her friend Suzy in Crewing had done: lighten their all-business workday with a touch of novelty.

But as Penny said, another person was in the know.

"Ah! Here he is - the man of the moment!" said Chief Stewardess Lois Lawson, coming over to join Penny and me. "Or at least one of them. Because I have also been hearing heartening things about your cabin crewman colleague Terry," Ms Lawson told me. "Oh yes - excellent reports! Your female counterparts are highly complimentary about your impeccable compliance and cooperation when providing post-flight foot service; they are also pleased that you and Terry arrive to work early to offer a pre-flight foot massage. Senior Stewardess Donna's professed faith in you as a real asset is more than vindicated, and my confidence in Donna's shrewd judgement is proven. So, keep up the good work, Cabin Crewman Mason!"

"Yes, Ms Lawson. I will."

"And I am informed by Penny that Suzy and the other five girls in Crewing used their office chairs in turn at your kneeling position in the centre of the floor space, which worked exceedingly well for them. I can add that all six of them were pleased with your perfect obedience and unfailing respect. And that includes Suzy - and she is a little minx, I know. Suzy just spoke to me on our inter-office phone. Suzy told me she did her best to ruffle your feathers - as it were! But no - you remained resolutely respectful to her. And so now, Mason, you may site your kneeling mat in the centre of the floor space here to first serve Penny, followed by the other three girls who work in Personnel: Simone, Sue and Andrea. And don't worry, you have time. Senior Stewardess Camilla phoned Penny a moment ago to inform her that your flight to Funchal will depart thirty minutes late due to a minor technical issue. So, fortunately, you will have time to perform the same five-minute foot massage service for the four girls here in Personnel as you provided for the six girls in Crewing. But as time will then be a little tight, Camilla said to go directly to Departure Gate 7 afterwards rather than report to her in your crew room."

"Yes, Ms Lawson. Understood."

Chief Stewardess Lois Lawson wore a dark blue blazer and an above-the-knee skirt of the same colour, her legs were bare, and she habitually wore the same three-inch heel black leather pumps as the air hostesses.

As instructed by Ms Lawson, I sited my kneeling mat in the centre of the floor space and knelt on it. Penny then went behind her desk, sat on her castor wheeled office swivel chair and scooted around to my knee-bound position. Penny looked at me, and I lowered my eyes respectfully according to protocol. I looked down at Penny's bright-red painted toes, set off nicely by her white sandals and suntanned skin. I waited for Penny to expectantly proffer her left or right foot to me to be the first unshod, which would be easy because her white sandals were strapless and backless - her shoes would slide off her bare feet. But to my surprise, Penny stood up and said plaintively, as though greatly anguished, "Ms Lawson, I can't! I mean, this doesn't seem right. It just simply isn't right."