Costume Solution

[dolly bo peep]

DaraJaney,

Thank you for that chapter.

It looks like Tom might now have a job working for Maura when any of his wife's friends have a get together.

I'm eager to read the next thing Tom has to endure.

[DaraJaney]

At the end of the evening Maura asked to talk to Ann and Tom.  “You know Grange Hall?  That big house on the outskirts of town?”  They nodded.  They’d never been there.  It was a private house at the end of a very long driveway.  “Well, Lady Upton runs murder mystery parties there and I do the catering for them.  She runs them with a 50s theme which matches the dĂ©cor of the house.”

“Well, I was telling her about my new helper the last couple of evenings and she said that she would love to have a French Maid on her staff for the parties – the customers would love it.”  Ann looked at Tom and laughed.  “Absolutely no way!” Tom assured them.

“She said that she had thought about hiring a maid/actress” Maura continued, “but she was concerned that in this day and age the women guests might think it’s an inappropriate depiction of a woman in a stereotypical role.  And there was also some concern that the male guests might like it too much!”

Ann nodded in agreement.  “I think she was probably right to be concerned.”  “But if the maid was a guy in drag” Maura explained “then she wouldn’t have those concerns.”  “I see” Ann responded.  “Makes perfect sense actually.”

“She’s willing to pay well for it and I need the help with the catering”, Maura added.  “No!” Tom insisted.  “My maid career is over!”  “Not so fast”, Ann countered.  “You haven’t had a job in a year.  You’re not turning down some nice earnings just like that.  I can’t bank-roll your leisurely lifestyle indefinitely.  What time do you need him to start?” Ann asked firmly.

Maura smiled.  “About 2pm?”  “He’ll be there!” Ann assured her as she strode off.  “Oh and it’s a weekend thing and runs overnight into Sunday!”  Maura added.  “No problem!” Ann confirmed.  Todd tried to scamper after her in his heels.  “Wait!  No!  What?  Overnight?”
Ann added various other threats to her usual withdrawal of sexual favours – ending his mobile phone contract, TV sports channel etc.  So Tom had no choice really.

Ann went on a short shopping trip in the morning.  She returned with six packs of stockings and knickers for Tom.  “These stockings are great!  They are fishnets but over an opaque tan base so you get the appearance of fishnets without having to shave your legs!”  Tom raised his eyebrows ironically.

Then she opened the pack of knickers.  “One black pair with black frills, one white pair with white frills, one black pair with white frills, one white pair with black frills, one black pair with black and white frills and one white pair with black and white frills!  Which two would you like to wear this weekend?”

Tom didn’t want to play ball.  “I don’t care.”  “Right, I’ll choose so.  The black pair with white frills today and the white pair with black frills for tomorrow.”  Tom sighed.
 
“I’ll have to show you how to do the make-up because you’ll have to do it yourself tomorrow morning”, she told him.  Tom couldn’t believe this was happening but it all became very real and she helped him dress in his maid’s outfit.  He couldn’t believe he was again wearing the large panto boobs and bum padding.

The fishnet stockings had much more obvious seams that required a lot of work to get straight.  He wished he could do without the awkward petticoats but they were stitched into the dress.  The frilly apron which tied complicatedly at the back was difficult for him to get right.

Ann coached him through the make-up routine.  It was a lot to absorb in a short time.  He couldn’t believe how much stuff he had to bring in his overnight bag.

He particularly dreaded the high heels – his feet still ached from the previous night and it seemed to take forever to walk anywhere in them.

Finally, he was dressed and made-up and tottering towards the front door.  This was the first time it was bright going outside in his maid outfit.  He tried to scamper to the car as quickly as possible in the heels, not wanting the neighbours to think he was making a habit of this.

Soon he was whisked away out of town and up the long driveway to Grange Hall.  He tottered up the steps to the front door and Ann rang the bell.  She smiled looking him up and down as they waited for the door to be opened.  Tom fussed as the breeze caused his dress to flutter up above his petticoats.

The door was opened by Maura.  “Come in!  Brilliant!”  Lady Upton came along the hallway.  “Welcome!  My goodness. That outfit is just perfect!”  Tom smiled awkwardly at the compliment.  “It’s nice and short without being too risquĂ©.  The guests are going to love it!”  Tom cringed at the thought.

“Well I’ll leave you to it!” Ann declared.  “Oh, nearly forgot.”  She reached into the overnight bag and pulled out the feather duster.  They all tittered as Tom accepted it embarrassedly.  “Have fun!” she shouted as she trotted down the steps.

[dolly bo peep]

DaraJaney,

I think that great minds think alike - that was a great chapter with Maid Tom now having his third gig, and this one overnight with having to do his own makeup in the morning.

When it's time to go to bed, will Tom be in a lacy nightgown?

[krystalasbaby2017]

Love it, showing more and more who is in charge, and now having to be a maid at another party.  Hope he gets the odd grope, and yes a nightie to bed hopefully a short one.

[DaraJaney]

Maura went off to the kitchen to do her thing.  Tom was left standing in front of Lady Upton.  “So”, she started.  “You are Fifi!  How is your French?”  Tom hadn’t realized that there was going to be a big emphasis here on the ‘French’ part.  He looked uncertain how to respond.  Lady Upton laughed.  “Don’t worry.  I’m sure you know a few key phrases: Bonjour, tres bien, au revoir.    The rest you can just do in an outrageous French accent!”  “OK” was all the ultra-nervous Tom could say for now.

“That will be: ‘Oui Madame!’”  She said it in a girlish sing-song voice.  “Go on!”  Tom responded “Oui Madame!” in as high a voice as he could manage.  “In fact, you won’t need much more than that.  As a maid you will speak only when spoken to and that will be your response to all my orders.”  She smiled sweetly.  When Tom said nothing she added “Understand?”  He was about to say yes and then went “Oui Madame!”

“Now, let me see your curtsey.”  Tom gave his little quick bob of a curtsey which had done so far.  “Oh no, no, no!  That will not do.  You must hold out your petticoats either side daintily and drop lower than that.”  She waited for him to try that.

Tom took the petticoats either side and raised them while he gave a better curtsey and bowed his head a little.  “Better!  We can work on that.  You must curtsey when you enter a room and before you leave.  And whenever you answer me or a guest.  Understand?”  “Oui Madame” Tom curtsied as he answered her.  She smiled.  “Tres bien!”

“So how about your walk?” she asked.  “Go along the hallway there”, she ordered stepping back.  Tom tried his most confident attempt at walking in high heels.  He thought he wasn’t too bad after a couple of night’s practice.

“No you really need to think French Maid.  You have to mince along with your hands bent outward at the wrist.” Tom tried to visualize French Maids he had seen.  He minced back towards her and fluttered the feather duster a little in his right hand for effect.  “Not bad!  You have a couple of hours to practice before the guests arrive.”  Tom winced.  The guests.  He hadn’t quite realized that he was going to have to act the French Maid so much.  It was bad enough just dressing as a maid without that.

“Right.  First of all Fifi, help me set the places for dinner.”  He realized she was waiting for his response.  “Oui Madame!”  She frowned.  “Curtsey!”  “Oh, oui Madame.”  Tom gave his best curtsey, remembering to hold his petticoats.

“The dining room is across the hallway at the end there on the left”, she told him, clearly waiting for him to lead the way.  Tom forced a smile.  “Oui Madame!”  He curtsied and minced off towards the door, aware that she was following and, no doubt, watching his walk carefully.

“I expect those seams on your fishnet stockings to be ruler-straight at all times.”  Tom was about to respond when he realized he would have to curtsey and could hardly do that walking away from her.  So he stopped, turned, steadied himself on his high heels and curtsied “oui Madame”.  She seemed pleased.  He thought: all this curtseying is already getting tedious.

“The cutlery is there on the trolley.  You can see a diagram there showing how to lay them out.  Unfortunately, nobody knows how to do this anymore”, she sighed.  “So you get started.  I need to check something with Maura.”  “Oui Madame!”  Tom curtsied and minced towards the trolley.

Once Lady Upton had left the room, he relaxed visibly.  He looked at the diagram and reproduced the layout for the first place.  There seemed to be a dozen or so more required.

After a few minutes, he was walking towards the next place setting when he jumped on hearing “Fifi!” behind him.  He turned around to see a stern looking Lady Upton.  He curtsied “Madame?”  “You must walk and act properly as a maid even when there is nobody in the room.  You never know when a guest will walk in or meet you in the corridor.  Understand?”  “Oui Madame” a chastened Tom answered as he curtsied.  He minced along to the next position.

The next time Lady Upton left the room he continued mincing about.  Carefully placing the cutlery and doing everything in a very feminine way.  He presumed that she would be back for another surprise inspection shortly.

Time went on and she didn’t reappear but he kept it up presuming that she was tempting him into being sloppy.  She eventually returned to find him carefully mincing towards the trolley.  He was pleased to have kept it up and avoided any further scolding.  He cringed a little realizing that he was going to have to keep this up for the next 24 hours!

“Now when the couples arrive, you will greet them at the door.  Let’s practice.  Knock knock.”  She mimed the action in mid air.  Tom minced towards her invisible door and mimed opening it.  He curtsied.  “Bienvenue madame et monsieur.”  “Not too bad”, she seemed grudgingly pleased.

“Then take their invitations and their coats and hang them in the closet there.”  She looked at him for confirmation.  Tom didn’t think he needed to mime it.  He curtsied “oui Madame”.  “And then lead them to the lounge where I will greet them.”  She indicated that she wanted him to go through the paces.  Tom minced off towards the lounge door.  He realized that guests would take the opportunity to ogle his legs in fishnets and his fluttering petticoats which he couldn’t keep down as he was supposed to hold his arms and hands out daintily.

Lady Upton overtook him, which wasn’t hard as he minced along in his little steps, and she popped into the lounge and closed the door.  Tom supposed he was supposed to knock which he did.  “Enter!”  Tom turned the handle which required him to bend over a little which he was concerned about –giving the guests a glimpse of his frilly knickers right from the off.

He entered the room.  “Now announce the guests from the invitation cards.”  Tom held up an imaginary card in his white-gloved hand.   â€œEh, Madame Taylor et Monsieur Taylor”, he improvised and then realized that he probably should curtsey.

They waited while the imaginary guests crossed the room.  “Thank you Fifi!”  Tom remembered he had been told to curtsey when entering or leaving a room so he curtsied yet again and exited.  Outside he cringed.  So much curtseying and mincing ahead for the next 24 hours!

[krystalasbaby2017]

Oh it looks like the lady that is having the party is going to put poor Tom through his paces in being a proper French Maid...giggles.

[DaraJaney]

As the appointed arrival time approached, Lady Upton decided that Tom, or Fifi, needed one final uniform inspection.  Tom stood to attention in the hallway.  She tugged at his apron which had shifted a little to the left.  She adjusted his headband backwards a little.

“Turn around!”  “Oui Madame” Tom curtsied and turned.  She tightened the straps on his apron, retied the bow at the back and ensured that the trailing apron strings formed a nice upside down V at the back.  He froze as she lifted his petticoats a little at the back to tug on his stocking tops to make sure they were dead straight.

Then she lifted all the petticoat layers up at the back and he could feel her tug at the frills on his knickers to make sure they were all in neat lines.  Tom cringed.  She obviously expected his frilly knickers to be seen.

“You’ll do”, she concluded.  Tom turned around to face her, relieved that his petticoats had been lowered.  “Merci Madame!” he curtsied.  He couldn’t believe that he was thanking her for making sure that he looked as pretty as possible as Fifi the French Maid but that is what things had come to.

The doorbell rang.  Tom jumped.  Lady Upton strode off to the lounge without a word.  Tom steadied himself and took a deep breath.  There was no going back now.  He was to be Fifi the French Maid continuously until the guests left the following day.

He minced towards the door.  Reached for the handle and braced himself.  He opened it.  A middle aged couple stood outside.  Their eyebrows rose on seeing Tom.  He gave his best curtsey.  “Bienvenue Madame et Monsieur.”  “Well hello”, the grinning lady responded and handed Tom the invitation card.  “Merci!”  He curtsied again and wondered did he really have to curtsey every time he spoke?  It seemed to be what Lady Upton wanted.

“Your coats, s’il vous plait.”  The couple shook off their coats and handed them to Tom.  His hands were now full so he curtsied without holding out his petticoats.  “Merci.”  He tottered towards the closet and hung the coats in there before turning to face the couple again.  “Follow me, s’il vous plait”, he curtsied before mincing off ahead of them towards the lounge.

As Tom leaned down to turn the door handle he wondered if his frilly knickers were visible or not.  He couldn’t tell.  He opened the door and tottered in.

“Madame et Monsieur Hackett!”  Tom curtsied.  Lady Upton came over and greeted them.  “Thank you.  That’s quite a welcome”, Mr Hackett told her, smirking in Tom’s direction.

“Drinks?” Lady Hackett asked.  “Gin and tonics?”  “Yes please!” they chorused and looked at Tom.  “Fifi?” Lady Hackett ordered.  Tom curtsied “oui Madame” and minced off towards the kitchen.

He returned with the three drinks on a tray, walking carefully in his high heels, trying not to spill the almost full glasses.  He had to open the door with one hand while balancing the tray with the other, all much harder to do in four-inch heels.  He scampered in, held the tray firmly as he executed a deep curtsey.

He scampered over to Mr Hackett and bent a little with the tray to allow him to take his drink.  Then he tottered closer to Mrs Hackett and she took her drink.  He then went over to Lady Upton.  He wished that he could move in beside her to avoid having his back to the guests but she had a low table on one side and a pouf on the other.  He had to bend a little with his back to the guests and there was little doubt that they would see at least the lowest frill on his knickers.

The drinks delivered, Tom was unsure what to do next.  He walked off to the side and turned to face the group awaiting orders.  “Thank you Fifi”, Lady Upton said which he took to be dismissal.  He curtsied and minced off towards the door, relieved at not having to stand there in his heels.

Before he got to the door, the doorbell rang again.  No rest for the wicked, he thought as he scampered towards the front door.

Five couples arrived in all.  On a couple of occasions the doorbell rang again before he could fetch the drinks of the latest arrivals.  He was happy about this as it meant one less trip downstairs to the kitchen in his heels.

When he had delivered the drinks to the final couple, he curtsied before leaving the room but Lady Upton interjected “Wait there for further orders Fifi.”  So Tom sidled into the corner of the room and stood there with his white gloved hands resting on his petticoats to the side.  Within a few minutes he wanted to shift the weight from one foot to the other to relieve the pain but he felt that Lady Upton was aware of every little movement he made so he stood there and grinned and bore it.

He was summoned for a couple more drinks orders.  He actually felt relief now scampering up and down the stairs in his heels – it was better than standing on show in the room with the men stealing side glances at his fishnet stockings and managing to move behind him whenever they thought he might bend over a little.

When Maura rang the gong for dinner, Fifi went ahead and opened the door to the dining room.  The first couple who entered said “Thank you Fifi.”  Tom smiled shyly and curtsied.  Then each couple after that thanked him and so having started it, he had to curtsey to each one.  Lady Upton was grinning broadly as she followed the final couple.  She waited until the last minute when Tom had clearly felt she wasn’t going to say anything.  Then she said “Thank you Fifi”, and watched amusedly as Tom had to hurriedly turn and curtsey for her.